- Sandy Macdonald
John Alexander Lindsay "Sandy" Macdonald (born
10 May 1954 ), is a formerAustralia n politician. He was a National Party member of theAustralian Senate from 1993 to 1998, and again from 2000 to 2008, representing the state ofNew South Wales .Political career
Macdonald was the third Senate candidate for the Coalition at the 1998 federal election but narrowly lost his seat to
Aden Ridgeway of theAustralian Democrats . In May 2000, he regained a seat in the Senate following the resignation of National Party SenatorDavid Brownhill . In June 2005, Macdonald was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade, and in January 2006, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence.In late 2006, Macdonald was defeated for National Party preselection by John Williams ahead of the 2007 federal election. [ [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20546355-7583,00.html The Australian: Glenn Milne: Liberals uneasy over maverick preselections] ] Macdonald announced his retirement from federal politics shortly thereafter. He continued to serve in the Senate until the expiration of his term in June 2008.
Criticism of the Australian National Anthem
In 2001 Macdonald was extremely critical of the Australian National anthem "
Advance Australia Fair ", stating that Australians "are bored by the music and find the words impossible to understand". He went on to suggest the anthem should be replaced "before we all go to sleep singing it".cite web|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/06/22/waust22.xml|title=Call to scrap Australia's 'dull' anthem|author=Barbie Dutter|publisher=telegraph.co.uk |date=2001-06-27|accessdate=2007-12-20]Early life
Macdonald was born in
Quirindi, New South Wales and was educated atSydney University , where he graduated in law. He was a wool and beef farmer before entering politics.References
External links
* [http://www.sandymacdonald.com.au/ Senator Sandy Macdonald website]
Persondata
NAME = Macdonald, John Alexander Lindsay "Sandy"
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH =10 May 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH = Quirindi,New South Wales
DATE OF DEATH = living
PLACE OF DEATH =
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