Editing Simon Crean (section)

===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/>