Wednesday, April 1, 2015

MALCOLM FRASER'S FISHY LIFE AND DEATH WISH


The  episode  in which  Prime  Minister Malcolm  Fraser was  found  not guilty  of  illegally  fishing in  the Northern Territory  was  previously run  in  this  blog . Recently  we  obtained the  nibbled  copy   of     Fur  &  Feather  Fly-Tying  for Trout ,  by Peter  Leuver ,with a  foreword  by Malcolm Fraser  . In  it  Fraser stated  his trout  fishing  career began in  the early 1950s  after  a    particularly rough week in parliament .  Tamie, he wrote, who at first brought a book to read when she accompanied him on fishing safaris ,  eventually  became  a   keen  fly  fisher  after a  trip to  Alaska . At  the  state  funeral for  Fraser ,   Peter  Nixon  spoke of their  long friendship and   fishing  trips , mentioned  in  the superb ABC series on the National Party .

In  the many comments  made  after the death of   Malcolm  Fraser , one was   a short letter to the editor  of The Australian   from  former Northern Territory  Chief Minister, Marshall Perron , now  residing in  Buderim , Queensland, pointing out that Fraser had joined more than 100 eminent people  as  a public ambassador  for dying  with dignity law  reform . Perron wrote that  Fraser, who had granted  the NT self government , would have been appalled  when PM John Howard and Kevin Andrews, the latter now Defence Minister, recently  the  subject of a dire , painful  threat  upon  his person  by the NT Legislative Assembly Speaker and experienced  python catcher ,  Kezia Purick ,   overturned  the Territory’s euthanasia legislation in  1997.  Perron hoped  Fraser’s  death  had  been  dignified.