Simon Crean

The Honourable Simon Crean AC
Official portrait, 2007
Leader of the Opposition
In office 22 November 2001 – 2 December 2003
Prime Minister	John Howard
Deputy	Jenny Macklin
Preceded by	Kim Beazley
Succeeded by	Mark Latham
Leader of the Labor Party
In office 22 November 2001 – 2 December 2003
Deputy	Jenny Macklin
Preceded by	Kim Beazley
Succeeded by	Mark Latham
Deputy Leader of the Labor Party
In office 19 October 1998 – 22 November 2001
Leader	Kim Beazley
Preceded by	Gareth Evans
Succeeded by	Jenny Macklin
Minister for Regional Development and Local Government
In office 14 September 2010 – 21 March 2013
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Anthony Albanese
Succeeded by	Anthony Albanese
Minister for the Arts
In office 14 September 2010 – 21 March 2013
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Peter Garrett
Succeeded by	Tony Burke
Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
In office 28 June 2010 – 14 September 2010
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Julia Gillard
Succeeded by	Peter Garrett
Minister for Social Inclusion
In office 28 June 2010 – 14 September 2010
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Julia Gillard
Succeeded by	Tanya Plibersek
Minister for Trade
In office 3 December 2007 – 28 June 2010
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Warren Truss
Succeeded by	Stephen Smith
Manager of Opposition Business
In office 20 March 1996 – 20 October 1998
Leader	Kim Beazley
Preceded by	Peter Reith
Succeeded by	Bob McMullan
Minister for Employment, Education and Training
In office 23 December 1993 – 11 March 1996
Prime Minister	Paul Keating
Preceded by	Kim Beazley
Succeeded by	Amanda Vanstone
Minister for Primary Industries and Energy
In office 4 June 1991 – 23 December 1993
Prime Minister	Bob Hawke Paul Keating
Preceded by	John Kerin
Succeeded by	Bob Collins
Minister for Science and Technology
In office 4 April 1990 – 4 June 1991
Prime Minister	Bob Hawke
Preceded by	Barry Jones
Succeeded by	Ross Free
Member of the Australian Parliament for Hotham
In office 24 March 1990 – 5 August 2013
Preceded by	Lewis Kent
Succeeded by	Clare O'Neil
President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions
In office 1 March 1985 – 25 March 1990
Preceded by	Cliff Dolan
Succeeded by	Martin Ferguson
Personal details
Born	Simon Findlay Crean (1949-02-26)26 February 1949 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died	25 June 2023(2023-06-25) (aged 74) Berlin, Germany
Political party	Labor
Spouse	Carole Crean ​ (m. 1973)​
Children	2
Parent	Frank Crean (father)
Relatives	Stephen Crean (brother) David Crean (brother)
Education	Melbourne High School
Alma mater	Monash University

Simon Findlay Crean AC (26 February 1949 – 25 June 2023) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 2001 to 2003. He represented the seat of Hotham in the House of Representatives from 1990 to 2013 and was a cabinet minister in the Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard governments.

Crean was born in Melbourne, the son of Frank Crean who was deputy prime minister under Gough Whitlam. He studied law and economics at Monash University and was involved in the trade union movement from a young age, becoming general secretary of the Storemen and Packers' Union in 1979. He was elected vice-president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) in 1981 and president in 1985. Crean stood down from this role upon his election to parliament at the 1990 federal election, and was immediately appointed Minister for Science and Technology in the Hawke government. He held several other ministerial posts until Labor's defeat at the 1996 election.

Following Labor's 1998 election defeat, Crean was elected deputy leader of the ALP under Kim Beazley, replacing Gareth Evans. He was elected unopposed to succeed Beazley as party leader following further defeat at the 2001 election, becoming leader of the opposition. Despite initial enthusiasm for his leadership, Crean struggled in opinion polling, and in June 2003 Beazley challenged him for the leadership. Although Crean won comfortably, speculation about his leadership only intensified, and in November 2003 he announced that he would resign, and was replaced by his shadow treasurer Mark Latham.

Despite losing the leadership, Crean remained a senior figure within the Labor Party, and returned to cabinet as Minister for Trade when Labor won the 2007 election. Crean supported Julia Gillard in her leadership challenge to Kevin Rudd in June 2010, and remained in the Cabinet after she was successful. Although he continued to support Gillard through the leadership spill in February 2012, in March 2013 he announced that he was switching support to Rudd, sparking another leadership spill; Gillard sacked him from the Cabinet in response. When Rudd eventually did return as prime minister at the leadership spill in June 2013, Crean ran unsuccessfully to return to the role of deputy leader; he subsequently announced his decision to retire from politics at the 2013 election.^[1]