By Cam Lucadou-Wells
It was said the ever-curious Simon Crean couldn’t let an overseas trip go by without visiting every documented landmark, the highest vantage point and every church.
The worldly, ex-Hotham MP’s last stop was the grand St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, where he was feted at a State funeral on 20 July.
At 74, his dynamic thirst for life and service was cut short without warning by a large blood clot in the lungs on 25 June.
At the time, he was in Berlin as part of Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the EU.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to a “great Australian” and “beloved son of the Australian Labor Party”.
Crean’s personal qualities of humility and compassion, integrity and intellect had “earned him a respect that knew no political boundaries”.
His spirit of working together and standing up for each other was at the heart of the Labor movement, Mr Albanese said.
“And that sense of fairness that was forever his guiding star.”
Crean was a leader of the Storemen and Packers Union, the ACTU and the Labor Party as well as Minister in four Prime Ministers’ Cabinets.
He didn’t believe in “positions of convenience” nor that politics should be a “game”, Mr Albanese said.
The reformist was fond of saying he was “joining the dots”. He fought battles but could keep the friendship.
Crean’s brother David said their lives were shaped as sons of federal MP Frank Crean. With politics at the kitchen table and home visits from leaders Gough Whitlam and Doc Evatt.
He completed law and economics degree at Monash Uni. But the anti-Vietnam War campaign led him away from law to unionism, wife Carole said.
With his “incredible self-belief”, he trusted his intellect, judgement and life choices. “It gave him the strength to fit for what he believed in,” she said.
After one of his battles, Carole asked him if he won.
“No,” he said.
“Not today, but we will.”
Carole said: “Sure enough, it was a victory but a victory for all stakeholders – that was how he defined success.”
What he’d now wish for Australia was for the Free Trade Agreement to be agreed and signed, and The Voice to succeed as a “positive step for all”.
Daughter Sarah Crean said her Dad’s passion was people – connecting, understanding and helping others.
Not always a patience for technology, but a patience for people.
His other passion was travel. To experience it all was something he did every day of his life, Sarah said.
At the Storemen and Packers in 1970, he met life-long friend and former ACTU leader Bill Kelty, who told mourners to judge Crean on what he did for people’s lives.
“Simon’s DNA” was in the nation’s wages, retirement, health care, education and regional policies, and what made the country a better place, Kelty said.
Even when people forgot about what he did, there would still be things that Crean changed for the better in their lives.
He embodied courage, provided hope and fought hard for those who needed it.
Kelty said that on their many travels, Crean stopped at many churches.
“He went to them a lot because Simon was a believer and a carer to people.”
