'The world has changed': ABC axes Q+A program after 18 years

The weekly staple featured politicians and other community and cultural figures directly facing questions from the audience but was plagued by declining viewership and rapidly changing hosts in the last several years.

ABC news director Justin Stevens said the broadcaster was "very proud" of the show's achievements

"We always need to keep innovating and renewing and in the two decades since Q+A began, the world has changed," Mr Stevens said.

"It's time to rethink how audiences want to interact and to evolve how we can engage with the public to include as many Australians as possible in national conversations."

He said the program's axing had "no reflection on anyone on the show".

The show first aired in 2008 with host Tony Jones who departed the program in 2019 after 12 years.

Hamish Macdonald was announced to replace Jones, starting in 2020, but resigned in 2021, citing social media trolling. He returned to a former role with Network 10's The Project.

READ MORE: 'Loved every second': The Project axed as stars move on

David Speers, Virginia Trioli and Stan Grant took over hosting on a rotating basis until July 2022, when Grant was appointed as a permanent host.

Stan Grant left the program in 2023, after taking a break from his media roles when he faced racist trolling and abuse over the ABC coverage of King Charles' coronation.

He accused the broadcaster of not providing him with sufficient of support during this time. The ABC ombudsman cleared the broadcaster of breaching editorial standards its coronation coverage.

Patricia Karvelas filled in hosting duties during this time, before being permanently appointed to host in 2024.

The show innovated audience engagement and was among the first to introduce an on-screen Twitter feed to allow home viewers to contribute to the discussion. In later years, it added live audience polling on the topics discussed.

Debates on the program often became heated between the panellists, and sometimes even the audience, with protests and interruptions taking place across the show's lifetime.

The most famous is the 2010 appearance of former prime minister John Howard, when an audience member, activist Peter Gray, threw a pair of shoes at Mr Howard over his responses about the Iraq War.

Mr Gray died of cancer six months later, but he had requested that the thrown shoes, which the ABC still held, could be auctioned to raise funds for the Red Cross. Both the program and Mr Howard supported the idea, and the auction was announced on the program and sold for $3650.

Patricia Karvelas said that she had immensely enjoyed being part of the program.

"Spending time with the audience members who came to Q+A late on a Monday night has been the best part of this job," she said.

"They have always been the reason for this show and I'm forever grateful to them for coming on national TV and having the courage to ask questions of powerful people."

The ABC said it will focus on new programs, including more news documentaries and making their federal election initiative Your Say a permanent part of coverage.