THE five-person panel for Monday’s live Mildura episode of ABC discussion show Q+A was originally set to have more than one local on it.
Member for Mallee Anne Webster initially accepted an invitation to appear before plans changed, the program’s executive producer said.
“She had agreed to join the panel but then later informed us that she would no longer be available,” the executive producer said.
“We look forward to having Anne on the program another time.
“We are looking forward to bringing the program to Mildura and hearing from the community.”
Mallee District Aboriginal Services chief executive Darlene Thomas is the only person living in the region on the panel.
She will sit alongside singer-songwriter John Williamson, Assistant Rural and Regional Health Minister Emma McBride, Member for Riverina Michael McCormack and Queensland MP Bob Katter.
Producers intended to have Dr Webster and Ms Thomas on the panel together.
When asked if having one local representative on the panel was good enough, Dr Webster replied “that’s up to the ABC, not me”.
She said she is spending days at a time out in the electorate and would be hours away from Mildura on Monday.
“As an MP I am committed to hearing from and representing the entire electorate. The largest electorate in Victoria. I am away days at a time and that is my focus,” Dr Webster said.
“My regional health portfolio has given a sharper focus on the needs in the community. I do not spend my time hoping I will be asked to go on national media.
“At the time ABC contacted me, I thought it might work, but electorate duties come first. They always will and as it turned out we quickly realised it was not going to work out this time.”
As advertised on Facebook, Dr Webster will be hosting mobile offices in the electorate on that day.
She’ll be in Ouyen from 9am, Birchip from 11.30am, Wycheproof from 1pm and Charlton from 2.30pm.
The live Q+A broadcast starts at 9.35pm.
Dr Webster said she regretted missing out on the opportunity to speak about the Mildura regional health summit to the Q+A audience.
She was asked for a suggestion to replace her on the panel; she said she did not recommend anyone.
The last recording of Q+A in Mildura was in 2016, which included six panel members.
They were Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council chief executive Dean Wickham, Farrer MP Sussan Ley, Barham avocado farmer Katrina Myers, Gippsland farmer and business woman Emma Germano, NSW-based Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon and a late addition, Mildura cook Stefano de Pieri.
