The irony. After making its name in the heady days of internet cancellations, the ABC’s Q A has finally received a taste of its own medicine. Not for the crime of expressing non-conformist opinions, for which panellists were pursued, but for the crime of becoming so conformist there was no thrill left in switching on the TV. So says the cynic in me. Unsentimentally – but no less acutely – I will miss a show that once inspired Australians to engage with politics and talk about policy as though it were theirs to shape.

After 17 years, the ABC’s Monday night panel discussion show Q A has been axed.Credit: ABC

Over the past few years I have appeared a number of times on Q A, hosted by Tony Jones, then Hamish Macdonald and Patricia Karvelas. All of the hosts were unfailingly kind, as were their producers. I have a particular soft spot for Lindsay Olney, a talented senior producer who overcame my view of the show as a firing squad trained on non-progressives and convinced me that it might be OK to go on – just this once. Also for Tony Jones, the host of the first show I appeared on, who sensed my nerves and ensured I was treated with courtesy.

It wasn’t these people who eventually killed the ABC talk shows. It was the people whose response to an unfamiliar view is not curiosity, but outrage. The live tweet stream that was the genius stroke for democratising the show unfortunately also encouraged online mob behaviour around each episode.

It could be hard to take.........

© The Sydney Morning Herald