Q&A Season 5, Episode 21: Life, the Universe and Everything

1

Q&A Returns

Joining Tony Jones on the panel are: News Limited columnist and blogger, Joe Hildebrand; Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey; economist and businesswoman, Judith Sloan; and founder of the left-wing think tank CPD, Miriam Lyons.

60 min

2

Celebrities, Leaders and the Speaker

Panellists: Jenny McAllister, ALP National President; Helen Kroger, Liberal Senator; Mikey Robins, comedian; Robert Manne, writer and academic; and Tim Wilson, Institute of Public Affairs.

60 min

3

The Labor Leadership

Panellists: Julie Bishop, Eva Cox, Annabel Crabb, Daniel Hannan.

60 min

4

After the Ballot

Panellists: Government Leader in the Senate, Chris Evans; the Nationals' Senator, Barnaby Joyce; former Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie; Deputy Leader of the Greens, Christine Milne; Kevin Rudd's former advisor, Lachlan Harris; and opinion columnist for The Australian, Janet Albrechtsen.

60 min

5

Live from Adelaide

Panellists: Amanda Vanstone, former Howard Government Minister; Mark Steyn, conservative commentator and writer; Natasha Stott Despoja, one-time Democrats leader; Jianying Zha, writer and adviser to US President Barack Obama; and Paul Grabowsky, Director, 2012 Adelaide Festival.

60 min

6

Katter, Kony and the Climate

Panellists: Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek; Shadow Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull; former Farmer of the Year, Michael O'Brien; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Gooda; and Feminist writer and broadcaster, Clementine Ford.

60 min

7

Politics and Porn in a Post-Feminist World

Panellists Germaine Greer, celebrated Australian intellectual; Toby Ralph, marketing and political strategist; Benjamin Law, writer and journalist; Christa Hughes, cabaret artist; and Craig Gross, America's contentious porn pastor.

60 min

8

The Qld Election

Panellists: Craig Emerson, Trade Minister; George Brandis, Shadow Attorney General; Larissa Waters, Queensland Greens Senator; Grahame Morris, political strategist; Liberty Sanger, labor lawyer.

60 min

9

Live from Hobart

Panellists: former Violent Femme, Brian Ritchie, now director of Hobart's MONA Festival of Music and Art; The Minister for Community Services, Julie Collins; Liberal Senate Leader, Eric Abetz; Outspoken Independent and anti-gambling MP, Andrew Wilkie; author and academic, Natasha Cica; and CEO of the Forest Industry Association, Terry Edwards.

60 min

10

Religion and Atheism

Panellists: Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell and British atheist, Professor Richard Dawkins.

60 min

11

Philosophy and the World

Panellists: Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon; shadow education minister, Christopher Pyne; humanist philosopher, A.C. Grayling; human rights lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson and Middle East analyst, Lydia Khalil.

60 min

12

Bob Brown joins Q&A

Panellist: Bob Brown, outgoing leader of the Australian Greens.

60 min

13

Q&A Climate Debate

Panellists: Social researcher and writer, Rebecca Huntley; former Liberal Minister, Nick Minchin; founder of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Anna Rose; mining magnate, Clive Palmer; Chief Executive of the CSIRO, Dr Megan Clark.

60 min

14

Live from Dandenong

Panellists: Mark Dreyfus, Cabinet Secretary and local Labor MP; Sophie Mirabella, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science; Victor Victor, Sudanese youth leader; Ged Kearney, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions; Peter Reith, former Howard Government Minister; and Diana Nguyen, actor and comedian.

60 min

15

Show Me the Money...

Panellists: Graham Richardson, Labor powerbroker turned commentator; Mark Butler, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing; Kelly O'Dwyer, Liberal MP; Mark Bouris, leading Australian businessman; and Kate Miller-Heidke, singer songwriter.

60 min

16

Morals and Politics

Panellists: Penny Wong, Finance Minister; Joe Hockey, Shadow Treasurer; Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision Australia; Judith Sloan, economist and businesswoman; and Stephen Mayne, Crikey founder and shareholder activist.

60 min

17

Sydney Writers' Festival

Panellists: Jeffrey Eugenides, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, Kathy Lette, Australian author, commentator and self-confessed "demented mother"; Glenn Carle, former CIA interrogator and analyst; Masha Gessen, Russian journalist and Putin biographer; and Greg Sheridan, Foreign Affairs Editor, The Australian.

60 min

18

Barry Humphries joins Q&A

Panellists: Barry Humphries, celebrated Australian writer, satirist and actor; Miriam Margolyes, star of Harry Potter and champion of English novelist Charles Dickens; Jacki Weaver, Academy Award nominated actress; David Marr, journalist and commentator; and John Hewson, former leader of the Liberal Party.

60 min

19

Live from Toowoomba

Panellists: Simon Crean, Federal Minister for Regional Australia and the Arts; Barnaby Joyce, Queensland Senator and Shadow Federal Minister for Regional Development; Christine Milne, Leader of the Greens; Georgie Somerset, Kingaroy farmer and President of the Queensland Rural Women's Network and Jeremy Marou, Torres Strait Islands musician and grand nephew of Eddie Mabo.

60 min

20

Prime Minister Julia Gillard joins Q&A

Panellists: Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard.

60 min

21

Life, the Universe and Everything

Joining Tony Jones on the panel are: NSW Minister for Community Services, Pru Goward; English comedian, Lenny Henry; News Limited columnist and blogger, Joe Hildebrand; Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan; and academic and writer, Professor Brian Schmidt.

60 min

22

The Great Boat Debacle

Panellists: Kate Lundy, Minister for Sport and Multicultural Affairs; Tim Freedman, lead singer of The Whitlams; George Brandis, Shadow Attorney General; Dr John Lee, foreign policy academic and China expert; and Louise Adler, CEO of Melbourne University Publishing.

60 min

23

After the Carbon Tax

Panellists: Greg Combet, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency; Sophie Mirabella, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science; Simon Sheikh, National Director of GetUp; Lenore Taylor, National Affairs Correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald; and Grahame Morris, political strategist.

60 min

24

Artistic Politics

Panellists: Chris Bowen, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship; Malcolm Turnbull, Shadow Communications Minister; Nahji Chu, one-time refugee now successful restaurateur; Thierry de Duve, internationally acclaimed art theorist and critic; and Liz Ann Macgregor, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

60 min

25

Random Violence

Panellists: Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize-winning author; Joel Fitzgibbon, Government Whip; Greg Hunt, Shadow Climate Minister; Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens Senator; Jennifer Hewett, political journalist; and Peter Craven, literary critic.

60 min

26

Teachers, Schools and our Education System

Panellists: Simon Sheikh, GetUp Director; Nicola Roxon, Attorney-General; Christopher Pyne, Shadow Education Minister; Michael Spence, Vice-Chancellor of Sydney University and Jane Caro, social commentator.

60 min

27

A Q&A of Olympic proportions

Panellists: Shane Gould, Australian swimming legend and triple Olympic gold medal winner; Louise Sauvage, multi gold medallist wheelchair racer; David Pocock, incoming captain of the Australian Wallabies rugby team; John Alexander, tennis champion turned MP for Bennelong; and Michael O'Loughlin, former Sydney Swans' star.

60 min

28

Manners, Mining and the Can-do Attitude

Panellists: Katie Noonan, singer-songwriter; Craig Emerson, Minister for Trade; George Brandis, Shadow Attorney General; Bob Katter, political maverick and leader of the Australian Party; and Debbie Kilroy, prisoner rights advocate.

60 min

29

Big Ideas and Big Society

Panellists: Peter Singer, Ethicist and philosopher; Phillip Blond, British political thinker and theologian; Dr Cassandra Goldie, Head of Australian Council of Social Service; Mark Butler, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing; and Pru Goward, Member for Goulburn.

60 min

30

Assange, Asylum & Human Bondage

Panellists: Graham Richardson, Labor powerbroker turned commentator; Doug Cameron, Labor Senator for New South Wales; Janet Albrechtsen, Opinion columnist for The Australian; Simon Birmingham, Liberal Senator for South Australia; and Mandy Nolan, comedian, author and mother-of-five.

60 min

31

Mutilation and the Media Generation

Panellists: Simon Callow, Celebrated British actor and writer; Germaine Greer, Feminist icon and provocateur; Anthony Appiah, Ghanaian-British-American philosopher and novelist; and Sefi Atta, Nigerian Author.

60 min

32

Trolls and Trawlers

Panellists: Tony Burke, Minister For Environment and Sustainability; Tara Moss, Author and former model; Angry Anderson, Rock singer and conservative political activist; Fiona Nash, The National's Senator and Nitin Sawhney, British Indian musician and composer.

60 min

33

Seek and Ye Shall Submit

Panellists: Peter Jensen, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney; Chris Evans, Minister for Tertiary Education; Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Ageing; Anna Krien, Journalist and author; and Catherine Deveny, Writer, comedian and social commentator.

60 min

34

Protests and Palestine

Panellists: Clover Moore, Newly re-elected Lord Mayor of Sydney; Robyn Davidson, Acclaimed Australian author; Ilan Pappe, Israeli born historian; Irving Wallach, Prominent Australian barrister; and Greg Sheridan, Foreign Affairs editor of The Australian.

60 min

35

The Future of The Future

Panellists: Tanya Plibersek, Minister for Health; Kelly O'Dwyer, Liberal Member for Higgins; Mark Carnegie, Venture capitalist and philanthropist; Elliot Perlman, Australian novelist and screenwriter; and Jason Silva, American futurist and film maker.

60 min

36

Sorry, Lust and Free Will

Panellists: Jane Bussmann, 'Bob and Bono - Get Out of Africa!'; Shiv Malik, 'The War of Young against Old'; Jianying Zha, 'China Hearts America'; Jesse Bering, 'We're All Sexual Perverts!'; and Simon Laham, 'The Joy of Sin'.

60 min

37

Bullying, Education & Purpose

Panellists: Kate Ellis, Minister for Employment Participation; Christopher Pyne, Shadow Education Minister; Lindsay Tanner, Former Finance Minister; Nilaja Sun, American actor and playwright; and Piers Akerman, Political commentator.

60 min

38

Super, Sexism & Surgery

Panellists: Pamela Stephenson, Author and psychotherapist; Bill Shorten, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations; Charlie Pickering, Comedian and television presenter; Sophie Mirabella, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science; and Catherine Fox, Deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review's Boss Magazine.

60 min

39

Folk Music, Five Years & Funding

Panellists: Billy Bragg, Singer-songwriter and activist; Peter Garrett, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth; Amanda Vanstone, Former Howard Government Minister; Scott Morrison, Shadow Immigration Minister; and Julia Baird, author, broadcaster and journalist.

60 min

40

Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Panellists: Kate Lundy, Minister for Sport and Multicultural Affairs; Eric Abetz, Liberal Senate Leader; Archie Roach, Indigenous singer-songwriter; Sekai Holland, Zimbabwe Minister for National Healing & Reconciliation; and Grahame Morris, Political adviser.

60 min

41

James Price Point and beyond

Panellists: Colin Barnett, WA Premier; Bob Brown, Former Leader of the Greens; Alannah MacTiernan, Former Labor Minister; Hannah McGlade, Indigenous human rights lawyer and Bob Cronin, Editor in Chief, The West Australian.

60 min

42

Elephants On Parade

Panellists: Judith Sloan, Economist and businesswoman; Kevin Rudd, Former Prime Minister; Malcolm Turnbull, Shadow Communications Minister; and Heather Ridout, Reserve Bank of Australia board member.

60 min

43

Happy Endings

Panellists: Penny Wong, Finance Minister; Barnaby Joyce, Queensland Nationals Senator; Jonathan Biggins, Playwright and Satirist; Stella Young, Comedienne and disability activist; and Janet Albrechtsen, Columnist for The Australian.

60 min