Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

Malcolm Fraser is remembered principally for being one of the major players in a most momentous event in our political history, the Dismissal. There is no escape from that, given the power of those events. Almost everything else about him is and will be perceived through that prism. It has certainly profoundly coloured judgements about the government's that he led and much of what was a long and often very public and controversial life thereafter. To conservatives of the day, he was a hero for ending what was regarded as the worst government, or one of the worst governments, in our country's history—so bad that extraordinary means justified the end. There is no doubt that the vast majority of Australian people at the time agreed with Malcolm Fraser's actions, because his victory in the 1975 election remains the biggest landslide victory in our history—the coalition won 91 seats in the House to Labor's 36—and he went on to win two more elections. On the other side, of course, there were those who sought to 'maintain the rage', and it is therefore a great irony that Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser buried the hatchet a long time ago—perhaps others should take their lead. It is obviously fair to describe their relationship over more recent years as one of genuine friendship, which is by no means the only irony in the perceptions of the man who was the third longest-serving Liberal Prime Minister in our history.

John Malcolm Fraser was a member of the House from 1955 to 1983, and Australia's 22nd Prime Minister from 1975 to 1983. He is one of a small number of our prime ministers to have come from regional Australia. His parliamentary, ministerial and prime ministerial career thus spanned almost three decades of rapid and tumultuous change at home and abroad. These changes severely challenged comfortable certainties about Australia's economy, our society and our place in the world. These were decades that demanded extraordinary qualities of character and leadership. Malcolm delivered these qualities to the coalition party and to the nation. He was part of a generation of Australian politicians who recognised the need for constructive change right across the national agenda. He understood Australia is a great nation and it could be made better. Indeed, in his opposition to apartheid in the 1960s, Malcolm was well ahead of most Australians. He showed early on that he had a mind and great convictions of his own, which were not always shared by those who supported him. He earned the ire of my electorate when he stopped sand mining on Fraser Island, ending an important local industry and costing many jobs. If you visit the mining areas today, you could not separate them from the places that were never mined—as the locals told him at the time, in no uncertain terms, would happen.

Australians continue to reap the benefits of the Fraser government's reforms, from the establishment of the Special Broadcasting Service to the declaration of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and self-government for the Northern Territory. He was responsible for the decision to construct the Tarcoola to Alice Springs rail line. He established the Australian Federal Police in response to the Hilton hotel terrorist bombing. The closer economic relationships with New Zealand was completed in this era, and it was described at the time by the United Nations as:

… the world's most comprehensive, effective and multilaterally compatible free trade agreement …

That is probably still true today. His generosity towards the boat people of Vietnam at the end of the war was widely shared by the people of Australia.

He was a man of the land. Nareen in the Western District of Victoria was, for much of his life, his home. He had a healthy respect for what was in his early years in public life the Country Party, later the Nationals. He and Doug Anthony formed a lifelong bond long before Malcolm became Prime Minister. He was also close both politically and in genuine friendship with Peter Nixon, a relationship which continued after both had exited political life. With Ian Sinclair, these four were dominant forces in the Fraser governments. In the ABC's recent history of the Nationals, Heather Ewart spent a good deal of the first episode exploring these relationships, and there were some memorable exchanges. After Doug Anthony said, 'If the Country Party needed to fight Fraser it did so,' Fraser said, 'With me, I don't think there was ever a need to flex muscles,' and Ewart interjected, 'Because you agreed with them most of the time.' Fraser's response was, 'Or they agreed with me.' Indeed, that is how it was. With Doug Anthony, Peter Nixon and Ian Sinclair—'the mulga mafia' as they were known—a powerful team evolved with Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister. They understood each other and in some ways set the tone for the relationship between the parties that has endured. John McEwen and Robert Menzies had a similar relationship, where mutual respect was the key. As Paul Kelly observed in The Australian at the weekend, 'The Fraser-Anthony-Nixon-Sinclair era gave the coalition perhaps its deepest meaning.'

All of us who have followed in both the Liberal and National parties have learnt and benefited from that experience, and I believe the country is significantly better for it. Malcolm Fraser made an extraordinary contribution to Australian history and helped create a modern and outward looking nation. Doug Anthony concluded his tribute to Malcolm Fraser over the weekend with the words: "Today I have lost a good friend and Australia has lost a fine statesman." May he rest in peace. I also extend my condolences to his family, particularly his greatly loved and admired wife, Tamie, and his children and grandchildren. I salute a great Australian.

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