Simon Crean parents: Meet Frank Crean & Mary Findlay

Following Labor’s defeat in the 1998 election, Simon Crean was elected as the party’s Deputy Leader, succeeding Gareth Evans. In 2001, he succeeded Kim Beazley as Leader of the Labor Party, becoming Leader of the Opposition. Despite his initial popularity, Crean encountered difficulties in opinion surveys, prompting suspicion about his leadership.

Kim Beazley challenged him for leadership in June 2003, but Crean won. Nonetheless, continuous suspicion over his leadership forced Crean to resign in November 2003, making him the first Labor Party leader to resign without facing a federal election. Mark Latham, his Shadow Treasurer, took his place.

Crean retained a major position within the Labor Party despite losing the leadership position. He returned to the Cabinet as the Minister for Trade after the Labor Party won the election in 2007. Crean backed Julia Gillard’s successful leadership challenge against Kevin Rudd in June 2010 and stayed in the Cabinet during Gillard’s leadership.

Despite supporting Gillard at the 2012 leadership election, Crean declared in March 2013 that he was moving his allegiance to Rudd, sparking a new leadership election. As a result, Gillard removed him from the Cabinet. When Rudd recaptured the Prime Ministership in the June 2013 leadership election, Crean ran unsuccessfully for the position of Deputy Leader.

Simon Crean parents: Meet Frank Crean and Mary Findlay

Australian politician Francis Daniel Crean, who belonged to the Labor Party, was born on 28 February 1916 and passed away on 2 December 2008. From 1951 to 1977, he was a representative in the House of Representatives. In the Whitlam administration, Crean served in a number of ministerial capacities, including Treasurer from 1972 to 1974 and briefly as Deputy Prime Minister in 1975.

Crean, who was raised in Hamilton, Victoria, attended Melbourne High School and the University of Melbourne for his education. Before going into politics, he pursued a career as a tax accountant. He was chosen to serve in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1945. Despite having given up his seat in 1947, he won it back in 1949. Crean, however, quit the state legislature two years later to run for president in 1951.

He had numerous front-bench positions for the first 21 years of his federal political career while serving in the opposition.

Crean took over as Treasurer following the 1972 election. After two years, Jim Cairns took his place; however, due to economic uncertainty and factional issues, he was ousted. He chose to fill the position of Minister for Overseas Trade instead. Crean held this role until 1975 when the administration was overthrown.

He also served as deputy prime minister for the last six months of the administration, taking over for Cairns after the latter got engaged in the Khemlani scandal. When the 1977 election was over, Crean left politics. Notably, from 1990 to 2013, his son Simon Crean was also a member of parliament. Not much is known about Mary Findlay.