Obituaries — Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser AC CH GCL Hon Lee Kuan Yew GCMG CHText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeObituaries — Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser AC CH GCL Hon Lee Kuan Yew GCMG CH[Sitting date: 24 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2479. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ObituariesRt Hon Malcolm Fraser AC CH GCLHon BILL ENGLISH (Acting Prime Minister): I seek leave to move a motion without notice in relation to the death of Malcolm Fraser former Prime Minister of Australia.Mr SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.Hon BILL ENGLISH: I move That this House express its sadness at the passing on 20 March 2015 of former Australian Prime Minister Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser AC CH GCL aged 84. Mr Fraser served his country with distinction as Australia’s 22ndPrime Minister from 1975 when he was appointed in a caretaker role following the shock dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by the Governor-General. This was arguably the most dramatic day in Australia’s political history. Mr Fraser went on to win the following three elections and served as Prime Minister until 1983. During that time he made a significant contribution to the strengthening of the Australia - New Zealand relationship. It was during his time as Prime Minister that Australia and New Zealand negotiated and signed the Australia and New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement commonly known as CER with its enduring legacy of shared prosperity.He will also be remembered for his work with the United Nations and humanitarian agencies. Mr Fraser was a strong opponent of white minority rule in South Africa and what was then Rhodesia. He served on a number of UN and Commonwealth bodies with a focus on southern Africa and was president of the foreign aid group CARE International. Mr Fraser was also an advocate for multiculturalism in Australia and for indigenous and human rights overseeing the establishment of the Family Court of Australia and the National Aboriginal Conference instituting the position of a federal ombudsman and passing the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. He also played an influential role in the Commonwealth of Nations. On behalf of New Zealanders I would like to express our condolences to his family and to the people of Australia.ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition): I just rise briefly to support the motion and to acknowledge and record the New Zealand Labour Party’s condolences at this time over the loss of Malcolm Fraser and to note that Malcolm Fraser was elevated to the role of Prime Minister of Australia in arguably the most controversial of circumstances. He acquitted himself in that post until he was succeeded by Bob Hawke and it was his post -prime ministerial and post parliamentary career that I think he will be most remembered for certainly on this side of the House. He led the Eminent Persons Group on behalf of the Commonwealth Heads of Government to inquire into apartheid in South Africa and he was very much a part of the diplomatic process of leading the change externally that subsequently led to a genuinely free and democratic South Africa which ultimately saw the election of Nelson Mandela as President in the 1990s.I saw Malcolm Fraser speaking in Australia interestingly enough at a trade union conference which reflected the political change that I think he underwent. He was a conservative Prime Minister elected in conservative circumstances who had the presence of mind and the independence of spirit to question what subsequent conservative Governments in Australia had done and he challenged some of the economic nostrums that certainly the John Howard Government had pursued. He took up the cudgels of not just free trade but fair trade in Australia and a more compassionate approach to the people and to economic change and management there. We note his passing.METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green): On behalf of the Green Party I offer our condolences to the friends and family of Malcolm Fraser and acknowledge the huge contribution that he made to Australian politics and society. My colleague Russel Norman described Malcolm Fraser as an outstanding Australian voice of sanity and humanity. Throughout his life he stood up for what was right and championed a very progressive social agenda with great concern for those who were the most marginalised. He was a fierce opponent of apartheid. He helped to form the Gleneagles Agreement which insisted that South Africa end apartheid if it wanted to continue to compete in the Commonwealth Games and he infamously banned the plane carrying the Springbok rugby team from refuelling in Australia on its way to New Zealand for the tour in 1981. He continued this work after leaving Parliament including chairing the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group against apartheid in South Africa.He had a deep interest in the advancement of indigenous people and it was his Government that recognised Aboriginal land rights by establishing the land rights regime in the Northern Territory. He also established the National Aboriginal Conference a national organisation that represented indigenous Australians. His Government also established the Human Rights Commission. He was a champion of a multicultural Australia and he set up the SBS a channel to provide multilingual broadcasting for Australia’s migrant community. He was instrumental in Australia accepting 70000 Vietnamese refugees displaced by the Viet Nam War including 2000 who arrived by boat with no documentation. He also worked to ensure that these refugees were embraced once they were in Australia. This cause stayed with him for life most notably expressed by his quitting the Liberal Party in 2009 after its election ad portraying asylum seekers swamping Australia. He described the ad as “a throwback to a racist past and not just for the Liberal Party but for Australia”.His legacy also extends to environmental concerns. His Government prohibited exploration and drilling for petroleum on the Great Barrier Reef and later declared the Great Barrier Reef a marine park. He also banned sand mining on Fraser Island passed legislation to create national parks in Australia and under his leadership the first Australian sites were placed on the World Heritage List. His Government also enacted the Whale Protection Act ending whaling in Australia and it achieved greater protection for Australian wildlife. Malcolm Fraser was also staunch on climate change. Back in 1980 he said: “The planet’s capacity to support its people is being irreversibly reduced by the destruction and degradation of the biosphere and the need to understand the problem and take corrective action is becoming urgent.” Over 30 years later he put his name to action on climate change saying: “The overwhelming body of scientific evidence supports the need for change. Many countries are well ahead of Australia. We need to act or we will fall further behind.”When asked what he considered his badge of honour there was a list of administrative law reform including establishing the Human Rights Commission and he said: “Because they all go to how Governments treat its people.” Thank you.TRACEY MARTIN (Deputy Leader—NZ First): Kia ora Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to support the motion. It would appear that we are marking the end of the generation of Western political leaders from the 1970s. Malcolm Fraser’s death follows that of the other two major players in Australia’s biggest ever political crisis. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order!TRACEY MARTIN: It is a respectful motion for a man who was important in politics. It is a shame that some members of the House do not feel that way but New Zealand First does and does not take this lightly. Mr Fraser is one of the last political players in what was Australia’s biggest ever political crisis with Gough Whitlam passing last year and Sir John Kerr passing in 1991.Malcolm Fraser’s most famous quote is considered by some to be: “Life is not meant to be easy.” One might say that this encapsulates his belief in self-discipline and individual sacrifice and that it sums up nicely the event that will for ever dominate his legacy as a master of detail. In 1975 the Liberal majority in the Australian Senate refused to pass Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s money bill. This paralysed Australia’s Government. The tipping point came when Whitlam refused to resign or to call a general election which saw the Governor-General Sir John Kerr exercise his rarely used reserve powers to dismiss Whitlam’s Labor Government. Malcom Fraser became caretaker Prime Minister that day 11 November 1975 which is of course Armistice Day. A general election was called for 13 December of that year and despite the controversy of Whitlam’s dismissal Fraser led the Liberal - Country Party coalition to the largest victory in Australian history taking 30 seats off Labor to secure a 55-seat majority.While Fraser repudiated some of Whitlam’s initiatives; he extended others—confounding his opponents and their perception of him as an aloof landed grazier. As we have already heard from 1975 until his 1993 defeat by Labor’s Bob Hawke he established the Australian Family Court and the Federal Court of Australia. He also gave the Northern Territory self-government and passed Aboriginal land rights. He followed our much earlier lead in New Zealand by creating federal ombudsmen. He also ended the mining of mineral sands from Fraser Island and declared 36000 square kilometres of the Great Barrier Reef off Cairns as a marine park. Yet he was also not scared to use mineral extraction where it made sense and these resources boomed under his leadership helping to propel the Australian economy.Malcolm Fraser was touched by the plight of Vietnamese refugees and made great efforts to expand that refugee programme—something he continued with after leaving office. Socially he introduced family allowances paid to mothers and oversaw the decision to build a new Parliament House in Canberra. Internationally he supported anti-apartheid boycotts against South Africa and given the state of global farming in the 1970s he also called for a global common fund to stabilise commodity prices. Fraser was an economic traditionalist yet together with that other giant of politics Sir Robert Muldoon they negotiated and agreed closer economic relations between our two countries. This remains our most important trade agreement proving that sensible trade agreements based on common sense do work.Malcolm Fraser was born in 1930 in Melbourne and grew up on the family farm. He graduated from Oxford University in 1952 working as a grazier before becoming in 1955 at the age of 25 the youngest federal member of Parliament. He would serve for 28 years. An imposingly tall figure at 6 feet 4 inches in 1956 he married Tamara Beggs who survives him and together they had four children—Mark Angela Hugh and Phoebe. Our sympathies go to them their families and the Australian people.Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future): I want to associate myself with the remarks that have been made by others paying tribute to John Malcolm Fraser Australia’s late Prime Minister who died at the end of last week. I am not going to quote extensively from Wikipedia in doing so but I do want to observe that Malcolm Fraser was a man of extraordinary contrasts—the conservative Prime Minister whose record is one of social reform; the patrician country squire from Wannon in Victoria who was a career politician from the age of 25 but who abruptly resigned from Parliament upon losing the election in 1983 to return to his roots.He was the man who in recent years established a strong following in social media with his comments on all ranges of issues as recently as the last couple of weeks on the international situation the environment Australian politics and always from the perspective of some common sense some good judgment and a real heart and compassion for those who were adversely or marginally affected by decisions of Governments. The interesting thing to me about Malcom Fraser was given the circumstances of his arrival in office where he was labelled for many years as Kerr’s cur by Gough Whitlam the two went on to become very firm friends in their post-political careers who apparently often met to lament the state of their respective political parties subsequent to their departures.New Zealand has lost a good friend. CER was an initiative of the Fraser Government. The “Nareen agreement” entered into on his country property is another enduring mark of cooperation between our two countries. It is appropriate for this Parliament to pay tribute to a great Australian leader. It is appropriate that we share our sympathy with his family his former colleagues his friends and mark the greatness of his contribution to his nation.DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Far be it from me to give another exhaustive account of this great man’s life. However what I would like to do is pay tribute to one particular aspect of his prime ministership and career: he changed the culture and the face of Australia by welcoming over 200000 immigrants to Australia during his time as Prime Minister. That is a statement about how countries like our own and Australia should regard the world not as something we are afraid of but as something in which we stand tall and welcome immigrants to our shores. And on that note I would like today to share my condolences with our Australian cousins on the loss of a great and tall eucalyptus. Thank you.Motion agreed to.Hon Lee Kuan Yew GCMG CHHon BILL ENGLISH (Acting Prime Minister): I seek leave to move a motion without notice in relation to the death of Hon Lee Kuan Yew the former Prime Minister of Singapore.Mr SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.Hon BILL ENGLISH: I move That this House express its sadness at the passing on 23 March 2015 of former Prime Ministerof Singapore Hon Lee Kuan Yew GCMGCH aged 91. As one of Singapore’s founding fathers Mr Lee led Singapore to independence in 1965 and remained its Prime Minister until 1990. Due to his unwavering determination and vision Mr Lee guided Singapore’s growth and development making it the world leader among small countries that it is today.Mr Lee was a long-time friend of New Zealand and a supporter of New Zealand’s role in South-east Asia. He was also instrumental in establishing the Association of South-east Asian Nations ASEAN. New Zealand and ASEAN celebrate our 40th anniversary this year. On behalf of all New Zealanders we would like to express our condolences to Mr Lee’s family and the people of Singapore who have lost a father with his passing.Hon PHIL GOFF (Labour—Mt Roskill): Can I join with the Acting Prime Minister on behalf of Labour in expressing our condolences to the people of Singapore and in particular to his family and his son the current Prime Minister of Singapore on his passing. Lee Kuan Yew was an extraordinary figure. I remember when he gave a speech on television in 1965—and I think I was a 12-year-old; a child at that time—he spoke with such power and emotion about why he was taking Singapore out of Malaysia and decades later I still remember that as the first political speech that ever impacted on me in that way.I remember the Prime Minister for another reason and that was when I had dinner with Lee Kuan Yew at the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2008. I explained to the then mentor Minister that my mother was a great admirer of his. He looked at me somewhat quizzically and said: “Why would that be the case?” and I explained that in 1977 as a student who had gone 6 years without a haircut passing through Singapore I was given my first haircut by the customs officials at the airport as the price of entry. My mother congratulated him on achieving something that nobody else had been able to do for years before that time.There are aspects of Lee Kuan Yew that all of us would immensely admire. He turned a Third World country into a First World country with a higher per capita standard of living than we enjoy in this country. He dealt effectively with corruption he built a first-class education system and he transformed the living standards and grew the GDP of that country 15 times between 1960 and 1980. There was however another side to Lee Kuan Yew which he himself admitted when he was being interviewed in 2010 and that was that he was a very authoritarian figure he locked up his opponents and he cracked down on the media. He admitted that he had done some bad things in his time and that was the other side which if we were to be fair in our memory of Lee Kuan Yew we would also acknowledge. But today in particular we remember him as a man who was a strong leader who gave Singapore an influence totally disproportionate to its size and created a better country for his fellow countrymen and women.Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green): The Green Party pays tribute to the passing of Lee Kuan Yew former Prime Minister of Singapore. Our condolences go out to his family on a personal basis and also to his son the current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on behalf of the nation.Lee Kuan Yew was recognised as the founding father of his nation. He was a formidable figure in world politics. When Singapore gained independence in 1965 he began work on what has been called the economic miracle. He transformed the small island nation into a modern and prosperous place of the 21st century. He did so with a raft of regulation a strong emphasis on government and a mix of private and State capitalism.As with every country the rise of modern Singapore did not come without some cost. Lee was quoted as saying that he had sacrificed his life for Singapore. He maintained a close rein on the country and its people in the interests of growing the country in the way he envisioned it. His tenure of course was not without its controversy. In the resulting debate over Asian values not so long ago was a substantive and interesting exchange with the West. We in the Green Party naturally have our views yet we acknowledge the change that was wrought in Singapore and we appreciate his leadership his determination and his vision for a better life for his countrymen and women. Today we join the citizens of Singapore in remembrance of their leader whom history will regard as a giant on the political landscape of our times.TRACEY MARTIN (Deputy Leader—NZ First): Kia ora Mr Speaker. When I first came into this House 3 years ago one of the first things that was sent to my office were these books on the life and times of Lee Kuan Yew and part of the reason for that—and I thank the sender—was that the Rt Hon Winston Peters highly highly highly respects Lee Kuan Yew and what he did for his country. So I know that the Rt Hon Winston Peters if he were not otherwise working hard in another area of New Zealand would wish to be here to take this call.The sympathies of New Zealand First but especially of the Rt Hon Winston Peters go out to Lee Kuan Yew’s children and to the people of Singapore. He was truly one of the greats when it came to belief in his people and in what they could achieve in a nation with very few resources. He gained the respect of his people and he gained the respect of the majority of the informed world for his visionary plans for a small island nation.I know that the Rt Hon Winston Peters had the opportunity to meet and spend some time with him. Only yesterday the Rt Hon Winston Peters wrote that it was one of the most valuable meetings he could ever have had. In closing as we acknowledge his passing Lee Kuan Yew’s given name in Mandarin means “light and brightness”. We would respectfully suggest that the world is a little bit less light and a little bit less bright for his passing. Kia ora.Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future): High on the walls of St Paul’s Cathedral is the inscription “If you seek his monument look around you”. It applies to Sir Christopher Wren but it could equally apply to Lee Kuan Yew because he was a man whose monument is modern Singapore—simple and straightforward.I recall meeting him at a dinner in Wellington some years ago where he described the Singapore story very simply very bluntly and very basically. He said: “At the end of the war we were a set of stinking rotten pieces of territory with no natural resources. We had been plundered by the enemy during the war. We had no future. We either gave up or we got stuck in and tried to do something. And we looked around our region and we saw two big fat countries Australia and New Zealand and we decided to emulate them. And that is what we have done over the last 50 years.”And then he finished the discussion by saying: “And you know what—there are still two big fat countries in our region” which was a challenge that I think he was making to Australia and to New Zealand about where we are in terms of social and economic progress. “We have come from nowhere to be an icon for many throughout the world. What have you done in your country?”. And I think that really summed up—when I read the biographies and saw the documentaries about Lee Kuan Yew—what was at his essence a fundamentally very simple and humble man who knew that you have to use your talents and your abilities to the best advantage in your country. And he did that in Singapore and he did that in a way that has made his country truly one for him—in his lifetime obviously—to be proud of for his successor to be proud of and one I think about which there are lessons that we can learn as well.So we mourn not just his passing we mourn his inspiration we mourn his leadership and we wish him obviously every respect and we wish his country well as it seeks to get used to life without its mentor-Minister its founding Prime Minister and its great leader.DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Abe Lincoln once said that “Nearly all men can stand adversity but if you would like to test a man’s character give him power.” Lee Kuan Yew was an extraordinary man who ruled in a constitutional arrangement that I suspect very few if any in this House would have a lot of patience or support for. And undoubtedly at times he did misuse and abuse his power at the cost of what we would regard as normal civil liberties.But all of that is only a preamble to paying tribute to what he did for Singapore a country that in the 1960s was a recipient of foreign aid from New Zealand and today has twice the GDP per capita that we do. It is a tribute not only to the great man Lee Kuan Yew but also to the approach he took to open markets free trade a flexible labour market and tolerable taxes that have allowed the people of Singapore who had no natural resources to speak of to become so prosperous. So on behalf of the ACT Party I would like to join with other leaders in paying tribute to a great man and in wishing all the best for the people of Singapore in this time of sorrow. Thank you.Motion agreed to.