Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Tredegar
Search every verified Kevin Donnelly interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Kevin Donnelly, executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary at Tredegar, has spoken publicly about his views on education and cancel culture. In a 2021 appearance at The Sydney Institute, Donnelly discussed his book *Cancel Culture: and the Left's Long March*, describing cancel culture as a recent manifestation of what he called "neo-Marxist ideology." He argued that the "cultural left" aims to infiltrate institutions like media, schools, and universities to achieve a "socialist utopia." Donnelly stated that conservatives need to be "more forceful" in articulating their values and that businesses adopt sensitivity training to meet the needs of "woke employees." In a 2014 talk hosted by the Institute of Public Affairs, Donnelly criticized the Australian education system for not teaching Western civilization. He argued that schools have adopted a "cultural left" approach that treats all cultures as equal and dismisses the uniqueness of Western civilization. Donnelly said that education should be "committed to rationality and truth" and that the curriculum should "stress and respect the past." He also criticized the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), suggesting it should be shut down and control devolved.
“Cancel culture is only the most recent manifestation of what people call neo-Marxist ideology, which can be traced back to the Frankfurt School in Germany during the early twenties. Instead of overthrowing capitalism by economic means, the cultural left aims to infiltrate and take control of media, schools, universitie...”
“The pendulum has swung so far to what I call the cultural left or a black armband view of history that I think we're in serious trouble. Students are now being taught a version of history focusing on invasion, colonisation, dispossession, frontier warfare, genocide, and removal of land from First Nations peoples.”
“Conservatives need to be more forceful in articulating what it is that we value. We have to call out political correctness and have the courage to be true to our beliefs. The minute you vacate the public square and leave it to the opposition, you've lost the battle.”
“Businesses and corporations fall over like a row of tents to the slightest blow from the woke brigade because profit is a great motivator. They have to meet the needs of woke employees to keep them comfortable and motivated, which explains the widespread adoption of sensitivity and consent training.”
“Governments of both political persuasions have taken their eye off the ball in education. Labor and Liberal governments tend to not take control, leaving bureaucracies and educrats who have never taught in classrooms to dominate curriculum bodies like ACARA and NAPLAN.”
“The quickest way to resolve the problem in education is to shut down ACARA and devolve control. A small group could monitor and evaluate, but the bureaucracy is self-serving and like the old industrial relations club.”
“If there's no reason or rationality and words have no inherent meaning, and if your worldview is simply a factor of your race or gender or privilege, then how do you resolve discussion and debate? Either you're silent because there is no common ground, or else violence becomes the outcome.”
“The cultural left are now starting to eat their own. Even President Obama said it's time to stop all of this cancel culture and get back to being able to debate openly and fairly.”
“Safe Schools is not about bullying; it's about Marxism providing a theory and practice of genuine human liberation. It supports gender and sexual diversity, not about stopping bullying.”
“If you defend Western civilization, you're called Eurocentric and a white supremacist. If you criticize multiculturalism, you're attacked as xenophobic or racist. If you argue marriage is between a man and a woman, you're condemned as heteronormative and homophobic, and worst of all, Christian.”
“We actually are incredibly lucky to live in a western liberal democracy but according to a lot of the people who have been writing the books on education we shouldn't privilege western civilization.”
“The argument is that the established forms of knowledge are simply a social cultural construct employed to marginalize and disempower the less powerful.”
“Education should be committed to rationality and truth unlike theory where there is no truth or unlike neomarxism where truth is simply related to who you are in terms of the pecking order.”
“The cultural left took the Long March some years ago and the idea is to overthrow the status quo and to radically change society through institutions like education.”
“When it comes to education we have this strange cultural idea that we have to celebrate everyone because we don't want to hurt their self-esteem, but this leads to students not being able to write properly structured essays or do mental arithmetic.”
Kevin Donnelly is welcomed back to The Sydney Institute to discuss his new book Cancel Culture: and the Left's Long March.
Kevin Donnelly, the reviewer of the National Curriculum, discusses the failure of schools to teach the virtues of Western ...
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