FRASER, JOHN MALCOLM (AUSTRALIA)

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06893598
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: August 26, 2021
• Case Number: F-2020-01826
• Publication Date: April 12, 1982

Approved for Release: 2021/08/25 C06893598
Tab F
(John) Malcolm FRASER
Prime Minister (since Decem-
ber 1975)
Addressed as:
Mr. Prime Minister
Leader of the Liberal
Party (LP) since March 1975,
Malcolm Fraser stands well to
the right of most members of
his basically conservative
party and is determined to
move Australian politics in
that direction. He has taken
direct personal control of his
government in an effort to cut
spending, give more powers to
state governments, and give
the average man greater "economic independence." The
faltering of the economy in recent months and the de-
feat of the LP-National Country Party (NCP) coalition
government in Fraser's home state of Victoria in April
1982 have combined to weaken his position. He nonethe-
less successfully withstood a challenge to his leader-
ship by his longtime party rival and former Foreign
Minister, Andrew Peacock, at a party caucus on 8 April.
AUSTRALIA
Foreign Policy
The dominant voice in Australian foreign policy,
Fraser has faced fundamental policy issues squarely.
He has strongly endorsed the US-Australian alliance,
has expressed the hope that "good working relations"
(cont.)
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with China will continue, and has demanded that the
Soviet Union prove its commitment to world peace by
refraining from military expansion, Fraser has a
strong bias against the USSR and is concerned that
Western nations are being duped by the Soviets in dis-
armament talks. He also has strong doubts about the
determination of the West to resist what he regards as
the constant and unchanging Soviet effort to dominate
Western Europe. In January 1980 Fraser's government
strongly supported then President Jimmy Carter's posi-
tion not to send an Olympic team to Moscow unless Sovi-
et troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan by mid-
February 1980. Simultaneously, Australia agreed to
curtail grain shipments and to sharply limit the export
of scientific and technological equipment to the Soviet
Union. Fraser has visited the United States, most re-
cently in June 1981.
Personal Data
Born in Melbourne, Fraser is the son of a wealthy
grazier (cattle farmer). He holds a master's degree in
philosophy, political science, and economics from Mag-
dalen College, Oxford. In earlier conservative govern-
ments he served as Minister for the Army (1966-68), for
Education and Science (1968-69, 1971-72), and for De-
fense (1969-71).
Fraser, 51, is a wealthy man who has a house in
one of Canberra's fashionable districts, as well as an
estate in Victoria, where he raises cattle and sheep.
He enjoys fishing and photography, but he can be roused
to real enthusiasm when talking about his motorcycle.
Fraser is married to the former Tamara Beggs and has
two sons and two daughters.
12 April 1982
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