Considering the Prime Ministers who have followed him I suppose Fraser does stand out favourably.

In a room full of political pygmies even a person of very average stature will stand out.

Thank You so much for this book review.

William Shakespeare wrote:

"Be not afraid of greatness,
Some are born great,
Some achieve greatness,
And some have greatness thrust upon them."
(Twelfth Night, II.v. 156-159).

I guess that I'll have to read the book to
find out which of these (perhaps all?),
apply to Malcolm Fraser.

I suspect that it could well be at least two
of them! Men of his calibre are few in today's
Liberal or I should say "Conservative" Party.
There's nothing Liberal about them.

So, the reason he has become a silly old fart, is because he was a silly young fart, & just got old.

Of course, as his ambition exceeded his courage, he kept his true ideas hidden as much as possible. Disgusting man.

Agree Hasbeen;

For me personally- and maybe its because I'm more a fan of grassroots politicians with records of honesty;
But I just don't see what's so lovely about a nasty, vengeful, bigoted and incredibly greedy and self-entitled individual who seems to treat the average joe as an object obligated to perform whatever his political views demand- and not to mention maintain his pampered lifestyle; who isn't a very strong supporter of free speech or democratic public rights but a strong supporter of forcing people to join the army to kill people with political views Mal doesn't like (read his recent speeches- particularly on conscription and the Vietnam war), and is perfectly happy to see dishonest measures taken to skew democratic processes to fit into his own viewpoints (lobbying for parties he doesn't like- (eg One Nation)- to be put at bottom of ballot papers for donkey voters)..

I think I'll pass on his book- he has never said anything particularly insightful as much as superficial in the past, and quite frankly I'm giving him enough of my money already.

Hazza and Hasbeen have said it all.

Have I been sucked into some sort of spin? Mal has not become mellow with age? Prepared to speak out, whereas he was prevented in the past due to political affiliation? I like a lot of what he has said in recent years; speaking out against Howard's Pacific Solution, human rights and so on.

I still hold the belief that the Liberal Party did change with the leadership of Howard and truly embraced a conservatism that had been held in check by people like Gorton. But then my knowledge of political history only really began with the Hawke/Keating era so maybe I am clueless (wouldn't be the first time).

However, I can sit and listen to this man, something I can't do with Howard - even now he's gone and I'm safe (from Howard). Fraser's voice has that deep patriarchal inflection that is reassuring.

Besides, I believe in redemption and I believe that Fraser is a better man than he was as PM. But I'll get his book from the library.

:)

The review was good and much closer to the real man than say King Hazza was.
Mal's stance and way of talking was branded on him by his upbringing, he can not change that.
Yes I Would have gladly disemboweled him in 1975, but not every thing I then thought of him was right.
Sad truly, that Liberals are no longer Liberal.
Yet one day true Liberalism will snatch back the Party OF Sir Robert and Mal, and go on electoral success
The madness in Americanizing ,trying to become the Republican party,will wither and die in Liberal/Nation merger one day.

Belly you've still yet to explain to me why Malcolm is so 'nice'- even in these days where he does little more than suck up taxpayer dollars for trinkets and make speeches.

And him being bigoted because he was raised that way is no excuse- humility isn't exactly the hardest thing to develop by yourself.

Anyway, I'd be quite happy to see never a compassionate-conservative (small-L-liberal) party return- nothing but a right-wing authoritarian dinosaur with the occasional heart-bleed. In fact I may be inclined to vote an actually conservative party just to ensure they wouldn't get in, but generally I'd see a trend in the near future of younger voters looking up their local candidates and likely leaning towards more democratic egalitarian parties than picking which flavor of neoliberalism they'd rather endure.

Finally
Here's some food for thought- we've had some mildly left-leaning parties, center-ish conservative parties, Small-L Liberal Parties and we've had right-leaning conservative parties. Guess which one had the unique honor of being the only mob to arbitrarily introduce conscription to fight in a foreign conflict (probably the highest human-rights violation)? And guess which nice man endorsed it- and is not particularly sorry to this day?
Here's a hint- not even John Howard, for all his faults, ever put conscription on the table for Iraq.

King Hazza I more often than not do not answer you, see I do not often value your opinions.
Give me the evidence for your description of him.
Along side Howard or just about every Abbott front bencher Abbott himself Mal is just outstanding.

That's awfully funny Belly because at least my opinions actually go into specifics, as opposed to "he's just outstanding".
(oh wait- compared to John Howard- that's amazing!)

He has stated multiple times that he is opposed to free speech that is offensive (which makes one wonder what else is left to make it so 'free') and seems quite happy with measures to circumvent it (which you can check for yourself by googling Mal's name and "free speech"- not that you ever will).

And guess who was Minister of Defense when we invaded Vietnam AND introduced conscription (that's forcing people to join the army and go off to fight in wars, if you didn't know what that word meant) without referendum? No seriously take a guess. Quite frankly that is the single worst crime committed against Australia, unless you can dream up a worse one.

And then there was the time he ignored advice that many of the refugees he took in during the Civil War in Lebannon were of questionable character and unlikely to integrate when he LOWERED the required standards of these things normally required to gain entry and citizenship.

Did I mention Kerr and lobbying that One Nation were put at the bottom of the ballot paper?

Also feel free to google his post-MP expenses- the highest BY FAR, ever, following only little Johnie.

In short, a snotty, severe man who clearly doesn't think much of free speech or democracy, nor the safety of Australians, but seems to treat these as mere obstacles to forcing his way on others.
Yeah, amazing.

Now it's your turn.
To be honest I think you refuse to address anything I say because you simply can't.
But do try- I'm getting tired of adding yet more posts to my list of substantial answers that you complain about but are incapable of proving wrong (while casually pretending you didn't read anything a little too inconvenient).

I'm waiting.

I thought Fraser was competent as a Leader & did pull Australia back out of the Whitlam hole but he's gone rather strange in the past few years.

King Hazza I could if I wished play verbal tennis with you for days, I do not do so with closed minds
Australia played a much bigger part in that war.
Armed with the domino theory we poked and prodded Americas involvement, not they ours.
I grow with the years and the experience life brings, you however ignore real achievements of the man.
And having lived in places like Bowral in my youth I tend to laugh not cry about the stiff shirt up bringing of such people.
They can no more change their style than you or I .
You have mix views you told me the greens are ok, then you have no time for ETS?
Here it seems you have concerns based on race?You baffle me KG never frighten just baffle.

I actually thought you would be confused by my posts Belly- you seem to be the type of person that can only understand things if they fall into some kind of stereotype (which I imagine you were taught to believe).

It is entirely possible to actually be concerned about the environment but see no purpose in a dud TAX SCHEME that only puts on a weak superficial appearance of caring about the environment (so insecure people can feel good about themselves), be a capitalist (NOT a marxist), and actually be concerned about reports of people of "questionable character" (not race, but nice try) being given entry into our country against our normal visa requirements and standards at the same time.
In other words, some people can actually think for themselves, instead of painting themselves into some kind of subculture and following their every word.

Which brings me to my next point that I would not quite be the narrow minded person if I can actually investigate various concerns to see if my views are correct or not, and judge each on their own merits.

As opposed to stay, staunchly sticking to ones belief like a religious fundamentalist and remaining way too terrified to read other sources even to check if your beliefs are actually right and thus shake your faith- but staunchly believing so anyway, just, because!
That sounds a little more like narrow-mindedness to me.

As always Belly, not surprised.