While occasionally it still provokes a national conversation it mostly descends into petty politics and point scoring and the best episodes are those when no politicians are on the panel.

But I couldn’t help myself when I heard that this week’s show (Monday August 27) would feature Bob Katter, Pauline Hansen and the LNP’s George Christiansen as well as Labor’s Cathy O’Toole and the Green’s Larissa Waters live in Mackay.

It sounded like car crash television but I’d hoped for some serious discussion about issues affecting northern Australia.

Inevitably last week’s shenanigans in Canberra were discussed which Mr Katter delightfully dismissed as “careerists competing for class captain” though it ignores the fact he is a career politician himself.

The thorny question of the linkages between coal, jobs, climate change and Adani came up. Predictably Waters was against the coal industry while equally predictably Katter, Hanson and Christiansen were for it (though Bob threw in his “zero emissions” Hell’s Gate proposal). Labor’s O’Toole had a bob each way, against helping the coal industry but pro-Adani “if the business case stacks up”.

The trio on the right (I include Bob here, though I admit he is “left” on some issues) all wanted an embargo on Muslim immigration with vague calls for a plebiscite. Frankly I think this is an appalling idea that attempts to take Australia back to its hermetically sealed 1950s outlook.

There were similar left-right divisions on a proposed state of North Queensland though no one addressed the real thorny issue here – not so much “paying for more politicians” but where, exactly, do you draw the border. At Gympie, Bundy, Rocky? And where west… Toowoomba in or out? 

For the most part Tony Jones kept towering egos in check though at a cost of overly rapid funneling through the issues.

Mr Katter’s 840,000 people competing for 200,000 jobs is an important issue. But where are those jobs coming from? There was no understanding of the way our economy is going and what work will look like in the future.

This is the conversation we need to have and Q&A is not helping – Derek Barry