Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is nice to be able to speak about the life of former Prime Minister the Rt Hon. John Malcolm Fraser AC. I remember a fair way into Malcolm Fraser's political career was the first time I began to take some notice of politics. It was 1972, so I was eight years old at the time. My father was quite left orientated—and in fact my family was also, at least around my father—a real supporter of Gough Whitlam.

So 2 December 1972 was an interesting moment. The TV was on and my father was highly excited about the election of Edward Gough Whitlam. It was an interesting time; there is no doubt about it. There was much promise and hope. My father saw it as a very popular thing. Obviously, if he were still alive, he and I would see things entirely differently from each other. But it was an exciting time, and it is interesting to think about what changed in just those three years. And I will speak a little bit about that.

Malcolm Fraser's career in politics started way before that. He was elected as the member for Wannon, and then he rose to be a cabinet minister. Much has been said as well about him accusing Prime Minister Gorton of interfering in his portfolio and how that helped to weaken and bring down Gorton. Fraser returned to the cabinet under Prime Minister McMahon, but it was not long after that, at the end of 1972, that the Whitlam government was elected.

It was after the re-election of the Whitlam government in 1974 that Malcolm Fraser eventually rose to become leader of the parliamentary Liberal Party and, therefore, opposition leader. Then came the series of events that are commonly known as 'the Dismissal', which took place in 1975.

At this time I was 11 and I remember the significant media coverage of those events—not so much the lead-up, not so much the blocking of supply and the reasons and events behind that, but certainly that moment when Gough Whitlam emerged on the stairs of Old Parliament House. There had been the announcement from the Governor-General's aide saying that Prime Minister Gough Whitlam had effectively been sacked and that Malcolm Fraser had been appointed as caretaker Prime Minister. Then there was Gough Whitlam's speech. And there were hundreds there. By the looks of it there were many hundreds of people in front of Old Parliament House. After that, there were a number of protests around the country in outrage. It looked like a lot of people were greatly concerned by what had happened—the politics and the practicalities of what actually happened.

But it was in the election that followed the dismissal that the biggest majority in, I believe, parliamentary history was achieved—a 55-seat majority. And, obviously, if everyone in Australia had been concerned and outraged by Gough Whitlam's dismissal, they certainly did not vote that way in the subsequent election. Malcolm Fraser went on to lead a coalition government for years to come—until 1983, and with great success.

In many ways, particularly on this side, we look upon the years since—the more recent years—and we tend to concentrate far too much on what the Hon. Malcolm Fraser said and did in those years since. He did some simply outstanding things as Prime Minister of this country, and we should always remember that. The member for Boothby referred to his foreign policy activities; to oppose apartheid was a very important thing. What happened with Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe was not such a good outcome; there is no doubt about that.

But I would particularly like to concentrate on his work to allow Vietnamese refugees to come to this country. Whilst we should remember that there were a number of boats that arrived in Australia, the vast majority of Vietnamese people left Vietnam by boat but ended up in refugee camps in the region. Hong Kong, for instance, had thousands of Vietnamese refugees.

When we look upon what Malcolm Fraser actually did, he established a Vietnamese refugee intake for this country. We think now about what fabulous contributions Vietnamese Australians have made in the years since, certainly in the electorate of Cowan. In my seat of Cowan, I have in excess of 3,500 people of Vietnamese origin, including many shopkeepers and professionals. The head of the Vietnamese community, Dr Nguyen, is a very prominent general practitioner in Perth. There are many professionals amongst Vietnamese Australians in my electorate. Really, they owe all that to the good grace and the foresight of Malcolm Fraser. I certainly pay tribute to him. Much has been said about the previous Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam's, very negative attitude to the Vietnamese. It is no wonder really that—

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