Kitchen Cabinet

8:00pm – Thursday, December 27 on ABC1

A half-hour six-part entertainment series that serves up a delectable combination of political discussion and good food. Each week one of Australia’s most respected political commentators – Annabel Crabb – takes a plate and leads us into the homes and hearts of some of our most notable and engaging politicians.

In the season final, Labor backbencher Dick Adams welcomes Annabel into his historically-notorious home to talk salmon, mutton birds, cheese, wine, and custom-built cookware. A former shearer, Adams explains how he made the journey through various trades, illiterate until well into his twenties, and ultimately became a member of parliament. While a prodigiously-sized salmon simmers away on the stove, Dick shares the secrets of egg mayonnaise while recounting some of the challenges of his political career, involving his definitive clash with former leader Mark Latham over Tasmanian forestry, in which he defied his own party’s election policy.

8:00pm – Thursday, December 20 on ABC1

A half-hour six part entertainment series that serves up a delectable combination of political discussion and good food. Each week one of Australia’s most respected political commentators – Annabel Crabb – takes a plate and leads us into the homes and hearts of some of our most notable and engaging politicians.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek is known for her calm poise and patience as she straddles the responsibilities of a career in politics, with being a mother of three small children. Criticised for returning to work with a newborn baby, Plibersek discusses the endless juggle for working women, her immigrant father’s work on the Snowy Mountains scheme, and what led her from political activism to politics. In a deeply personal interview, Tanya also talks about the way she and her family navigated press revelations of her husband’s past involvement in heroin trafficking and his rehabilitation from a teenage prison term to become a senior public servant. In a true demonstration of multi-tasking, she accomplishes all of this while assembling stuffed zucchini flowers, baked cheese and olive pastries and trout pasta.

8:00pm – Thursday, December 13 on ABC1

Annabel Crabb sits down and talks food, recipes and carbon tax with MPs from both sides of the fence. Food and politics are never separated for long. The best plots are hatched over lunch. The best stories are told over dinner. In Canberra, dinner bookings are an anthropological study in themselves. And the best way to get to know a politician is to break bread with one. Kitchen Cabinet will deliver a refreshing humanist touch, as we watch our politicians drop their guard and go about their daily life at home.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition Julie Bishop has survived three bloody leadership battles, in turn serving Brendan Nelson, Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott. So what makes this Adelaide born blue-blood – known for her famous ‘death stare’ – tick? Bishop discusses her childhood in the Adelaide Hills as the daughter of fifth generation cherry farmers, through to her rise as a Perth-based corporate lawyer whose political awakening was forged by WA Inc. Over risotto and ros� Bishop talks about her friendships across the political divide, surviving embarrassing policy gaffes, and what it takes to outlast, out run and out manoeuvre her opponents. She also confesses to some truly unusual jogging behaviour, and to having run away, as a child, to join the Brownies.

8:00pm – Thursday, December 6 on ABC1

A half-hour entertainment series that serves up a delectable combination of political discussion and good food. Each week one of Australia’s most respected political commentators – Annabel Crabb – takes a plate and leads us into the homes and hearts of some of our most notable and engaging politicians. Annabel sits down and talks food, recipes and carbon tax with MPs from both sides of the fence. Food and politics are never separated for long. The best plots are hatched over lunch. The best stories are told over dinner. In Canberra, dinner bookings are an anthropological study in themselves. And the best way to get to know a politician is to break bread with one.

Kitchen Cabinet will deliver a refreshing human touch, as we watch our politicians drop their guard and go about their daily life at home. Minister for Finance Penny Wong has one of the most famous poker faces in the Gillard government. In this episode, though, as she cooks a dish of particular personal significance, Senator Wong talks about some of life’s complications; her unsuccessful attempt to save the world with Kevin Rudd at Copenhagen, for example, and her quest to preserve her own privacy despite having a private life that might as well, given current political circumstances, have neon lights all over it. Why did she have herself baptised at a youthful age? How strange was it to be the only Asian kid at her Aussie primary school.

What makes her lose her temper? What is Belachan? All will be revealed…

8:00pm – Thursday, November 29 on ABC1

A half-hour entertainment series that serves up a delectable combination of political discussion and good food. Each week one of Australia’s most respected political commentators – Annabel Crabb takes a plate and leads us into the homes and hearts of some of our most notable and engaging politicians. Annabel sits down and talks food, recipes and carbon tax with MPs from both sides of the fence. Food and politics are never separated for long. The best plots are hatched over lunch. The best stories are told over dinner. In Canberra, dinner bookings are an anthropological study in themselves. And the best way to get to know a politician is to break bread with one.

Annabel enters heart of darkness territory as the Opposition’s Minister for Indigenous Affairs takes her into crocodile-infested estuaries in search of crustacean delicacies. Nigel Scullion cooks a chilli mud crab and a northern territory tasting plate. Annabel’s dessert is a mango and lemon myrtle trifle.

An ABC TV Production. EP is Sophia Zachariou.

8:00pm – Thursday, November 22 on ABC1

An encore screening of series one. Each week one of Australia’s most respected political commentators – Annabel Crabb takes a plate and leads us into the homes and hearts of some of our most notable and engaging politicians. She sits down and talks food, recipes and carbon tax with MPs from both sides of the fence. Food and politics are never separated for long.

Shadow Minister and Manager of Opposition Business Christopher Pyne teams up with his political mentor and great friend Amanda Vanstone to discuss his start in politics. Alarmingly, this occurred at age seven, apparently after swimming in Amanda’s pool. Later, Christopher worked for Amanda, then won a South Australian seat in a memorably bloody encounter. Over lunch, Christopher talks about his early hostile relationship with John Howard, his unlikely friendship with Bronwyn Bishop, and his sense of inferiority to Jackie Kelly. He talks to Annabel about his days on the backbench, his political rivalries, and his friendship with Vanstone. Amanda Vanstone entertains with stories of her time as one of the most recognised ministers in the Howard Government, when students burnt effigies of her as she set about implementing some of the most extreme cuts to higher education Australia has witnessed. She also tells the real story of the day John Howard sacked her.

9:35pm – Wednesday, November 14 on ABC2

After cooking up a storm with some of Australia’s most surprising politicians in the first series of Kitchen Cabinet, Annabel Crabb has come back to ABC2 with a second helping.

Each week our veteran political journalist invites herself over to the home of a sitting member offering dessert in exchange for dinner.

Annabel Crabb is ABC Online’s chief political writer, and columnist for ‘The Drum’. She is a regular guest on ABC News 24′s 6pm current affairs show The Drum, and on ABC TV’s Sunday morning politics program Insiders. She writes a weekly column for the Sun Herald, Sunday Times (Canberra) and Sunday Age, and is a panellist and keen competitor on ABC1′s Randling. (Favourite word: Preposterous) In the series final, Greens Leader Christine Milne talks to Annabel about her part in making Tasmania one of the more progressive states in Australia. Politicised over the fight to save the Franklin River this former school teacher did a short stint in jail with her fellow activists before taking on a power-sharing role in the Tasmanian state parliament. After a quick visit to the local produce store Milne drives Annabel back to her beautiful home overlooking the harbour. Over an onion and goats cheese tart Milne talks about gun control laws post-Port Arthur, what it was like to be called ‘the mother of teenage sodomy’ and her harsh approach to a particularly recalcitrant passionfruit tree.

9:30pm – Wednesday, November 7 on ABC2

After cooking up a storm with some of Australia’s most surprising politicians in the first series of Kitchen Cabinet, Annabel Crabb is coming back to ABC2 with a second helping.

Each week our veteran political journalist invites herself over to the home of a sitting member offering dessert in exchange for dinner.

Annabel Crabb is ABC Online’s chief political writer, and columnist for ‘The Drum’. She is a regular guest on ABC News 24′s 6pm current affairs show The Drum, and on ABC TV’s Sunday morning politics program Insiders. She writes a weekly column for the Sun Herald, Sunday Times (Canberra) and Sunday Age, and is a panellist and keen competitor on ABC1′s Randling. (Favourite word: Preposterous.) Western Australian Labor Senator Louise Pratt is the youngest of our hosts and also hands down the most serious cook of the series. Inventing her own recipes Louise takes a messy but creative approach to her entree of scallop fritters before moving on to crab linguine with handmade pasta. Apart from cooking, Senator Pratt’s other great passion is gay law reform. An out lesbian, she talks about the very personal journey she has taken with her transgender partner and what it means to be part of a political party she is trying to coax into a far more inclusive future.

9:30pm – Wednesday, October 31 on ABC2

After cooking up a storm with some of Australia’s most surprising politicians in the first series of Kitchen Cabinet, Annabel Crabb is coming back to ABC2 with a second helping.

Each week our veteran political journalist invites herself over to the home of a sitting member offering dessert in exchange for dinner.

Annabel Crabb is ABC Online’s chief political writer, and columnist for ‘The Drum’. She is a regular guest on ABC News 24′s 6pm current affairs show The Drum, and on ABC TV’s Sunday morning politics program Insiders. She writes a weekly column for the Sun Herald, Sunday Times (Canberra) and Sunday Age, and is a panellist and keen competitor on ABC1′s Randling. (Favourite word: Preposterous.) Via small plane, car and camel Annabel takes the long trek to remote Queensland to be wined and dined by one of the most colourful characters in the Australian Parliament. Before entering Parliament, Nationals Leader in the Senate Barnaby Joyce was a bouncer, football player and country town accountant. On the veranda of his St George home Barnaby talks about lessons learnt from Joh BjelkePetersen, compares Parliament to his days boarding at an elite private school, and extols the virtues of keeping the message simple. As the sun sets on his meat and mash-based dish, Annabel enjoys some classic Barnaby-isms but also discovers there’s far more to Senator Joyce than colourful quips.

9:30pm – Wednesday, October 24 on ABC2

After cooking up a storm with some of Australia’s most surprising politicians in the first series of Kitchen Cabinet, Annabel Crabb is coming back to ABC2 with a second helping.

Food and politics are never separated for long. The best plots are hatched over lunch, the best stories told over dinner.

Each week our veteran political journalist invites herself over to the home of a sitting member, offering dessert in exchange for dinner.

“When you ask someone how they learnt to cook, it’s like asking them their life story,” Annabel says.

Watch our most influential yet inscrutable politicians tell you theirs.

In episode three, Annabel has dinner with Peter Garrett, undoubtedly the most famous Australian to ever enter Federal Parliament. He’s also its only actual rock star. But is he much of a cook? Garrett opens his Stephanie Alexander cookbook to offer up a simple but impressive pumpkin soup entree followed by pesto pasta – a significant step up from the burgers and kebabs he endured on the road. Garrett shares some rock ‘n’ roll stories and sets the record straight on his bumpy transition from centre stage to side of stage where, after a few years dabbling in minority politics, he threw his lot in with the ALP.