Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise too today to pay tribute to a former Prime Minister who changed the face of my electorate through a principled stand of compassion, racial equality and multiculturalism.

My electorate is home to thousands of Australians of Vietnamese heritage. Put simply, they would not be a part of our community today were it not for Malcolm Fraser. The journey from the Pulau Bidong refugee camp in Malaysia to the Midway Hostel in Footscray could not have happened for many Australians and their descendants without his leadership.

He was a strong believer in a big and prosperous multicultural Australia—a commitment to multiculturalism that went past the mere mouthing of slogans and into the substance of the policy initiatives required to make this commitment real, initiatives like the establishment of the Special Broadcasting Service and his advocacy of the interests of asylum seekers.

Malcolm Fraser, against the wishes of many around him at the time, oversaw the first mass resettlement of Vietnamese refugees fleeing at the end of the Vietnam War. Over 300,000 people from refugee camps in Indochina fled at this time. More than 56,000 came to Australia, as pointed out by the member for Eden-Monaro, under a system of offshore processing for a regional resettlement arrangement.

In an often hostile political environment, Malcolm Fraser tore down the remaining relics of the White Australia policy, and over his prime ministership welcomed a stream of refugees through an offshore processing and regional resettlement agreement. It should not be forgotten that the Vietnamese were the first wave of immigration to be derogatorily labelled as 'boat people'. During a period of retrospection years later, he said, 'If we had taken polls, I think people would have voted 80-90 per cent against us, but we explained the reasons for it.' We are all the better for it today as a result. People were fearful of Vietnamese resettlement in Australia, a notion that may sound ridiculous today, but it is something that we can take some lessons from today.

Over the weekend the Vietnamese community in my electorate, and others around Australia, were mourning the loss of Malcolm Fraser. The Vietnamese community in Australia is undertaking extensive celebrations this year to mark the 40th anniversary of the arrival of the Vietnamese community in Australia. The slogan for these celebrations is: 'Thank you, Australia'. Particular thanks must go to Malcolm Fraser in this respect.

Phong Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee and prominent member of the Victorian Vietnamese community in Australia, and indeed a friend of mine, said of his passing:

The news of his death is not just a national mourning for Australia, but for us.

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For every one of us, he is more precious and more respected than our own parents and great-grandparents.

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If not for his leadership, tenacity and standing up for us, we would not be here.

I echo these sentiments. In this year, the 40th anniversary of Vietnamese migration to Australia, the Vietnamese community in Australia is the fifth largest migrant community in our country and the third largest from a non-English-speaking country. Articles in newspapers thanking Malcolm Fraser for the chance to contribute to the welfare of this country and referring to him as the second father of the Vietnamese community in Australia, tell only a fraction of this story.

Through his political retirement Malcolm Fraser never left the national political stage. In many ways he was one of our best former prime ministers. I did not agree with him always, nor did all members of this House, but it was difficult not to respect the principled stand that he took. We are in no doubt that he held the views that he was expressing very deeply. He often took part in the national political debate knowing that his opinion would not be popular, not only with his erstwhile political opponents but with friends as well. His courage in standing resolute on matters of principle would surely have lost him even the best of friends along the way. However, the admirers he gained and the respect he earned in doing so will be one of the defining characteristics of his legacy.

Malcolm Fraser will be sorely misse

He will be missed by the people who knew him best, by the people he served, by his former colleagues and by those who value the spirit of independence, moral conviction and intellectual courage in this country.

Malcolm Frasier was, above all else, a man who took the risk of thinking for himself—thinking for himself on issues like apartheid, on Indigenous issues and on the fate of asylum seekers. He was a man who dictated party lines, not obeyed them; a man who took moral stances despite the fact they cost him calumny.

His stance on refugees was a testament to his vision for a multicultural Australia and his moral courage. He invited us to take time for introspection and to show empathy. He noted later in life that we should also ask ourselves what we as Australians need to do so that politicians will learn to appeal to the best of our natures and cease playing politics with the lives of vulnerable people.

Saul Bellow said:

Death is the dark backing that a mirror needs if we are to see anything.

When giant figures of their time leave us, it forces those of us left to reassess ourselves, our society and our future. Fraser's emphasis on ideas, the power of moral courage and the nobility of intellectual honesty should be a guiding principle for all of us who value truth and decency in this place.

All of us who work in politics will know that sometimes the way that quotes and the words that we use are truncated and used to define us unfairly. This was a situation that certainly befell Malcolm Fraser. In my family—a good Labor family—he was well remembered for his phrase, 'Life wasn't meant to be easy.' Certainly, for my parents that was a marker of Mr Fraser as an uncaring and harsh figure. It was only later in my life that, as pointed out by the member for Eden-Monaro earlier, I came to realise that it was only a part of George Bernard Shaw's full quote in this respect and that the full impetus of Mr Fraser's message was a far better one for us, and one that I think is best for all of us to remember when thinking on Malcolm Fraser's legacy. George Bernard Shaw told us:

Life wasn't meant to be easy, my child, but take courage: it can be delightful.

Malcolm Fraser gave much to like to many in Australia—as I said, particularly to the Vietnamese community in my electorate.

So, I pay tribute to his contribution to Australia and thank him for the sacrifices that he made in our name.

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