Dorothy Dixer

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In Australian politics, a Dorothy Dixer is a rehearsed or planted question asked of a government Minister by a backbencher of their own political party during Parliamentary Question Time.^[1]

The term can be used in a mildly derogatory sense, but in common usage today is simply pre-arranged questions from a friendly audience member. Often, the question has been written by the Minister or their staff rather than by the questioner, and is used to give the Minister a chance to promote themselves or the work of the Government, or to criticise the opposition party's policies, to raise the profile of the backbench Member asking the question, or to consume the time available for questioning and thereby avoid tougher questions. It is a common and widely accepted tactic during Question Time in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

While it is rare, it would be possible for a backbencher on the Government side of the house to ask a member of the Government a question without it being regarded as a Dorothy Dixer. Such a question would be one that the Minister had not planted and was not aware of in advance.

It is common for "Dorothy Dixers" to end in the question: "Is the Minister aware of any alternative policies?" This enables the responding Minister to launch into extended criticism of the Opposition and their policy on the question's subject matter, which may include a pre-planned speech intended as a character assassination of an opposition member, while still remaining technically relevant to the question as asked as Standing orders require. These questions or the answers to them are often based upon, refer to, or build upon, party line propaganda written earlier in the day by ideologically friendly members of the news media.