Sky News is continuing to ramp up its political coverage in 2016 with the announcement of a new program to be presented by Minister Christopher Pyne and Shadow Minister Richard Marles.

Each week the two opposing frontbenchers will go head to head in a no holds barred live discussion. Neither Christopher Pyne nor Richard Marles will receive any payment for their contributions to the program.

2016 will be a busy year for the media savvy Pyne, a spokeperson for the Nine Network confirming to this website that the minister will also continue to appear on weekly segment on the Today program.

Christopher Pyne, Federal Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science and Leader of the House said: "With this new program Richard and I hope to go into the important issues in depth and communicate to the public our policy positions and the reasons for them. It is also an opportunity to involve the public in the governing process in a way they have not been engaged before.”

Richard Marles, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection said: “This program’s ground breaking format will be what live TV is all about – no rules, no scripts and hopefully a few laughs while we drill through the week that was.”

Angelos Frangopoulos, Chief Executive Officer, Australian News Channel said: “This new program is an innovative way of looking at the big issues of the week, through the eyes of two senior politicians. It's their program and their call on the discussions that they see shaping the national debate. It’s one of many initiatives we'll be announcing as part of our election year programming.”

PYNE & MARLES will premiere live on Saturday 6 February at 8:30am AEDT on SKY NEWS LIVE (Channel 601).