Can it please be hosted by Virginia Trioli please - she is perhaps the best presenter/journo in the country I reckon.

Tin Tin

Isn’t lawyer Melanie Kerrison is the spouse of that ardent Gunns & Pulp Mill supporter, Sam McQuestin? Hopefully if she is, she will declare her allegiances at the start of the program.

Hmm, I wonder what topic will dominate debate? Hmm

Yes, Melanie is the wife of Sam, so this should be declared at the start. How do you think she got on there in the first place?

I’ve got a guernsey, and a few of my mates have, as well! Should be interesting, although I have just been informed by email that I will not be in that section of the audience that will have the opportunity to ask a question… bummer!

There is a picture of Mel Kerrison at http://enterprise.realviewtechnologies.com/default.aspx?iid=7361&startpage=page0000063

I wouldn’t be surprised if The Examiner promote her as “successful lawyer” simply because she’s part of the McQuestin family. Enough reason for me to not want to do business with Rae & Partners if it helps keep Sam in bread&butter;. How much does he get paid for being Tas Liberal State Director?

So two Liberals and not one independent. Where is Wilkie in this? Surely it would be better balanced without Mrs McQuestin.

Why do you all automatically make the assumption that Melanie Kerrison’s views and political alignment are the same as those of her spouse, unless she has previously stated them? PS I am not a Liberal member or voter, nor do I have any connection to Gunns or the McQuestin family.

Turn it up, Jane Rankin-Reid.  Apart from the obvious point made by Trudy Johnson (that Melanie Kerrison’s politics are not necessarily those of her spouse), if anything the panel is slanted towards the Greens, since Peter Cundall is arguably even greener than Christine Milne.  Even if Ms Kerrison has Liberal sympathies, the Greens would still be over-represented in comparison to their level of support in the wider population.

Indeed, with all due respect, I suspect Ms Kerrison owes her presence to notions of balance, principally gender, geography (she’s a Northerner) and generational.

No, the shame in Melanie Kerrison’s guernsey (again with all due respect to her, nothing personal) is that she’s yet another damn lawyer.  With so many of the issues discussed revolving around either economic or scientific issues, or both (climate change and carbon pricing, energy options, forestry impacts), would it be too much to ask to have an actual economist or scientist on the panel?