Kitchen Cabinet on ABC – Join host Annabel Crabb – a long-term perpetrator of the culinary political home invasion – for a brand-new season of Kitchen Cabinet from Tuesday 15 August at 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
The 2022 election delivered the Australian public a change in government, a new Prime Minister, a bumper crop of Independent MPs, our most diverse parliament yet, and a rich array of new interview subjects.
This season in Kitchen Cabinet, Annabel will visit the homes of eight significant politicians (in alphabetical order): Former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, Western Sydney Independent Dai Le, Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie, Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John, Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe and Labor Minister Anika Wells.
“The Parliament is changing,” says Annabel, who joined the Parliamentary Press Gallery in 1999. “More and more, it reflects the Australia you see when you walk down the street. I’ve always been fascinated by what drives human beings to seek public office. And as the Parliament gets more diverse, the stories get better and better.”
The Kitchen Cabinet premise – devised by Annabel for the ABC in 2011 – is simple. Annabel visits the home of a prominent politician; they cook a meal together and she brings dessert.
“It’s a different kind of interview from the standard in-studio format,” Annabel says. “Because they’re in their own homes, politicians can’t reach for the same tried-and-true deflective forms of words that they rely upon in short studio interviews. And the interviewer can ask questions that are a lot more personal.
“Which for a nosy person is massively useful. So I can ask, for instance, how Peter Dutton feels about being likened to a potato, or how his traumatic experience in the Queensland Police changed him as a person. Or how Anika Wells manages three kids and a ministerial job while also needing hospital treatment every eight weeks. Or go the darkest spots in Dai Le’s life, when she was convinced she would die. Every single politician we elect has a back-story that dictates the way they behave in politics. And whether you love or loathe them, it’s always worth knowing that story.”
Kitchen Cabinet originally aired over six seasons from 2012 – 2016 and included more than 40 politicians from around Australia from Prime Ministers to backbenchers. All episodes are available to watch, free, on ABC iview. So, while you are waiting for the new series to start from August 15, go find the senior politician with the Bart Simpson bedspread, the one who nearly set Annabel on fire, the one who hasn’t let a professional cut her hair since the 1970s and more.
Production credit:
Director Stamatia Maroupas (Ms Represented, The House, Kitchen Cabinet, Queerstralia), Executive Producer Madeleine Hawcroft (The House, Kitchen Cabinet, Back In Time for the Corner Shop), Producer Pauline Ernesto, Associate Producer Brett Worthington Editors Elizabeth Graetz & Sally Moran
Kitchen Cabinet – Tuesday 15 August at 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Media Release – ABC
TV Central ABC content HERE
