John 'Malcolm' Fraser was born in Melbourne on 21 May 1930. He was the younger of the two children of John Neville and Una (Woolf) Fraser and spent his childhood on his parents' properties, first at 'Balpool-Nyang' on the Edward River, north of Deniliquin, New South Wales and later at 'Nareen' in western Victoria. His grandfather, Sir Simon Fraser had been a Victorian parliamentarian, a delegate to the Australasian Federal Convention in 1897–98 and was a Senator for Victoria (1901-13). Educated at Tudor House Boarding School and Melbourne Church of England Grammar School, Malcolm Fraser undertook his tertiary studies at Magdalen College, Oxford University, from where he graduated with a degree in politics, philosophy and economics in 1952. At the age of 22, Fraser returned to Australia to work on Nareen and joined the local branch of the Liberal Party. He married Tamara Margaret Begg (CP 308) in 1956.
Fraser first contested the seat of Wannon in Victoria’s Western District for the Liberal Party in 1954, but the Australian Labor Party held the seat. He won the seat the following year and retained it through the next eleven general elections. His earliest political appointments were as a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs (1962-66) and Parliamentary Representative on the Australian National University Council (1964-66). In this period he was also a member of various Government Members’ Committees and served as Chairman of the Government Members’ Defence Committee (1963-65) and Secretary of the Government Members’ Wool Committee.
In 1964, along with Edward ‘Gough’ Whitlam, Fraser went to the United States of America as the first Australian recipients of US Government Leader Grants. Fraser visited Indonesia in 1965, and the Philippines, Thailand, Laos and Malaysia in 1966. In 1966, Fraser was appointed Minister for the Army in the Holt Government. While holding this portfolio he visited Australian Forces in Vietnam. In April 1969, he led an Australian cultural mission to Italy and later the same year he represented the Australian Government at the 150th Singapore Anniversary Celebrations. Fraser returned to Singapore in 1970 to attend the Five Power Military Exercise and also visited New Zealand and the USA. During the subsequent Gorton Ministries Malcolm Fraser held two portfolios: Education and Science (1968-69) and Defence (1969-71). He resigned from the latter portfolio following a disagreement with Gorton over defence policy. This was a catalyst for William McMahon’s successful bid for the Prime Ministership in March 1971.
Under the McMahon Government, Fraser again held the Education and Science portfolio (1971-72). The Liberal-National Coalition was defeated at the polls in 1972 and Billy Mackie Snedden was elected as the Liberal Opposition Leader. During this period in opposition, Fraser was a member of the Opposition Executive and spokesman on primary industry and labour (1972-75). He also retained an interest in education and science by acting as spokesman in the House of Representatives for the Shadow Minister, Senator Rae. In March 1975, Fraser successfully challenged Snedden for party leadership; becoming Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition. With control of the Senate, the Coalition blocked Supply Bills in September 1975, effectively cutting off government funds.
When the Governor-General (Sir John Kerr) dismissed the Whitlam Labor Government on 11 November 1975, Malcolm Fraser was appointed caretaker Prime Minister. He retained the position in his own right at the elections held on 13 December 1975, becoming Australia’s 22nd Prime Minister. Fraser rapidly dismantled some of the Whitlam Government’s programs. He made major changes to the universal health insurance system (then known as Medibank). The Fraser Government slowed but did not stop inflation by cutting spending and making stringent budget cuts across many areas of the Commonwealth Public Sector.
As prime minister, Fraser was a strong supporter of multiculturalism and was active in foreign policy. Although Australia officially recognised the Indonesian annexation of East Timor (1975-1977) many East Timorese refugees were granted asylum in Australia under the Fraser Government. Fraser was particularly supportive of refugees fleeing the war in Vietnam. From 1975 to 1982, approximately 200,000 migrants arrived from Asian countries and around 56,000 were Vietnamese refugees. Policies were put in place to assist the entry of 2,059 ‘boat people’ (refugees from Vietnam who arrived by sea without documents or official permission). In an effort to expand Asian migration and allow more refugees to enter Australia, in 1977 Fraser led his government to adopt a formal policy for a humanitarian commitment to admit refugees for resettlement. Fraser’s immigration program focused on resettlement and multiculturalism and in 1978 the Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs was created. In 1979, Fraser supported the expansion of Australia’s existing multilingual radio network (established under the Whitlam Labor Government) to include a television network. The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) was established and SBS TV began broadcasting in April 1979 (although government imposed budget cuts meant that the SBS network did not come to full fruition until the 1990s). Fraser supported the abolition of apartheid in South Africa and strongly opposed white minority rule in Rhodesia (later known as Zimbabwe). In 1979, at the Commonwealth Conference, Fraser teamed with his Nigerian counterpart to convince British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to withhold recognition of the Zimbabwe Rhodesia Government. This action played a prominent role in ending white minority rule. Fraser also supported giving indigenous Australians control of their traditional lands in the Northern Territory but, as a supporter of states’ rights, he resisted imposing land rights laws on state governments.
During his prime ministership, Malcom Fraser represented Australia overseas and at home. He was appointed as a Member of Her Majesty's Privy Council in 1976. In September 1976, Fraser attended the funeral of the Malaysian Prime Minister (Tun Abdul Razak) and was a member of the Australian Delegation to Papua New Guinea for its Independence Day celebrations. The same year he visited Singapore, Japan, China, Canada and Indonesia, and attended the South Pacific Forum in Rotorua. In 1978, he hosted the first Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in Sydney (February), visited the USA and Europe, attended a major economic summit in Tokyo (June), the ninth South Pacific Forum in Niue (September) and visited Jamaica (December). In January 1979, Fraser went to the USA for talks with President Carter and visited India on the personal invitation of Prime Minister Desar. He then made an official visit to the Philippines (May), on which occasion he became the first Australian Prime Minister to attend an UNCTAD meeting in Manila and later visited Nigeria (July), a visit which culminated in the CHOGM meeting in Zambia. In 1980 Fraser visited the USA, the United Kingdom and attended the Zimbabwe Independence Day celebrations in Salisbury. The following year, he attended the marriage of HRH the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer in London. In 1982, Fraser visited Washington at the invitation of President Reagan, also Canada, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and China, and attended the 13th South Pacific Forum meeting in Rotorua and CHOGM in Fiji (October).
In 1982-83, the Coalition government budget measures included: tax cuts; increased spending on roads, civil aviation and welfare housing; an increase in family allowances; and, tax rebates for home mortgage interest payments over 10 per cent. The resulting deficit was over $4 billion and by 1983 the Australian economy was in recession. The Fraser Coalition Government was defeated during a double dissolution election on 5 March 1983 whe the Labor Party, led by Robert ‘Bob’ Hawke, was elected with a large majority. Fraser resigned as Prime Minister on 11 March and from parliament on 31 March 1983.
After leaving federal politics, Fraser held may significant appointments including . Between 1985 and 2000 he was: Chair, United Nations Hearings in New York on the Role of Multinationals in South Africa and Namibia (September 1985); Co-Chairman of the Commonwealth Group of Eminent Persons formed to encourage political dialogue and reform in South Africa (1985-86); Member of the International Board of Advice of the ANZ Banking Group Ltd (1987-93); and, Board Member of the International Crisis Group (1996- 2000). In 1987 he founded CARE Australia (at the time Australia’s largest non-political and non-religious overseas aid organisation) and was president of CARE International from 1990 to 1995. In 1997, Fraser led a Commonwealth Observer Mission to Pakistan to monitor that country’s national elections. He was a founding member and later Chairman of the InterAction Council (a group of senior statespersons who have held the highest office in their own countries). He became a life member of the Australian Republican Movement in 2001.
Malcolm Fraser died on 20 March 2015 after a short illness. A state funeral was held at Scot’s Church, Melbourne, on 27 March 2015.
Honours
1977 Companion of Honour (CH)
1988 Companion in the Order of Australia (AC)
2000 Human Rights Medal by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
2003 Centenary of Federation Medal
Publications
Malcolm Fraser and Margaret Simons, Malcom Fraser - Political Memoirs, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2010
Malcolm Fraser and Cain Roberts, Dangerous Allies, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2014
Sources
Ayres, Philip, Malcolm Fraser: a biography (Melbourne, Heinemann, 1987)
Commonwealth Parliamentary Handbook, Biography - Malcom Fraser, parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;orderBy=customrank;page=0;query=malcolm%20fraser%20Dataset%3Aallmps;rec=0;resCount=Default, accessed 12 June 2020.
Prime Minister's Department, Media Releases, 29 Jan 1979; 18 Jan 1980; 24 Jan 1980; 10 Apr 1980; 30 Apr 1982; 4 May 1982; 23 June 1982
National Archives of Australia, ‘Australian Prime Ministers - Malcom Fraser’, primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fraser, accessed 1 April 2015
University of Melbourne Archives, ‘Fraser, John Malcolm (Rt Hon) – Historical Note’, University of Melbourne, unimelb.edu.au/malcolmfraser/images/lists/Fraser,%20John%20Malcolm%20(2007.0023).pdf, accessed 1 April 2015
Who's Who in Australia 2001, pp 664-5; 2004, pp 754-755
Unregistered agencies associated with person
1963 - 1965: Commonwealth Parliament, Government Members’ Defence Committee – Chairman
c1960s: Commonwealth Parliament, Government Members’ Wool Committee - Secretary