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Thread: Malcolm Fraser was planning to start a new political party before his death

  1. #1
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    Malcolm Fraser was planning to start a new political party before his death

    Ex australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser has died in his sleep at age 85.

    I've found an interesting article about him. Apparently he was getting ready to start a new political party. The article follows

    http://www.watoday.com.au/federal-po...20-1m46kd.html

    I've bolded the especially interesting information below. With some of the pollicies he was planning, it's not hard to imagine that he would have become a targetted individual.


    Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, who died on Friday, was in the process of setting up a new political party that would have advocated scaling back Australia's military ties to the United States.

    Mr Fraser, who led the Liberal Party from 1975 to 1983, quit the party in 2009, shortly after Tony Abbott replaced Malcolm Turnbull as leader. He campaigned for Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young at the last election because of her stance on asylum seekers.

    With an election due in mid to late 2016, Mr Fraser's new party could have potentially run candidates at the next election.

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    Mr Fraser, who died aged 84, would not have led the party but would have driven its policy agenda. Fairfax Media understands Mr Fraser had developed a written draft policy platform for the party that included:

    ending Australia's close military alliance with the United States
    a closer relationship with South-East Asian nations
    ending the offshore processing of asylum seekers
    stronger anti-corruption and transparency laws
    tighter regulation of the sale of arable land

    Mr Fraser discussed the party with confidants late last year.

    In his last book, Dangerous Allies, published last year, Mr Fraser argued that Australia should become a "strategically independent country" and that the ANZUS Treaty with the United States was possibly the biggest threat to Australia's security.

    "If a war between China and the United States were to occur with a continuation of current policies, it would be very hard, if not impossible, for Australia to become involved," he wrote.

    Mr Fraser advocated closing down the US military base in Darwin and the Pine Gap communications facility

    Mr Fraser had been a staunch defender of the US alliance during the Cold War but changed his view radically in his later years.

    Mr Fraser was also deeply unhappy with the tough asylum-seeker policies of both major parties, including the use of mandatory detention and the offshore processing of asylum seekers.

    Last year Mr Fraser tweeted in support of the creation of a federal Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

    As prime minister, Mr Fraser introduced several measures to increase transparency of government decision making. These included the creation of the Commonwealth Ombudsman in 1977 to handle complaints about government agencies. He also introduced Australia's first freedom of information laws and created the Australian Human Rights Commission.
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  3. #2
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    That kinda looks like a manifesto aimed at splitting the opposition right down the middle.

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    Malcolm Fraser in my day was a die-hard Liberal. But as he aged, he turned to his adversaries, Gough Whitlam of all people. And Paul Keating. His arch opponents.

    He found kindred thinking with them. I think there is a lesson there.

    I believe he had a true heart. He mended a lot of fences with his enemies before he passed. Bravo for him for trying to forge a new manifesto.

    As for closing down the Pine Gap Facility? Geeze, good luck with that, it's run by the CIA. I don't know if he could have achieved that...but thoughts do have power. Now he has passed, those thoughts may run with others.

    He did pass on the day of the eclipse and supermoon.

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    Thanks Jcocks , pretty interesting stuff , I wonder who he attracted to be party members on this yet to be independent crusade party.
    They would have to fairly out there type politicians,but at the same time they probably would get the youth vote quite quickly .

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