Editing Malcolm Fraser (section)

=== Other policy ===

Fraser also surprised his critics over immigration policy; according to 1977 Cabinet documents, the Fraser government adopted a formal policy for "a humanitarian commitment to admit refugees for resettlement".<ref name="Australian_Snub">{{cite web |first=Mike |last=Steketee |title=Howard in war refugee snub: Fraser |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22993100-601,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102231837/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C25197%2C22993100-601%2C00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 January 2008 |work=Australian |publisher=News |date=1 January 2008 |access-date=6 January 2008}}</ref> Fraser's aim was to expand immigration from Asian countries and allow more refugees to enter Australia. He was a firm supporter of [[multiculturalism]] and established a government-funded multilingual radio and television network, the [[Special Broadcasting Service]] (SBS), building on their first radio stations which had been established under the Whitlam government.<ref>[http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbscorporate/index.php?id=1201 A brief history of SBS], SBS web site {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507071917/http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbscorporate/index.php?id=1201 |date=7 May 2010 }}</ref>

Despite Fraser's support for SBS, his government imposed stringent budget cuts on the national broadcaster, the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]], which came under repeated attack from the Coalition for alleged "left-wing bias" and "unfair" coverage on their TV programs, including ''[[This Day Tonight]]'' and ''[[Four Corners (Australian TV program)|Four Corners]]'', and on the ABC's new youth-oriented radio station [[Triple J|Double Jay]]. One result of the cuts was a plan to establish a national youth radio network, of which Double Jay was the first station. The network was delayed for many years and did not come to fruition until the 1990s.

Fraser also legislated to give [[Indigenous Australians]] control of their traditional lands in the [[Northern Territory]], but resisted imposing land rights laws on conservative state governments.