Former Australian Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser has died, aged 84. Born in 1930 in the Victorian suburb of Toorak, Mr Fraser served as Australia's 22nd prime minister from November 1975 to March 1983. </p><p> He was first appointed caretaker prime minister on November 11, 1975, after Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed Gough Whitlam's Labor government. At the subsequent 1975 election, the Fraser government was returned with the largest landslide of any federal election. </p><p> Mr Fraser first became a member of the federal parliament in the Victorian seat of Wannon in 1955, at the age of just 25. </p><p> The following year, he married Tamara Beggs, eldest daughter of another prominent farming family whom he'd met at a woolshed dance. The couple have four children together. </p><p> Before becoming prime minister, Mr Fraser served as a backbencher in the Menzies government, was Minister for the Army under Harold Holt and also held ministerial positions under John Gorton and William McMahon. </p><p> Prime Minister Tony Abbott paid tribute to Mr Fraser, saying he restored economically responsible government while recognising social change. He pointed to his role in establishing the Australian Federal Police following the Hilton bombings and the commissioning of the 1981 Campbell Report, which would lay the foundations for eventual deregulation of the financial system, as two of his greatest achievements. </p><p> In his life after politics, Mr Fraser became estranged from the Liberal Party. He criticised John Howard's asylum-seeker and terrorism policies and advocated for a change of policy during Australia's involvement in the Iraq war. Upon Mr Abbott's ascension to the Liberal Party leadership in late 2009, Mr Fraser resigned from the Liberal Party commenting it was no longer a Liberal Party but a conservative party. </p><p> Former prime minister John Howard described Mr Fraser as a passionate nationalist. On Mr Fraser's famous "life wasn't meant to be easy" comment, Mr Howard said the former prime minister was trying to make the point that to be a successful country sometimes difficult decisions have to be made. </p><p> Former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard paid tribute to Mr Fraser in a statement, saying he was a leader in the fight for racial equality. "His brave stance against the evil of South Africa's apartheid helped change the world for the better," she said. Ms Gillard said Mr Fraser's loss, following the loss of Gough Whitlam last year, brought to a close " the chapter in our nation's history that included the controversy of the dismissal". </p><p> Former prime minister Paul Keating said it was a great loss, noting the constitutional crisis of 1975 had rewritten the rulebook of Australian public life. "He made peace with Gough Whitlam. I would like to think had he had his time over, he would have let the 1974 parliament run its course. "The great pity for him of the budget crisis of 1975 was that it de-legitimised his government, at its inception, and with it, much of the value he otherwise brought to public life." </p><p> Former prime minister Kevin Rudd said Mr Fraser would be remembered as a compassionate Australian. Mr Rudd said the passage of the Northern Territory Land Act in 1976 was an important step forward in the long-term process of building bipartisan political consensus on justice for Aboriginal Australians. </p><p> The Human Rights Act was another important legacy of the Fraser government. </p><p> Treasurer Joe Hockey said Mr Fraser contributed to building a better Australia. "These events just indicate how in one way or another we all stand on the shoulders of those that were before us," Mr Hockey said on Friday.