diff --git a/qapi/qmp-output-visitor.c b/qapi/qmp-output-visitor.c
index efc19d5841..8dce08749d 100644
--- a/qapi/qmp-output-visitor.c
+++ b/qapi/qmp-output-visitor.c
@@ -66,9 +66,13 @@ static QObject *qmp_output_first(QmpOutputVisitor *qov)
 {
     QStackEntry *e = QTAILQ_LAST(&qov->stack, QStack);
 
-    /* FIXME - find a better way to deal with NULL values */
+    /*
+     * FIXME Wrong, because qmp_output_get_qobject() will increment
+     * the refcnt *again*.  We need to think through how visitors
+     * handle null.
+     */
     if (!e) {
-        return NULL;
+        return qnull();
     }
 
     return e->value;
diff --git a/tests/test-qmp-output-visitor.c b/tests/test-qmp-output-visitor.c
index 338ada0253..a48ae72452 100644
--- a/tests/test-qmp-output-visitor.c
+++ b/tests/test-qmp-output-visitor.c
@@ -485,7 +485,8 @@ static void test_visitor_out_empty(TestOutputVisitorData *data,
     QObject *arg;
 
     arg = qmp_output_get_qobject(data->qov);
-    g_assert(!arg);
+    g_assert(qobject_type(arg) == QTYPE_QNULL);
+    qobject_decref(arg);
 }
 
 static void init_native_list(UserDefNativeListUnion *cvalue)