Malcolm Fraser: In his own words

On November 11, 1953, Fraser gave his preselection speech in front of members of the Liberal and Country Party at Hamilton Temperance Hall.

Fresh out of Oxford University, he had decided to stand for the seat of Wannon in Western Victoria.

"I had hardly made a speech in my life," he wrote in his 2003 book Common Ground. "I was so nervous I wasn't even sure that I would be able to make one."

He won preselection, but lost at the 1954 election by 17 votes. He tried again a year later and was successful, entering Parliament at the age of 25.

"If you want to become a politician today, it is easy. You go to university — and this is for either party — you do a relevant course, economics or politics or something related to or assumed to [be] of some use in politics.

"Then you say 'Who do I know? That Liberal, that Labor, who is the most senior? Oh, he is the most senior. I'll see if I can get a job through him'. And that I think is about the level of conviction."

"People cannot move without a police pass. People of the wrong colour cannot live in certain areas. People of the wrong colour might be allowed to get a job in an area, but their wives and families have to stay 300 miles behind, in the hills.

"The honourable gentleman may know people who work in South Africa. An engineer, the son of some people with whom I am on friendly terms, does in fact work in South Africa, and the letters that are sent back describe, whether it be on the playing field or whatever, kinds of discrimination which Australians would certainly find abhorrent.

"It is not South Africa that is a bulwark against communism in Southern Africa. Rather, it presents an invitation to communism because the nature of the system that it has established invites communism to overthrow something that is repugnant to the whole human race."

"Socialism has reached a certain point and if it goes further or turns to bloody communism you will find it impossible to preserve those things for which the very words English and Australian stand.

"These years are a challenge. The parties of the right have too often relied upon a negative, an opposition to socialism, while neglecting to lay positive foundations for their own liberal philosophy. The only way to defeat socialism or more evil creeds is to lay these foundations. Liberalism should have more energy and vitality in they eyes of the people."

Read the handwritten drafts of the former prime minister's first political speech here.

"This reminds me of the bitterness, even hatred, between Catholics and Protestants generated by Prime Minister Billy Hughes during the First World War.

"His actions over the conscription debates in attacking the Catholic Church and the Irish were irresponsible and scarred Australia for over 50 years.

"Catholics were accused of being disloyal to the Empire, of opposing the war against Germany, both of which were untrue.

"There were far too many who believed the unfounded allegations that came from Hughes.

"Even in my lifetime I can recall people saying that Catholics are not true Australians because they owe their first loyalty to the Pope.

"That is not now said of Catholics but similar allegations are made against followers of Islam."

"Look at examples of people who come by boat. If you're in Afghanistan there's no Australian queue you can join because there is no Australian office you can approach. You could go over the border with the prospect of spending five or six or seven years in a [United Nations High Commission for Refugees] camp in Pakistan.

"If you had a couple of young kids and wanted them to be educated, that wasn't really much of an offer. If you could get together any resources at all, and I knew of one family that had a very small house ... [and] a small business, what is it all worth, not enough to get to Europe but enough to get on one of those wretched boats to Australia, is it worth risking our lives and the lives of our kids?

"You have to balance that with the risk of an upbringing for six or seven years in a UNHCR camp. So if you are a parent and wanted a decent future for your kids, which option are you going to take? I know which option I'd take."

"The protections that exist in our legal system are important. They need to be respected and protected.

"We need to understand that these protections didn't suddenly fall from the sky, from some human rights activist. They evolved through centuries and many died in their pursuit.

"The protections built into the common law were in opposition to the arbitrary use of executive power which had always been justified by governments as needed to protect the security of the state.

"Such powers had to be restrained because they destroyed the values and the order that they pretended to serve.

"Governments must of course do all that is reasonably possible to combat threats to the safety and security of Australia. There is an equal responsibility to protect the core values of our society and not to give the terrorist a partial victory by adopting tactics of the terrorist.

"The strength of a proper functioning democracy rests on our capacity to prevent the arbitrary exercise of repressive powers against any person."

"There are no quick fixes to Indigenous poverty and social disaster. Solutions will be found when the non-Indigenous people respect the insights of Indigenous people, and listen to them. Solutions will not be found while Indigenous people are treated as victims for whom someone else must find solutions. They will be active partners in any solution.

"Solutions will be found through cooperation between governments and the private and voluntary sectors. This will require a degree of humility and trust which has not always characterised relations between these sectors. Each has a particular contribution.

"Sometimes the solutions will require acknowledgement of past mistakes, and acceptance of insights for which none of our learning has prepared us."