Dara Macdonald

Fight them on the speeches! Why the FSU is needed in Australia

25 October 2023 1:52 am

There is a view that is common amongst the sceptics of cancel culture, that it is merely a battle between elites and…

Balls: women don’t have them, and neither does Pesutto

22 March 2023 4:00 am

I was so close to writing a good news story about cancel culture. There have been many examples of bravery…

The cope of self-love

17 February 2023 6:00 am

On Valentine’s Day 2023, the number one hit on the pop charts was a song about a woman (Miley Cyrus)…

The Muzak of activism

26 September 2022 8:00 am

Last week I heard the song Beds are Burning played at least three times in the space of a few…

The Voice: referendum, revolution, or racism?

29 August 2022 12:30 pm

After sneering at those that voted ‘yes’ in the Brexit Referendum because ‘people could not have known what they were…

The Festival of Dangerous Ideas

2 August 2022 8:00 am

When I clicked on the program for the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, I expected the usual lineup of ideologically homogeneous…

Win the battle - lose the culture war?

25 June 2022 9:46 am

Whenever a disaffected liberal artist is abandoned by the Left – The Spectator Australia gains a creative and insightful commentator. The path…

We're missing those subversive and dangerous ideas

26 May 2022 4:20 pm

The biggest shifts in culture have always come out of subcultures or scenes that go mainstream. It was mostly African…

Trickle-down 'Woke' dominates business

2 May 2022 12:00 pm

‘Go Woke, Go Broke’ has been a favourite cry of those that oppose companies that take on fashionable causes but…

The real hippies are with Joe Rogan

7 February 2022 9:00 am

I have been trying to avoid writing about Joe Rogan since everyone has a take on the old hippy rockers vs…

You can't film that!

6 January 2022 4:00 am

Blanket bans on secret recordings are an affront to freedom. Fortunately, animal rights activists are doing Australians a favour by…

The political extremism of the left: a sacred cow

29 August 2021 3:09 pm

Everyone that wants to combat dogma and extremism should support heretics, no matter what sacred cows they slay.  The fact…

Do we overemphasise ‘smart’ ahead of ‘skilled’ or ‘practical’?

22 June 2021 6:40 pm

Living back in my hometown — being slightly starved of cultural content — I quickly bought tickets to Bri Lee’s…

BMI, beetles, and beauty: what the body positivity movement gets right and wrong

24 May 2021 7:14 pm

Recently, I read two books of the same name but with very different content.   The first was Beauty by Bri…

What ever happened to good old fashioned innuendo?

30 April 2021 11:24 am

Where did innuendo go?  That is the question that has been bugging me recently.  I listen to a lot of…

The real Dark Mofo scandal? Its search for shock over substance

31 March 2021 11:30 am

Dark Mofo is one of a few — if not the only– arts festival in Australia that still could be…

Priorities, priorities. Please welcome Victoria’s first Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner

25 September 2020 5:00 am

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Victorian Government last week decided to announce the appointment of the first…

The increasing threat of delegated legislation – legislation put above the power of parliament

9 September 2020 7:12 pm

“It’s probably a bit unusual for me to be in agreement with the IPA,” said Labor Senator Kim Carr. “I…

Why the ABC shouldn’t just receive a funding freeze, but a cut.

3 July 2020 5:00 am

The ABC using its own airtime to cry poor makes for tedious viewing and ignores the concerns of ordinary Australians. …

The biggest issue with COVIDSafe: incompetence

7 May 2020 4:10 pm

The COVID-19 tracing application may look like a targeted and temporary solution, but history shows that privacy incursions are typically…

We must ensure our liberties are returned as swiftly as they have been taken

10 April 2020 12:22 pm

On March 30, New South Wales went to bed in a liberal democracy and woke up in a police state…

We need strength to survive, not a shutdown of our economy

31 March 2020 3:25 pm

Australia needs strength to survive the coronavirus, but many policies designed to manage the spread may be counterproductively weakening our…

How localism and community spirit can see us through the corona crisis

27 March 2020 1:06 pm

Rather than more centralisation of powers with the government and bureaucrats in Canberra, a better approach to managing coronavirus would…