Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser initially became Prime Minister in a caretaker role, in the wake of the dismissal of Gough Whitlam on November 11 1975. Fraser, however, won the post-dismissal election by a landslide and served as Prime Minister for seven and a half years to 1983. He was known for his reformist policies in the areas of human rights and the law, as well as for a conservative approach to the economy

John Malcolm Fraser (like Whitlam, known by his middle name) was born in Melbourne in 1930. After school he studied at Oxford University in the UK, where he gained a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. Fraser won the federal seat of Wannon, in South-western Victoria, as a Liberal candidate in 1954 at age 25, making him the youngest member of federal parliament. He was to hold the seat for the next 29 years through eleven general elections.

Fraser's political career was eventful. After serving in the ministerial portfolios of defence and education he was involved in the replacement of Prime Minister John Gorton by Billy McMahon in the late 1960s. With the Opposition seemingly weak against Whitlam, he successfully challenged to become Leader of the Opposition in March of 1975, nine months before Whitlam would be removed from office. The reformist Whitlam government was widely seen to mismanage the economy and a drastic rise in global oil prices in 1973 set off a large rise in inflation. This led to an increase in the government's unpopularity with the electorate.

In October of 1975 Fraser set in motion the chain of events which would lead to Whitlam's dismissal. He announced that the Opposition would refuse to pass any Supply bills (which gave the government money with which to govern) until Whitlam called an election. Fraser claimed that scandals surrounding the Whitlam government's sourcing of loans from questionable sources in the Middle East were ‘extraordinary and reprehensible' enough to justify an election to decide if Whitlam was fit to govern.

As Whitlam rejected Fraser's demands for an election, political deadlock set in. The constitutional and financial crisis caused by Fraser's actions reached a climax when the Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed Whitlam from the office of Prime Minister on November 11, 1975. Immediately after dismissing Whitlam, Kerr asked Fraser to serve as caretaker Prime Minister ahead of a general election in December.

Although many were shocked and displeased with Kerr's actions in dismissing Whitlam, the unpopularity of his government meant that after an acrimonious election campaign, Fraser's Liberal-National Country Party coalition won a landslide victory. The coalition won 91 seats (out of 127) in the House of Representatives and gained control of the Senate by a 6-seat majority.

Despite being in the conservative part of the political spectrum and coming to office determined to drastically cut government spending, Fraser's coalition continued many of the social and political reforms begun under Whitlam. The year 1976 saw the official establishment of the Family Court of Australia (set in place by Whitlam's Family Law Act of 1975) and Federal Court of Australia. That year also saw the enactment of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act (Cth) and the granting of self-government to the Northern Territory.

The Fraser government was also responsible for the establishment of the position of Federal Ombudsman. An ombudsman is an independent government official who is empowered to investigate complaints from members of the public about the administrative actions of government departments and other agencies and authorities.

The Fraser government was responsible for establishing some of the key elements of the contemporary Australian social and political landscape. In 1977, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) was established to provide multilingual television and radio services across Australia, commercial FM radios stations were set up. In 1978 plans were put in place for the building of a new Parliament House on Capital Hill, Canberra. Under Fraser, the government declared a 36 000 square kilometre section of the Great Barrier Reef as a marine park in 1981, and in 1982 the High Court was made the final court of appeal, breaking ties with the judicial system of the United Kingdom for federal cases (State cases still went directly to the Privy council in the UK). See image 1

In terms of foreign affairs, Fraser was actively involved in international issues, including playing a key role in the Commonwealth campaign to abolish apartheid in South Africa. He also played a key role in the 1979 transfer of power in what was then white-ruled Rhodesia, resulting in an independent black-ruled Zimbabwe. He also established the Australian Refugee Advisory Council to deal with the influx of Vietnamese refugees arriving as 'boat people' in the wake of the Vietnam War, and oversaw changes to Australia's immigration selection scheme. Fraser travelled widely as Prime Minister and was a prominent figure in Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM).

Other legislation passed during Fraser's terms as Prime Minster included the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth), which established the public's right of access to the information held by the government and the Social Services Amendment Act 1976 (Cth), which increased family benefits following the reports of the Commission of Inquiry into Poverty. He also oversaw the establishment of the Human Rights Commission in 1981 as well as new laws to prevent corporate tax evasion.

Although Fraser's government was responsible for many progressive laws and for setting up many new public institutions, it received criticism for being overly conservative in economic terms. Some felt that Fraser missed the chance to implement economic reforms, and his decision to resist economic deregulation and tariff reform received criticism at the time, and in retrospect.

At the federal election of 1977 the Fraser government retained its large majority in the House of Representatives and maintained control of the Senate. Fraser also won the election of 1980, although in this instance the Labor Party made some gains, and the emergence of the Australian Democrats (a new ‘social liberal') saw the government losing control of the Senate. The Democrats were formed in 1977 by Don Chipp, a former Liberal Minister who had become disillusioned with the party under Fraser's leadership. In the 1980 election they won five Senate seats, taking on the balance of power.

In 1983, Bob Hawke set out to challenge Opposition Leader Bill Hayden's leadership of the ALP. The internal conflicts in the Labor Party led Fraser to believe that he could secure re-election if he called a vote while the ALP was in disarray. He perhaps overstated the degree of the disunity, for as soon as Fraser called an election in February of 1983 Hayden resigned, allowing Hawke to assume leadership.

Following an election campaign which pitted Fraser against the charismatic ex-trade union leader Hawke, the ALP took power with a 15-seat majority in the House of Representatives. They also won 30 out of the 64 Senate seats, giving them the largest number of senators. The continued success of the Democrats, however, meant they retained the balance of power in the Senate, with their votes being crucial for the passing of legislation.

Hawke would go on to serve as Prime Minster throughout the 1980s until being challenged for the leadership by Paul Keating in 1991. In the wake of the election defeat Fraser resigned from the Liberal leadership and from Parliament. He was replaced as Opposition Leader by Andrew Peacock. Upon resignation, Fraser remained active in public and international affairs, including continued, eventually successful, efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. He became head of the international relief agency Care Australia. He was outspokenly critical of the Howard Liberal government over foreign policy issues, particularly of the Howard government's support for US foreign policy, which Fraser felt damaged Australia's standing in Asia. Breaking with the majority of Liberal party members, he campaigned in support of an Australian Republic in 1999. In the 2001 election campaign Fraser came out publicly in opposition to the Howard government's policies on asylum-seekers.