Some Q+A staff learned of show’s axing from news reports, not management

Amid looming restructures at the ABC, some staff at Q+A first learned of the program’s axing from news reports before being informed by management. It is understood there are frustrations from staff at the news leaking to the press before all staff working on the show were informed.

At a meeting with ABC director of news Justin Stevens on Wednesday, Q+A staff were offered a four-week consultancy period, after which time staff had the choice of being redeployed or being made redundant, a source told Crikey.

The ABC is expected to announce yet another restructuring of staff later today, its fourth in eight years. 

This round of changes is anticipated to focus on digital producers and support staff at the national broadcaster. It is understood that staff, particularly those concentrated in the content and audio divisions of the ABC, have been notified of meetings with management that appear to be indicative of restructuring or redundancies. 

Lamestream reports that some staff were instructed to meet with senior management they had never previously interacted with, and that the impacted staff work across several units of the broadcaster, including ABC Indigenous, Sport, Arts and Radio National. 

In a memo to News staff, seen by Crikey, Stevens said Q+A had “made a huge contribution to the public discussion”, but that “in the two decades since Q+A began the world has changed”.

Stevens also said that the ABC would soon be advertising for a new position of executive producer, documentaries and specials.

“This role will sit within Investigative Journalism and Current Affairs, reporting to Jo Puccini, and lead the production of compelling news documentaries and specials.”

Following the implementation of the audience-led “Your Say” initiative during the ABC’s 2025 federal election coverage, Stevens also said that it would continue permanently.

Multiple sources speaking to Crikey have noted that the news division appears to have dodged the cuts, but Stevens is apparently slated to formally address his staff later this week. 

The most prominent of the cuts being made is that of flagship panel program Q+A, which Capital Brief first reported would be axed after nearly two decades on air. The program, hosted by Patricia Karvelas, was in its heyday under founding host Tony Jones, who stepped down in 2019. Under Jones, the program was highly influential and dictated much of the week in Australian politics, with both sides endeavouring to have a presence in front of, at one point, more than half a million viewers. 

Little is known about the cuts so far, with ABC management expected to meet with staff later this afternoon.

Crikey put questions to the ABC about some of the rumoured changes, including whether Q+A staff who are redeployed instead of being made redundant would be moved onto roles with fixed-term contracts instead of permanent ones, and whether a number of support staff in production roles had already been put into redundancy pools as early as a fortnight ago. The ABC did not respond in time for publication. 

The restructure will mark the first major move made by new managing director, Hugh Marks, who joined the ABC after previously having served as CEO of Nine from 2015 to 2021. During the merger with Fairfax in 2018, which Marks oversaw, Nine made 144 staff redundant as part of the takeover.