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Peter Reith

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

Reith was born in Melbourne and graduated in law and economics from Melbourne University. He practised as a solicitor in Frankston, a southern suburb of Melbourne, and 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 before he could be sworn in. 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, including Shadow Attorney-General in 1988 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.

Following the election of the Howard Government in 1996, Reith became Minister for Industrial 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.

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, which dogged the government from 2001 to 2004. As Minister for Defence, he was provided Howard with what was later shown to be incorrect information about the "childen overboard" during the 2001 election campaign. He has been widely accused of lying about this matter to the press and during the election campaign.

In 2001 Reith unexpectedly annouced his resignation 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.

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.

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