Letter from Don Bradman to new PM Malcolm Fraser

15 December, 1975

Dear Mr Fraser,

Amidst the pile of congratulatory letters you will be receiving this may well be near the bottom, but it will be high in sincerity. A marvellous victory in which your personal conduct and dignity stood out against the background of arrogance and propaganda indulged in by your opponents. And if I may say so, the charm and bearing of your wife came through with great credit to you both.

Now you may have to travel a long and difficult road along which your enemies will seek to destroy you.

As a non-political person, but a passionate advocate of freedom from socialism (or worse) I do hope your Government will shun attention to trivial matters and concentrate on vital principles.

What the people need are clearly defined rules which they can read and understand so that they can get on with their affairs.

The Statutes Book is currently a nightmare for business, with the Trades Practises Act one of the worst in that even those administering the Act admit they don’t know what is and is not legal.

You have stated you will abolish the P.J.T. I hate it as much as you do and of course it ought to go, eventually. But you know Labor will rant and rave that you cannot have wage restraint if you don’t have control of prices.

Even though their argument is fallacious in that wages set by the Arbitration Court are the MINIMUMS one may pay, whereas prices set by the P.J.T. are the MAXIMUMS you may charge, the Union leaders are past masters at distorting the distinction.

The great enemy today is inflation which, if not brought under control and quickly, will ruin our economy and destroy private enterprise.

You cannot control inflation without controlling wage increases and of course people will object to controlled wages if prices go on rising. By some means or other a way must be found to preserve the purchasing power of money - today’s money, not tomorrow’s money - because otherwise savings, life assurance, superannuation and such like gradually become meaningless.

The way things are presented in the press is most important.

I am Chairman of Directors of a Company which had its years result portrayed in the press as a “bonanza”. I felt constrained to rebuke this description by pointing out that less than 7% on funds after all the work, risk, tribulations etc. was hardly a bonanza when Government Bonds would pay us 10% to do nothing.

The public must be re-educated to believe that private enterprise is entitled to rewards as long as it obeys fair and reasonable rules laid down by Government.

Maybe you can influence leaders of the press to a better understanding of this necessity of presentation.

I hope also your Government will be able to protect “freedom to work”. In society where men are compelled to lose employment unless they are unionists (which has happened recently in this State), where they are prevented from entering premises where they want to work by a handful of “pickets”, there is something radically wrong.

It will be wonderful if we can have three years of Government where you and your Ministers stand above petty squabbles and bickering, but instead concentrate on policies and principles.

Good luck and best wishes in the great and difficult task ahead.

Yours sincerely,

Don Bradman

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