On the other hand,he says,"the market"is used to justify minimal wage increases for low earners,because they have to compete with workers in Shanghai."It's a funny sort of market,"Fraser muses."There's something very unreal and very unfair about all that."
Since he retired from the Reserve Bank,Fraser has satisfied his social justice and equity concerns through directorships at two large industry superannuation funds,C+BUS and Australian Super,as well as being on the board of Members Equity,the bank owned by the industry funds.
He rejected several lucrative private sector offers. Why?"Industry super is a good cause - an opportunity for ordinary working people to get a reasonable nest egg for their retirement."
Between board meetings,he runs cattle on his farm near Queanbeyan on the outskirts of Canberra,and breeds and trains a few thoroughbred racehorses. Most recently Fraser has written a foreword to a book about global corruption,A Game As Old As Empire,which contains a dozen essays on greed,tax evasion and foreign aid scams.
"Globalisation of markets and capital flows has facilitated a lot of corruption and a lot of tax avoidance,"says Fraser,adding that markets can help allocate resources but they function imperfectly."These things need to be disclosed and exposed."
His strong instincts for a fair go for everyone come from his upbringing in the southern NSW town of Junee,where his father was an unskilled worker and sometimes unemployed.
"In the home we were pretty poor,to be frank,"Fraser says."But my mother used to say,'There are always people worse off than us."'At high school in the early 1950s,many of Fraser's teachers were older ex-servicemen who wanted to make the world a better place after surviving World War II.
Fraser won a scholarship to New England University in Armidale,then studied at ANU. In 1961 he joined the Commonwealth public service,where he rose to be head of the Federal Treasury from 1984 to 1989,then Reserve Bank governor.
Despite lowering interest rates 15 times between January 1990 and June 1993,Fraser says he now thinks perhaps he should have dropped them even faster."There was lots of criticism by financial markets and the Opposition that it was more than was necessary,it would reignite inflation and all that sort of nonsense,"he recalls."I personally got a fair bit of criticism for doing[Prime Minister Paul] Keating's work."
A Game as Old as Empire:The Secret World of Economic Hitmen and the Web of Global Corruption,edited by Steven Hiatt,BPP,$24.95rrp.
THE BIG QUESTIONS
Biggest break I've regarded all my working life as being an interesting and productive venture. From day one I've worked hard but I've enjoyed going to work.
Biggest achievement I think that during my time the[Reserve] Bank became quite respected as a pragmatic institution that was concerned with economic growth and employment,as well as inflation. And,more generally,I've tried to take a balanced view and encourage others to consider all the ramifications of possible policy measures in terms of the less well off.
Biggest regret I've probably had lots of regrets but I'd really have to pass on that - other than not having been more persuasive in pushing the cause for the underprivileged.
Best investment I don't really make investments in that narrow sense. I enjoyed acquiring a university education but I never saw it as an investment.
Worst investment I've always regarded investments in racehorses as very high-risk,high-return. So far it's been my worst investment but the hope of the big return isn't yet extinguished.
Attitude to money It's nice not to have to worry too much about money,in the sense of having enough to get by.
Personal philosophy Try to give everybody a fair go,or at least the opportunity to have a fair go.