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Matilda

(6,384 posts) Thu Mar 19, 2015, 08:23 PM Mar 2015

Malcolm Fraser: Australia's 22nd prime minister dies at age 84

Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser has died aged 84.

A statement released by his office confirmed Mr Fraser died peacefully earlier today.

"It is with deep sadness that we inform you that after a brief illness John Malcolm Fraser died peacefully in the early hours of the morning of 20 March 2015," the statement said.

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-20/malcolm-fraser-dies-after-short-illness/6334620

For Americans – don't confuse the label "Liberal" with the philosphies of the Left. The name was originally given to the party started by Robert Menzies in 1944. Rather like the Republicans, it was quite different then from the ratbaggery we see today. Conservative definitely, but lacking the arrogance and elitism of today's Liberal Party. Menzies was responsible for many social reforms which are today championed only by the Left, but whose idealogy Malcolm Fraser shared.

He was tainted, though, for decades by the means by which he came to power in 1975 – an ugly backroom deal with the man who is now seen by all as a disgrace to the office he held: Governor-General Sir John Kerr. Kerr and Fraser conspired to get rid of Gough Whitlam by means of blocking supply, which still divides lawyers today as to its constitutional legality (most think it was unconstitutional).

Only when Gough made his peace with Malcolm did the Left decide they too, could bury the hatchet, and when Malcolm resigned from the Liberal Party in 2010 in disgust at its policies, he virtually became "one of us".

Strange that the two men who shaped Australian politics in the 1970s have died within months of each other.

Edit: Sp

6 replies

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Highlight:

Malcolm Fraser: Australia's 22nd prime minister dies at age 84 (Original Post) Matilda Mar 2015 OP

Ah yes, Australia is one of those countries where "Liberal" = conservative. BlueEye Mar 2015 #1

It was Menzies who brought in the social reforms, not Fraser. Ken Burch Mar 2015 #2

Yes, Fraser was the "bad guy" for such a long time. Matilda Mar 2015 #3

OK, i'll give him that. n/t. Ken Burch Mar 2015 #4

Sounds like he tried to atone for his 1975 skullduggery. roamer65 Mar 2015 #5

Nice little cartoon from First Dog on Moon (The Guardian) sums it up. Matilda Mar 2015 #6

BlueEye

(449 posts)

1. Ah yes, Australia is one of those countries where "Liberal" = conservative.

Reply to Matilda (Original post)

Thu Mar 19, 2015, 09:09 PM

Mar 2015

Nevertheless, sounds like he was a good man who should be commended for his social reforms. RIP.

Ken Burch

(50,254 posts)

2. It was Menzies who brought in the social reforms, not Fraser.

Reply to BlueEye (Reply #1)

Thu Mar 19, 2015, 09:31 PM

Mar 2015

Fraser was a reactionary who made massive cuts in the social wage and took a position on defense that was totally subservient to the Kissinger-Cheney-Rumsfeld(yes, Cheney and "Rummy" were on the case then-they were Ford Administration types who basically hijacked control of post-Nixon foreign policy away from Ford himself and kept the U.S. in a hardline global posture at a time when no such posture was needed) program of keeping the Cold War going full tilt.

Fraser's role in forcing out the democratically elected Australian Labor Party government of Gough Whitlam is unforgiveable-many Australians still refer to that as the "constitutional coup".

Matilda

(6,384 posts)

3. Yes, Fraser was the "bad guy" for such a long time.

Reply to Ken Burch (Reply #2)

Thu Mar 19, 2015, 09:50 PM

Mar 2015

I hated him, along with everybody else who voted Labor.

But one thing he was not, was racist, in any way. After he left politics, he was very active in the movement to have apartheid repealed in South Africa, and he regularly visited Nelson Mandela in prison. He was also a promoter of Aboriginal rights in Australia.

In his final years, he was a strong critic of Abbott's policies towards refugees. He had previously resigned from the Liberal Party when Howard began demonising asylum seekers; it was something he could never agree with.

An image that stays in my mind was the day of Kevin Rudd's "Sorry" speech in parliament, when he and Gough stood side by side, Gough with a cane and leaning on Fraser's arm for support. It would have been unthinkable even twenty years earlier.

I followed him on Twitter, and he posted daily, very often in critical tones about yet another Abbott policy he didn't like. It was quite extraordinary, given his earlier days in politics.