BREAKING NEWS Long running ABC program Q+A to be axed after 17 years following a painful decline in ratings
Q+A, one of the ABC's flagship current affairs and news programs will not return to air, after taking a break in May.
It was scheduled to return in August, but those familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity say it won't return.
The ABC is set to announce the decision to discontinue the show later this week.
The show has come under fire over the last few years, after churning through different hosts following the departure of Tony Jones, who left in 2019.
Q+A has seen several changes in its hosting lineup, first with Hamish Macdonald, David Speers, Virginia Trioli, Stan Grant and most recently Patricia Karvelas taking over as host.
The number of episodes was also cut by ABC staff in 2024, going from 40 episodes a year to just 24.
Q+A also was shifted from its usual slot of Monday night, to Thursday night, a move that was eventually reversed by the ABC.
The show also has seen its ratings collapse in the last 5 years.
From a peak 600,000 viewers in 2020, the Q+A crashed to a record low of just above 200,000 viewers across the five major capital cities in April 2021.
In August 2023, during the show's 'Garma Special', Q+A received its lowest ratings ever, with fewer than 84,000 metro viewers.
Daily Mail Australia's Political Editor Peter Van Onselen said the program would not be missed if it didn't return to ABC's roster in 2024.
In an opinion piece for The Australian, Van Onselen said Q&A - hosted by Patricia Karvelas - had received 203,000 views nationally.
'With numbers this woeful coupled with how out of touch with mainstream Australia the program has become, it really needs to be put out of its misery,' he wrote.
'There have been enough failed reboots to justify finally axing it.'
The commentator said cracks started to appear after Tony Jones stopped hosting after a decade in the role from 2008 to 2019.
'It wasn't all that long ago that the program was vibrant and interesting, with discussions well led by former host Tony Jones,' Van Onselen wrote.
'I remember appearing on it at the time. Ratings regularly hit the one million mark, which precipitated the discussion about changing its time slot.'
Van Onselen lashed the show for not being informative enough and hosting discussions that were 'one-sided, uninteresting and rarely funny'.
He claimed it was the ABC's 'stubbornness' that was saving the show from being axed for good but that a replacement would be welcomed.
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