Malcolm Fraser dead: how he saw fellow Liberal prime ministers

MALCOLM Fraser was nothing but honest about his fellow former and current Liberal prime ministers.

MALCOLM Fraser was nothing but honest about his fellow former and current Liberal prime ministers. Here’s what he said about them in an interview with Troy Bramston...

ROBERT MENZIES

(Prime minister, 1939-41, 1949-66)

“Menzies was a thoroughly liberal and progressive prime minister. If you called him a ‘conservative’ he would regard it as an offence. He wanted the party to be forward-looking, progressive, willing to make experiments, in no way reactionary and in no way conservative — all his words.”

HAROLD HOLT

(Prime minister, 1966-67)

“A far better man than he is given credit for. In some respects, maybe he was not tough enough. He was tormented by the thought of sending conscripts to Vietnam. But at the same time he believed that it was in Australia’s national interest.”

JOHN GORTON

(Prime minister, 1968-71)

“He wasn’t a hard enough worker. He was not in command of the range of policies that he needed to be in charge of to be prime minister. He believed that he had the right to get his own way.”

BILLY McMAHON

(Prime minister, 1971-72)

“He was a flawed person. He ignored everything that he had been told by his ministers. But it is remarkable that Gough Whitlam won against McMahon by such a small margin. McMahon did everything he could to help Whitlam win that election.”

JOHN HOWARD

(Prime minister, 1996-2007)

“He was a remarkably effective prime minister for a while. The most difficult time was in 1997 and, to give credit to the government, they tightened the supervision over the banking system. The thing I recall (however) is the introduction of race and racist attitude into the body politic, especially over refugees.”

TONY ABBOTT

(Liberal Party leader, 2009-present)

“I’ve never had any cross words with Tony Abbott, not even when he tried to persuade me not to resign from the Liberal Party. I suppose I’ve said some fairly harsh things about some of his attitudes on turning the boats back.”

FULL INTERVIEW: Contrarian claims he’s consistent

FRASER: Former PM dead at 84