A fearless reformer: Peter Reith (1950-2022)
The Menzies Research Centre pays tribute to a Liberal stalwart and determined reformer. By David Furse-Roberts.
This week Australia lost one of its most bold and fearless champions for economic reform with the passing of Peter Reith AM (1950-2022). Serving as a Cabinet Minister in the Howard Government, Reith was famous for spearheading that government’s keynote reforms to the Australian waterfront in the late 1990s to unleash the nation’s full export potential. A conviction politician to the core, Reith believed in pursuing polices that were in Australia’s best interests, even if they could be politically and electorally costly.
Peter Keaston Reith was born in Melbourne on 15 July 1950. He was educated at Brighton Grammar School and Monash University where he attained bachelor’s degrees in economics and law. Pursuing a career in law and local government, Reith practiced as a solicitor in Melbourne and then served as a Councillor of Philip Island from 1976 where he become Shire President in 1981.
A lifelong Liberal, Reith first joined the Party in 1966 in the same year that Menzies retired from the prime ministership. Active within the Party, he was successfully elected to the Federal Parliament in 1982 by winning the Victorian seat of Flinders in a by-election. As the new Member for Flinders, he succeeded his friend and mentor, Sir Philip Lynch, who had served as Treasurer in the Fraser Government from 1975 to 1977. Although Reith then lost Flinders in the 1983 election that had swept Bob Hawke to power, he regained it in the 1984 election.
Reith would hold Flinders until his retirement from politics in 2001. His successor in the seat, Greg Hunt, observed that Reith was ‘a real local member’ who was ‘very avuncular and laughed a lot’. According to Hunt, ‘Reith had a seriousness of intent and purpose, but he never took himself too seriously, and that was why he was widely liked by his colleagues’.
On the floor of parliament meanwhile, Reith rose quickly to the shadow cabinet where he famously declared that ‘I have a leadership baton in my knapsack’. His portfolios included Shadow Minister for Housing, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation, and then Shadow Attorney-General in 1988. After the 1990 election, he became Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party under John Hewson where he had responsibility for spruiking the Fightback package at the 1993 election.
With the election of the Howard Government in 1996, Reith was awarded the Ministry of Industrial Relations where he made his mark. His true mettle was tested in the acrimonious waterfront disputes of 1998 where he introduced ground-breaking reforms to maximise Australia’s export capacity.
Prior to these reforms, Australia’s ports had been notoriously deficient and this had stymied the nation’s export performance and economic growth. According to one operator, the ports of Melbourne were only 39.9 per cent as efficient as Antwerp and 66 per cent as efficient as Auckland.
To bring the Australian waterfront into line with international competitive standards, the suite of reforms that Reith introduced as Industrial Relations Minister included an end to compulsory unionism; giving operators power to manage their own enterprises and breaking the monopoly of the powerful waterfront union, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). Despite fierce resistance from unions, the reforms prevailed and their boost to Australia’s export capacity soon became apparent. Container movements per hour on the waterfront improved from 17.6 in 1998 to 27.5 by 2003. Praising the reform efforts led by his Minister, Prime Minister Howard observed that as a result of the reforms, ‘many of the old and odious work practices had been eliminated, productivity levels were markedly higher and waterfront remuneration more in line with community averages’.
According to his former cabinet colleague, Richard Alston, Reith’s ‘efforts in leading the reform of the waterfront mark him down as one of the best cabinet ministers of all time’. Alston admired Reith for his courage and perseverance to see through reforms, that though unpopular with the union movement, would be for the long-term good of the country in boosting Australia’s waterfront productivity.
As Industrial Relations Minister, Reith proved a policy innovator on a number of fronts with changes introduced to the structure of the Australian Public Service, a significant reform package for small business, and an enterprising, targeted programme for the employment of Indigenous Australians.
Following his stint in Industrial Relations, Reith served briefly as Minister for Defence before announcing his retirement from Parliament in early 2001. After politics, Reith pursued careers in international banking and business where he helped advise the then future British Prime Minister, David Cameron, on UK tax reform.
In addition, Reith made regular contributions to Australian journalism, writing weekly for The Sydney Morning Herald from 2014 and appearing on Sky News Australia for AM Agenda and The Cabinet.
Right up until his death this month, Peter Reith led a very full public life and the Australian people can be grateful for the singular contribution he made to a more productive and economically competitive nation able to punch above its weight.