Editing Simon Crean (section)

===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>