Simon Crean

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Simon Crean

Simon Findlay Crean (born February 26, 1949 in Melbourne , Victoria ) is an Australian politician and was chairman of the Australian Labor Party from 2001 to 2003 . He has served as Minister of Commerce in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government since 2007 .

Early life

Simon Crean was born in Melbourne in 1949. His father Frank Crean was a federal MP for the Australian Labor Party from 1951 to 1977 and u. a. Treasurer, Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Prime Minister under Gough Whitlam . His brother, David Crean , is a former Labor MP for the Tasmanian Parliament. Crean attended Middle Park Central School, Melbourne High School, and finally Monash University , where he received his Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Economics. Crean then worked in some unions before becoming general secretary of the Storemen and Packers Union in 1979 .

After his father withdrew from federal politics in 1977, the seat of parliament for the Melbourne Ports constituency became vacant. Simon Crean applied for this, but lost in the internal party primary in the ALP against Clyde Holding. In 1981, Crean became Vice President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) , the largest advocacy group for Australian workers, and in 1985 its President. He played an important role in negotiating with Bob Hawke's Labor administration when higher wages and other industrial problems were discussed. In 1990 Crean left the ACTU to switch to politics full-time.

In the 1990 federal elections, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the Hotham constituency, and was immediately elected Minister of Education and Technology by Bob Hawke . A year later, Crean became Minister for Primary Industry and Energy, as was Minister for Labor and Education in 1993.

Political career

Crean during the WEF 2010

As party chairman

After the Labor Party's defeat in the 1996 federal election, Simon Crean competed against Gareth Evans , but lost 42 to 37 votes. Crean was represented in the opposition until he was again defeated in 1998. That year he was finally elected vice party chairman and also took over as Evans' opposition treasurer. In November 2001, Crean succeeded the resigned Kim Beazley as party leader unopposed. The Labor Party had previously suffered its third consecutive election defeat.

On February 4, 2003, Crean and his party condemned the decision of incumbent Prime Minister John Howard to involve Australian troops in the Iraq war . Due to poor poll results for the current Prime Minister Howard in view of the next election, several party leaders called on Crean on November 27, 2003 to resign. The next day, Crean complied and resigned from office. Thus, he was the first party leader of the Australian Labor Party who never led the party in an election.

After resigning from the party leadership

After Crean's resignation, Mark Latham was elected as the new party leader just before Kim Beazley . This immediately appointed Crean opposition treasurer. The subsequent defeat in the 2004 federal elections was partially blamed on Crean, so he resigned from his post. Latham then appointed him opposition trade minister.

In June 2005, Crean was elected by Beazley, who was meanwhile again ALP chairman, to the opposition minister for regional development, which meant a clear degradation. Also because of a decision by Beazley, Crean had to compete against Martin Pakula, one of his former union employees, in a primary for his seat in parliament. He was supported by Julia Gillard , among others , after Beazley did not publicly endorse a candidate. Since MPs in this region also have voting rights, he finally won with 70% of the votes in the first round of elections, whereupon his rival withdrew from the election.

In December 2006, Kevin Rudd succeeded as laboratory chairman at the federal level. Crean was reappointed Opposition Trade Minister and Opposition Minister for Regional Development. After Rudd's election victory in 2007, Crean was appointed Minister of Commerce. In his 18 years as a MP, Crean has always sat in the front row of the House of Representatives.

Web links u. swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ abc.net.au, Simon Crean says finger pointing over ALP election loss must stop
  2. ↑ abc.net.au, Mark Latham steps in to save Crean
personal data
SURNAME Crean, Simon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Crean, Simon Findlay
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Melbourne , Victoria , Australia