Economics Australia had entered recession and faced high inflation under the later period of the Whitlam government. Fraser maintained that reducing inflation should take priority over reducing unemployment and believed that the economy would benefit from a transfer of resources from the public sector to the private sector. In its early years, the Fraser government sought to address the economic situation by providing businesses with an investment allowance and reduced taxation on mining and on private companies, while it cut expenditure on a range of government services, public service salaries and the arts. The Fraser government sought to reduce expenditure and streamline the public service, but a significant program of economic reform was not pursued. By 1983, the
Australian economy was in recession, amidst the effects of a severe drought. In 1981, following the
Australian meat substitution scandal, the government was criticised for its failure to uncover misconduct earlier. The government subsequently announced a
royal commission into the meat industry.
Social policy The Fraser government maintained many of the social reforms of the Whitlam era, but sought to introduce increased fiscal restraint. It passed the Human Rights Commission Act 1981, which established the
Australian Human Rights Commission and gave effect to five international human rights instruments. This government also established the position of Commonwealth Ombudsman in 1977 and introduced Australia's first
freedom of information law. established the
Aboriginal Development Commission (ADC) as a
statutory authority in July 1980, under the
Department for Aboriginal Affairs and minister
Fred Chaney. The ADC was created in order to rationalise the operations of the Aboriginal Land Fund Commission and the Aboriginal Loan Commission, two bodies concerned with assets acquisition, in order to help create commercial enterprises which could earn income for Aboriginal people. ADC was superseded by the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) in March 1990.
Hawke government minister
Gerry Hand proposed merging the functions of the ADC into the newly created ATSIC, by establishing a new body, the Aboriginal Economic Development Corporation (AECD). Between 1975 and 1990, more than 30,000 civil war refugees arrived in Australia. Most immigrants were Muslim Lebanese from deprived rural areas who learned of Australia's Lebanon Concession and decided to seek a better life. They were
Sunnis from northern Lebanon and
Shias from southern Lebanon as Christian and Muslim Lebanese were unwilling to leave the capital city,
Beirut. Immigrants of the Lebanese Concession primarily settled in south-west Sydney; Sunnis in
Lakemba and Shias in
Arncliffe.
Health and welfare Under the Fraser government, both expansions and restrictions in social services were carried out. New forms of cash support for families were introduced, including the Family Allowance in 1976 and the Family Income Supplement in 1982. Indexation for unemployment benefits was also introduced, while a big expansion in the provision of scholarships for secondary school and university students took place, A Mortgage and Rent Relief Scheme was introduced that helped private tenants in need. Settlement services for migrants were expanded, and multicultural resource centres were set up (as noted by one study) “to enable ethnic communities and voluntary agencies to cater to the welfare needs of migrants.” Greater levels of support were provided to facilities for homeless, aged and handicapped persons, while various support schemes for young unemployed persons were launched. The coverage of two existing benefits, the Supporting Mother’s Benefit and Handicapped Children’s Allowance, was extended to more people, pension rates were tied to the Consumer Price Index, and financial responsibility for sole parents in the first 6 months of eligibility was introduced. On the restrictive side, big reductions in public housing expenditure were carried out while cuts in unemployment benefits were made, such as the abolition of indexation for those over the age of 18, and restrictions on eligibility for these benefits were carried out. A crackdown on invalidity pension eligibility criteria was also made, while labour market programmes were cut. In addition, the real value of benefits for various groups fell, while the Maternity Allowance (a benefit that had been around since 1912) was brought to an end. The Medibank healthcare system set up under the previous Whitlam government was also ended. Taxation of social security pensions and benefits was also introduced while tuition fees for second and higher degrees were reintroduced, and cuts were made in subsidies for aged persons homes, child care services, grants for senior citizens centres, and spending on sickness and unemployment benefits and on legal aid.
Government processes The
Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was established by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 and commenced operations on 1 July 1976. The Fraser government passed the
Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Territories The Fraser government passed the
Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978, which granted self-government to the
Northern Territory, and the
Norfolk Island Act 1979, which granted self-government to
Norfolk Island. In 1978, the government also purchased the
Clunies-Ross family's holdings on the
Cocos (Keeling) Islands, bringing an end to the family's rule of the territory as a private fiefdom.
Foreign policy and U.S. President
Jimmy Carter (1977). Fraser travelled widely as Prime Minister.
Andrew Peacock and
Tony Street each was his Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Fraser government was in office during a period of change for the
Commonwealth of Nations. Fraser vocally opposed minority white rule in
Apartheid South Africa and
Rhodesia. At the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 1977 in Scotland, Fraser urged for widespread condemnation of the
apartheid system in South Africa and called for support for African countries. The meeting concluded The
Gleneagles Agreement against apartheid in sport, which isolated South Africa. At the 1979 CHOGM in Zambia, Fraser was influential in establishing progress towards independence for Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), which led to a Commonwealth-monitored ceasefire and election resulting in the election of
Robert Mugabe and independence for the former British Colony. at the
White House in 1982. In the Asia Pacific, Fraser sought to improve trade relations and oppose Communism. As a one time Army Minister and later Minister for Defence during the
Vietnam War, Fraser was firmly anti-Communist. As Prime Minister he opposed Soviet expansionism but courted good relations with the People's Republic of China, which was then emerging from the era of chairman
Mao Zedong. ==Final years==