Editing Simon Crean (section)

==Political career==
===Hawke and Keating governments===
[[File:Simon Crean 1990s.jpg|thumb|left|Crean as a minister in the 1990s.]]
Ahead of the [[1990 Australian federal election|1990 election]], Crean was easily selected as the Labor candidate for the safe seat of [[Division of Hotham|Hotham]]; he was elected to Parliament on 24 March, and immediately entered the Cabinet as [[Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Australia)|Minister for Science and Technology]].<ref name=Trade /> He became [[Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australia)|Minister for Primary Industries and Energy]] in 1991, retaining this job when [[Paul Keating]] replaced [[Bob Hawke]] as prime minister in December 1991. After Labor's victory at the [[1993 Australian federal election|1993 election]], Keating moved Crean to become [[Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations (Australia)|Minister for Employment, Education and Training]], a role he held until 1996.<ref name=APH>{{cite Au Parliament |name=Hon Simon Crean MP |mpid=DT4 |access-date=7 November 2021}}</ref>

===Opposition===
After the Labor Party was heavily defeated at the [[1996 Australian federal election|1996 election]], Crean chose to contest the deputy leadership, but was defeated by [[Gareth Evans (politician)|Gareth Evans]] by 42 votes to 37.<ref name=Gareth1>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/News/dh/hlpanel/evans-bio.htm |title=Biography of Hon Gareth Evans AO QC |publisher=[[United Nations]] |access-date=24 June 2010}}</ref><ref name=Gareth2>{{cite web |url=http://www.australianpolitics.com/words/daily/archives/00000305.shtml |title=It's Hardly The Fix They're Used To |work=Australianpolitics.com |date=14 June 2003 |access-date=24 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526170425/http://www.australianpolitics.com/words/daily/archives/00000305.shtml |archive-date=26 May 2011}}</ref> He joined the Shadow Cabinet, and after Evans retired from politics following Labor's [[1998 Australian federal election|1998 election]] defeat, Crean was easily elected to replace him, becoming Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Treasurer. In January 2001, Crean was awarded the [[Centenary Medal]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Simon Findlay Crean – Centenary Medal |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1125838 |work=It's an Honour |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Australia]] |access-date=21 June 2012 |date=1 January 2001}}</ref>

In November 2001, following Labor's [[2001 Australian federal election|third consecutive election defeat]], Crean [[2001 Australian Labor Party leadership election|was elected unopposed]] to replace [[Kim Beazley]] as Leader of the Labor Party, becoming [[Leader of the Opposition (Australia)|leader of the opposition]]; [[Jenny Macklin]] was elected as his deputy, also unopposed.<ref name=Leader>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2001/s423700.htm |title=Crean officially endorsed as Labor leader |publisher=[[ABC TV (Australian TV channel)|ABC TV]] |format=transcript |work=[[Lateline]] |location=Australia |date=22 November 2001 |access-date=24 June 2010 |author=Clarke, Sarah |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081004212629/http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2001/s423700.htm |archive-date=4 October 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> On 4 February 2003, Crean led the Labor Party to condemn Prime Minister [[John Howard]]'s decision to commit Australian troops to the [[Iraq War]].<ref name=SMH1>{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/18/1047749757036.html |title=War on Iraq |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=18 March 2003 |access-date=24 June 2010 |agency=AAP}}</ref>

Throughout most of 2003, poor opinion polling led to speculation of a leadership challenge against Crean; on 16 June 2003, Crean called a [[Australian Labor Party leadership spill, 2003|leadership spill]] intending to put an end to the leadership tensions, winning against Kim Beazley by 58 votes to 34. This failed to stop Crean losing even further ground to Howard in opinion polls as preferred Prime Minister, and on 28 November 2003, Crean announced that he would resign as Leader of the Labor Party, stating that he felt he no longer had the confidence of his colleagues; this made him the first Labor Leader not to contest a federal election since 1916. On 2 December, Shadow Treasurer [[Mark Latham]] defeated Kim Beazley in a ballot by 47 votes to 45 to replace Crean; Latham appointed Crean immediately as Shadow Treasurer. After Labor suffered a fourth consecutive defeat at the [[2004 Australian federal election|2004 election]], Crean resigned from his Shadow Treasurer position; he initially intended to resign from the Shadow Cabinet entirely, but at Latham's insistence, he accepted the role of Shadow Minister for Trade.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/Election-2004/Crean-falls-on-treasury-portfolio-sword/2004/10/13/1097607267260.html |title=Crean falls on treasury portfolio sword |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=13 October 2004 |access-date=24 June 2010 |agency=AAP}}</ref>

Crean retained this position when Beazley returned to the leadership in January 2005. However, in a reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet in June 2005, Crean was demoted to Shadow Minister for Regional Development. He then faced a pre-selection challenge for his seat of Hotham from [[Martin Pakula]], a member of his former union, the SPU, a move which Crean publicly blamed on Beazley, [[Hong Lim]], and the [[Labor Right]]. Beazley refused to publicly support either candidate, but several frontbenchers, including [[Julia Gillard]], supported Crean. This helped Crean to comfortably win the pre-selection for his seat; Crean singled out Senator [[Stephen Conroy]] for his part in the move against him, describing his front-bench colleague as "venal" and "one of the most disloyal people I've ever worked with in my life".<ref name="venal">{{cite news |title=Factionalism stirs up anger in ALP |url=http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1585813.htm |work=[[ABC Radio and Regional Content|ABC Radio]] |location=Australia |date=7 March 2006 |access-date=17 January 2007}}</ref> Following the replacement of Kim Beazley by [[Kevin Rudd]] as leader in December 2006, Rudd reappointed Crean as Shadow Minister for Trade.<ref name=aph/>

===Rudd and Gillard governments===
[[File:Simon Crean - WEF 2010.jpg|thumb|left|Crean at the [[World Economic Forum]] in January 2010.]]
After Labor's victory at the [[2007 Australian federal election|2007 election]], new Prime Minister [[Kevin Rudd]] appointed Crean to the Cabinet as [[Minister for Trade (Australia)|Minister for Trade]]. In this role, Crean visited [[Singapore]] and [[Vietnam]] to pursue Australia's trade and economic interests at a range of ministerial and other high-level meetings. Crean also attended the [[APEC]] Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade and the [[OECD]] Roundtable on Sustainable Development on behalf of the [[Australian Government]]. Crean also co-chaired the 8th Joint Trade and Economic Cooperation Committee with the Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment [[Võ Hồng Phúc]] in [[Hanoi]], leading to an improvement in the trading relationship between Australia and Vietnam.<ref>{{cite web |title=9th Australia-Vietnam Joint Trade And Economic Cooperation Committee  |publisher= Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade |url=https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/vietnam/Pages/9th-australia-vietnam-joint-trade-and-economic-cooperation-committee |access-date=27 June 2023}}</ref>

Following [[Julia Gillard]]'s election unopposed as Prime Minister in June 2010, Crean was appointed to replace Gillard in the role of [[Minister for Education (Australia)|Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations]], with [[Stephen Smith (Australian politician)|Stephen Smith]] taking over as Minister for Trade.<ref name=APH /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/gillard-reshuffles-cabinet-without-rudd-20100628-zdr8.html |title=Gillard reshuffles cabinet, without Rudd |agency=AAP |date=28 June 2010 |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref> After the [[2010 Australian federal election|2010 election]], Gillard reshuffled the Cabinet and appointed Crean as [[Minister for the Arts (Australia)|Minister for the Arts]] and [[Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development|Minister for Regional Development and Local Government]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The Gillard ministry |url=http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-gillard-ministry-20100911-155qc.html |date=11 September 2010 |work=The Age |access-date=24 September 2010}}</ref>

On 21 March 2013, following significant leadership tensions arising from poor opinion polling, Crean called for Gillard to [[Australian Labor Party leadership spill, March 2013|spill the leadership]], with the aim of encouraging Rudd to challenge for the position of Prime Minister. This marked a change in Crean's position; he had long been a committed supporter of Gillard. Crean said he would challenge [[Wayne Swan]] for the role of deputy leader, if Rudd ran for the leadership. However, Rudd declined to run, leaving Gillard to retain the leadership unopposed. Gillard quickly sacked Crean from the Cabinet, expressing publicly her disappointment at his "disloyalty" to her.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Harrison, Dan |author2=Hurst, Daniel |title=Rudd refuses to run for leadership, PM prevails |url=http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/rudd-refuses-to-run-for-leadership-pm-prevails-20130321-2ghh9.html |date=21 March 2013 |work=The Age |access-date=21 March 2013}}</ref> Crean became the first Labor minister to be sacked with a dismissal letter from the Governor General since [[Jim Cairns]] in 1975.

Before his sacking, Crean had been one of the few federal politicians to have never spent time on the [[backbencher|backbench]]. After Rudd did [[Australian Labor Party leadership spill, June 2013|eventually replace]] Gillard as prime minister in June 2013, Crean ran for the position of Deputy Leader but was defeated by [[Anthony Albanese]] by 61 votes to 38. Crean subsequently announced he would retire from politics at the [[2013 Australian federal election|2013 election]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Simon Crean has announced he will quit politics at the federal election  |newspaper= ABC News |date= July 2013 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/rudd-returns/2013-07-01/simon-crean-is-quitting-politics-at-the-federal-election/4791290 |access-date=27 June 2023}}</ref>

Crean retired as the first person to serve as a Cabinet Minister under four Labor Prime Ministers (Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard) since [[Jack Beasley]] (who served under [[James Scullin]], [[John Curtin]], [[Frank Forde]] and [[Ben Chifley]]).<ref>{{cite news |title=Simon Crean never got to lead Labor to an election but he did stand up to a US president  |newspaper= ABC News |date= 26 June 2023 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-26/simon-crean-iraq-war-opposition-legacy-bush/102521946 |access-date=27 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |title=Labor elder who had a hand in series of leadership stoushes |date= 1 July 2013 |first=Tony |last=Wright |url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-elder-who-had-a-hand-in-series-of-leadership-stoushes-20130701-2p6rf.html |access-date=27 June 2023}}</ref>