Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to acknowledge the impending 80th birthday of the Rt Hon. Malcolm Fraser, who was born on 29 May 1930. This is a celebration of an impressive birthday milestone, but it is also the celebration of a man who has been an outstanding figure in Australia’s history as a nation. Of Malcolm Fraser’s eight decades, 28 years were dedicated to parliamentary service, with eight years as Prime Minister.

At their core, Malcolm Fraser and the Australian psyche share a common blend of traits: grit, humility, determination and aspiration. Neither one’s genesis predestined greatness; both emerged from adversity stronger and greater nonetheless. Malcolm Fraser’s creed is wrought in perseverance, and it is because of this that history records the restoration of responsible government in 1975. It is because of this that the Australian economy was able to thrive once again. It is because of this that Australia turned to a leader with an intense commitment to integrity in public administration.

Today we look back on a government that wrote into the pages of history some of Australia’s greatest environmental protections. The cessation of sand mining on Fraser Island and the prohibition of whaling in Australian waters are among them. We look back to a time when Australia’s 22nd Prime Minister became the first to adopt a migration program that was truly multiracial, when government policies were inspired by an indomitable belief in the Australian fair go. The trajectory of the Fraser government is something to behold in the index of this nation’s history. Malcolm Fraser has not merely lived history; he has made it, changed it and charted us a better course for it.

In 1975 Australia was in the throes of a national heart attack. While prepared to inflict short-term pain to avert impending disaster, the spirit of Malcolm Fraser’s intent was that of a healer and a builder. With the balm of confidence and the tonic of optimism, he reached out to all Australians with hope and assurance. He continued to instil reassurance and stability throughout his government, recruiting other healers like Sir Zelman Cowen as Governor-General.

On Aboriginal affairs, it was the Fraser government who extended native title rights and appointed three empathetic ministers in Fred Chaney, Ian Viner and Peter Baume. He gave the Northern Territory self-government. For drought stricken farmers, it was Fraser who first provided a system of deferred taxation. Ably assisted by my friend and colleague Petro Georgiou, Prime Minister Fraser conceived, funded and implemented SBS television.

Fraser immigration ministers set the course for non-discriminatory migration programs. It was that government that loudly resolved the recently abolished White Australia policy would never again blot any page of legislation passed in our federal parliament. It was their government that organised the calm and orderly arrival of 100,000 Indochinese. They were welcomed to Australia where their future citizenship would never be questioned and their dreams could be boundless. As David Barnett, Malcolm Fraser’s biographer, notes where Whitlam had called them ‘boatpeople’, Malcolm Fraser called them’ refugees’ which is what they were.

Imagine a time when there was a bipartisan national discussion on immigration that appealed to our best hopes and not our worst fears. Imagine a time when the immigration minister conducted a national tour to explain multiculturalism and was often joined by his opposition shadow. Ian McPhee and Mick Young could imagine it because Malcolm Fraser believed that we could be as responsible as that.

Abroad, the Fraser government supported the Gleneagles agreement to sever sporting links with segregated South Africa, not just because apartheid did not work but also because it was morally reprehensible. Malcolm Fraser’s negotiation of a practical border zone arrangement between Australia and Papua New Guinea may well be one of his government’s most understated achievements. Where Gough Whitlam failed, Malcolm Fraser’s tenacity, reason and patience prevailed. Becoming the first Australian Prime Minister to visit the Torres Strait Islands, Malcolm Fraser held negotiations on Yam Island. Under the Wisdom Tree, the Prime Minister and his foreign affairs minister sat in the sand with representatives of the local coastal Papuans, the Queensland government and the PNG government to see the dawning of this historic agreement.

Malcolm Fraser has had a lifelong aversion to communism. Given the times in which he reached adulthood in 1950s Australia, it is easy to understand why. As Prime Minister, he backed the United States in its condemnation of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. But he also swam against the prevailing international tides of the time which included the more relaxed attitude of President Jimmy Carter’s administration towards the Soviet Union. Fraser argued this stance weakened the position of the West which was critical during the Cold War period, and that was a view later endorsed by Ronald Reagan.

Throughout all of this time, the member for Wannon was an outstanding local member of parliament. During Malcolm Fraser’s prime ministership, I served on my children’s local kindergarten committee in his electorate. I once wrote to him about an issue concerning our kindergarten, unsure whether I would receive a reply. Two weeks later the member for Wannon responded with care and concern. I remember being very impressed by his attention to a minor detail while attending to the great challenges of an entire nation. There are those today who would do well to heed such an example.

In 1981, Ronald Reagan said that it was Malcolm Fraser who preceded both him and Margaret Thatcher on the path to smaller government. In America, those former presidents are revered statesman. No longer enmeshed in partisan politics, they become feted national elders. In the Australian Labor Party, I will admit, those who have led their comrades to the great enabler of government are indeed eulogised. In the Liberal Party, we are not as generous in this regard and I am not alone in this opinion.

My former colleague Alexander Downer has rightly said that the Liberal Party lionised Sir Robert Menzies as the nation’s greatest leader, but he asked how well we revered our other great leaders. How many people give credit to Harold Holt for dismantling the White Australia policy, to John Gorton’s efforts on the environment, and to Sir William McMahon who was a Treasurer and an early champion of liberal markets? Alexander Downer was a former staffer to Malcolm Fraser. In his words, Fraser ‘was one of the most dedicated and patriotic people I have ever met.’ The Fraser government received a majority in both houses, but Australians remained bitterly divided over the events that led to that moment. Alexander Downer’s view is that:

Some Liberals say Fraser should have reformed the economy more radically than he did. But all prime ministers operate in a context and the context of post November, 1975, is important to understand.

After more than a century of Federation, Australia has five living former prime ministers. They should all be celebrated and respected for the service they gave with all of their might and to the best extent of their abilities that the challenges of their times allowed. Malcolm Fraser was not a perfect prime minister. He is not a flawless human being. Who among us is? But it was the aspiration to better, to develop and to refine his abilities and to progress from a beginning that was not predestined for greatness that also speaks to his qualities of determination and aspiration.

Some may say that Malcolm Fraser let the opportunity of radical reform slide, but with the wisdom of hindsight they may now concede that legislating for the sake of opportunity has its drawbacks too. It was a time for calm, reasoned progression, not for legislation that sought to reach beyond what the public was prepared to grasp.

Mr Fraser is a person of remarkable consistency, without lacking in adaptability. His established views on the importance of federalism are now more relevant than ever. When Malcolm Fraser left the Liberal leadership, he left our party in capable hands and I want to pay tribute to him tonight. Abraham Lincoln once said that character was like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing. Mr President, Malcolm Fraser is the real thing.