Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The first thing I would like to say on this condolence motion on John Malcolm Fraser, the Right Honourable former Prime Minister, is that this is a sad occasion. He was, after all, a father, a husband, a friend, a counsellor to many and a foe to some. But he was a human being, and it was a shock. He had not been ill, to our knowledge. He may not have been as well as he was, but he had not been ill. I was fixing a syphon in a dam—which he has probably done many times himself—when I had a call to say that Malcolm had passed away. The person who rang me was Petro, and he was clearly very upset—clearly very upset—because of the shock and the fact that Malcolm had only tweeted to the nation a few days before on the issue around China and South East Asia.

I recognise in this condolence motion that members have spoken of the political activity of the former Prime Minister, but I put to you the sadness of the occasion that this individual has passed away. As one journalist put it to me the other day over a cup of coffee, 'Malcolm does not pass away.' It was Laura Tingle and she said, 'No. I had an association with him. We have spoken on the same platform together. We have had cups of coffee afterwards.' It always surprised her the number of people who just walked straight up to Malcolm Fraser and interrupted him at the table, and that he never ever minded being interrupted. She actually told me the story that at Gough Whitlam's funeral, she looked up to the top of the stairs and there were Malcolm and Tamie being mobbed by a whole lot of people for a conversation around that time.

All of us, as you have heard in the condolence motion, have our memories of Malcolm Fraser. To many, now they are cherished memories. When we were celebrating, or recognising, Petro's gong of recent times, Malcolm and Tamie were there and Ted Baillieu and his wife Robyn were there, if I had known that the conversation I had with Malcolm that night was my last conversation perhaps it would have been a different conversation. There are probably many in my place today saying, 'If I had known that was my last conversation with Malcolm it might have been more extensive.' Each of us feels like this when we lose our own parents, don't we? It is a sad time. It is a heart-breaking time. It must be a heart-breaking time for Tamie and the children at this time. That is why it is important that we recognise the humanity of the man and the fact that he was human, the same as the rest of us.

In Petro Georgiou's article in The Age he reminds us that Malcolm Fraser, on hearing of Gough Whitlam's passing, observed, 'The line's broken'. In this world anyway, it is broken forever.' Petro Georgiou comments:

… the unique fusion of political strength, compassion and social conscience has also been broken. It is quite true that our link back to that time through Malcolm Fraser is now broken. Because of his death and Gough's death, the direct link is broken to that momentous time in Australia that too few remember. For those that have not forgiven Malcolm for the role that he played at that time and their view of it, it is on you now because, if you cannot forgive, Malcolm is not going to be affected by it. It is only you who will be affected, because Gough Whitlam reconciled with Malcolm and they became friends. Two men of great intellect became friends and actually stood on platforms together.

It was a different time during which Malcolm Fraser was Prime Minister. For me, it was the time of Malcolm Fraser and the Liberals like Ian Macphee, 'Dick' Hamer, Senator David Hamer, my local member Barry Simon, Premier Lindsay Thompson, Fred Chaney, Alan Missen, a young Ted Baillieu and, in head office, Frank Hangan. It was a time of wisdom and the carriage of young members of the party like me. If you want to read about my direct responses to Malcolm Fraser's death and my interaction with it in those early days, you can read it in the Pakenham Gazette. I wrote a little piece in there about my direct action. But that is not the point for today.

I believe that Malcolm Fraser saw his responsibility and his charge to be to put the House back in order—to put the farm back in order—and to deliver confidence not only to this parliament and the people of Australia but to its institutions and everything that hangs off the parliament and the institutions. Now, he may have been shy and aloof to the world, but he certainly was not so to his family and friends. To the nation he was the stability that the nation needed at that time, and he did his job. He put the nation back on its feet, and then, in turn, I believe that he was the man for the time. He rose to be the head of his party. He did that by his ruthless political nature. He then became Prime Minister of this country at a time of difficult circumstances and then managed the country to the best of his ability with the cards that he was delivered until the new reformist government of the Hawke-Keating years came in when he was defeated. Petro once said to me, 'There's one thing you should learn about or prime ministers, Russell,' and I said, 'What's that?' He said, 'It always ends in tears. No Prime Minister wants to go. I don't think any member of this parliament wants to go, but one day or another we will.'

To this parliament I say this day in regard to Malcolm Fraser that he was a man of exceptional ability, he was a man for his time, he was a Prime Minister of his time, and my sincere condolences go to his friends and his family. But he left one very important legacy, for me. Two or three years ago in this House multiculturalism did not have a friend. That is why Maria Vamvakinou, the member for Calwell, and I got together and created the Parliamentary Friends of Multiculturalism. There were not many that turned up at the meeting, except for ambassadors and the like because they actually looked into Australia and saw how multiculturalism had been of great benefit to us. The member for Watson described how Malcolm Fraser had described multiculturalism thus:

Multiculturalism is about diversity, not division—it is about interaction not isolation. It is about cultural and ethnic differences set within a framework of shared fundamental values which enables them to co-exist on a complementary rather than competitive basis. It involves respect for the law and for our democratic institutions and processes.

Petro headed it. Malcolm Fraser stayed true to his principles, whether it be on the environment, Indigenous land rights or multiculturalism, even in the face of party room dissent. Vale John Malcolm Fraser.

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