Peter Reith was well known for his civic duty on Phillip Island, long before he became a minister in the Howard Government, most notably as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations (1998–2001), and Minister for Defence from January 2001 until his retirement at the 2001 election. 

Peter’s grandfather AKT Sambell was the first president of the newly formed Phillip Island Shire in 1928. Peter himself was a Cowes solicitor and councillor from about 1976 to 1981.

One of his biggest achievements was his role in starting Newhaven College.

“I arrived on the island in 1975 and thought it would be a good idea to have a school, but the issue was how do you go about starting one,” Peter recalled at a Newhaven College reunion last year.

The first piece of infrastructure was a shed from Mornington, Peter said.

“The day we announced school had started, the thing I remember was that we were broke, we were short of money, we were short of everything.

“The school would never have got to where it is if it weren’t for the community, the people here, making the school.”

More recently – although living in Melbourne - he has been involved in the Stand Alone campaign, to separate Phillip Island from the Bass Coast Shire.

“I believe you need local people making decisions on local issues because they are the ones who have the commitment to the future development of the island, its services and people. Local people in charge of their own destiny,” Peter told the Advertiser in 2016.

“Phillip Island has been held back, partly because the sense of community has been ripped apart by governance arrangements and because, from a financial point of view, money raised on the island through rates is siphoned off to Wonthaggi, thereby reducing the capacity for continual upgrades for facilities.

“Maintaining funds on the island is critical.”
Peter is recovering from a stroke he suffered last year.