Peter Reith

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Peter Reith
Image:Peterreith.jpg
48th Australian Defence Minister
In office 2000 – 2001
Preceded by	John Moore
Succeeded by	Robert Hill
Born	15 July 1950 Melbourne, Victoria
Constituency	Flinders
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia

Peter Keaston Reith, (born 15 July 1950), Australian former politician, was a senior Cabinet minister in the first two terms of the Howard government.

Contents 1 Education and early career 2 Political life 3 After politics 4 References

[edit] Education and early career

Reith was born in Melbourne and educated at Brighton Grammar School and Monash University where he graduated with degrees in law and economics. He practised as a solicitor in Cowes, a small town on Phillip Island, south east of Melbourne.

[edit] Political life

Reith joined the Liberal Party. He was elected to the Australian House of Representatives to represent the seat of Flinders in a by-election in December, 1982, but lost his seat at the General Election in March, 1983 without having been sworn in, despite an opportunity to do so. At that time, he had one of the shortest political careers in Australian federal parliamentary history. However, he was elected again in December, 1984 and remained Member for Flinders until his retirement in 2001.

Reith was a shadow minister in various portfolios from 1987 until 1996 (except for a few months in 1993), including Shadow Attorney-General in 1988 (when he led the successful "no" campaign at the 1988 referendum) and Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Treasurer from 1990 to 1993. Along with John Hewson, he was one of the principal architects of the Liberal Party's "Fightback" policy, including the Goods and Services Tax. He resigned as shadow Treasurer after the loss of the 1993 election as well as losing the Deputy Leadership in the post-election ballot.

Following the election of the Howard Government in 1996, Reith became Minister for Workplace Relations, and was responsible for implementing the government's industrial relations policy, although he was frustrated in this by the government's lack of a majority in the Senate. His handling of the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute, in which he openly supported Patrick Corporation in its effort to defeat the Maritime Union of Australia, led to a great deal of criticism.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000 Howard shifted Reith to the Defence portfolio. He was criticised in 2000 for letting his family and their friends use a telephone account which was provided to him for Government business.

Reith featured prominently in the "children overboard" affair. As Minister for Defence, he provided Howard with what was later shown to be incorrect information about the "children overboard" during the 2001 election campaign. He has been widely accused of lying about this matter to the press and during the election campaign.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] After politics

In 2001 Reith unexpectedly announced his retirement from politics. He did not contest the 2001 election and was succeeded as Liberal MP for Flinders by Greg Hunt and as Minister of Defence by Senator Robert Hill. Somewhat controversially^[1], Reith took up employment with Tenix, a major Australian Defence contractor shortly after leaving politics. On 27 February, 2002, Prime Minister John Howard issued a press release denying media reports that of links between a decision to supply five police runabout boats to Indonesia and any discussions with Reith on behalf of Tenix.^[2]

In 2003 Reith accepted an appointment as an executive director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development based in London representing Australia, the Republic of Korea, Egypt and New Zealand.

[edit] References

1. ^ ABC News Online, Tenix defends Reith appointment, access date 30 January, 2007
2. ^ PM Howard Press Release, 17 February, 2002, access date 30 January, 2007

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Phillip Lynch	Member for Flinders 1982 – 1983	Succeeded by Robert Chynoweth
Preceded by Robert Chynoweth	Member for Flinders 1984 – 2001	Succeeded by Greg Hunt
Preceded by Laurie Brereton	Minister for Industrial Relations later Minister for Workplace Relations and Small Business 1996 – 2000	Succeeded by Tony Abbott
Preceded by John Moore	Minister for Defence 2001	Succeeded by Robert Hill

Persondata
NAME	Reith, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Reith, Peter Keaston (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH	15 July 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH