In news that no one could have possibly seen coming, Malcolm Turnbull has thrown his support behind Tony Abbott’s boycott of Q&A and pulled out of next week’s panel.
.@TurnbullMalcolm will not be joining Monday’s #QandA panel.
— ABC Q&A (@QandA) July 10, 2015
The ABC tweeted correspondence between Tony Abbott and ABC Chair James Spigelman about the ban, which Abbott has said will last as long as the ABC’s review is taking place.
PM @TonyAbbottMHR says a Coalition #qanda ban will be lifted if the program is moved to ABC’s news division #auspol pic.twitter.com/Y7gMBOISrM
— ABC News 24 (@ABCNews24) July 10, 2015
In his letter, Tony Abbott says he’s willing to lift the ban on frontbenchers appearing on Q&A, as long the programme is moved to the news division.
“In discussion with the ABC, the Communications Minister was given to expect that Q&A would be moved to news and current affairs – which would be appropriate for such a programme.”
“In your letter to me, you indicate that transferring Q&A to the news division “has merit”.
“Front benchers look forward to resuming their participation on Q&A once this move takes place.”
It was Spigelman who suggested moving the programme to the News Division in the first place.
“One of the options under active consideration is to transfer the programme to the News Division. I see merit in this proposal.”
His letter also cleared up this whole ‘ABC review will take up to three months‘ business. It won’t. It’ll take up to four.
Updated July 10 at 5:05pm
We’re still waiting to hear back from the ABC, but just overheard on Triple J that a move from the entertainment division to the news division means Q&A would fall under strict editorial guidelines. They won’t be making their decision till next month.
Lead image: Greg Wood via Getty Images
