Australian History: John Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser's background - the Western District of Victoria, where fine colonial homesteads stand amid prosperous pastures - is about the closest that Australia knows to the traditions of the English 'landed gentry' Fraser was the descendant of three generations of pastoral wealth and conservatism when he was born in 1930.
As an only son, he had a privileged childhood and a first-class education, rounded off with graduation from Magdalen College, Oxford. When he returned home to the 3267-hectare family property, Nareen, he was a rather serious and reserved young man.
Involvement in politics was virtually an obligation for the heir to a Western District property. In 1955 he won the federal seat of Wannon for the Liberals and he soon won the friendly interest of Robert Menzies. The Prime Minister saw Fraser as an emerging leader but it was 1966 before Holt made Fraser Minister for the Army... Other ministerial appointments followed, but Fraser became disenchanted with Gorton's style of 'one-man government'.
On 10 March 1971 he resigned as Minister for Defence and delivered the passionate condemnation of Gorton which played a part in the latter's downfall.
During 1971-75, Fraser attracted public attention first by his outspoken defence of independent schools as a vital part of the education system and then by two challenges for the Liberal leadership. Billy Snedden defeated him both times, but speculation over the leadership continued until Fraser won the position on 24 March 1975.
He immediately led the party into a fierce attack on Labor, whose sparkling performance under Whitlam had become overshadowed by the 'Loans Affair' and the world recession. Fraser's instruction to the Liberal senators to block the 1975 budget in the Senate was an unprecedented political manoeuvre. 'Refusing Supply' denied the government the money it needed to govern. The move was aimed at forcing Whitlam to dissolve the Parliament and it eventually triggered his dismissal.
On 13 December 1975, the electorate gave the Fraser government an over-whelming majority and started him on the longest period in office of any Prime Minister apart from Menzies. For the next seven years and four months he governed according to his beliefs in firm leadership, spending restraints, aggressive handling of trade unionism, encouragement of private enterprise and anticommunism in foreign affairs. Fraser introduced reforms such as direct payment of family allowances to mothers, an increased federal role in Aboriginal affairs and a number of initiatives in the areas of human rights, civil liberties and the environment.
In 1975, Fraser's authoritarian image seemed reassuring to an electorate bewildered by Labor disarray. The economy improved during the first years of his regime and his policies seemed to be working. But the 1980s brought severe recession and voters began to question the ability of a man whom they did not really like. As Robert Hawke said of him, "He won the votes of the Australian electorate but not their hearts' " By 1983 they were looking for an alternative and found it in Hawke, who was something of a folk hero. After the March elections, the stiff Fraser upper lip quivered when he acknowledged crushing defeat for the coalition.
He resigned as Parliamentary leader of the Liberals and soon retired from Parliament. Since then, he has served with distinction as co-chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on Southern Africa.