and new enterprise agreements being negotiated in accordance with the court's directions. Reith also introduced and implemented reforms to the Commonwealth public service, a significant package of reforms for small business, and an innovative employment programme for indigenous Australians. In 1994 when in Opposition, Reith supported the idea of citizen-initiated referendums but found no support with his Coalition colleagues with National Party leader Tim Fischer describing it as a "law-making cancer." During the campaign for the Australian republic referendum in 1999, Reith advocated for Australia becoming a republic, and favoured the idea of the president being directly elected. In 2000, Reith was embroiled in an investigation over the use of his phone card, which had incurred charges totalling A$50,000. He admitted that about $1,000 of phone calls were the result of his son's access to the PIN associated with the card. Prior to the phone card scandal, Reith had been discussed as a possible successor to Howard. Howard transferred Reith to the Defence portfolio in 2000. The following year, Reith announced his impending retirement, and did not contest the 2001 election. Late in the election campaign he became embroiled in the "Children Overboard affair", in which the government made claims that asylum seekers had thrown children overboard in a ploy to secure passage to Australia, and failed to correct the record when advised there was no evidence for the claims. Reith defended his actions, and made public statements about the matter in the documentary series The Howard Years, which screened in Australia in November and December 2008, in Leaky Boat in July 2011, and in the 2012 Logie Award-winning documentary Go Back to Where You Came From. Reith was succeeded as MP for Flinders by fellow Liberal Greg Hunt, and as Minister for Defence by Senator Robert Hill. After leaving parliament After leaving parliament, Reith had a number of part-time interests, including advising a Sydney government relations firm, Tenix, a major defence supplier and others. From 2003 to 2009 he was an executive director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (based in London); in this capacity he represented Australia, the Republic of Korea, Egypt and New Zealand. While in London, Reith was also a member of an independent commission that reported to the Cameron Opposition on UK tax reform. During 2011, after writing a report for the Liberal Party on the 2010 election, Reith challenged Alan Stockdale (who