Feb 232010
 

If you’ve missed the bi-sected interview with Malcolm Fraser on 7:30 Report over the past couple of nights, you’ll be pleased to discover the entire interview is available on the 7:30 Report website. I missed last nights edition, which is on the site now as I type, but from what I saw tonight, it would appear that Malcolm Fraser has as low an opinion of the man we all love to hate as the majority of Australians who voted him out in 2007.
Maybe it’s the maturity which comes with age, maybe in the period 1975 to 1983 I was too young or even disinterested to pay a whole lot of attention. I recall being incensed by the dismissal of Whitlam, and remain to this day a carrier of the flame lit on that day. Fraser seemed, to me then, and to some degree even now, a political conniver, an opportunist and just another of the long, seemingly unending line of politicians seeking power and glory.
Watching and listening to him over the decades since his retreat from political life, his role with Care Australia and the times when his opinion makes good media copy in response to social issues of import, I can’t help but draw the conclusion that this man IS a genuine liberal. Something from the machine begun by Robert Menzies which isn’t conservative in the far-right, big ‘C’ sense of the word fostered by Howard. I even find myself admiring the man, at least for his openness and honesty in a post Parliamentary life.
Form your own opinions, as any rational thinker will, but I don’t believe I’m wrong in my assessment of John Malcolm Fraser. It’s just a shame the current incarnation of so-called liberals aren’t just a little more like him.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.