Airdate: Kitchen Cabinet returns for a new season on @ABCTV

In a year of political drama, intrigue and instability, KITCHEN CABINET is back for its fifth season, with six brand new episodes.

Once again veteran political journalist, Annabel Crabb seeks out the most fascinating people in Federal Parliament, and forces them to eat cake even if they really don’t want cake.

From dragway tracks in regional Victoria, to remote parts of Kakadu and the wildest, most inhospitable place of all – Canberra – Annabel travels the country in search of a good meal and an insight into the life of the curious creature that is the Australian politician.

Fortunately, none of Annabel’s guests has taken advantage of former PM Tony Abbott’s top-level endorsement earlier this year of serving onions whole and raw.

Join Scott Morrison as he cooks a Sri Lankan fish curry and opens up about his childhood acting career, his faith and reflections on his time as Immigration Minister. Motoring Enthusiast Party Senator Ricky Muir takes Annabel for a ride in two vehicles (one bumpy, one fast) and talks about his unexpected rise to political prominence. Senator Richard Di Natale, Leader of the Greens, invites Annabel to his off-the-grid farm and makes nearly every element of his meal from scratch, including the pizza oven. Gold medal Olympian Nova Peris takes Annabel to her family’s country nestled in beautiful Kakadu, where they cook by a campfire, eat by a billabong teeming with crocodiles and discuss Senator Peris’ life to date. And in a Kitchen Cabinet first, at a Chinese restaurant in Canberra deemed neutral territory, Annabel hosts a bi-partisan lunch with Liberal Minister Christopher Pyne and Labor MP Anthony Albanese.

Annabel Crabb said: “It’s been a great year. Though I feel I owe an apology to the family of the goose I plucked in Kakadu. Also, the neighbours of the drag track I went to with Ricky Muir; I hope they weren’t trying to have a snooze or anything.”

Plus, this year if you’re still hungry, you can have some more.

Exclusive to ABC iview from October 28, watch Canberra Al Desko with Annabel Crabb – a thirteen-part series filmed inside Parliament House during the week of the recent leadership coup.

CANBERRA AL DESKO with Annabel Crabb takes us into the Parliament House offices of a host of political characters, including new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull; his tactical right-hand-man James McGrath; rugged individualist Jacqui Lambie; new Mum Amanda Rishworth; Barnaby Joyce, who talks openly about his recent stoush with a Hollywood celebrity; right-wing rebel with a cause Cory Bernardi; inter-party chums Josh Frydenberg and Ed Husic – and many more.

Annabel snoops on them at work: What sort of letters do they get? What tragic concoctions do they have for lunch? Amusing, surprising and at times ridiculous, this series lets you get to know politicians in their Canberra habitat.

Kitchen Cabinet returns Wednesday, October 28 at 8pm on ABC with six new episodes, and Canberra Al Desko is available in full on iview the same day.