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Connolly launches attack on Fraser
The senior Liberal backbencher be
hind the federal MPs' petition on the
sale of the Fairfax group of news
papers has launched a bitter attack on
former Liberal Prime Minister Mal
colm Fraser.
Yesterday David Connolly said Mr
Fraser's claim that MPs were too
frightened to criticise the Conrad
Black-Kerry Packer Tourang bid for
Fairfax was absurd.
On Monday, Mr Connolly and
ALP backbencher John Langmore
handed the Prime Minister, Bob
Hawke, a petition signed by 137 of the
225 federal MPs opposing any sale of
Fairfax that would further concen
trate media ownership in Australia.
Mr Fraser told a National Press
Gub luncheon yesterday the petition
was not enough and that MPs should
use their majority to pass a resolution
or private Member's Bill opposing the
Tourang bid for Fairfax.
Mr Fraser said Australians should
be frightened because their MPs were
too scared to use their parliamentary
privilege to speak up.
Both f)e and former arch-rival and
ex-Labor Prime Minister Gough
Whitlam have joined forces to public
ly oppose the Tourang bid.
Mr Connolly said both Mr Frascr
and Mr Whitlam, whom he described
as "superannuated populist ex-poli
ticians", had to take responsibility for
a decade of policy failure.
"They can hardly expcct their at
tacks on the performance of current
Members of Parliament to go unan
swered, especially when they call for
Parliament to exert its independence
from the executive," he said.
He also rejected Mr Fraser's criti
cism that the leader of the Opposi
tion, John Hewson, and his party had
failed to campaign on the issue.
Mr Fraser's allegation that Parlia
ment had been "sitting on its hands"
over the issue was absurd because
Parliament rose for a two-week recess
on October 17, two days after the
close of bids for Fairfax, he said.
Fairfax debate 'ignores
creditors' — Page 11
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