FRASER, JOHN MALCOLM (AUSTRALIA)

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06893589
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: August 26, 2021
• Case Number: F-2020-01826
• Publication Date: June 6, 1977

Approved for Release. 2021/08/25 C06893589
(John) Malcolm FRASER
Prime Minister
(since December 1975)
Addressed as:
Mr. Prime Minister
Leader of the Liberal
Party (LP) since March
1975, Malcolm Fraser
became Prime Minister
in the coalition govern-
ment formed after the
electoral victory of
the LP and the National
Country Party in December
1975. As leader of the
opposition, he had
been named caretaker Prime Minister in November,
when Australia's Governor General sacked Labor
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam after a parliamentary
impasse over the budget. Long active in the LP,
Fraser has held several Cabinet posts in previous
conservative governments, most recently (August
1971-December 1972) that of Minister for Education
and Science. He has also served (November 1969-
March 1971) as Minister for Defense, and he has
retained a keen interest in defense and foreign
policy matters.
1i.,-- (1
AUSTRALIA
Fraser was born in Melbourne, the grandson of
a man who came to Australia from Nova Scotia during
the 19th-century gold rush and eventually became a
member of the first Commonwealth Parliament. He
holds a master's degree with honors in philosophy,
political science and economics from Magdalen
College, Oxford. First elected to the House of
Representatives in 1955, he has been reelected ever
since.
A Leader Grantee in 1964, Fraser visited Wash-
ington most recentlY in July 1976. He is a wealthy
man, owning a house in Canberra and an 8,000-acre
estate in Victoria, where he raises cattle and
sheep. His leisure interests include fishing,
photography, and motorcycling. Fraser, 47, is
married and has four children.
CR M 77-12922
6 June 1977
Approved for Release: 2021/08/25 C06893589
MICRO
ONLY