McDonald guest speaker for Dame Dorothy Fraser lecture
Acclaimed actor, writer, director, satirist and political commentator Ginette McDonald will visit Dunedin this weekend as the 11th Dame Dorothy Fraser guest lecture speaker.
Organisers said, in a statement, most would know McDonald from her many TV and film appearances, and also for her Kiwiana celebrity alter-ego "Lyn of Tawa".
Recently, McDonald has become a political commentator online and elsewhere as she rails and laments against what she sees as a global dismantling of democracy.
Previously a formal lecture, the Dame Dorothy Fraser event, begun by former MP Clare Curran, has turned into a fireside chat at the request of some of the guest speakers who have wanted to have a less formal, more intimate and more organic format.
Taieri MP Ingrid Leary, is the interviewer for this event.
The inaugural Dame Dorothy Fraser lecture, in 2012, was delivered by former Prime Minister Helen Clark on the theme of "Poverty and inequality; South Dunedin as a window to the world".
Subsequent lectures have been delivered by the late New Zealand Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly (2013), Marilyn Waring (2014), Louise Nicholas ONZM (2015), University of Otago History Professor Barbara Brookes (2016), Annette King (2017), journalist Ali Mau (2018), and former Christchurch Mayor Liane Dalziel (2022).
Dame Dorothy Fraser, who died in 2015 aged 86, was a well-known community figure in Dunedin. She was chairwoman of the local health board and sat on the Dunedin City Council and governance boards for years.
The 2025 Dame Dorothy Fraser Lecture will be held this Sunday, May 25, from 4pm at Tahuna Intermediate School. Tickets include drinks and nibbles, and are available by emailing events.taierilec@gmail.com or phoning 027456-2958. — APL
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