Q&A made a triumphant return for 2010 with a special program from Old Parliament House in Canberra featuring Kevin Rudd and an audience of 200 young Australians aged 16-25. Program producers were inundated with hundreds of excellent questions from this group.

Panelists: Lindsay Tanner, Minister for Finance; Barnaby Joyce, shadow minister for finance; Melinda Tankard Reist, author and advocate; Satyajit Das, financial consultant and former banker; Rebecca Huntley, social researcher.

Panelists: Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek; former Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull; veteran political commentator and humorist Mungo MacCallum; publicist and advertising consultant Jane Caro; and conservative advocate John Roskam from the Institute of Public Affairs.

Panelists: Peter Garrett, Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts; Chris Pyne, Opposition education spokesman; Jin Xing, choreographer and dancer; Eddie Perfect, comedian and performer; Brenda Croft, artist and curator; and Paul Grabowsky, Director of the Adelaide Festival.

Panelists: Richard Dawkins, author, evolutionary biologist and atheist; Patrick McGorry, mental health expert and Australian of the Year; Rabbi Jackie Nino; Family First Senator Steve Fielding; Julie Bishop, Deputy Opposition Leader; and Tony Burke, Minister for Agriculture.

Panelists: Miranda Devine, conservative columnist with The Sydney Morning Herald; Catherine Deveny, comedian and anything but conservative columnist with The Age; Waleed Aly, politics lecturer; Bill Shorten, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities; and Peter Dutton, shadow health minister.

Panelists: Nicola Roxon, Minister for Health; Baroness Valerie Amos, United Kingdom High Commissioner to Australia; Greg Hunt, Opposition environment spokesman; John 'Rampaging Roy Slaven' Doyle, broadcaster and playwright; and Tim Wilson, from the free-market think tank the Institute for Public Affairs.

Panelists: Craig Emerson, Minister for Small Business; Kelly O'Dwyer, Liberal MP; Sue Cato, spin doctor; Nick McKim, Leader of the Tasmanian Greens; and Graham Richardson, lobbyist and former Labor minister.

A veteran of many Q&A panels since the program's earliest days, Tony Abbott this time faced the audience alone as Leader of the Opposition. A sharp and well-informed audience put him through the hoops on issues across the policy spectrum, and Tony kept his answers brief enough to allow room for well over 20 questions from those in the studio and from others around Australia via video and the web.

The panel includes: Greg Sheridan, Joe Hockey, Tanya Plibersek, Jeff Bleich and Lucy Turnbull.

Panelists: Bob Carr, former NSW Premier; Scott Morrison, Opposition immigration spokesman; Heather Ridout, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group; national director of GetUp, Simon Sheikh; and communication consultant Shimrit Nothman.

Panelists: Former Defense Force Chief General Peter Cosgrove; author and feminist icon Germaine Greer; Brigadier Alison Creagh; historian Professor Henry Reynolds; and Peter FitzSimons, author and journalist.

Panelists: Climate Change Minister Penny Wong; Liberal Senator Nick Minchin; Deputy Greens Leader Christine Milne; John Symond of Aussie Home Loans; and Paul Howes, national secretary of the Australian Workers' Union.

Panelists: Kaiser Kuo, internet consultant; Brendan O'Connor, Minister for Home Affairs; Sophie Mirabella, shadow minister for innovation; columnist and commentator Helen Razer; and Brett Solomon, Executive Director of Accessnow.org.

Panelists: Lindsay Tanner, Minister for Finance; Joe Hockey, Shadow Treasurer.

Panelists: Acclaimed authors Peter Carey, Lionel Shriver and John Ralston Saul; Indigenous academic Marcia Langton; and former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.

Panelists: Maxine McKew, member for Bennelong; Liberal senator Cory Bernardi; law student and political aspirant Mitch Grady; Miriam Lyons, Director of the Center for Policy Development; and singer and song-writer Clare Bowditch.

Panelists: Financial Services Minister Chris Bowen; Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison; AFL legend Kevin Sheedy; NSW Liberal MP Pru Goward; youth representative and human rights activist Samah Hadid; and lawyer and community worker Heath Ducker.

Panelists: Peter Garrett, Minister for Environment Protection; Peter Singer, philosopher and ethicist; Helen Coonan, Liberal Senator; David Marr, author and journalist; and Jayashri Kulkarni, professor of psychiatry.

Panelists: Craig Emerson, Minister for Small Business; former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull; Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young; Labor legend and former Senator Graham Richardson; and Jessica Brown, policy analyst from the Center for Independent Studies.

Panelists: Bill Shorten, Parliamentary Secretary for Disability Services; Barnaby Joyce, National Party Senate Leader; Christine Wallace, political biographer and journalist; Magda Szubanski, actor and comedian; Harold Mitchell, advertising guru and philanthropist; and Janet Albrechtsen, columnist for The Australian.

Panelists: Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainable Population; George Brandis, shadow attorney-general; Annabel Crabb, journalist and commentator; Cheryl Kernot, former Labor MP and Leader of the Australian Democrats; and Grahame Morris, political commentator and former Liberal staffer.

Panelists: Chris Evans, Minister for Immigration; Christopher Pyne, shadow education minister; journalist and author Lenore Taylor; Scott Ludlam, WA Greens Senator; Victorian County Court Judge Felicity Hampel; and John Elliott, business man and former Liberal Party president.

Panelists: Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek; Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop; political analyst Waleed Aly; newspaper columnist Piers Akerman; and ALP strategist Bruce Hawker.

Panelists: Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change; Greens Senator Christine Milne; Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull; former Labor minister Graham Richardson; and Tom Switzer, editor of The Spectator Australia.

Panelists: Craig Emerson, Minister for Small Business; Barnaby Joyce, National Party Senate Leader; Peter Dutton, shadow minister for health; Larissa Waters, lead Queensland Senate candidate for the Greens; and Madonna King, ABC Brisbane radio presenter.

In the face of widespread criticism that the election campaign by both sides had been conducted in a play-safe manner that avoided contact with the public, Prime Minister Julia Gillard decided to enter the lion's den. She faced an audience of 300 genuine voters, carefully chosen to balance supporters and opponents, in the ABC's Adelaide studio for an hour of live, unscripted and unforgettable television.

This week Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's got the chance to face the questions of genuine voters, live and unscripted. With polling day less than a week away Q&A returned to the Casula Powerhouse in western Sydney, a key regional battleground containing several marginal seats that may decide which side comes out on top in the election. The first question, from Rebekah Ruth Morrison, deplored the negativity of the campaign and invited Tony to outline the biggest reason why voters should elect him. Xenogene Gray challenged the Opposition Leader on his broadband policy before video questioner Fraser Tustian, from Thornleigh in NSW, asked Tony to imagine he was in an earlier century and having to choose between a national rail network and a national tram network. In response to a question on the school building program from Teresa Ragusa, Tony suggested a judicial inquiry might be needed to investigate waste and mismanagement.

Panelists: Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull; Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young; political commentator Graham Richardson; Independent MP Tony Windsor; and conservative columnist Janet Albrechtsen.

Panelists: Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser; author Jessica Rudd; author and political historian John Keane; biographer and commentator Christine Wallace; and Chris Berg, research fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs.

Panelists: Independent MP Bob Katter; Greens Senator Christine Milne; former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie; Liberal Senator Nick Minchin; and social researcher Rebecca Huntley.

On the panel: Clive Palmer, Tanya Plibersek, Warren Truss, Sarah Hanson-Young and Lenore Taylor.

Panelists: Immigration Minister Chris Bowen; shadow education minister Christopher Pyne; ethicist and author Leslie Cannold; editor of the Australian Women's Weekly, Helen McCabe; and comedian Craig Reucassel from The Chaser.

Panelists: Communications Minister Stephen Conroy; shadow innovation minister Sophie Mirabella; journalist and author Mungo MacCallum; Independent MP Rob Oakeshott; and Fiona Patten, president of the Australian Sex Party.

Panelists: International human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson; editor-at-large for The Australian, Paul Kelly; activist and commentator Tariq Ali; journalist and author Ratih Hardjono; and columnist Lenore Skenazy.

Panelists: Sports Minister Mark Arbib; Liberal MHR Kelly O'Dwyer; author and journalist Roy Masters; former Test cricketer Geoff Lawson; and Olympic swimming champion Lisa Forrest.

Panelists: Mike Kelly, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture; shadow climate minister Greg Hunt; scientist and climate change advocate Tim Flannery; scientist and climate change sceptic Jennifer Mahorasy; journalist with The Australian, Jennifer Hewett; and Bruce Guthrie, former News Ltd editor and author of Man Bites Murdoch.

When Q&A invited former Prime Minister John Howard to appear on the program to discuss his autobiography, Lazarus Rising, no one anticipated that the show would make news around the world. Then again, no one could know that audience member and Iraq war protester Pete Gray would choose to make a point about the war by taking off both shoes and hurling them across the studio at the former PM.

Panellists: WA Premier Colin Barnett; Defence Minister Stephen Smith; mining magnate Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest; Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop; Greens Senator Rachel Siewert; and Indigenous business representative Tony Wiltshire from the Pilbara Aboriginal Contractors' Association. For the first time since the show started, Q&A was able to travel to Perth and present the program in the ABC East Perth studios before an enthusiastic local audience. With WA enjoying a massive mining boom and growing tensions appearing between the Barnett Liberal government and the Gillard government in Canberra, Nicole Naeser chose to raise the secession issue and Anthony Spagnolo said it was time to stop treating WA as a cash cow for the Eastern States. None of the panellists supported secession but there was a strong feeling in the room about the treatment of WA under current tax arrangements, and Twiggy Forrest suggested the State was an easy target which was about to 'cop the raw end of the deal.' Twiggy and Tony Wiltshire were asked to address Indigenous employment issues in detail with questions from Sunili Govinnage and Georgina Fraser before a double-header video question from Broome residents Jan Lewis and Fiona Bishop on the compulsory acquisition of land at James Price Point near Broome for a gas processing plant. Colin Barnett said the Government had done all it could to negotiate with the traditional owners and raised the idea of compulsory acquisition when negotiations collapsed as Indigenous groups disagreed. He said it was important for the whole State that the $30 billion project be allowed to proceed. Stephen Smith agreed that the project should proceed but said the Premier's tactics were wrong. The discussion turned to the refugee issue, with Gerrit van der Sluys suggesting that people in detention were given more help and better treatment than homeless Australians. Renee Deleuil took the opposite view, saying she felt shame and sadness to hear the hat

Panelists: Bill Shorten, Assistant Treasurer; George Brandis, shadow attorney-general; Randa Abdel Fattah, author and lawyer; Janet Albrechtsen, conservative commentator; and Jonathan Biggins, satirist and performer. The final Q&A for 2010 was not entirely without drama: a violent thunderstorm closed Sydney airport for much of the night and the plane from Adelaide carrying Liberal Senator Nick Minchin, one of the scheduled panelists for the evening, was diverted to Melbourne.