Dorothy Dixer

• Dorothy Dix, dorothy dixer

Named after US advice columnist Dorothy Dix (1870–1951), who reputedly invented some of the more interesting readers’ questions she answered, +‎ -er.

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Dorothy Dixer (plural Dorothy Dixers)

1. (Australian politics) A question asked of a minister by a member of their own party, to give the minister the opportunity to promote the government's work, criticise the opposition, etc.

   Synonym: dixer

   • 2002, Don Watson, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM‎, page 273:

     Betraying not a sign of the general mayhem he had just created, he answered a Dorothy Dixer about television violence.

   • 2006, Julian Disney, J. R. Nethercote, The House on Capital Hill: Parliament, Politics, and Power in the National Capital, page 226:

     On both sides of the chamber, Question Time became highly programmed. This led on the Government side to questions, almost without exception, being Dorothy Dixers of the worst kind. […] The total domination of this sort of Dorothy Dixer under the Keating Government reduced the use of Question Time considerably.

   • 2010, Annabel Crabb, Rise of the Ruddbot: Observations from the Gallery‎, page 244:

     The real and nasty political attack came later, in question time, when every Labor minister who stood in response to a Dorothy Dixer did so in order to aim a new kick at the cods of the Opposition leader, from a different direction.

• question time