Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Malcolm Fraser
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Retirement== In retirement Fraser was Chairman of the UN Panel of Eminent Persons on the Role of Transnational Corporations in South Africa 1985, as Co-Chairman of the Commonwealth Group of Eminent Persons on South Africa in 1985β86 (appointed by Prime Minister Hawke), and as Chairman of the UN Secretary-General's Expert Group on African Commodity Issues in 1989β90. He was a distinguished international fellow at the [[American Enterprise Institute]] from 1984 to 1986. Fraser helped to establish the foreign aid group [[CARE (relief agency)|CARE]] organisation in Australia and became the agency's international president in 1991, and worked with a number of other charitable organisations.<ref name="Farquharson-2015"/> In 2006, he was appointed Professorial Fellow at the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law, and in October 2007 he presented his inaugural professorial lecture, "Finding Security in Terrorism's Shadow: The importance of the rule of law".<ref>{{cite web |title=Finding Security in Terrorism's Shadow: The importance of the rule of law |work=The Malcolm Fraser Collection |publisher=The University of Melbourne |date=25 October 2007 |url=http://www.unimelb.edu.au/malcolmfraser/speeches/nonparliamentary/findingsecurity.html |access-date=17 December 2007|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102053203/http://www.unimelb.edu.au/malcolmfraser/speeches/nonparliamentary/findingsecurity.html |archive-date=2 January 2008}}</ref> ===Memphis trousers affair=== On 14 October 1986, Fraser, then the Chairman of the [[Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group]], was found in the foyer of the Admiral Benbow Inn, a [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] hotel, wearing only a pair of underpants and confused as to where his trousers were. The hotel was an establishment popular with prostitutes and drug dealers. Though it was rumoured at the time that the former prime minister had been with a prostitute, his wife stated that Fraser had no recollection of the events and that she believes it more likely that he was the victim of a practical joke by his fellow delegates.<ref>{{cite news |last=Madden |first=James |title=Mal's trousers and me: Tamie |work=The Australian |date=25 August 2007 |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/mals-trousers-and-me-tamie/story-e6frg6xf-1111114264770 |access-date=22 April 2012 |archive-date=11 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811165447/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/mals-trousers-and-me-tamie/story-e6frg6xf-1111114264770 |url-status=live }}</ref> ===Estrangement from the Liberal Party=== [[File:FraserSorry.jpg|right|thumb|Fraser at [[Parliament House, Canberra|Parliament House]] in 2008, for [[Kevin Rudd]]'s national apology to the [[Stolen Generations]]]] In 1993, Fraser made a bid for the Liberal Party presidency but withdrew at the last minute following opposition to his bid, which was raised due to his having been critical of then Liberal leader [[John Hewson]] for losing the election earlier that year.{{sfn|Simons & Fraser|page=721}} After 1996, Fraser was critical of the [[Howard government|Howard Coalition government]] over foreign policy issues, particularly [[John Howard]]'s alignment with the foreign policy of the [[George W. Bush|Bush]] administration, which Fraser saw as damaging Australian relationships in Asia. He opposed Howard's policy on [[asylum-seekers]], campaigned in support of an [[Republicanism in Australia|Australian Republic]] and attacked what he perceived as a lack of integrity in Australian politics, together with former Labor prime minister [[Gough Whitlam]], finding much common ground with his predecessor and his successor [[Bob Hawke]], another republican.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2005/s1503097.htm |title=7.30 Report β 10/11/2005: Fraser speaks out on Whitlam dismissal |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=25 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428225706/http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2005/s1503097.htm|archive-date=28 April 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Mayoh |first=Lisa |url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22741420-662,00.html |title=Malcolm Fraser, Gough Whitlam attack political integrity | Herald Sun |publisher=News.com.au |date=12 November 2007 |access-date=25 April 2010 |archive-date=19 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219095621/http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22741420-662,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[2001 Australian federal election|2001 election]] continued his estrangement from the Liberal Party. Many Liberals criticised the Fraser years as "a decade of lost opportunity" on deregulation of the Australian economy and other issues. In early 2004, a [[Young Liberals (Australia)|Young Liberal]] convention in Hobart called for Fraser's life membership of the Liberal Party to be ended.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s2901936.htm |title=Panellist: Malcolm Fraser |work=Q&A |date=20 December 2018 |publisher=ABC TV |access-date=13 September 2013 |archive-date=12 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130212012829/http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s2901936.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2006, Fraser criticised Howard Liberal government policies on areas such as refugees, terrorism and civil liberties, and that "if Australia continues to follow United States policies, it runs the risk of being embroiled in the [[conflict in Iraq]] for decades, and a fear of [[Islam]] in the Australian community will take years to eradicate". Fraser claimed that the way the Howard government handled the [[David Hicks]], [[Cornelia Rau]] and [[Vivian Solon]] cases was questionable.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1798610.htm |title=Fraser urges Iraq policy rethink |publisher=ABC News |access-date=30 December 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023202014/http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1798610.htm |archive-date=23 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200510/s1486787.htm |title=Howard rejects Fraser's concerns |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=20 October 2005 |access-date=25 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328193853/http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200510/s1486787.htm |archive-date=28 March 2010}}</ref> On 20 July 2007, Fraser sent an open letter to members of the large activist group [[GetUp!]], encouraging members to support GetUp's campaign for a change in policy on Iraq including a clearly defined exit strategy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/OurOwnPlanForIraq&id=20 |title=A Message From Malcolm Fraser, Former PM |work=GetUp! |access-date=20 July 2007|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809112518/http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/OurOwnPlanForIraq%26id%3D20 |archive-date=9 August 2007}}</ref> Fraser stated: "One of the things we should say to the Americans, quite simply, is that if the United States is not prepared to involve itself in high-level diplomacy concerning Iraq and other Middle East questions, our forces will be withdrawn before Christmas."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/fraser-call-to-pressure-us-on-iraq/2007/07/19/1184559956581.html |title=Fraser call to pressure US on Iraq |last=Grattan |first=Michelle |work=[[The Age]] |date=20 July 2007 |access-date=20 March 2015 |archive-date=23 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123051435/http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/fraser-call-to-pressure-us-on-iraq/2007/07/19/1184559956581.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After the defeat of the Howard government at the [[2007 Australian federal election|2007 federal election]], Fraser claimed Howard approached him in a corridor, following a cabinet meeting in May 1977 regarding [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] [[refugee]]s, and said: "We don't want too many of these people. We're doing this just for show, aren't we?" The claims were made by Fraser in an interview to mark the release of the 1977 cabinet papers. Howard, through a spokesman, denied having made the comment.<ref>{{cite news |author=Mike Steketee, National Affairs editor |url=http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22993100-601,00.html |title=Howard in war refugee snub: Fraser |work=The Australian |date=1 January 2008 |access-date=25 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414212817/http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22993100-601,00.html|archive-date=14 April 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> In October 2007 Fraser gave a speech to Melbourne Law School on terrorism and "the importance of the rule of law,"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/lawajax/eventDetails.cfm?diaryid=3356 |title=Inaugural Professorial Lecture β 'Finding Security in Terrorism's Shadow: the Importance of the Rule of Law' presented by Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser AC CH |date=25 October 2007 |publisher=Melbourne Law School |quote=The six decades since the advent of the United Nations have been marked by significant progress towards the ideal of a world ruled by law. In Professor Fraser's view, the Bush Administration, in its pursuit of its self-declared 'global war on terror', has done much to retard this progress. In his inaugural Professorial Lecture, he will address this regression and the Howard government's complicity in it, with his own suggestions for restoring the rule of law.|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402160537/http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/lawajax/eventDetails.cfm?diaryid=3356 |archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref> which Liberal MP [[Sophie Mirabella]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/outspoken-liberal-mp-defends-apology-boycott/2008/02/14/1202760494786.html |title=Ms Mirabella boycotted the historic national apology to the 'Stolen Generations' |work=The Age |date=14 February 2008 |access-date=25 April 2010 |location=Melbourne |first1=Misha |last1=Schubert |first2=Dewi |last2=Cooke |archive-date=20 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100120092551/http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/outspoken-liberal-mp-defends-apology-boycott/2008/02/14/1202760494786.html |url-status=live }}</ref> condemned in January 2008, claiming errors and "either intellectual sloppiness or deliberate dishonesty", and claimed that he tacitly supported Islamic fundamentalism, that he should have no influence on foreign policy, and claimed his stance on the [[war on terror]] had left him open to caricature as a "frothing-at-the-mouth leftie".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/liberal-mp-attacks-frothing-fraser/2008/01/05/1198950131148.html |title=Liberal MP attacks 'frothing' Fraserβ National |work=The Age |date=6 January 2008 |access-date=25 April 2010 |location=Melbourne |first=Reid |last=Sexton |archive-date=8 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408235230/http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/liberal-mp-attacks-frothing-fraser/2008/01/05/1198950131148.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Shortly after [[Tony Abbott]] won the [[Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill, 2009|2009 Liberal Party leadership spill]], Fraser ended his Liberal Party membership,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/national/former-pm-malcolm-fraser-quits-liberal-party-20100526-wbes.html |title=Malcolm Fraser Quits Liberal Party: The Age 26/5/2010 |work=The Age |date=26 May 2010 |access-date=5 June 2010 |location=Melbourne |first=Paul |last=Austin}}</ref> stating the party was "no longer a liberal party but a conservative party".<ref>{{cite web |last=Gillham |first=Alexis |url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/former-pm-malcolm-fraser-quits-liberals/story-e6frf7jo-1225871380387 |title=Former PM Malcolm Fraser quits Liberals: Herald Sun 26/5/2010 |work=Herald Sun |date=26 May 2010 |access-date=5 June 2010 |archive-date=11 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511041311/http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/former-pm-malcolm-fraser-quits-liberals/story-e6frf7jo-1225871380387 |url-status=live }}</ref> ===Later political activity=== [[File:Malcolm Fraser bust.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Bust of Malcolm Fraser by political cartoonist, caricaturist and sculptor [[Peter Nicholson (cartoonist)|Peter Nicholson]] located in the [[Prime Minister's Avenue]] in the [[Ballarat Botanical Gardens]]]] In December 2011, Fraser was highly critical of the Australian government's decision (also supported by the Liberal Party Opposition) to permit the export of uranium to India, relaxing the Fraser government's policy of banning sales of uranium to countries that are not signatories of the [[Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Fraser |first=Malcolm |title=Why Gillard's uranium-to-India policy is dangerously wrong |url=https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/why-gillards-uraniumtoindia-policy-is-dangerously-wrong-20111211-1opki.html |access-date=12 December 2011 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=12 December 2011 |archive-date=15 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115014502/http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/why-gillards-uraniumtoindia-policy-is-dangerously-wrong-20111211-1opki.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, Fraser criticised the basing of US military forces in Australia.<ref>[http://militarytimes.com/blogs/battle-rattle/2012/04/23/a-flap-grows-down-under-over-new-usmc-rotations/ "A flap grows Down Under over new USMC rotations."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224523/http://militarytimes.com/blogs/battle-rattle/2012/04/23/a-flap-grows-down-under-over-new-usmc-rotations/ |date=29 April 2012 }} ''Marine Times''. 23 April 2012.</ref> In late 2012, Fraser wrote a foreword for the journal ''Jurisprudence'' where he openly criticised the current state of human rights in Australia and the Western World. "It is a sobering thought that in recent times, freedoms hard won through centuries of struggle, in the United Kingdom and elsewhere have been whittled away. In Australia alone we have laws that allow the secret detention of the innocent. We have had a vast expansion of the power of intelligence agencies. In many cases the onus of proof has been reversed and the justice that once prevailed has been gravely diminished."<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.jurisprudence.com.au/juris15/fraser_forward.pdf |journal=The Journal Jurisprudence |title=Summer Term 2012 β Foreword |volume=15 |date=September 2012|access-date=4 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408231946/http://jurisprudence.com.au/juris15/fraser_forward.pdf|archive-date=8 April 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> In July 2013, Fraser endorsed [[Australian Greens]] [[Australian Senate|Senator]] [[Sarah Hanson-Young]] for re-election in a television advertisement, stating she had been a "reasonable and fair-minded voice".<ref>[https://www.smh.com.au/national/malcolm-fraser-endorses-sarah-hansonyoung-in-tv-ad-20130728-2qs2k.html Malcolm Fraser endorses Sarah Hanson-Young in TV ad] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729212204/http://www.smh.com.au/national/malcolm-fraser-endorses-sarah-hansonyoung-in-tv-ad-20130728-2qs2k.html |date=29 July 2014 }}. The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 July 2013.</ref> Fraser's books include ''Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs'' (with [[Margaret Simons]] β The Miegunyah Press, 2010) and ''Dangerous Allies'' (Melbourne University Press, 2014), which warns of "strategic dependence" on the United States.<ref>[http://theconversation.com/book-review-dangerous-allies-by-malcolm-fraser-25995.html Book review: Dangerous Allies by Malcolm Fraser] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402123502/http://theconversation.com/book-review-dangerous-allies-by-malcolm-fraser-25995.html |date=2 April 2015 }}.</ref> In the book and in talks promoting it, he criticised the concept of [[American exceptionalism]] and [[US foreign policy]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Westcott |first1=Ben |title=Malcolm Fraser calls for an end to the Australian-US alliance |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/malcolm-fraser-calls-for-an-end-to-the-australianus-alliance-20140512-zragh.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=12 May 2014 |access-date=27 September 2018 |archive-date=28 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928044033/https://www.smh.com.au/national/malcolm-fraser-calls-for-an-end-to-the-australianus-alliance-20140512-zragh.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The American influence |url=https://www.economist.com/prospero/2014/05/30/the-american-influence |newspaper=The Economist |date=30 May 2014 |access-date=27 September 2018 |archive-date=28 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928044016/https://www.economist.com/prospero/2014/05/30/the-american-influence |url-status=live }}</ref>
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Malcolm Fraser
(section)
Add topic