Peacock attack fails

Press, 30 April 1981, Page 8

Peacock attack fails

NZPA. Canberra The Australian Prime Minister (Mr Malcolm Fraser) is generally considered to have weathered well a stormy attack from his former Industrial Relations Minister, Andrew Peacock, in the Federal Parliament on Wednesday.

Before a packed press and public gallery and with tens of thousands of people estimated to be listening on radio Mr Peacock launched his attack on the national leader.

In some of the main points Mr Peacock accused Mr Fraser of centralising power around himself. He further said that Mr Fraser had broken a series of promises involving the derecognition of the Pol Pot regime in Kampuchea.

In another statement not likely to win him support for any future moves to become Prime Minister Mr Peacock implied that Mr Fraser was influenced more by NationalCountry Party Ministers than members of his own party. Mr Eraser rejected most of his former Minister’s claims and said that Mr Peacock had never confided his concern to him or his Cabinet colleagues.

The Prime Minister’s ace card turned out to be the Primary Industry Minister (Mr Peter Nixon) who had acted as an intermediary in the Peacock-Fraser row.

Mr Nixon repudiated many of Mr Peacock’s assertions and tipped the balance in some deadlocked arguments.

In one of the most damaging parts of his speech Mr Nixon said that Mr Peacock had apparently changed reasons for his resignation from those given on the day April 15 to those given to Parliament on Wednesday. He also methodically contradicted Mr Peacock’s case, which had taken a fortnight to prepare. Mr Fraser was then easily able to defeat a no-confi-dence motion in his leadership by the Opposition.