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R.I.P. Malcolm Fraser

I'm grateful to Fraser's foresight and visionary leadership every time I eat pho or banh mi in Melbourne
 
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bit_pattern said:
I'm grateful to Fraser's foresight and visionary leadership every time I eat pho or banh minh in Melbourne
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Who introduced non-discriminatory immigration? It wasn't Fraser. The Liberal governments he was a central part of in the 1960s and early 1970s did very little in this area.
 
lionking said:
Who introduced non-discriminatory immigration? It wasn't Fraser. The Liberal governments he was a central part of in the 1960s and early 1970s did very little in this area.
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That wasn't a result of "non discriminatory immigration" policy - that was a result of a massive refugee intake programme that Whitlam and the Labor Party largely opposed.
 
bit_pattern said:
That wasn't a result of "non discriminatory immigration" policy - that was a result of a massive refugee intake programme that Whitlam and the Labor Party largely opposed.
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My point is that Fraser would not have been able to admit Vietnamese without the reforms of Whitlam, and I'm far from convinced that he would have moved to change immigration laws if Whitlam hadn't.

And as for "look what he did after being PM", of no great significance in my view. It's like praising a failed test cricketer for getting a few runs at grade level. He had his shot when in the big job, and comprehensively failed. Even the claim that he "fixed up Whitlam's mess" doesn't stand investigation. The deficit increased under his watch, and inflation and unemployment stayed high, while economic growth (and we had a mining boom during his years) was stagnant. The job was beyond him.
 
lionking said:
My point is that Fraser would not have been able to admit Vietnamese without the reforms of Whitlam, and I'm far from convinced that he would have moved to change immigration laws if Whitlam hadn't.
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So? No matter what you think the impetus was, the fact remains that he strengthened and built on the achievements Whitlam made in bringing Australia into the future. Indeed, he was able to achieve some things that Whitlam would not have been able to (i.e. making political space to allow thousands of Vietnamese anti-Communist refugees to be resettled here). I've heard it said that one of the reasons the two were such close friends in later years was because, politically, they were actually much closer to each other than either was to those in their own parties that succeeded them.

And as for "look what he did after being PM", of no great significance in my view. It's like praising a failed test cricketer for getting a few runs at grade level. He had his shot when in the big job, and comprehensively failed. Even the claim that he "fixed up Whitlam's mess" doesn't stand investigation. The deficit increased under his watch, and inflation and unemployment stayed high, while economic growth (and we had a mining boom during his years) was stagnant. The job was beyond him.
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Well, maybe if you think it's possible to package an entire life's work into a box labelled 1975, then sure, but I personally think a good judge of a person's character is to be able to evolve and grow across a lifetime. No person is defined solely by a job they held once, regardless of how well or otherwise they did it.

I also think that one reason Fraser stood tall over the previous 15 years is because of the way his small 'l' liberal convictions were juxtaposed with the Howard era Liberal values - because, really, his social politics didn't really change all that much. He was a constant reminder of just how far to the right the modern Liberal Party has lurched since he was PM.
 
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lionking said:
Not only will I never forgive him for 1975, I will never forget his do-nothing prime ministership. He could easily have commenced the reform process so successfully implemented by Hawke and Keating. He lacked the guts and intellectual capacity to do so. No crocodile tears from me.
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At last! Somebody posting about the real Malcolm Fraser.
 
lionking said:
Not only will I never forgive him for 1975, I will never forget his do-nothing prime ministership. He could easily have commenced the reform process so successfully implemented by Hawke and Keating. He lacked the guts and intellectual capacity to do so. No crocodile tears from me.
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I well remember that day on the 11/11/75. It was a gut wrenching day.
But I have got over it.
I punched the air in 1983 when Fraser's bottom lip dropped.
Sure he could have been more visionary as a leader, but maybe those around him did not help.
But since then his work internationally and his outing of the right sliding Liberal
 Conservative party that he once led has been illuminating.
I am sad at his parting.
 
Damien Evans said:
I guess all this just happened by accident then.
http://www.theguardian.com/australi...chievements-of-australias-22nd-prime-minister
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I wonder how many of those things Fraser championed? I think he campaigned for human rights. This link (given above) http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ft-much-since-1975-the-rest-of-australias-did says he resettled almost 100,000 refugees. What a contrast to today's policy where they are locked up for years. I wonder why this fact is not even mentioned in the first link?
 
bit_pattern said:
That's not very postmodern of you.
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Postmodern? According to some, I'm not even modern. ;)

Lionking has already listed some of the Fraser negatives but the list is longer than that. He set a record for abandoning pre-election commitments - often within days of winning an election. He spoke like a conservative but was a raging socialist. He preached small government but increased the size of government. He spoke of fiscal responsibility but ran record (for the time) budget deficits. To all outward appearances, he was more interested in making a name for himself on the international stage over human rights issues than he was in his fellow Australians.

Many still "maintain the rage" for his blocking supply in 1975. This is understandable since he got to be opposition leader by promising that any party that had a majority in the House of Representatives had the right to govern. He could hardly wait to forget that one. However, for me it was his cynical double dissolution call in 1982 that was his lowest act. It was designed to capitalize on Bill Hayden's resignation as opposition leader.

Fortunately, by that time, nobody believed a single word that Fraser said and his plan backfired badly. The voters said "goodbye and good riddance". At least Malcolm Fraser had the integrity to immediately take full responsibility for that election.
 
psionl0 said:
Postmodern? According to some, I'm not even modern. ;)

Lionking has already listed some of the Fraser negatives but the list is longer than that. He set a record for abandoning pre-election commitments - often within days of winning an election. He spoke like a conservative but was a raging socialist. He preached small government but increased the size of government. He spoke of fiscal responsibility but ran record (for the time) budget deficits. To all outward appearances, he was more interested in making a name for himself on the international stage over human rights issues than he was in his fellow Australians.

Many still "maintain the rage" for his blocking supply in 1975. This is understandable since he got to be opposition leader by promising that any party that had a majority in the House of Representatives had the right to govern. He could hardly wait to forget that one. However, for me it was his cynical double dissolution call in 1982 that was his lowest act. It was designed to capitalize on Bill Hayden's resignation as opposition leader.

Fortunately, by that time, nobody believed a single word that Fraser said and his plan backfired badly. The voters said "goodbye and good riddance". At least Malcolm Fraser had the integrity to immediately take full responsibility for that election.
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Possibly the first time we totally agree.

Fraser was a power hungry megalomaniac who retarded Australia's growth and development. What he did post politics (greatly over-rated by the likes of Burside) pales into insignificance against the opportunities he wasted in government. If (even) Hayden or better still Hawke took the reins after Fraser's do-nothing first term the nation would be well advanced from where we are now. As much as I detested Howard, he was a far, far better PM than Fraser.

Still waiting for your opinions Damien as district from your abuse..
 
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