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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
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Condolence

Fraser, Hon. J.M.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (11:04): By leave, I move:

That the House of Assembly expresses its deep regret at the death of the Rt Hon. Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, former member of the House of Representatives and Prime Minister of Australia, and places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious service to the nation, and that as a mark of respect to his memory the sitting of the house be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

Today, as a chamber we pass on our respects to the community through this place at the passing of Malcolm Fraser, a prodigious talent and an indefatigable advocate for the ideal of liberalism in Australia's political discourse. As the nation's 22nd prime minister, Mr Fraser's achievements have been well documented in the past week. His leadership, of course, was born in controversy and ruled through a turbulent time through the tensions of the Cold War, oil shocks and white rule in southern Africa.

As a Labor member, and a child of 11 years of age at the time, my recollections of Mr Fraser of course will be shaped by the Dismissal. Indeed, I can remember vividly the teacher announcing to the class the dismissal of Gough Whitlam by the then governor-general, and a fight broke out immediately in the class—not a physical one but a verbal one. It was—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: No, between the students—so it was a divisive time in the affairs of the nation. But if Gough Whitlam can reconcile with the former prime minister, then so should Labor people, and so it is in that spirit that I provide my contribution today.

What I can say is that we recognise Mr Fraser and his deep commitment to public service both throughout his period in office and in his life after politics. It is extraordinary the involvement he maintained in the daily affairs of our nation. Elected to parliament for the Victorian seat of Wannon at the age of 25, at a time when not just federal politics but Canberra seem to be full of old grey men, the young Fraser became a political force. His will to power quickly catapulted him into a central role in the leadership of the affairs of the nation.

I want to single out for special mention some of the initiatives that I think those on our side of politics were most attracted to. His seven years of office included achievements like the formation of the Kakadu National Park and the Great Barrier Reef protection arrangements, so his commitment to the protection of the natural environment was something that people on this side of the house were grateful for and respect.

His commitment to the diversification of Australia, with approximately 200,000 migrants arriving from Asian countries, including 56,000 refugees from the Vietnam War, is something which is an extraordinary achievement. I think that we have a powerful example of this policy initiative with our Governor, His Excellency Hieu Van Le, rising to the highest office in this state, being a man who arrived in a boat across the waters and welcomed because of the policies of Malcolm Fraser.

We also acknowledge and pay respect to his decision to pursue the first Aboriginal Land Rights Act and see its passage through the Australian parliament at a national level. His advocacy on the international stage against the injustices of apartheid was also something which allowed our nation to stand tall in international affairs. His influence, through the institution of CHOGM, played a critical role in applying pressure to the South African regime.

As prime minister, he had the unique distinction of his term of office commencing and concluding with double dissolution elections, and while much can be said about the way in which he rose to office in 1975, one cannot forget that he won the greatest electoral majority in Australia's history with his 30-seat swing, meaning his coalition held 55 seats more than Labor in the 1975 election. Whatever one can say about the events of 1975, certainly the people of Australia strongly endorsed Mr Fraser and his government.

In retirement he was a keen contributor to important debates in this nation and on a world stage, including his calls for a more humanitarian approach to the question of people fleeing persecution and seeking refuge in our country.

I met Mr Fraser at the airport as he was leaving the funeral of Gough Whitlam and he seemed happy and healthy, and it is sad to reflect that merely months apart we have lost these two most important links with our national history.

Mr Fraser leaves behind his wife of almost 60 years, Tamie, and their four children, Mark, Angela, Hugh and Phoebe, and our thoughts are with them at this sad time.

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (11:11): I rise to speak on behalf of the South Australian Liberal Party on the passing of the Hon. Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, 22nd prime minister of Australia and, in particular, to extend our sympathies to his friends and family.

It is indeed a sad moment in the history of our nation as we bid farewell to one of Australia's most recognisable and charismatic prime ministers and one of the giants of the Liberal movement. Malcolm Fraser was born on 21 May 1930 in Toorak, Victoria. He was raised in the Riverina and his early years were shaped by the education he received at Melbourne Grammar and later at Magdalen College, Oxford. It was while at Oxford that his political philosophies, particularly those of liberalism, were shaped under the great tutelage of renowned lecturers, including Isaiah Berlin and A.J.P. Taylor. It was here that he fully developed the strong set of values which would be his touchstone for his entire political career and beyond.

Upon his return to Australia he was elected to the seat of Wannon in December 1955, aged only 25. He was the youngest future prime minister to enter federal parliament. An excerpt of the preselection speech he wrote while campaigning for Wannon shows his idealism and his commitment to public life. He spoke about:

…the necessity for liberalism to reach out to everybody...I want to play some part in this. I am young and would like nothing better than to devote a lifetime to this end.

I think that we can all agree that he was successful in achieving this ambition.

A year after his election to Wannon in 1956, he married the love of his life, Tamie Beggs, who would remain by this side until his death. They had four children together: Mark, Angela, Hugh and Phoebe. Barry Jones said in recent days that having a wife and family humanised Malcolm and that as his children grew they enlarged his range of issues and interests.

Mr Fraser served for more than a decade on the backbench, passionately representing his constituency before he was appointed to the cabinet by prime minister Harold Holt in 1966 as minister for the Army, his first of many key positions within the federal Liberal Party. As opposition leader, Mr Fraser was a formidable opponent to Gough Whitlam's government and the rivalry between him and the prime minister was legendary. Malcolm Fraser will, of course, be remembered as one of the key players in this most tumultuous period of history and the dismissal of the Whitlam government.

Following the Whitlam dismissal, Mr Fraser led the Liberal country party coalition to win the largest parliamentary majority as a proportion of seats in Australia's political history. He would go on to serve as prime minister for 7½ years and restore much needed fiscal and budget discipline and political stability after the chaos of the preceding Whitlam administration.

In much later years, Mr Fraser and Gough Whitlam grew to become friends and the chemistry between them, even in casual social situations, remained energising, according to many who knew them both. It is notable that these two bookends of Australia's political history would depart this world less than six months apart.

For the son of a wealthy pastoralist from country Victoria, Mr Fraser had a deep affinity for those from distant shores. He was the first person to introduce the word 'multiculturalism' into the political lexicon and he surprised many of his opponents by adopting a formal policy to resettle refugees from the Vietnam War in Australia on humanitarian grounds. The positive impact that the Vietnamese settlement had upon Australia's culture cannot be understated. As South Australians, all we need to do is look at our Vietnamese-born Governor His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le to truly appreciate this.

Mr Fraser established the Australian Ethnic Affairs Council in 1977, set up the Institute of Multicultural Affairs in 1978 and established the Australian Refugee Advisory Council in 1979. However, it was the establishment of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) in 1980 that remains his greatest legacy to Australia's bilingual communities.

Mr Fraser was a prime minister with one eye fixed on the international arena and was a highly respected leading figure in the commonwealth of nations. Under his prime ministership, Mr Fraser strengthened Australia's international standing as a country with the ability to punch well above its weight. He had a keen sense of justice and was vocal in his disapproval of South African apartheid. He refused to allow the Springbok rugby team to land here en route to New Zealand in 1981 and strongly opposed the white minority rule in Rhodesia.

However, Mr Fraser was not just a prime minister who recognised injustice in other lands, he also understood that in order to better our nation we needed to reform at the domestic level. He extended native title rights, passed the Northern Territory Aboriginal Land Rights Act, was the first prime minister to introduce freedom of information laws and established Australia's first commonwealth ombudsman. In 1981, he successfully introduced the Human Rights Commission Act and established the Human Rights Commission.

Following his retirement from parliament in 1983, Mr Fraser remained committed to humanitarian issues. In 1987 he formed CARE Australia as part of the international CARE network of humanitarian aid organisations where he served as chairman from 1987 until 2002. He continued to be involved with CARE Australia well into his senior years. In 2000 he was awarded Australia's Human Rights Medal in recognition of his Aboriginal land rights legislation as well as his personal and professional commitment to anti-racism, reconciliation and minority rights both in Australia and abroad.

Malcolm Fraser was a giant, both physically and figuratively, of the Australian Liberal Party and the nation. He was a man of principle who followed through with his convictions and did not ask for forgiveness. He did not go gently into that goodnight but continued to rage, advocating and lobbying for the causes that he believed in right up until the end of his days. I believe that the history books will be kind to the legacy of the Hon. Malcolm Fraser. He was a prime minister who keenly understood the times in which he served, valued and enhanced Australia's place on the international stage and was a true friend of our multicultural communities. His imprint upon our nation's history will forever be remembered. Vale Malcolm Fraser.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (11:18): Malcolm Fraser always confused me. He was the first prime minister whom I became politically aware of growing up and I remember heated discussions at home with my mother being a keen supporter of his and my father being a staunch opponent of his. My parents both walked to the ballot box to cancel out each other's vote, both in 1975 and right up until the end in 1983, when my father told my mother a fib about who he was going to vote for just to keep her quiet.

That is the type of emotion that Malcolm Fraser generated amongst a lot of people. His relationship with former prime minister Whitlam, while not as close as Jefferson and Adams, seems very similar. They both died on the same day in the same year, but Whitlam and Fraser died six months apart. I do not know how close they became personally but, publicly, they had become a lot closer, and I think they had both healed the wounds that were caused through that tumultuous period in 1975. I am too young to remember it but I hear many people speak of it, particularly on our side of the house, and they speak of it with a great deal of rage and indignation. However, as the Premier said, the public overwhelmingly endorsed then prime minister Fraser in the 1975 election. To this day that result confuses me; I do not understand it, but I think what it speaks of is the eloquence and political style of the former prime minister.

I was lucky enough to meet him personally—again, at an airport—when he was being asked to remove his shoes before he passed through security. I was quite indignant about that; he was a former prime minister and I would not expect a former prime minister to carry anything offensive onto an aeroplane. I raised it with the security guards; one, surprisingly, did not recognise him but they then allowed him to pass through.

We spoke about it afterwards in the lounge, and he asked who I was. I said I was the Treasurer of South Australia, and he said to me, 'You have an excellent Governor.'

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Governor. I was trying to be nice about the Liberal Party, but that lasted about 30 seconds. He said, 'You have an excellent Governor,' and we had a long chat about that period. When I say long it was long for me; it was about two minutes for him, but for me it was an eternity. He talked about the obligation he felt, as prime minister, towards the Vietnamese people after the Vietnam War, and I found that quite moving, because he really was a champion of multiculturalism.

The political divide has grown over time, and as we look back at that period our political leaders then were much more accepting of people of diversity than perhaps they are today. I do not mean to make a political point; it just seems to me that at that time then prime minister Whitlam and then prime minister Fraser were much more accepting of people from diverse backgrounds. The example they give us today is one of tolerance.

Again, I do not understand Mr Fraser's resignation from the Liberal Party. Even as a staunch Labor supporter I felt saddened that a former prime minister could not relate to the political party he carried to office, to victory, so many times. I think that speaks ill of our political system, not necessarily of the Liberal Party but of our political system; I suspect that even the great man on our side was disappointed with us as he got closer to his end.

The thing about Malcolm Fraser that always impressed me was that he was always in the fight, even up to the end. He engaged in new forms of media like Twitter, and I think he was the first former prime minister to have been on Twitter. He was on there before Kevin Rudd, I do not think John Howard is on Twitter, and he was there before Julia Gillard became a former prime minister; he was always tweeting. Unlike other public figures of his stature he did not caveat his tweets by saying, 'Tweets by MF are personally by Malcolm Fraser.' They were all his, they were all his thinking. He was constantly letting us know where he thought we were failing and where he thought we were doing well. I think that type of political leadership, right up until his passing, is an example to us all: that whether or not you win or lose it is about being in the fight. That is what I respect about Malcolm Fraser.

I think he also formed a number of people's political views, especially through that period. However, the one relationship he had that I never understood was that with Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young. I tweeted a while back, 'This is the reason I'm Labor,' and there is a picture of Malcolm Fraser and Sarah Hanson-Young. It was not meant to be a personal attack on either of them, it was just that I didn't understand the two ideologies and I didn't understand how they could meet, but that is how complex and complicated he was.

I suppose great leadership comes from the ability to hold two opposing ideas in your head and make them work, and that is what Malcolm Fraser did. He was a very complex, complicated man and complicated prime minister. He was very, very smart and very, very talented, and he served our nation well. Malcolm Fraser is someone we should be proud of as a former prime minister. I think he carried himself with a great deal of dignity in that role, promoting Australia's interests wherever he went.

I feel very sorry for his family in what seems to be a sudden passing, even for a man of his age, because he was exceptionally fit. God rest Malcolm Fraser, and I wish to express my condolences to him, his family and to the Liberal Party.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (11:25): I rise to speak on the motion recognising the Hon. Malcolm Fraser. I thank the Premier for moving this motion, and I particularly thank the Leader of the Opposition for his contribution to this motion in outlining, for posterity in the state parliament, for South Australians, the magnificent contribution of Mr Fraser, both as a former prime minister of Australia and member of the House of Representatives and also through his lifelong service to public debate and the advancement of social issues on which he worked so hard.

I also wish to acknowledge Mrs Tamie Fraser and their four children in particular for the sacrifices they made in giving a member of their family to high public office. That is an enormous sacrifice. My observations of Mrs Tamie Fraser was that she undertook this sacrifice without reservation, and I commend the manner in which she conducted herself, in becoming involved in all of the areas of both political and public life, to ensure that Mr Fraser was able to both enjoy a magnificent, wonderful and long family life and also to have the support in all of his adventures.

The 1975 controversy (or constitutional crisis, depending on what side of the political divide one sits on) is a matter which I do not propose to traverse, just as I did not at the passing of the Hon. Gough Whitlam. I will say, however, that I certainly remember the election and the 'Turn on the lights' campaign, because, as a result, so many people were unable to start their cars when they went home from work because they had turned on their lights and left them on, and batteries went flat all around the nation! It was a stunningly successful campaign, and Mr Fraser won three elections for the Liberals. He was a great Liberal, and I, along with Liberals from around the country, will recognise the passing of Mr Fraser at a national level at his state funeral this Friday.

The one matter I do wish to place on the record is that I have often thought what a different Australia it would be if the events of 1975 had not taken place. If, in fact, the Whitlam administration and/or any subsequent Labor administration had continued on, without those events, and we had borrowed what is now the infamous Khemlani loan, then our great-grandchildren would be buried in debt. I am actually grateful for the intervention, controversial as it was. The country was broke, and Treasury was advising against overseas loans, and it was a decision which led to those fatal steps to the governor-general, and the rest is history.

Many generations will go on debating the controversy surrounding whether it was constitutionally appropriate or indeed necessary. It is fair to say, as the Treasurer has said, that it was a time of considerable controversy. I do not doubt for one moment that it galvanised many people into the spirit and support of political activism at that time. There were a number of people who joined in the rage at that stage and became politically active. We have not actually seen such a galvanising constitutional event since, and perhaps we never will, but certainly, at a political level, it was monumental.

I thank Mr Fraser for his contribution post life as a prime minister. Similarly to the person operating the X-ray machine, I can recall an occasion in the 1980s of driving to the airport to pick up Mr Fraser in his post prime ministerial role. I had explained to my then 10 or 11-year-old son that I would not be picking him up from sports practice after school. The obvious question came: why? I said, 'I am picking up Mr Malcolm Fraser from the airport.' The obvious question came then: 'Who is Malcolm Fraser when he's at home?' I had to explain to him that he was a past prime minister. I think it is important that we recognise and respect those who have made such high sacrifice and contribution to public office so that future generations remember him and others who have served.

Subsequent to that, he came to South Australia once to ask for my vote, which was interesting, as he had nominated to be federal president of the party. The Hon. Robert Hill, a few others and I had a vote in those days. A message was sent through to me from my receptionist in the legal practice, saying, 'A Mr Malcolm Fraser rang, Ms Chapman.' I said, 'Yes.' 'I told him he couldn't speak to you because he didn't have an appointment.' 'Right, I'm going to give you a list of a few people who, if ever they ring, are to be put through immediately. Mr Malcolm Fraser is on the top of the list—and these are the other prime ministers.' So, we went through that exercise, and it did not happen again.

We had a meeting, and what was extraordinary about that was that he did not, in fact, ever actually go through with his election. On the day, at the federal council, we were all there ready for the speeches from the candidates. I was sitting near Mrs Tamie Fraser, who was stoic in her expression. Mr Fraser went up to give his speech to get the support of the room. He announced that he was not going to stand and that he was withdrawing his nomination, and he walked out of the room. Throughout the entire incident, which everybody was gobsmacked at, Mrs Tamie Fraser sat there without an expression on her face. I thought, 'What an incredible woman!'

Unfortunately, I never actually got to vote for him, but I greatly admired him. I think his work subsequent to his well-known political period of contribution as prime minister is now testament to the fact that he is a truly great Liberal. He is a giant on our side of the political fence as such, and he went on to make a contribution in public office which I think many of us should aspire to follow. If we do even half of what he has done, we will be remembered as great Australian citizens and giant Liberals.

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (11:32): Malcolm Fraser's death came as a shock to me although, when I saw him on a recent TV appearance, he did seem a little less than he had been in the past. He played a pivotal role in my political life because Remembrance Day 1975 had a profound effect on me. I was working on the ground floor of the cash payment centre of Medibank in Grenfell Street in the days when a visit to the GP cost around $5.95, with a refund of about $4.75—proof that there has always been a co-payment.

My workmates had told me of the Dismissal, but I did not believe it. They teased me about it all day until lunchtime when someone brought in one of the newspaper headline posters saying, 'He's out.' It was devastating for me for a number of reasons, and I joined the Labor Party at a rally in Victoria Square some days later—the first time I had actually held a ticket myself.

Having said that, my opinion of Malcolm Fraser has changed over recent years. In his time in politics, he played a cutthroat game to win. He gained perspective and became a humanitarian in later life, and he gained meaning in pursuit of people's basic human rights. He told it as it was: to squib responsibility for public policies which hurt people on the basis of race is simply wrong.

He stood up for refugees and Aboriginal Australians and spoke out in ways I wonder if anyone on any side of any parliament would be prepared to do in their retirement, let alone in their life in parliament. He was able to stand up against the blatant racisms that we see today against asylum seekers and, of course, the first nations people. He became a true Australian statesman.

Just as Gough Whitlam came to appreciate his many fine qualities, so have I and many other Australians. Some of his tweets from The Advertiser are testament to the many issues he saw very clearly. One of them states:

Four reasons to raise women's pay that should make men happy. Let's do it!

Another said:

David Hicks: It feels good to be an innocent man. Abbott should apologise, US evidence shows conviction was trumped up by two Governments.

Another said:

2014 Was Hottest Year on Record, Surpassing 2010. And still the deniers deny!!!

We also had a few quotes in the paper that week:

...If they are genuine refugees, there is no deterrent that we can create which is going to be severe enough, cruel enough, nasty enough to stop them fleeing the terror [they face] in their own lands.

There was another on reconciliation, which states:

Reconciliation requires changes of heart and spirit, as well as social and economic change. It requires symbolic as well as practical action.

Along with all of you here today, I add my condolences on behalf of the people of Florey and extend our sympathies to Mrs Tamie Fraser and the extended Fraser family. He was a truly amazing man and, more tellingly for me, he was a lover of gardens and even named a camellia he bred after his wife Tamie. Vale Mr Fraser.

Mr DULUK (Davenport) (11:36): I also rise to speak to the condolence motion for the late Malcolm Fraser. I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Malcolm Fraser, Australia's 22nd prime minister, and I express my condolences to Mrs Fraser and the whole Fraser family.

Malcolm Fraser was a deeply considered and highly principled man. Though all of us come to politics with varying degrees of political courage, very few of us can say we are fearless. Malcolm was fearless, and his passion and sincerity enriched the nation. Fraser's political courage and hunger for reform saw him embrace a large-scale social agenda that reshaped Australia. In particular, his government:

introduced a legislative framework for Aboriginal land rights in the Northern Territory;

instituted self-government for the Northern Territory;

set up both the national crime commission and the Australian Federal Police;

stood firm against the evil of apartheid in South Africa;

prohibited whaling in Australia's territorial waters;

banned sand mining on the ecologically sensitive Fraser island; and

accepted Vietnamese refugees fleeing war in Vietnam that Australia was actively engaged in and later allocated funding to what became the SBS.

It should not be readily forgotten that Malcolm Fraser was a warrior for our party, and his efforts to dispense with the Whitlam government were vindicated in the December 1975 general election landslide. The events surrounding the Dismissal and subsequent election required real personal and political toughness. Fraser had that toughness.

Fraser's political strength was moderated by his conscience. I have said that Fraser was fearless and very often he was fearless on great matters of conscience. He said of his decision to accept more than 50,000 refugees from the Vietnam war and Indochina conflict that it was morally the right thing to do at the time even though the polls were 80 per cent against him. Fraser's commitment to multiculturalism was lasting. He remarked at the opening of SBS in 1980 as follows:

We used to have a view that to really be a good Australian, to love Australia, you almost had to cut your links with the country of origin. But I don't think that was right and it never was right.

As the grandson of immigrants, I have a deep personal understanding of what it means to love Australia and to celebrate diverse and sometimes very different cultures. Fraser made that possible. It was Fraser who truly ended the white Australia policy.

In foreign affairs, Fraser was a strong opponent of communism and the Soviet Union and 100 per cent committed to the Australia-US alliance. He participated in the 'Let Poland be Poland' broadcasts of the 1980s and was patron of the Australian National Committee for Relief to Poland.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Great union movement, Solidarity.

Mr DULUK: Very good union movement, probably the only good one. I have mentioned Fraser's commitment to land rights and to reconciliation. Speaking about reconciliation, Fraser said:

Reconciliation requires changes of heart and spirit, as well as social and economic change. It requires symbolic as well as practical action.

And I agree. Though now forgotten, Fraser was devoted to the Federation and to states' rights. He adopted a conservative approach to tax reform and economic policy. He offered the states the power to reduce or increase income tax levied by the commonwealth within a 5 per cent margin. No state took up that offer at the time and handed back to the states control over some offshore resources.

Reflecting on the 1975 constitutional crisis and Fraser's natural instincts on economics, Paul Kelly said that he was a conservative as well as a reformer. We on my side of this house are at our best when we are true to conservative values while driving a passionate reform agenda. I emphasise, in that respect, that all true conservatives have a deep compassion.

Malcolm infamously said that life wasn't meant to be easy and, in later life, speaking to us forcefully and directly about the issues of conscience, he did not make an easy life for himself. He asked all the hard questions and knew that the answers would lead to better policy. It is a measure of his quality as a man and as a leader that he ultimately made friends with his enemies, especially the late Gough Whitlam. We must celebrate political leaders who are prepared to stand up for their principles. I pay tribute to a great prime minister and a man with a principled heart.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

Mr SPEIRS (Bright) (11:40): I rise to speak on this condolence motion for former prime minister of Australia Malcolm Fraser AC. Malcolm Fraser's 30-year political career was over before I was born, yet that does not, and should not, make his career any less relevant to me or other members of this house who may not have been immediately impacted by the outcomes of his government.

As someone with a keen interest in Australian politics and a keener interest still in the values and qualities that create leadership, I have spent time analysing Australia's 22nd prime minister, not only by looking at his time in office but also in exploring the good works he undertook in the three decades since his departure from the prime ministership.

Malcolm Fraser was Australia's 22nd prime minister, serving in office from December 1975 until March 1983. He was elected to the Western Victorian seat of Wannon in 1955 when he was only 25 years old and he was the last Australian prime minister to represent a rural electorate.

Malcolm Fraser was greatly defined by the way in which he came to office, although the Dismissal, while tectonic in historical terms, did little more than bring forward the date of the Coalition's emphatic victory in the general election held just weeks after Gough Whitlam was removed from office. Fraser's huge victory in 1975 resulted in his securing the largest parliamentary majority in Australia's history—a record not yet broken.

The Fraser era formed a plateau of economic and social stability—an effective antidote to the chaotic Whitlam years and a foundation for the necessary economic reforms that followed during the Hawke, Keating and Howard governments. Some headline achievements of the Fraser government include the introduction of the family allowance, family income support, lone father's payment and abolition of estate and gift duties.

His government was a huge champion of multiculturalism and essentially founded what modern multiculturalism is in Australia. Between 1975 and 1982, Australia welcomed some 200,000 refugees including, as has been mentioned by many members today, 56,000 from Vietnam alone. The establishment of the Special Broadcasting Service, better known to us as SBS, is a pivotal moment in Australia's commitment to multiculturalism and a great thing that can be celebrated about the Fraser government.

Another great achievement of the government was initiating a modern-day focus on conservation and expanding the number of national parks in Australia. Some of these environmental achievements included banning whaling in Australia, the declaration of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, prohibition of sand mining on Fraser Island and having five areas placed on the World Heritage List, including the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, Willandra Lakes, Lord Howe Island and south-west Tasmania. As someone who is a strong and passionate environmentalist, I think those are very worthy achievements and I am glad they have been mentioned on both sides of the house today.

The Fraser government also established FM radio, the Australian Institute of Sport and the Commonwealth Ombudsman's office, opening up scrutiny to government processes. Prime Minister Fraser strode the world stage and fitted well with his contemporaries, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, as they formed a generation of Western leaders who were united in their push for Keynesian economic reform, looked at ways to cope with the oil shocks, dealt with Cold War politics and analysed and worked towards improving the challenges of white rule in Southern Africa, with Mr Fraser becoming a vocal opponent of apartheid and doing a great deal to ensure that that ghastly practice was brought to an end.

After Malcolm Fraser left his role as prime minister he helped establish the Australian chapter of the aid organisation CARE, which stands for Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere. This became a great passion of his, as he got the organisation up and running in Australia, sought substantial philanthropic support and drove appeals for victims of natural disasters across the world. He was chairman of CARE Australia from 1987 until 2001, and also president of CARE International from 1991 to 1995, and its vice president until the end of the century.

For me, one of the characteristics of a successful leader is someone who can transition from one sphere of leadership to another. Malcolm Fraser's move from leading our nation to becoming a world-leading figure in humanitarianism marks him out as an excellent leader who has achieved more than simply political success. He was a genuine Liberal, his own man, a humanitarian and a leader. Farewell Malcolm Fraser.

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (11:46): 'You have to be an optimist; why involve yourself in issues of public policy unless you are?'—Malcolm Fraser. In my late teenage years I visited a giant in our area, Nick Bianco, in his office, and there was a coaster on Nick's desk, and it read 'Life was not meant to be easy.' I remember asking Mr Bianco what this was about and him explaining to me that it was a quote from one of the greatest, if not the greatest, prime minister of all time, Malcolm Fraser.

It was explained to me why Malcolm Fraser was such a huge icon in the multicultural community: because he was an empathetic and tolerant leader and did many great things for the migrant and multicultural communities. I rise to say a few words about him on his passing. An empathetic man, but not a socialist. In fact, on socialism he said:

It is not a way of life, it is an unworkable formula which would apply to robots but not to men and women.

It is with great sadness that I approach parliament today to remember the Hon. Malcolm Fraser who died on Friday 20 March, who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia between November 1975 and March 1983. Today I acknowledge some of the impacts he had on Australia.

Entering politics at the ripe age of just 25, when he was the youngest member of the 22nd parliament, his first 10 years in politics were spent as a backbencher in the Menzies' government. After Harold Holt was elected as prime minister a few years back, Malcolm Fraser served as minister for the Army and held numerous titles in the governments of John Gorton and William McMahon.

After the Whitlam government winning office in 1972, he sat on the opposition benches for the first time, and remained there for some years until 1975, when he became the leader of the opposition, providing the Liberal Party with a new sense of purpose and direction, after being appointed as caretaker prime minister in November 1975 by the governor-general, Sir John Kerr, when the Liberal Party came to government. He shortly won office with the largest landslide of any federal election, and won the largest parliamentary majority, as a proportion of seats, in Australian political history.

Mr Fraser's life and time in office will always be remembered by Australians. In economic policy the Fraser government pursued the goals of reducing expenditure, streamlining the public service and providing responsible economic management. Economic rationalism was introduced by the Fraser government in policy debate. However, traditional principles of financial management and fiscal policy marked the reality of Malcolm Fraser's prime ministerial term.

He supported strong defence spending and reinforced trade and diplomatic relations with countries of East and South-East Asia, from which we are still benefitting today. Fraser saw defence and foreign policy as areas that were key to economic benefits in the future. He was influential on the changing relations of countries within the British commonwealth. He took a strong stand in supporting reform in South Africa, and he also played a significant part in the commonwealth's efforts to establish an independent Zimbabwe. He was not afraid to speak his mind and he was passionate about human rights, even when his party disagreed.

During his term, Australia saw the National Gallery of Australia completed and the construction of the new Parliament House. In closing, Malcolm Fraser will always be remembered by his colleagues, family and friends and to Australia at large as a giant of our time. May he rest in peace.

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (11:50): It is with both pleasure and sadness that I rise to support the motion as moved by the Premier. Unlike a number of members in this house, I remember very clearly the days of Malcolm Fraser, both before he became prime minister and his prime ministership. I remember very clearly those tumultuous events of 1975. I happened to be a commonwealth public servant at the time, working here in the middle of the city.

I remember attending a rally (no doubt the same rally the member for Florey attended) in Victoria Square immediately following those events, probably for a different reason and I was not moved to join the Labor Party as a result of attending that rally. In fact, I suspect I was one of the few people in the rather expansive office that I worked in who was quite relieved at the events as they unfolded on that fateful day.

Sir, let me just say a few things about Fraser. I want to talk about the context of his time as well because sitting here reflecting on many of the events and the giants of the time—and we must remember that Fraser entered the federal parliament under the prime ministership of Robert Menzies as Menzies' reign came to an end—those names of the Liberal Party: Holt, Gorton, Snedden, McMahon, there was a change, a huge change, both in the Liberal Party but also in Australia and Australia's place in the world.

We then had that incredible election in 1972, I remember it very well, and the Whitlam government and great names in that government, names that remain firmly in my memory of Whitlam, Cairns, Murphy, Connor, people who were living at a time when the world was certainly changing but Australia's place in the world changed forever. Out of all of those names I have just mentioned I think Fraser was (at least as much as any of them, if not more than any of them) able to see the changing world and to adapt to what has become a very different world to what he would have grown up in and, indeed, experienced when he first went into parliament.

To live through and observe firsthand—and most members, being a few years younger than myself, will not fully understand what I am talking about—how every young male in Australia in those days, as they approached their 18th birthday, was wondering whether they were going to end up in the jungles of Vietnam, that is the context in which Australia approached that incredible election in 1972.

We then saw the ending of the Vietnam War; the way we ended our involvement and very shortly thereafter the end of the involvement of the Americans. We saw on our nightly news broadcasts, as it unfolded before our very eyes, the impact that had on those who were left, those South Vietnamese who were left. I am absolutely convinced that had a huge impact on Malcolm Fraser and, I suspect, the attitude he carried forward from that time. It certainly had an impact on me and the way I view the world because, as I just said, I think I missed out on the ballot of conscription by a matter of months.

Mr Pengilly: Me too.

Mr WILLIAMS: The member for Finniss says he was in the same boat. So, we were—and I suspect the member for Finniss would agree with me—very conscious of what was going on in the world in those times, and I was certainly very conscious of what we had left behind, the turmoil and the mess that we had left behind in Vietnam. I am sure that Malcolm Fraser was equally conscious of that, too. I can well understand the attitude that he carried forth when he became prime minister towards the people of Vietnam and those who wanted to seek refuge in Australia. Of course, he saw that there were not dissimilar issues in many other parts of the world.

Just on a lighter note I want to refer to one of my constituents, a stalwart of the Liberal Party in the South-East of the state, the late Ian Rocky Smith who a lot of people on this side of the house would remember. Rocky always used to come back from the bull sales over at Nareen, Malcom Fraser's property, and we reckoned he used brag to his mates about how he had lunch with Malcolm and how he chatted with Malcolm. Rocky used to get a fair bit of stick in the local community about his supposed relationship with Malcolm Fraser. Lo and behold, one night we were watching TV and, from memory, I think it was a Four Corners program, it showed the prime minister in Queensland. I am not sure why he was there but he was walking down in front of a crowd of people and all of a sudden he veered across to the crowd and vigorously shook the hand of somebody standing in the crowd. Lo and behold, it was Rocky Smith! We always had to believe Rocky thereafter about his relationship with Malcolm Fraser. That was probably the closest I ever got to meeting Malcolm Fraser, through the late Rocky Smith.

Malcolm Fraser was a giant in every sense of the term, and was certainly a giant of Australian politics. He was a giant of an Australian. Along with a very small handful of people, he placed Australia where it is on the world stage today and I think we should all be very, very proud of the way he positioned this nation. To his wife and family I offer my sincere condolences and those of the people of the seat of Mackillop.

The SPEAKER (11:57): John Malcolm Fraser won the federal division of Wannon in western Victoria from Labor. Indeed, so strong was support for the ALP among the large class of agricultural labourers that Labor won the polling booth at Nareen, the Fraser family seat. Mr Fraser was able to win Wannon at the age of 25 with an 8.5 per cent swing at the 1955 general election after the Labor leader, Dr Evatt, had played the sectarian card to preserve his leadership and split the Labor Party.

Malcolm Fraser was a principled opponent of communism and was vindicated in that by history. Although it may seem odd now, in the internal politics of the Liberal Party, Malcolm Fraser was, throughout his parliamentary career, a candidate of the right wing or conservative tendency.

Malcolm Fraser thought it was legitimate, when in opposition, for the Senate to refuse supply to the government. He also thought it was legitimate to arrange covertly with the then governor-general to obtain informal legal advice from the chief justice of the High Court about deadlocks between the two houses, and to arrange the dismissal of the prime minister without the prime minister having the opportunity to change his advice to the governor-general about calling an election and, with Mr Fraser waiting in another room, unseen, to be commissioned by the governor-general after the dismissal. I strongly disagree with Mr Fraser's position, but it is now part of the constitutional arrangements of our country.

Once Mr Fraser became prime minister he carried out a policy that, in Britain, would be characterised as One Nation conservatism or, in the words of Margaret Thatcher, wet. Mr Fraser's government ran budget deficits, ending in 1982-83 with a massive deficit, and avoided microeconomic reform.

Once Malcolm Fraser had left office after the 1983 general election defeat, a severe reaction against his legacy set in in the Liberal Party. Indeed, for years to come the dominant tendency in the Australian Liberal Party consisted of those who regarded the Fraser years as a lost opportunity.

Malcolm Fraser was a man of the Cold War, and he believed in the Australian military contribution in defence of South Vietnam. He predicted that a communist victory would result in massive retribution, a bloodbath, religious persecution and a Vietnamese Gulag Archipelago, and so it did—with the result that tens of thousands of Vietnamese took to small fishing boats on the South China Sea with a high risk of being drowned or killed by pirates.

As this happened, prime minister Gough Whitlam told Clyde Cameron that his government would not be admitting to Australia thousands of 'effing Vietnamese Balts'. To his credit, new prime minister Malcolm Fraser gave asylum to these thousands of Vietnamese on the South China Sea or rotting in camps in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, such as Pulau Bidong. This is Malcolm Fraser's greatest achievement, in my opinion, and one that puts his critics on the matter to shame.

Rest eternal, grant unto him, O Lord, and may light perpetual shine upon him.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.

Sitting suspended from 12:02 to 12:11.

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