You Ask The Question On Q & A…

Tonight was the start of a brand new innovative show from the ABC titled Q & A hosted by Latelines’ Tony Jones. As the title suggests the show is all about asking questions and receiving an answer for that question, it’s that simple. Anyone can submit a question to be asked, even you via the official web site or by a special SMS number which has been set-up.

Tonight’s guest for the very first show was Prime Minister Kevin Rudd which should prove to be a major coup for the opening night of the show, and additionally for the Prime Minister as he seeks and image of trying to listen to what people want.

The hot topic for the moment is the ever increasing price of petrol and this was a key motivator in establishing the first question for the night. Asked by an audience member the first question was, given the limited supply of fossil fuels in nature, can you outline what the government is doing to ensure that an alternative exists for the future?

The response to the first question was that when entering government it was discovered that Australia has no long term energy strategy in place, but within a month of taking office the government has started the process of creating one with the results expected to be available by the years end.

This enabled for a few follow-up questions on the topic which covered such aspects of solar energy, job losses in the renewable energy industry which lead to a small swipe at the previous government (1^st for the night). Also a question regarding a tax exemption on fuel for families, which enabled the Prime Minister to get his favourite phrase out about working families.

The next question was a little hard to understand, even the Prime Minister needed clarification so Tony had to explain what the audience member was referring to. A quote the Prime Minister said was “we have done everything we physically can to provide additional help to the family budget, recognising that the cost of everything is still going through the roof”. The audience member wanted to know if the “we have done everything we physically can” part of that quote would be the Prime Minister’s tag line that will stick with him simular to Paul Keating’s “this is recession we had to have”.

The simple response to this question is that it was a response to the recent budget which was just handed down by the government. Adding to that additional political spin of downward pressure on interest rates, downward pressure on inflation and producing a budget surplus etc, we all know the routine by now.

Tony asked in reference to what Brendan Nelson has proposed to do and cut 5 cents per litre off the petrol excise. Mr Rudd then responded with a bit of a joke saying, “is that the Nelson position or the Turnbull position?”

That is how the show works, you ask the question and will get an answer, however do note that as this was the first show and it featured the Prime Minister that the format will be different from next week. There will be a panel of three politicians who will be answering questions who will be Green’s senator Bob Brown, Liberal shadow minister Tony Abbot, and housing minister Tanya Plibersek.

To ask a question you can SMS the number above, or head to the website where you can also be part of the audience. Q & A is on ABC1 Thursday night’s at 9:35pm.

Feel free to use any images or content on this site, but please provide a link back to where you found it, and don't forget to subscribe via RSS or the new e-mail subscription.

Popularity: 13% [?]