R.I.P. Malcolm Fraser

Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser has died this morning, of natural causes, age 84.

“It is with deep sadness that we inform you, after a brief illness, John Malcolm Fraser died peacefully in the early hours of the morning of 20 March 2015,” read a statement from the former Liberal PM’s office.

Tributes have been flooding in, with colleagues describing Fraser as a “great moral compass” and a “giant of Australian politics”.

Malcolm Fraser was Australia’s 22nd prime minister, having won the leadership role after Gough Whitlam’s dismissal in 1975.

Fraser was most famous for his embracing of multiculturalism and Aboriginal land rights, leading a Commonwealth push to end apartheid in South Africa.

Right to the end, Fraser had his opinions expressed about the state of politics, in fact just last month he attached current prime minister Tony Abbot over his government’s treatment of the Human Rights Commission and, in particular, The Forgotten Children Report.

“If the Government had wanted to handle the matter sensibly, they would have said they recognise there have been abuses,” said Fraser.

Yep, this could well have been the man to first offer the word ‘sorry’ when all PMs prior were petrified to use – oh, and have been since. Antonino Tati