Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser was born on 8 January 1930 in Creswick, Victoria, to John Neville Fraser, a wealthy pastoralist and politician, and Una Arnold Woolf Fraser, a nurse and social worker. He was the grandson of Simon Fraser, a Scottish-born pioneer and senator. He attended Tudor House School and Melbourne Grammar School, where he excelled academically and in sports. He then studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, politics and economics. Fraser entered politics in 1954, when he unsuccessfully contested the seat of Wannon in western Victoria for the Liberal Party. He won the seat in a by-election the following year, becoming the youngest member of parliament at the age of 25. He rose through the ranks of the party and held various ministerial portfolios under prime ministers Harold Holt, John Gorton and William McMahon. He was Minister for the Army (1966–1968), Minister for Education and Science (1968–1969; 1971–1972) and Minister for Defence (1969–1971). Fraser became the leader of the Liberal Party and the opposition in 1975, after challenging Billy Snedden. He played a key role in the constitutional crisis that led to the dismissal of Gough Whitlam's Labor government by Governor-General Sir John Kerr on 11 November 1975. Fraser was appointed as caretaker prime minister until a double dissolution election was held on 13 December 1975, which he won by a landslide. Fraser served as prime minister for over seven years, winning two more elections in 1977 and 1980. His government pursued a conservative economic agenda of deregulation, privatisation and reduced public spending. It also implemented various social reforms such as introducing Medicare, abolishing university fees, granting land rights to Indigenous Australians, increasing immigration and multiculturalism, supporting human rights and opposing apartheid in South Africa. Fraser lost the 1983 election to Bob Hawke's Labor Party and resigned as Liberal leader. He was succeeded by Andrew Peacock. He remained in parliament until 1983, when he retired from politics. He then devoted himself to various humanitarian and international causes, such as co-chairing the Commonwealth Group of Eminent Persons that helped end apartheid in South Africa, founding CARE Australia and serving as its chairman until 2001, and campaigning for nuclear disarmament, environmental protection and human rights. Fraser died of a heart attack on 20 March 2015 at his home in Melbourne. He was 84 years old. He was survived by his wife Tamara Beggs, whom he married in 1956, and their four children and ten grandchildren. He was given a state funeral at Scots' Church in Melbourne on 27 March 2015 and buried at Melbourne General Cemetery.