Peter Reith | |
|---|---|
 Reith in 2001 | |
| Minister for Defence | |
| In office 30 January 2001 – 26 November 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | John Howard |
| Preceded by | John Moore |
| Succeeded by | Robert Hill |
| Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations | |
| In office 21 October 1998 – 30 January 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | John Howard |
| Preceded by | David Kemp |
| Succeeded by | Tony Abbott |
| Minister for Small Business | |
| In office 18 July 1997 – 30 January 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | John Howard |
| Preceded by | Geoff Prosser |
| Succeeded by | Ian Macfarlane |
| Leader of the House | |
| In office 11 March 1996 – 8 October 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | John Howard |
| Preceded by | Kim Beazley |
| Succeeded by | Tony Abbott |
| Minister for Industrial Relations | |
| In office 11 March 1996 – 18 July 1997 | |
| Prime Minister | John Howard |
| Preceded by | Laurie Brereton |
| Succeeded by | Himself (Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) |
| Manager of Opposition Business | |
| In office 31 January 1995 – 11 March 1996 | |
| Leader | John Howard |
| Preceded by | John Howard |
| Succeeded by | Simon Crean |
| Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party Deputy Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 3 April 1990 – 13 March 1993 | |
| Leader | John Hewson |
| Preceded by | Fred Chaney |
| Succeeded by | Michael Wooldridge |
| Member of theAustralian Parliament forFlinders | |
| In office 1 December 1984 – 8 October 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Bob Chynoweth |
| Succeeded by | Greg Hunt |
| In office 4 December 1982 – 5 March 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Phillip Lynch |
| Succeeded by | Bob Chynoweth |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Peter Keaston Reith (1950-07-15)15 July 1950 Melbourne,Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 8 November 2022(2022-11-08) (aged 72) Melbourne, Australia |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Alma mater | Monash University |
| Profession | Lawyer Politician |
Peter Keaston ReithAM (15 July 1950 – 8 November 2022) was an Australian politician who served in theHouse of Representatives from 1982 to 1983 and from 1984 to 2001, representing theLiberal Party. He was the party's deputy leader from 1990 to 1993, and served as a minister in theHoward government.
Reith was born inMelbourne and studied law atMonash University. He settled inCowes, Victoria, and served on thePhillip Island Shire Council from 1976 to 1981 (including as shire president for a period). Reith was elected to parliament at the1982 Flinders by-election. He lost his seat at the1983 federal election, but won it backthe following year. In 1990, Reith was elected deputy leader of the Liberal Party underJohn Hewson. He was replaced byMichael Wooldridge after the1993 election. In the Howard government, Reith served asMinister for Industrial Relations (1996–1997),Minister for Small Business (1997–2001),Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations (1998–2001), and finallyMinister for Defence from January 2001 until his retirement at the2001 election. After leaving politics he worked as a company director and political commentator.
Peter Keaston Reith was born inMelbourne on 15 July 1950.[1] He was educated atBrighton Grammar School and atMonash University, from which he obtained bachelor's degrees in economics and law. He then practised as a solicitor first in Melbourne and then atCowes, a small town onPhillip Island. First elected as a Councillor of theShire of Phillip Island from 1976, he was Shire President in his last year on the Council in 1981.
While living on Phillip Island, Reith was behind the establishment ofNewhaven College, an independent school on Phillip Island. He was also the key proponent for the establishment of the penguin research facility.[citation needed]
Reith joined theLiberal Party in 1966. Representing that party, he entered the House of Representatives in December 1982 by winning aby-election for the seat of Flinders,[2] caused by the resignation of former Deputy Liberal Leader SirPhillip Lynch.
Reith lost the seat only three months later at theMarch 1983 general election. He regained the seat at theDecember 1984 election, which saw a substantial swing towards the Liberals (though not enough to win them government), and he continued to hold the seat for the next 17 years.[2]
Except for a few months in 1993, Reith was ashadow minister from 1987 until 1996. His posts included Shadow Minister for Housing, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation, and then ShadowAttorney-General in 1988.[2] In the latter capacity, he led the successful "no" campaign at the1988 constitutional referendum.
He was also Shadow Minister for Defence and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs.[2] After the defeat of the Liberal Party led byAndrew Peacock at the1990 federal election, and Peacock's subsequent resignation from the leadership, Reith sought the leadership himself, but was defeated byJohn Hewson, who won by 62 votes to 13.[3]
Following Hewson's victory Reith was then elected deputy opposition leader and appointed ShadowTreasurer, a position he held from 1990 to 1993. Along with Hewson, Reith was one of the architects of the Liberal Party's "Fightback!" policy, which included aGoods and Services Tax.
In 1991, he was technically[clarification needed] shadow to five Treasurers. This came as a result of the ruling Labor Party having a leadership crisis that year.[citation needed]
Reith was Shadow Treasurer when the 1990, 1991 and 1992 Budgets were delivered and each by a different Treasurer.[citation needed]
He resigned as Shadow Treasurer after the Liberals were defeated in the1993 election. He lost the deputy Liberal leadership in the post-election ballot, and was replaced byMichael Wooldridge.
Despite the fact that Reith was the incumbent deputy leader, he had five challengers to his position, including Wooldridge, and Reith did not win enough votes to make it to the final ballot. Following the landslide victory ofJohn Howard at the1996 election, Reith was appointedMinister for Industrial Relations, andLeader of the House. He was one of the best-known and most influential members of Howard's cabinet. His responsibilities involved drafting and implementing the government's industrial relations policy, and he is perhaps best known for the significant productivity reforms which followed the1998 Australian waterfront dispute. Reith's handling of the dispute, which included the failed attempt to use Australian Armed forces personnel, trained in Dubai to take over waterfront jobs and later the use of balaclava clad hired security guards with dogs, to remove working waterside workers from the work site. He strongly supportedPatrick Corporation in its contest with theMaritime Union of Australia, which led to bitter opposition from the unions[4] and theAustralian Labor Party (ALP).[5] The dispute was eventually settled in the courts with the decision going in the unions' favour and new enterprise agreements being negotiated in accordance with the court's directions.
Reith also introduced and implemented reforms to theCommonwealth public service, a significant package of reforms for small business, and an innovative employment programme for indigenous Australians.[citation needed]
In 1994 when in Opposition, Reith supported the idea ofcitizen-initiated referendums but found no support with his Coalition colleagues with National Party leader Tim Fischer describing it as a "law-making cancer".[6]
During the campaign for theAustralian republic referendum in 1999, Reith advocated for Australia becoming a republic, and favoured the idea of the president being directly elected.[citation needed]
In 2000, Reith was embroiled in an investigation over the use of his phone card, which had incurred charges totallingA$50,000. He admitted that about $1,000 of phone calls were the result of his son's access to thePIN associated with the card.[7] Prior to the phone card scandal, Reith had been discussed as a possible successor to Howard.[8]
Howard transferred Reith to theDefence portfolio in 2000. The following year, Reith announced his impending retirement, and did not contest the2001 election. Late in the election campaign he became embroiled in the "Children Overboard affair", in which the government made claims that asylum seekers had thrown children overboard in a ploy to secure passage to Australia, and failed to correct the record when advised there was no evidence for the claims. Reith defended his actions, and made public statements about the matter in the documentary seriesThe Howard Years, which screened in Australia in November and December 2008, inLeaky Boat in July 2011, and in the 2012Logie Award-winning documentaryGo Back to Where You Came From. Reith was succeeded as MP for Flinders by fellow LiberalGreg Hunt, and as Minister for Defence by SenatorRobert Hill.
After leaving parliament, Reith had a number of part-time interests, including advising a Sydney government relations firm,Tenix, a major defence supplier and others. From 2003 to 2009 he was an executive director of theEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development (based in London); in this capacity he represented Australia, the Republic of Korea, Egypt and New Zealand. While in London, Reith was also a member of an independent commission that reported to the Cameron Opposition on UK tax reform.[citation needed]
During 2011, after writing a report for the Liberal Party on the 2010 election, Reith challengedAlan Stockdale (who in the 1990s had been State Treasurer of Victoria) for the presidency of the Liberal Party. In that contest, Reith lost to Stockdale by just one vote: 56 to 57. Liberal leaderTony Abbott effectively made his vote for Stockdale public, when he was recorded on camera showing his vote to Stockdale. In 2013 Reith was Chairman of the Victorian Gas Market Review which concluded with the presentation of his report to the Napthine Government.
From 2014 Reith has been writing weekly forThe Sydney Morning Herald and was a political commentator forSky News Australia, appearing regularly onAM Agenda andThe Cabinet.[9] Reith began co-hosting a temporary format withPeter Beattie in April 2016 as a replacement forRicho while that program's hostGraham Richardson was on leave to have major surgery.[10]
In April 2016, Reith registered as a political lobbyist inSouth Australia. He represented two clients in that jurisdiction:Bechtel Infrastructure Australia (Pty Ltd) and G4S Custodial Services Pty Ltd.[11]
In March 2017, Reith was hospitalised after suspected bleeding on the brain and was unable to go through with his challenge toMichael Kroger for the Liberal party presidency.[12] State Opposition LeaderMatthew Guy had supported Reith challenging Kroger as he (along with many Liberal MPs) believed that branch stacking by power brokerMarcus Bastiaan had gone ahead unchecked.[13]
In 2015, Peter married Kerrie Reith in a small and intimate ceremony surrounded by close friends and family. The two married at The Royal Brighton Yacht Club.
Reith died from complications from Alzheimer's disease on 8 November 2022, at the age of 72 in Melbourne.[14]
| Parliament of Australia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member for Flinders 1982–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member for Flinders 1984–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Industrial Relations 1996–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations andSmall Business 1997–2001 | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Defence 2001 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1990–1993 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
