The Liberal party has paid tribute to its “great warrior” Peter Reith who will be remembered for his “fearlessness” in the face of staunch opponents such as the unions.

Mr Reith died “peacefully” on Tuesday afternoon, age 72, after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

He was a Liberal minister at the heart of two of the most controversial events of the Howard era – the battle for the waterfront and children overboard scandal.

One of former Prime Minister John Howard’s hard men, he thrived on the heat of battle and harboured leadership ambitions which were never fulfilled, though he did become deputy Liberal leader in opposition.

Mr Howard said Mr Reith was a “great warrior for the Liberal cause” and paid tribute to his “dear friend”.

“The Liberal Party has lost a tireless champion of what it believes in,” Mr Howard said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said Mr Reith would be most remembered for his “fearlessness in the face of extreme union intimidation” on the waterfront.

“He was an architect of pivotal workplace reform which put the interests of employers and employees first,” Mr Dutton said.

Peter Reith was one of John Howard’s ‘hard men’. Photo: AAP

Leadership ambition

Over 17 years in parliament Mr Reith held a variety of portfolios and served under five leaders — Malcolm Fraser, Andrew Peacock, John Hewson, Alexander Downer and John Howard.

He came to particular notice when his aggressive campaigning destroyed the government-backed constitutional referendum in 1988.

After Andrew Peacock lost the 1990 election Mr Reith stood for the leadership, but was heavily beaten by John Hewson.

He became deputy Liberal leader and shadow treasurer, which meant he did a lot of the detailed work on Hewson’s ultimately doomed Fightback!

This was as high as he got in the party structure. But he held two major portfolios, Workplace Relations and Defence, after Howard finally led the Liberals back to government in 1996.

Waterfront battle

Mr Reith had already overseen major changes to industrial law, after proving an able negotiator with the Australian Democrats in the Senate, when he backed Patrick Corporation’s 1998 challenge to the powerful Maritime Union of Australia.

It involved a secret attempt to train a scab labor force in Dubai, lock-outs and pickets, heavies in balaclavas with snarling dogs, dubious financial manoeuvres and legal challenges all the way to the High Court.

In the end Patrick and the government won major changes to work practices that made Australian stevedoring much more competitive internationally, but failed to break the MUA’s stranglehold on waterfront coverage.

Fired waterfront workers and other union supporters march on Sydney’s Darling Harbour docks in 1988. Photo: AAP

Mr Howard said in his memoirs that Mr Reith deserved immense praise.

“Peter Reith was subjected to enormous pressure,” Howard said.

“He never lost his cool. He endured constant ridicule and criticism from many sections of the press. He and his family received threats of physical violence and needed a very strong AFP protection detail for months.

“He maintained his sense of direction even when there were setbacks…Some of his senior colleagues went a little quiet when the going got tough.”

Children overboard

In 2000 Mr Reith was investigated over the use of his phone card, which had incurred charges totalling $50,000. He admitted about $1000 worth of calls were because one of his sons had access to the phone’s PIN.

Mr Reith, as Defence Minister, was heavily involved in the Children Overboard issue, which was widely seen as a cynical government ploy to demonise asylum seekers on the eve of the 2001 election.

Mr Reith, with Mr Howard and Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock, set off a furore by saying – on navy advice – that children had been thrown off a leaky boat, apparently to force HMAS Adelaide to take them on board.

It wasn’t true, as some in the navy quickly realised and reported. But the government, and particularly Reith, made no attempt to correct the record until after the election a month later.

A furious political argument followed over who said what to whom and when.

Mr Reith retired from politics at the 2001 election.

Peter Reith as Employment Minister in 2000. Photo: AAP

Between 2003 and 2009 he held one of the great sinecures, a London-based director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In a later article he described the bank as an unaccountable gravy train.

After his return to Australia Reith threw himself back into politics as a commentator and lobbyist.

He lost by one vote a challenge to Liberal federal president Alan Stockdale in 2010, with then Liberal leader Tony Abbott publicly voting for the incumbent.

In 2017 he challenged Victorian state president Michael Kroger, but had to pull out of the race after suffering a mild stroke.

-with AAP