Malcolm Fraser at home in Merricks in 2014. Photo: Simon Schluter. Photo: Simon Schluter
Tributes focus on Malcolm Fraser’s achievements
Malcolm Fraser has been embraced in death by many of those from whom he became estranged in life.
Liberal elders emphasised the achievements of Australia’s 22nd Prime Minister, rather than dwell on his fallout with his party, his reluctance to embrace economic reform, and his strident criticism of the governments of John Howard and Tony Abbott, both of whom revealed they had reconciled with Mr Fraser in recent times.
Labor luminaries overlooked Mr Fraser’s pivotal role in the notorious 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government to honour his statesmanship and adherence to progressive policies in his post-political career.
“If Gough could reconcile that, we should really put that aside,” said Labor’s Bob Hawke, who deposed Mr Fraser in 1983 and is now one of the nation’s five surviving former prime ministers.
Mr Fraser, aged 84, died early on Thursday morning after a brief illness. His passing followed the death in October last year of Gough Whitlam.
As occurred after Mr Whitlam’s death, Parliament will suspend all usual business on Monday, including question time, to remember Mr Fraser, who won three successive elections to rule from 1975 to 1983.
Mr Fraser quit the Liberal Party after Malcolm Turnbull was dumped as leader in December 2009 in favour of Mr Abbott, declaring it “was no longer a liberal party but a conservative party”. He became a strong and frequent critic of Australia’s adherence to US foreign policy, of the border protection polices of the Howard and Abbott governments and, in 2013, launched the election campaign of Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young.
Mr Howard, who was Mr Fraser’s treasurer from 1977 until 1983, and Mr Abbott, both revealed on Friday they had rebuilt bridges with Mr Fraser in recent years.
“In those early years, the level of inflation was pulled back, jobs were created and there were significant constraints put upon the growth of federal government spending,” he said.
Mr Howard did refer to his frustrations as Treasurer at Mr Fraser’s lack of appetite for hard economic reforms, a criticism some are now making of the Abbott government.
‘Great integrity’: Howard
Mr Howard noted Mr Fraser’s refusal to introduce a GST or embrace the deregulation of the financial sector. But overall, “anyone who achieves what Malcolm Fraser achieved in hs life deserves respect as a quite extraordinary Australian”.
“He brought to the government of this country a great integrity.”
Mr Abbott, whose leadership was the catalyst for Mr Fraser leaving the party, said, “I made it my business to renew my contact with him on becoming party leader back in 2009.
“Although his politics had changed over the years, he had led us triumphantly into government and deserved the continuing respect of all Australian Liberals,” he said
“I had quite a number of long talks with him since then, most recently late last year. I didn’t always agree with all of his positions. In fact, I often disagreed with his positions. But I always appreciated his insights and the wisdom born of long experience.”
Paul Keating, a junior MP during the dismissal, said Mr Fraser’s death “underwrites a great loss to Australia”.
“The great pity for him of the budget crisis of 1975 was that it de-legitimised his government at its inception, and with it, much of the value he otherwise brought to public life.”
Mr Keating lauded Mr Fraser’s commitment in government to land rights, refugees, multiculturalism and “many other clear-sighted reforms”.
And he praised his post-political commitment to Australia’s need and right to be a strategically independent country.
“He detested what he saw as our strategic subservience to the United States and our willingness to be easily led from the path of a truly independent foreign country,” Mr Keating said.
Right up until his death, Mr Fraser was a prolific user of social media to promulgate his views.
Two days before he died, he tweeted a link to an article promoting “Time for a new China vision – Asia and the Pacific”.
The government was accused of insensitivity towards Mr Fraser for using the cover of Friday afternoon, a period reserved to try and bury bad news, to finally release a report into abuses of asylum seekers on Nauru.
Mr Fraser is survived by his wife Tamie and four children.
Mr Hawke, Mr Keating, Mr Howard, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard are Australia’s living former prime minsters.
The final “Yes” rally held at Parliament House in Melbourne with. Malcolm Fraser, Steve Bracks and Gough Whitlam. Photo: Simon Schluter Photo: Simon Schluter
source:afr.com
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