Simon Crean
Encyclopedia
Simon Findlay Crean is an Australian politician, and the current Minister for the Arts and Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government in the Australian Federal Government. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party
and Leader of the Opposition at the Federal level, from November 2001 to 2 December 2003. He is the member for the Division of Hotham
.
, a federal Labor MP from 1951 to 1977, who was at separate times Treasurer, Trade Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister in the Gough Whitlam
government, and the brother of Dr David Crean
, a former Labor member of the Parliament of Tasmania
. He was educated at Middle Park Central School, Melbourne High School and Monash University. Following his graduation from Monash University
with degrees in economics and law, Simon Crean worked in a number of trade unions before becoming an official with the Storeman and Packers Union, of which he became General Secretary in 1979.
In 1977, his father, Frank Crean, retired from Federal politics and made the seat of Melbourne Ports
vacant for a successor. The ALP preselection was between Simon Crean and Clyde Holding
, with Holding winning.
In 1981 Crean became Vice-President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions
(ACTU), and in 1985 he was elected the organisation's President. In this role he played a key role in negotiating agreements on wages and other industrial issues with the Labor government of Bob Hawke
. In 1990 he left the ACTU to go into politics.
At the 1990 election, Crean was elected to the seat of Hotham
in the Australian House of Representatives
, and immediately entered the Hawke ministry as Minister for Science and Technology
. He became Minister for Primary Industries and Energy
in 1991 and Minister for Employment, Education and Training
in 1993.Following the Labor Party's 1996 election defeat, Crean contested the deputy leadership of the party but was defeated by Gareth Evans
, 42 votes to 37. He was an Opposition front-bencher until Labor's defeat at the 1998 election. He was then elected Deputy Leader of the Opposition and became shadow Treasurer in succession to Evans.
.
On 4 February 2003, Crean led the Labor Party in condemning Prime Minister John Howard
's decision to commit Australian troops to the Iraq War.
Through most of 2003, consistently poor polling led to constant speculation of a leadership challenge by Beazley, though a reasonably successful Budget reply speech and the controversy over Peter Hollingworth
gave Crean a small boost in popularity. Nevertheless, to end the constant rumblings over a challenge, Crean called for a leadership spill. Polls continued to suggest that the public much preferred Beazley to Crean; nevertheless, when the vote was taken on 16 June 2003, Crean won by 58 votes to 34.
By November, however, polls continued to show Crean losing more ground to Howard as preferred Prime Minister. On 27 November 2003 a group of his senior colleagues told Crean that he had lost the party's support and should resign. Crean said he would "sleep on it". On 28 November 2003, Crean announced that he would resign as Leader of the Labor Party, becoming the first federal Labor leader to be replaced without having contested an election since the expulsion of Billy Hughes in 1916.
, announced that they would contest the Labor leadership. At the meeting of Labor MPs on 2 December, Latham defeated Beazley by 47 votes to 45.
Latham then appointed Crean as the Opposition's shadow Treasurer, which gave him a continued prominent role in Australian politics. However, in the aftermath of Labor's defeat in the 2004 election, many in the Labor Party felt that Crean's performance in the campaign was poor and that he was partly responsible for Labor's defeat: as a result, Crean resigned from his Shadow Treasurer position. At Latham's insistence he was re-elected to the Opposition front bench and became Shadow Minister for Trade.
Crean retained this position when Beazley returned to the leadership in January 2005. In the June 2005 reshuffle, however, Crean was demoted to Shadow Minister for Regional Development. He faced a preselection challenge for his seat from Martin Pakula
, a member of his former union, a move which he blamed on Kim Beazley, Hong Lim
, and the Labor Right
. Beazley refused to publicly support either candidate, but several front-benchers including Julia Gillard
supported Crean. Crean won preselection after an unexpectedly strong win, recording around 70% of the votes in the first stage of voting, which led to his opponent's withdrawal. Since his victory Crean has singled out Senator Stephen Conroy
for his part in the preselection challenge, describing his front-bench colleague as "venal" and "one of the most disloyal people I've ever worked with in my life".
Following the defeat of Kim Beazley and election of Kevin Rudd as Federal Labor leader in December 2006, Crean was reappointed as Shadow Trade Minister and also retained responsibility for regional development. In 2007 after Labor's election victory, Crean was appointed Minister for Trade
in Kevin Rudd's ministry.
Following Julia Gillard
's ascension as Prime Minister in June 2010, Crean was appointed Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and also Social Inclusion, with the Trade portfolio moving to Stephen Smith
. He is the only person to have been a Cabinet minister under Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard. In over two decades as an MP, Crean has not spent a single day on the backbench. After the 2010 federal election, Crean was made both Minister for the Arts and Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government.
in Hanoi
. The meeting aimed to discuss key sectors in the bilateral relationship including education and training, infrastructure and environmental management, financial services and agribusiness. "As we progress toward implementation of the ASEAN-Australia New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, I look forward to discussing its practical contribution to the bilateral trade and investment relationship with Vietnam," he said.
Crean was accompanied to Vietnam by a business delegation and visited Ho Chi Minh City
from 25–26 July. Earlier from 21–23 July, Crean attended the APEC Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade and the OECD Roundtable on Sustainable Development in Singapore.
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Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
and Leader of the Opposition at the Federal level, from November 2001 to 2 December 2003. He is the member for the Division of Hotham
Division of Hotham
The Division of Hotham is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1969 and is named for Sir Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria 1854-55. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Hotham covers an area of approximately 72 square kilometres from...
.
Early career
Crean was born in Melbourne. He is the son of Frank CreanFrank Crean
Frank Crean was a senior minister in the Australian Labor Party government of Gough Whitlam from 1972 to 1975, and was Deputy Prime Minister for the last six months of the government's term....
, a federal Labor MP from 1951 to 1977, who was at separate times Treasurer, Trade Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister in the Gough Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
government, and the brother of Dr David Crean
David Crean
David Crean is a former Labor member of the Parliament of Tasmania. He is the son of former Deputy Prime Minister Frank Crean and brother to former Australian federal opposition leader Simon Crean....
, a former Labor member of the Parliament of Tasmania
Parliament of Tasmania
The Parliament of Tasmania consists of the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Tasmanian House of Assembly and the Monarch represented by the Governor of Tasmania....
. He was educated at Middle Park Central School, Melbourne High School and Monash University. Following his graduation from Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
with degrees in economics and law, Simon Crean worked in a number of trade unions before becoming an official with the Storeman and Packers Union, of which he became General Secretary in 1979.
In 1977, his father, Frank Crean, retired from Federal politics and made the seat of Melbourne Ports
Division of Melbourne Ports
The Division of Melbourne Ports is an Australian federal electoral division in the inner south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
vacant for a successor. The ALP preselection was between Simon Crean and Clyde Holding
Clyde Holding
Allan Clyde Holding Australian politician, was Leader of the Opposition in Victoria for ten years, and was later a federal minister.-Early life and education:...
, with Holding winning.
In 1981 Crean became Vice-President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions
Australian Council of Trade Unions
The Australian Council of Trade Unions is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions.-History:The ACTU was formed in 1927 as the "Australian Council of Trade Unions"...
(ACTU), and in 1985 he was elected the organisation's President. In this role he played a key role in negotiating agreements on wages and other industrial issues with the Labor government of Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
. In 1990 he left the ACTU to go into politics.
At the 1990 election, Crean was elected to the seat of Hotham
Division of Hotham
The Division of Hotham is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1969 and is named for Sir Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria 1854-55. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Hotham covers an area of approximately 72 square kilometres from...
in the Australian House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
, and immediately entered the Hawke ministry as Minister for Science and Technology
Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Australia)
The current Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research is Kim Carr, appointed on 3 December 2007. He administers his portfolio through the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.-List of Ministers for Industry :...
. He became Minister for Primary Industries and Energy
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australia)
The current Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is Senator the Hon Joe Ludwig.-Portfolio responsibilities:The minister administers his portfolio through the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and its component bodies:...
in 1991 and Minister for Employment, Education and Training
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations is currently the Hon Senator Chris Evans.The Minister administers this portfolio, through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations....
in 1993.Following the Labor Party's 1996 election defeat, Crean contested the deputy leadership of the party but was defeated by Gareth Evans
Gareth Evans (politician)
Gareth John Evans, AO, QC , is a former Australian politician from 1978 to 1999 representing the Australian Labor Party, serving in a number of ministries including Attorney-General and Foreign Minister from 1983 to 1996 in the Hawke and Keating governments. He was president and chief executive...
, 42 votes to 37. He was an Opposition front-bencher until Labor's defeat at the 1998 election. He was then elected Deputy Leader of the Opposition and became shadow Treasurer in succession to Evans.
Labor Party and Opposition leader
In November 2001, following Labor's third consecutive election defeat, he was elected unopposed as the Leader of the Labor Party and the opposition following the resignation of Kim BeazleyKim Beazley
In the October 1998 election, Labor polled a majority of the two-party vote and received the largest swing to a first-term opposition since 1934. However, due to the uneven nature of the swing, Labor came up eight seats short of making Beazley Prime Minister....
.
On 4 February 2003, Crean led the Labor Party in condemning Prime Minister John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
's decision to commit Australian troops to the Iraq War.
Through most of 2003, consistently poor polling led to constant speculation of a leadership challenge by Beazley, though a reasonably successful Budget reply speech and the controversy over Peter Hollingworth
Peter Hollingworth
Peter John Hollingworth AC, OBE is an Australian Anglican bishop. He served as the Archbishop of Brisbane for 11 years before becoming the 23rd Governor-General of Australia from 2001 until 2003....
gave Crean a small boost in popularity. Nevertheless, to end the constant rumblings over a challenge, Crean called for a leadership spill. Polls continued to suggest that the public much preferred Beazley to Crean; nevertheless, when the vote was taken on 16 June 2003, Crean won by 58 votes to 34.
By November, however, polls continued to show Crean losing more ground to Howard as preferred Prime Minister. On 27 November 2003 a group of his senior colleagues told Crean that he had lost the party's support and should resign. Crean said he would "sleep on it". On 28 November 2003, Crean announced that he would resign as Leader of the Labor Party, becoming the first federal Labor leader to be replaced without having contested an election since the expulsion of Billy Hughes in 1916.
Post leadership career
After Crean's resignation, Beazley and the Labor Party's Treasury spokesperson, Mark LathamMark Latham
Mark William Latham , an author and former Australian politician, was leader of the Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from December 2003 to January 2005....
, announced that they would contest the Labor leadership. At the meeting of Labor MPs on 2 December, Latham defeated Beazley by 47 votes to 45.
Latham then appointed Crean as the Opposition's shadow Treasurer, which gave him a continued prominent role in Australian politics. However, in the aftermath of Labor's defeat in the 2004 election, many in the Labor Party felt that Crean's performance in the campaign was poor and that he was partly responsible for Labor's defeat: as a result, Crean resigned from his Shadow Treasurer position. At Latham's insistence he was re-elected to the Opposition front bench and became Shadow Minister for Trade.
Crean retained this position when Beazley returned to the leadership in January 2005. In the June 2005 reshuffle, however, Crean was demoted to Shadow Minister for Regional Development. He faced a preselection challenge for his seat from Martin Pakula
Martin Pakula
Martin Philip Pakula is an Australian politician, and a member of the Victorian Legislative Council. He was Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Public Transport in the Labor Government of Premier John Brumby.-Early life:...
, a member of his former union, a move which he blamed on Kim Beazley, Hong Lim
Hong Lim
Hong Muy Lim , Australian politician, has been a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 1996, representing the seat of Clayton for the Australian Labor Party.Lim was born in Cambodia, and is of Chinese Cambodian origins...
, and the Labor Right
Labor Right
The Labor Right, or Labor Unity in some State branches, or Centre Unity in NSW, is the organised faction of the Australian Labor Party that tends to be more economically liberal and socially conservative than Labor Left....
. Beazley refused to publicly support either candidate, but several front-benchers including Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
supported Crean. Crean won preselection after an unexpectedly strong win, recording around 70% of the votes in the first stage of voting, which led to his opponent's withdrawal. Since his victory Crean has singled out Senator Stephen Conroy
Stephen Conroy
Stephen Michael Conroy is an Australian politician and the current Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy in the Gillard Ministry...
for his part in the preselection challenge, describing his front-bench colleague as "venal" and "one of the most disloyal people I've ever worked with in my life".
Following the defeat of Kim Beazley and election of Kevin Rudd as Federal Labor leader in December 2006, Crean was reappointed as Shadow Trade Minister and also retained responsibility for regional development. In 2007 after Labor's election victory, Crean was appointed Minister for Trade
Minister for Trade (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Trade has been Dr. Craig Emerson since 14 September 2010.-Portfolio:Currently the Minister for Trade administers the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade jointly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, although prior to 1987 there was a separate Department of Trade...
in Kevin Rudd's ministry.
Following Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
's ascension as Prime Minister in June 2010, Crean was appointed Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and also Social Inclusion, with the Trade portfolio moving to Stephen Smith
Stephen Smith (Australian politician)
Stephen Francis Smith , is the Australian Minister for Defence. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1993, representing the Division of Perth, Western Australia....
. He is the only person to have been a Cabinet minister under Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard. In over two decades as an MP, Crean has not spent a single day on the backbench. After the 2010 federal election, Crean was made both Minister for the Arts and Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government.
Foreign trade
Crean visited Singapore and Vietnam from 21–26 July 2009 to pursue Australia's trade and economic interests at a range of ministerial and other high level meetings. On 24 July, Minister Crean co-chaired the 8th Joint Trade and Economic Cooperation Committee with the Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong PhucVo Hong Phuc
Vo Hong Phuc is the Minister of Planning and Investment in Vietnam.He graduated in 1968 at the Hanoi University of Technology. He had since been an employee of the Department of Industry of the SPC, rising in 1992 to become the vice-chairman...
in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
. The meeting aimed to discuss key sectors in the bilateral relationship including education and training, infrastructure and environmental management, financial services and agribusiness. "As we progress toward implementation of the ASEAN-Australia New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, I look forward to discussing its practical contribution to the bilateral trade and investment relationship with Vietnam," he said.
Crean was accompanied to Vietnam by a business delegation and visited Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
from 25–26 July. Earlier from 21–23 July, Crean attended the APEC Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade and the OECD Roundtable on Sustainable Development in Singapore.
Further reading
- Lyle Allan (2002), 'ALP Modernisation, Ethnic Branch Stacking, Factionalism and the Law,' in People and Place, Vol.10, No.4, pp. 50–58
- Ross McMullin (1992), The Light on the Hill. The Australian Labor Party 1891–1991, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne (Victoria), ISBN 0 19 553451 4
External links
- Simon Crean's Personal Website
- Australian Trade Union Archives biographical entry
- Crean resigns as shadow Treasurer
- Mark Latham steps in to save Crean
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