Turei Metiria: Obituaries — Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser AC CH GCL Hon Lee Kuan Yew GCMG CHText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTurei Metiria: Obituaries — Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser AC CH GCL Hon Lee Kuan Yew GCMG CH[Sitting date: 24 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2480. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]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.