First Among Equals Read online

  The second child of John Neville and Una Fraser, he was born on 21 May 1930 in Toorak, Victoria. Fraser’s family also had a hand in Australia’s early political history with his grandfather, Simon Fraser, serving in the Victorian parliament and participating in the Federal Conventions of 1897-98 before becoming a senator at Federation.

  Fraser was educated at Tudor House in Moss Vale, New South Wales, and then Melbourne Grammar School. While only an average student, he worked diligently, and consequently, in 1949, gained a place at Magdalen College at Oxford University, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics. After graduating in 1952, he returned to Australia to manage one of his father’s properties.

  In 1954 Fraser unsuccessfully contested the federal seat of Wannon as the Liberal candidate at the general election. The next year, however, he won the seat, becoming, at the age of 25, the federal parliament’s youngest member. In December 1956 he then married Tamara ‘Tamie’ Beggs, the daughter of a Victoria property owner.

  Fraser spent his first eleven years in parliament languishing on the backbench, until Menzies retired in 1966 and the new prime minister, Harold Holt, appointed him minister for the army. Following Holt’s disappearance and John Gorton’s rise to power, Fraser was offered several more ministerial portfolios including education, science and defence. However, disenchanted with Gorton’s autonomous style of governing, Fraser resigned on 10 March 1971, setting in motion a chain of events that led to Gorton’s demise.

  When William McMahon then became prime minister, Fraser again became the minister for education and science. After Whitlam swept the Liberal Party from office in 1972, Fraser waited two years before he challenged Billy Snedden for the Liberal leadership and lost. In March 1975 Fraser finally won the leadership and immediately began using the conservative’s control of the Senate to block the money supply to the Whitlam government. The deadlock lasted for weeks and climaxed when the governor-general, Sir John Kerr, dismissed the Whitlam government and appointed Fraser as a caretaker prime minister. In the ensuing election, the Liberal Party won by an overwhelming majority and Fraser became prime minister.

  Once in power, Fraser worked to reduce government expenditure, slashing public-service salary spending and the budgets for the environment, arts and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. When criticised for not making more sweeping cuts and for providing tax breaks for industry while imposing austerity on working-class Australians, Fraser famously quipped: ‘Life wasn’t meant to be easy’.

  Like Whitlam, Fraser was a strong supporter of multiculturalism and continued implementing some of his predecessor’s policies, including expanding immigration from Asian countries and passing legislation to give Aboriginal people control of traditional lands in the Northern Territory. Fraser was also a staunch opponent of apartheid and played a key role in securing the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980.

  In early 1983, with Fraser’s government reeling from a scandal over tax-avoidance schemes run by prominent Liberal Party members, Andrew Peacock unsuccessfully challenged Fraser’s leadership. Despite a back injury that saw Fraser hospitalised, he called a snap election hoping to catch out the Labor Party which was besieged by a leadership crisis. However, on the day the election was called, Robert Hawke replaced Bill Hayden as opposition leader and Fraser ultimately lost the 5 March election in a crushing Labor Party victory. In conceding defeat, a visibly shaken Fraser immediately announced his resignation from the Liberal Party leadership.

  After standing down as leader and retiring from parliament, Malcolm Fraser became an active humanitarian. In 1991 he became president of Care International; in 1997 he led a Commonwealth election observer mission to Pakistan; and, in 1999, he helped secure the release of two Australian aid workers who were gaoled in Kosovo. He was awarded Australia’s Human Rights Medal in November 2000. Fraser also distanced himself from his former party, openly criticising their policies regarding refugees, terrorism and the loss of civil liberties, in 2006. He and Gough Whitlam not only reconciled their past bitter political struggle, but became friends, united on a range of social issues at odds with the party Fraser had once led. Soon after Tony Abbott won the Liberal leadership in 2009, Fraser resigned from the party, saying it was ‘no longer a liberal party but a conservative party’. He said he had not changed but the party had changed, and in his last years even gave his support to a Greens Party candidate.

  Malcolm Fraser died after a short illness on 20 March 2015, survived by his wife Tamie and their four children. He was given a state funeral at The Scots’ Church in Melbourne on 27 March 2015.

  ROBERT JAMES LEE HAWKE

  CONSENSUS MAN

  TERM

  11 March 1983-20 December 1991

  Australia’s longest-serving Labor prime minister, Robert James Lee Hawke, was the antithesis of his conservative predecessor. A former trade union leader, Hawke was a charismatic, gregarious, approachable leader who preferred to be known as ‘Bob’. Coming to power during the prosperous early 1980s, he enjoyed wide popularity which saw him win four consecutive federal elections.

  The younger of the two sons of Clem and Ellie Hawke, he was born in Bordertown, South Australia, on 9 December 1929. After Hawke’s older brother Neil died of meningitis, the family moved to Perth, Western Australia, in 1939. An excellent student, Hawke attended Perth Modern School, before enrolling at the University of Western Australia. In 1953 Hawke won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, graduating with a Bachelor of Letters in 1955. During his time at Oxford, Hawke gained notoriety by setting the Guinness world record for drinking two-and-a-half pints of beer in twelve seconds.

  In 1956 he returned to Australia to take up a research scholarship at the Australian National University in Canberra. That same year he married Hazel Masterson, whom he had met eight years earlier. In 1958 Hawke accepted a position with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the couple moved to Melbourne. He then stood unsuccessfully for the federal seat of Corio in 1963; however, he was elected president of the ACTU in 1969.

  Having joined the Labor Party in 1947 at the age of seventeen, Hawke went on to serve as its president from 1973 to 1978. He was a key figure in Whitlam’s 1972 ‘It’s Time’ campaign, and following Whitlam’s dismissal in 1975, it was ironically Hawke who called for calm. In 1979 after suffering a physical collapse, Hawke finally recognised he had a drinking problem and set about conquering his addiction.

  In 1980 Hawke moved into federal politics, winning the seat of Wills, and was immediately elevated to the opposition front bench. With then opposition leader Bill Hayden unable to defeat Malcolm Fraser, in July 1982 Hawke made his first unsuccessful challenge for the ALP leadership. With the Labor Party leadership under question, Fraser decided to seize the opportunity and called an early election. However, the Labor Party had anticipated this move and on the same day announced that they had replaced Hayden with Hawke. As a result, after only one month as party leader, Hawke became Australia’s twenty-third prime minister.

  Having learnt from the Whitlam debacle, Hawke moved quickly to fulfill his campaign promises. He held the successful National Economic Summit in Canberra, blocked construction of a hydro-electric scheme on the Franklin River in Tasmania, privatised state sector industries, restructured the tariff systems and social welfare and, with Paul Keating as his treasurer, reduced personal income tax and implemented the historic Prices and Income Accord agreement with the unions.

  With the opposition in disarray Hawke was reelected comfortably in 1984, 1987 and 1990. However, with Australia heading for a recession, the electorate began to turn and Hawke’s popularity began to decline. Keating then began to conspire against him. After claiming that Hawke had reneged on a secret agreement to step down after winning the 1990 election, in June 1991 Keating resigned from cabinet and challenged the leadership. Although initially unsuccessful, six months later Keating won the leadership.

  Two months later Hawke retired from parliament. He then worked in several hi
gh-profile media positions, interviewing political figures for the Channel 9 television network and writing a weekly column for a Sunday paper. In 1994, he published The Hawke Memoirs, then, a year later, after divorcing his wife Hazel, he married Blanche d’Alpuget, the author of his 1982 biography. In 1999 he publicly campaigned for a republic in the national referendum. Today, Hawke continues to pursue diverse business interests and occasionally makes public appearances.

  PAUL JOHN KEATING

  THE PRIME MINISTER WE HAD TO HAVE

  TERM

  20 December 1991-11 March 1996

  Beginning his political career at the age of 25, Australia’s twenty-fourth prime minister, Paul John Keating, was one of the country’s youngest ever federal politicians. A keen debater, the impeccably dressed Keating used his biting wit and acid tongue to disarm his parliamentary opponents, introducing to the nation a slew of colourful new phrases.

  In contrast to the sophisticated, urbane image he promoted throughout his political career, Keating grew up in the working-class suburb of Bankstown in Sydney. One of four children of Min and Matthew Keating, he was born on 18 January 1944. Keating briefly attended De La Salle College in Bankstown and Belmore Technical College, but never completed his High School Certificate. Leaving school at the age of fifteen, Keating found a job as a pay clerk at Sydney’s Electricity Authority and joined the Bankstown branch of the Australian Labor Party.

  In the early 1960s Keating came under the influence of the radical Labor figure Jack Lang, with whom he met regularly to discuss politics. Keating also worked as the manager for the rock band The Ramrods, and became an industrial advocate for the Federated Municipal and Shire Council Employees’ Union. In 1966 he became president of Sydney’s Labor Youth Council (the forerunner of Young Labor). Then, at the age of 25, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the Sydney seat of Blaxland on 25 October 1969.

  Keating served on the backbench for most of the Whitlam era until 1975 when he was made the minister for Northern Australia, three weeks before Whitlam was dismissed. That same year he married Annita van Iersel, an Alitalia flight attendant, at her family’s village in Holland.

  In opposition Keating served as the spokesperson for several shadow ministries before being appointed shadow treasurer in 1983. When Hawke came to power that year, Keating retained his position as treasurer. With little education and only three weeks’ ministerial experience, Keating worked quickly to acquaint himself with the intricacies of economic policy. Eighteen months later he was named the Finance Minister of the Year by Euromoney magazine.

  Holding the position until 1991, Keating was the driving force behind the Labor government’s economic reforms, including deregulation of the banking system, tariffs reduction, floating the Australian dollar and extensive tax reforms. These reforms helped to modernise and expand the Australian economy and won Keating much praise. However, following the 1987 stock market crash the economy began to stall and, with several high-profile corporations subsequently failing, support for the Liberal Party surged.

  With the Hawke government faltering, Keating felt it was time for a change of leadership. In 1988, Keating and Hawke repeatedly met at Kirribilli House and agreed that after the 1990 election Hawke would step down in favour of Keating. Hawke, however, reneged on the deal. Thus, on 3 June 1991 Keating challenged Hawke for the leadership. After caucus backed Hawke, a defeated Keating resigned as treasurer and returned to the backbench. Six months later, however, Keating again made a bid for the leadership, this time deposing Hawke and claiming the prime-ministership on 20 December 1991.

  As Keating came to power the country was slipping further into recession and unemployment began to rise. Despite opposition, Keating continued with his program of market reform. Defending his government’s policies, Keating famously argued: ‘This is the recession we had to have.’ Keating also worked to promote his ‘big picture’ of Australia’s future, encouraging the process of reconciliation and the recognition of indigenous Australians’ land rights, pushing for economic and cultural engagement with Asia and making Australia a republic.

  These policies failed to engage working-class and rural Australians. Seizing the opportunity, the Liberal Party, now led by John Hewson, launched their ‘Fightback’ campaign and looked set to win the next election. However, the Liberal Party’s policies hinged on the introduction of a goods and services tax (GST), which frightened the electorate. Thus, in March 1993, the Labor Party won the ‘unwinnable’ election and was returned to office. Yet three years later, with foreign debt mounting and high interest rates and unemployment, the electorate’s mood changed and in March 1996 John Howard led the Liberal Party back into office. Keating immediately resigned from parliament.

  In his retirement Keating has pursued a number of business interests and is also a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the University of New South Wales. In March 2000 Keating published Engagement: Australia Faces the Asia-Pacific, which detailed his government’s policies during his time as prime minister.

  JOHN WINSTON HOWARD

  THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS

  TERM

  11 March 1996-3 December 2007

  Once asked if he believed he had another chance at the Liberal Party leadership, John Howard famously replied that a return would be like ‘Lazarus with a triple bypass’. Against all odds, after losing an election and the Liberal Party leadership, Howard rose from the ashes and went on to become only the second person since Federation (the other was his hero, Sir Robert Menzies) to serve for more than ten years as prime minister.

  The youngest of four children, John Winston Howard was born in the Sydney suburb of Earlwood on 26 July 1939. His parents, Lyall and Mona, ran a local petrol station, where Howard worked in his younger years. Howard was educated at Earlwood Primary School and Canterbury Boys High School, before studying law at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1961. He was then appointed as a solicitor of the New South Wales Supreme Court in July 1962.

  Having joined the Young Liberal Movement at the age of eighteen, Howard was elected president of the New South Wales Young Liberals in 1962. The next year he became a member of the Liberal Party State Executive and consequently served as vice-president of the New South Wales Division from 1972 to 1974. On 4 April 1971, Howard married Janette Parker and the couple moved to Sydney’s North Shore. Two years later, Howard entered federal parliament, winning the seat of Bennelong.

  When Fraser seized power in 1975, Howard was appointed the minister for business and consumer affairs. In 1977 he became the minister for special trade negotiations with the European Economic Community, and that same year became treasurer at the age of 38. A strong supporter of economic reform, Howard pushed for cuts to personal- and business income tax and the lowering of government spending. Fraser, however, was more conservative and refused to implement Howard’s reforms (many of which were embraced by the subsequent Labor government).

  Following the Liberal’s 1983 defeat, Howard became deputy leader of the opposition and shadow treasurer. In September 1985 he replaced Andrew Peacock as leader of the Liberal Party, a role he retained until 1989 when Peacock usurped him and regained control of the leadership. The Liberal Party leadership went through two more leaders – John Hewson and Alexander Downer – before John Howard again became leader in 1995.

  With the electorate growing disenchanted with Labor, Howard easily won the 1996 election. In his first year in office, following the Port Arthur massacre in which 35 people were killed, Howard introduced legislation to heavily restrict the private ownership of guns. Fulfilling his promise to cut the national deficit, he implemented a wide range of economic reforms,including cost-cutting in the public service, increased university fees and the privatisation of Telstra.

  In 1998, despite a large swing against it, Howard’s Liberal government was elected back into office. Howard now pushed on with one of his key reforms: the introduction of a GST, which was eventually achieved in July 2000. A staunch mon
archist, Howard campaigned against a republic in the 1999 referendum and, in spite of wide condemnation, refused to offer a formal national apology for the government’s mistreatment of indigenous Australians.

  Internationally, during his second term, Howard increased Australia’s involvement in the Asia-Pacific region, sending a peacekeeping force in September 1999 to restore order in East Timor. Then, following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, Howard joined the ‘war on terror’, sending Australian troops to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq.

  Despite the controversy surrounding his tough stance on asylum seekers, which saw the government refuse to allow the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa (carrying a group of asylum seekers picked up in international waters) to enter Australian waters, and then culminated in October with the ‘Children Overboard Affair’, where the government falsely claimed that asylum seekers had deliberately thrown their own children into the sea—in order to be rescued by HMAS Adelaide and gain entry into Australia – Howard was returned to office that year on a campaign promoting tougher border security.

  Following the October 2002 Bali bombing in which 88 Australians were killed, Howard continued to push his agenda for national security. With the ‘war on terror’ now closer to home, Howard easily won the October 2004 federal election, this time with an even larger majority. In the years following, however, his party became embroiled in a number of controversies, specifically the Australian Wheat Board scandal and the ongoing argument over his retirement. Moreover, in 2005, he introduced extremely unpopular industrial relations changes that alienated some of his own supporters, and with the war in Iraq seemingly without end, the mood of the country shifted. After so many years in parliament, many believed Howard had lost touch with the electorate.