It was on the lawns of parliament house that Tony Abbott happened upon an unexpected exercise in democracy in the raw.

On a school excursion in the politicians' own stomping ground on, Year 9 students of Newtown Performing Arts High School engaged the passing Prime Minister in a lively democratic debate.

After genially inviting questions from the class, the Prime Minister found himself fielding three questions in quick succession on the hot-button issues of his government: repealing the carbon tax, same sex marriage and the fate of asylum seekers.

And while ably explaining his point of view, the questions led the Prime Minister at one stage to refer to the lively grilling politicians receive on ABC when he said: “Can you guys please go to the next Q and A program?”