Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its deep regret at the death on 20 March 2015 of the Right Honourable John Malcolm Fraser, AC, CH, former member for Wannon and Prime Minister of Australia, places on record its appreciation of his long and highly-distinguished service to the nation and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Mr President, it was a shock to all Australians when we learnt last Friday of the passing of our 22nd Prime Minister, the Right Honourable John Malcolm Fraser, AC, CH. His passing brought to an end a life devoted to public service and active public engagement, which lasted for 60 years, if not longer. His active and lengthy participation is borne out by the fact that he was a candidate for parliament at the age of 24 and sent his last tweet four days before he died at the age of 84—by any measure, a long period of public engagement.

Mr Fraser was born on 21 May 1930; he had one sibling. His parents lived on a property on the New South Wales side of the Murray River, north of Deniliquin. In his very young, formative years—by the age of eight—he understood the ravages of drought, helping to euthanase new-born lambs in the hope the ewes might survive. At the age of 10, Malcolm Fraser was sent to Tudor House at Moss Vale as a boarder. In 1946, his parents bought the property Nareen near Hamilton in the Western District of Victoria, whereupon the young Malcolm was sent to complete his schooling at Melbourne Grammar. Aged 19, he went to Oxford University and graduated as a Master of Arts in politics, philosophy and economics. He returned to Nareen aged 22 and joined the local branch of the Liberal Party.

It seems politics was in his genes. His grandfather, Sir Simon Fraser, was a delegate to the Australian Federal Conventions of 1897-98, a member of George Reid's Free Trade Party and a senator for Victoria from 1901 to 1913. He sought and won preselection to contest the seat of Wannon, held by Labor's Don McLeod. A week after his 24th birthday, the election was held and McLeod beat off his young challenger. At the 1955 election, McLeod retired and Fraser went on to win, aided by preferences from the then newly-formed anti-communist Labor Party. He successfully defended that seat at every subsequent election he contested. It is often forgotten that Malcolm Fraser won a Labor seat and converted it into a safe Liberal one. All of us in political life admire that sort of achievement.

In 1956, as the youngest member of the 22nd parliament, Malcolm Fraser made one of his best decisions: he married Tamie Beggs, daughter of another family from Western Victoria. They went on to have four children, and she proved an exceptional support to him in his public and private life.

As a backbencher, Malcolm Fraser worked diligently on the then Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and developed a keen interest in Australia's Asian neighbours, visiting Indonesia in 1965. He also worked his electorate. As a backbencher, Mr Fraser would undertake tours of his electorate with some of his colleagues. On one particular trip they returned to the family property, Nareen. On arrival of the group, Mr Fraser was greeted with a welcome from one of the children, exclaiming, 'Daddy, no-one slept with Mummy while you were away'! It was quickly explained that the reference was, of course, to the children. The story was recounted by none less than Mrs Fraser herself, a classy lady who was a great asset not only to Mr Fraser and his life of service but also to our nation—an observation also made by Sir Robert Menzies in a private letter to Mr Fraser. Once, when confronted by the media about a particular allegation, Mrs Fraser described the pedlar of the allegation as 'lower than a snake's duodenum'—class with punch. Mrs Fraser was her husband's greatest asset in his political life.

After a decade in the parliament without a promotion, the backbencher Fraser asked Prime Minister Menzies if he was wasting his time—whether there was a future for him in politics. Menzies encouraged patience although ultimately never appointed him. It was in 1966, when Sir Robert Menzies retired, that the new Prime Minister, Harold Holt, gave Mr Fraser the break he so sorely wanted and he became a junior minister as the Minister for the Army. Staunchly anti-communist, Mr Fraser was the government's most articulate advocate for our involvement in Vietnam and travelled to see our troops on many occasions. In 1968, after John Gorton had succeeded to the leadership following the tragic death of Prime Minister Holt, he made Malcolm Fraser Minister for Education and Science. Although this was then not a cabinet post, Gorton had himself held the portfolio, and his choice of Fraser illustrated his regard for Malcolm Fraser's obvious political skills.

In 1969 he finally entered the cabinet, 14 years after first being elected, when he became Minister for Defence. Unfortunately, his relationship with the Prime Minister had become uneasy, and in March 1971 he resigned after he felt that Prime Minister Gorton had sided with Defence chiefs against him. After William McMahon replaced Gorton as Prime Minister, Fraser re-entered the cabinet in his old portfolio of education and science. After the defeat of the McMahon government in 1972, Fraser became shadow minister for industrial relations, and he forged a good working relationship with his opposite number, Mr Clyde Cameron—and I understand that his namesake in this place will be making a contribution to this debate.

However, his relationship with his own leader, Bill Snedden, was less cordial. On 21 March 1975 Mr Fraser was elected parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party, defeating Snedden. On assuming the leadership, he re-energised the party—a party about which its founder, Sir Robert Menzies, was beginning to despair, recounting in a letter at the time to his daughter that the Liberals would never win by being 'Labor light'. He opined that he thought Mr Fraser was the only one capable of leading the party to victory by going back to its core values.

The Liberal Party's membership base exploded. Donations rolled in. There was an air of expectation that the chaos and charisma of Whitlam had finally met its match. The atmosphere in which all this was taking place cannot be forgotten. The Liberal Party that had enjoy 23 years of government had suffered reduced elector support and then ultimate defeat. Few, if any, of the parliamentarians would have known opposition. Just imagine twice the time of the Howard government in office and then being subjected to opposition. The transition was difficult and confronting. It was in that climate of low morale and the questioning of direction and policy that Mr Fraser brought an authoritative style of leadership that once again galvanised the base of the Liberal Party.

It is recalled that the Fraser and Whitlam showdown was literally the battle of the Titans. One who knows has recounted to me that being 'done over', as it was described by Whitlam in the parliament, Mr Fraser went to his room, slammed the door and an hour later re-emerged straight into the bear pit of parliament and returned the compliment—he getting the better of Whitlam. He had real political courage, as of course was shown in 1975, as he believed the country's future was in genuine risk. To block supply and hold his nerve was not the behaviour of the timid.

Mr Fraser adopted a much tougher political approach to the chaotic Whitlam government, which was then beset with a cavalcade of resignations and sackings, including at the Treasury, and then there was the loan scandal. All the nation's economic indicators were moving in very alarming directions, and Fraser and the party determined to force the issue to the people and give the Australian people the opportunity to decide their country's future. A foretaste or a harbinger of what was to come was the by-election for the federal seat of Bass, in which the Liberal Party's candidate, Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Newman, had resigned from the defence forces to seek Liberal endorsement in Bass and to stand against the then defence minister, Lance Barnard. Barnard's resignation propelled Newman into the federal parliament earlier than expected and with a massive swing. The Bass by-election victory was a huge morale boost for the new leader, helped cement his position and validated his uncompromising stand against the Labor government. It may well have been the Bass by-election that saw Mr Fraser treat Tasmania with particular favour, once gaining government.

As all senators know, the Whitlam government was dismissed by Sir John Kerr on 11 November 1975 and Malcolm Fraser was commissioned as caretaker Prime Minister, having agreed to the Governor-General's request to call an immediate election and not to introduce new policies until the Australian people had been able to decide on the make-up of their parliament. In 1975, the people gave their verdict and they did so resoundingly, responding to the 'Turn on the Lights' campaign and repudiating the Whitlam Labor experiment. The Liberal Party won 68 seats in the House of Representatives, the National Country Party at the time won a further 23 seats and the Australian Labor Party won just 36. It was the most resounding result since Federation. It is also worth noting that two years later Mr Fraser again led the coalition to a thumping victory—the second-biggest landslide we have ever had. Sir John Kerr's actions and Malcolm Fraser's actions had been validated not once, but twice, and in dramatic form by the people at the ballot box.

As Prime Minister, he was consultative and intensely Australian. I am told that he had a wonderful three-question routine to get people to confess to their misdemeanours. The first question was: 'Did I ask you to do this? The second was, 'Did you understand what I asked?' And then the killer: 'Why haven't you done it?' He was able to have discipline within his government. The government was a government of reform.

The new Prime Minister coined the phrase 'new federalism' whereby he wanted a genuine rebalancing of the economic powers of the states and the Commonwealth. He established a new family allowance scheme, including a lone fathers benefit for the first time—a cause championed by my then federal member, Bruce Goodluck MP. He established the Australian Institute of Sport after Australia's mediocre showing at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. He established automatic indexation of pensions, abolished death, state and gift duties and introduced the ombudsman. He declared the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, banned whaling in Australian waters and sandmining on Fraser Island—all good environmental policies, without a Green in sight. He established the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme in 1976 which, might I add, was recently further enhanced by the Abbott government.

As a former science minister, he recognised the historical links between Tasmania, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, and moved the Antarctic Division to Kingston, my home town, in southern Tasmania. He also established the Australian Maritime College in Launceston as an international trading academy for marine engineering and seamanship. His support for my home state of Tasmania was legendary. He turned a Labor state into a Liberal state. In 1975, all seats were held by Labor and they all fell to the Liberals and remained with our side of politics until well after the defeat of Mr Fraser's government.

Three referenda questions were successfully passed under Malcolm Fraser's government, marking it as the most successful with regard to Constitutional change we have ever had. After the shock of the Hilton bombing in Sydney in 1978 at the regional meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government, Malcolm Fraser recognised the need for coordinated national security and established the Australian Federal Police. He took a strong stand against apartheid. He supported the boycott of the Russian Olympics. He reversed the disgraceful decision of the Whitlam government which recognised the incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet empire. He welcomed Vietnamese refugees fleeing the brutality of the new communist regime in that country—a policy which Mr Whitlam referred to as 'supporting Viet Balts' in reference to refugees from the Baltic states. Commercial FM radio was established, as were a number of bodies to further the cause of our Indigenous community. The Northern Territory was given self-government, along with land rights for our first people. He introduced freedom of information legislation, and so the list goes on.

The Fraser government was an active reforming government, but without the chaos and calamity of its predecessor. Stability and certainty had been restored. Despite such a great legacy, Mr Fraser, personally, and his government were continually pilloried and harangued by a hostile media, saying the sorts of things that have been said about the Howard and Abbott prime ministerships as well. He was labelled as 'The crazy grazier', 'reactionary' and 'dull'. It seems some things never change for Liberal prime ministers. Indeed, there were those amongst the Left who proudly promoted the slogan, 'Give Fraser the razor'. His presence on university campuses was often a security nightmare and, whilst I look forward to Senator Hanson-Young's contribution, I do suspect that if she had been old enough she may have been in the thick of the demonstrators, chanting and waving placards.

Mr Fraser had a formidable reputation. His imposing height, his sometimes stern demeanour, but ultimately his capacity for hard work and mastery of his brief, made him a political giant in every sense. He inspired a generation of young supporters, including me. I recall fondly his support for the Australian Liberal Students' Federation and the university Liberal clubs all around Australia. Having the privilege of being on the executive of the ALSF, and ultimately as its president, I recall with gratitude his generosity with his time and the odd cup of coffee in his office. He served as our patron with distinction and commitment. Being called a 'Fraser hack' in student politics was worn as badge of honour by us at the time. I, for one, will continue to admire and salute his magnificent contribution to our nation.

Without in any way detracting from that legacy, I do regret that the party which gave Mr Fraser so much and to which Mr Fraser gave so much parted ways. Everyone has their own analysis for this parting of the ways. I simply observe and note that the man who was, rightly, such a strong advocate of our military involvement in Vietnam—and, if reports are correct, even the suggestion of potentially a nuclear option—who brought down the Whitlam government, was staunchly anti-communist, promoted choice in education, was an admirer of Ayn Rand and her writings and saw no role for Don Chipp in his ministry is now being hailed by those somewhat further to the left in politics.

In 1983, in spite of being comfortably re-elected to his own seat of Wannon, his government was defeated in a campaign where Labor first sold out to the Greens. Believe it or not, a renewable power generator was being demonised in favour of a coal fired alternative. After the defeat of the government, Mr Fraser resigned from his seat in the House of Representatives, but he remained active. He was appointed by the UN to an eminent persons panel to engage with South Africa to end apartheid. On a personal level, he established Care Australia and was its president from 1987 to 2002. He was appointed to observe a number of elections across the globe and to intercede for the release of political prisoners. He campaigned for a number of causes which, unfortunately, helped to widen the gap between him and his party. But he did continue our very heavy schedule of public appearances and, when not appearing in person, tweeted in the Twittersphere.

Whilst throughout his life he was often seen as awkward, which was variously described and unfairly seen as aloofness—chances are he was more shy—Mr Fraser was always in his element with country people. He enjoyed being with them and they with him, and his popularity in his own electorate bears testament to that observation. Throughout his life, Mr Fraser maintained his intense interest in photography and fishing, even owning a shack in Tasmania's Central Highlands to help chase the elusive trout. In retirement, Malcolm and Tamie Fraser moved from their rural property, Nareen, to a house on the Mornington Peninsula, where they developed a beautiful garden which they happily shared with the public as part of the Open Garden Scheme.

His was a life fully lived, dedicated to the service of his nation. Our nation was enhanced by his leadership and is poorer for his passing. It is to Mrs Tamie Fraser AO and to their children, Mark, Angela, Hugh and Phoebe and their children and extended family that we extend our deep sympathies today and thank them for sharing him with a grateful nation.