Nationals icon Tim Fischer 'gravely ill'

Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer is gravely ill in a southern NSW hospital, The Australian reports.

Mr Fischer, 73, has been battling acute leukaemia and cancer generally for 10 years. He is currently being treated at the Albury Wodonga Cancer Centre.

In May, when he opened a museum dedicated to his life at his birthplace of Lockhart, near Wagga Wagga, he revealed he was hoping for a remission.

"Almost in remission, not quite. I am just uplifted by this nice gallery," he said at the time.

Mr Fischer, who first became an MP at the age of 24, was National leader from 1990 to 1999 and deputy prime minister in the Howard government from 1996 to 1999. He quit politics in 2001.