Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise as a Victorian National Party senator to pay my respects and speak to this condolence motion on the passing of the 22nd Prime Minister and maybe our last pastoralist Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. Malcolm Fraser—a great regional Victorian.

With land holdings and practice in my home state of Victoria in the magnificent western district, sheep, wheat and grain were at the very heart of former Prime Minister Fraser's work ethic and, indeed, he has been described as a workaholic. It was all about the work for the former Prime Minister. When a man of his stature, his contribution and his personal integrity passes, it is timely for us not only to recollect, retell and share in the telling of his personal and professional contribution to our nation, which so many senators from all sides of politics have done here today, but also to make a brief contribution about his role as a strong coalitionist and the relationship between the Liberal Party and the National Country Party during his leadership. They won strong majorities in 1975 and 1977 elections, and they won a third term together in 1980. As I have mentioned, Malcolm Fraser's roots were in agriculture. His government reconfirmed and reinforced Australia's trade relationships, particularly within our region.

I thank Mr Fraser so much for his strong relationship not only with the National Country Party but specifically with its leader at the time, Doug Anthony. If anyone saw the great Doug Anthony taking to Lateline like it was 1979 last week, you could just imagine what a fantastic and fabulous partnership that was that led our nation through some very difficult times, particularly in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was their strong friendship professionally and personally that allowed them to manage the coalition and manage our nation very strategically. They were strong coalitionists. They were both pragmatists and regional Australians. They understood each other very well, they understood their constituencies and they understood our nation as it was at the time.

In opposition, this was evidenced by stories of Mr Fraser talking to Doug Anthony about whether he was going to leave Gorton's cabinet and seeking advice about what he was going to do. In the Senate impasse and supply crisis Fraser is known to have said that the support of the Country Party was 'critically important'. In government, they faced nasty internal shocks. This strong professional relationship helped them to massage the issues, reach a consensus for the common good and keep the coalition solid.

Mr Fraser took care to include the Country Party ministers when visiting delegations came from overseas and to always ensure that those out and about knew that it was a partnership between the National Country Party and the Liberal Party governing our nation. He similarly sought advice of the National Country Party on the difficult decisions about his Treasurer, Mr Lynch. He went to 'Black Jack', someone he had a good relationship with that was developed over the decade that he spent on the backbench. In the words of former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser: 'I trusted his judgement. We had a drink and he said there was only one thing to do: get rid of him now.'

Mr Fraser was also prepared to stand up and take our nation forward despite some of the difficult conversations that that must have caused internally within the coalition and particularly the National Country Party. I am thinking of issues with the Queensland branch of the National Country Party over some other former prime ministers' policy settings. Also in opposition he set up a rural backbench committee that was chaired by a Liberal. The Liberals in opposition in 1972 had a rural spokesperson. There were not too many people in the National Country Party at the time who really appreciated that. It was a double-edged sword—because of his interest in pastoral interests and rural issues, he was sometimes critiqued from within his own party for being too close to the Country Party and it was sometimes said that they wielded too much power within his particular government. What those who make that criticism fail to consider is that, because of his rural background, because he set up the rural spokesperson and because he was seen to be championing similar interests, that grew the Liberal Party's support with constituencies and stakeholders in rural areas much more than had existed in the past.

Mr Fraser was, again, a great supporter of the then Country Party becoming the National Country Party on its way to becoming the great National Party as he saw that it would enfranchise so much more of regional and rural Australia but also lead to a better relationship between the coalition parties. He was a workaholic. I know that Senator Scullion, the National Party leader and also the Indigenous affairs minister, earlier this morning praised the former Prime Minister's work on this particular issue. It is a legacy that his acumen married with his principles and a real desire to see and effect change resulted in lasting change in this particular area, which has had so much of a flow-on effect.

Mr Fraser attended and was a keynote speaker at the 1975 federal convention of the Country Party. When we talk about his friendship with Doug Anthony, I am reminded of a quote of his. He said, 'Politics is not a business where you make a great many friends, friends who you go fishing with or shooting with.' But Doug Anthony and the National Country Party were very much this Prime Minister's friends. Doug Anthony was not just somebody for him to go fishing and shooting with, because they both stood up for issues and they both stood up for their constituencies.

I only met Malcolm Fraser once. He was the first Prime Minister I can remember in my lifetime. He was a guest speaker at the Bendigo Writers Festival prior to the federal election where he was supporting Sarah Hanson-Young's election to this place. There had been a fair amount of water under the bridge since he and Doug Anthony had been striding the halls of Old Parliament House together. As a new National Party senator, I asked him as I was getting my book signed if he had any advice for the National Party. He said, 'The National Party has to stand up to the Liberal Party. You have to stand up for your issues and you have to stand up for your constituents.' I said, 'That is very good advice, Mr Prime Minister. Can you please put that in my book?'

So that is now in my signed copy of the memoirs, which I really treasure. He was so gracious—a bear of a man—and he was right: our relationship works when we are each standing up for our constituencies and we understand and have a pragmatic approach to how our relationship can work.

He also said that Doug Anthony was the best leader the Nationals had ever had. I cannot compare that fact, because Warren Truss, the great Leader of the Nationals today, is the only leader that I have ever had the privilege to serve under. But I do agree that Doug Anthony was a great leader. So was Earle Page, so was 'Black Jack', so is Warren Truss, but so was Malcolm Fraser. A great leader in parliament, a great leader in his community, he was honest, he was a regional Australian, and I think that country-mindedness saw him be able to develop relationships and have a work ethic that he needed to get the job done.

I give my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues, particularly Doug Anthony and those that worked with him closely. The people of western Victoria and Wannon remember his contribution very, very well. I would like to agree with Senator Birmingham about conviction and courage and add 'principles and pragmatism' to the characteristics that made him a great Australian. Vale, Malcolm Fraser.