Peter Dutton MP

Panellists: John Elliott, businessman and blogger; Craig Emerson, Minister for Small Business; Peter Dutton, Opposition health spokesman; Louise Adler, publisher; and Annabel Crabb, journalist.

One of the year's most memorable Q&A episodes, this one was dominated by the wit and good humour of panel members and the passion audience members brought to key topics. With Sri Lankan asylum seekers the most dominant news subject of the week, Chris Andrew questioned the language used by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, in describing them as illegal immigrants. An Australian Tamil, Sara Nathan, asked why the Government was not pressuring Sri Lanka about the treatment of Tamils since the civil war, saying a humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka was causing the refugee influx.

The subject changed to local politics with a web question from Rick Samimi, of Sydney, asking former Liberal president John Elliott to compare the current Liberal party with that of 20 years earlier. David Havyatt asked whether the next Liberal PM was yet in the Parliament, while Adrian Miller from Adelaide challenged Peter Dutton, via the web, about his preselection woes in Queensland. Sara Morawetz then challenged all panellists with a question about the souls of politicians, and web questioner Shail Akhil, from Patterson Lakes in Victoria, wondered whether John Elliott could save the nation from namby-pamby politicians. Penny Szenkuti sparked a spirited discussion about Kevin Rudd appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, then Scott Driscoll tackled Craig Emerson about the monopoly position of big supermarket chains. Kit Peters had the last question, asking whether or not it was a good idea to drink alcohol before a public discussion. The MPs said never, Louise Adler said she didn’t drink, Annabel suggested someone had put too much sherry in her trifle and John Elliott declined to comment.