Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to note with great sadness the passing of the Hon. Frank Crean, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, who, until his death, held the distinction of being the oldest former member of the House of Representatives. My connection with Frank and Mary Crean is through their son Simon, who played an instrumental role in both the National Union of Workers and the ACTU in the 1980s. In 1981, Simon Crean became vice-president of the ACTU and then its president in 1985. It was during this period that I worked closely with Simon and his very longstanding and close friend Bill Kelty.

Simon played a key role in negotiating several accords with the Labor government headed then by former ACTU president Bob Hawke. It was interesting to hear the reflections of the member for Charlton when he read excerpts from Frank Crean’s first speech in this House. The economic worldview held by Frank and his approach to economic growth and productivity and social justice must have played a very important role in shaping the enormous contribution that Simon made throughout that decade in trying to forge a better Australia. As I said, it was through my friendship with Simon in that period that I got to know Frank and Mary; Simon’s wife, Carole; his brother, David; and members of the extended family. Fate has it that my partner, Denis Lennen, was also a long-time friend of the Creans. He and Simon go back probably 30 years and more.

It was a very tight-knit family; a genuine Labor family. Public service was at the core of the family’s beliefs. In reading and reflecting about Frank’s life, one comes to understand better the meaning of ‘like father, like son’. There is so much of Frank that continues to live through Simon and his brother, David. Born in Hamilton in Victoria in 1916, Frank Crean was struck by adversity at a very early age. I read that he spent a year in bed with rheumatic fever at age 13. Adversities like that help shape a person’s commitments and values later in life.

I read—and I do not know if the story is right—that in that formative period of Frank’s life he relied very much on books provided by one of his neighbours, who just happened to be the secretary of the local ALP branch and a member of the AWU. Frank did very well at school and went on to live in Melbourne to attend the prestigious Melbourne Boys High School, as did Simon much later. He graduated with degrees in arts and commerce and a diploma in public administration.

He had a lengthy association with the Labor Party, going back to his formal joining of the party in 1942. He was elected as the representative for the seat of Albert Park in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1945 and later for the seat of Prahran in 1949. He was a very earnest local member. I remember that, in the time when I lived in Melbourne, wherever you went Frank Crean was a very well-known local dignitary, and people remember his dedicated years of service. As well as doing all that and being such a good local representative, he was also—and I did not know this—president of the Young Labor Association, president of the Victorian Fabian Society and president of the Council of Adult Education. So he was not just serving as a local representative but also contributing to the ideas and policy formation that are so important for the Labor Party.

In 1951 he contested the seat of Melbourne Ports and, amazingly, he held that seat for 26 years and through 11 federal elections. That is a distinction in its own right. When Labor won office in 1972 after 23 years in the political wilderness, Frank Crean went on to become the nation’s federal Treasurer in very difficult economic times. The member for Charlton, in his contribution, outlined the challenges that faced Frank Crean in his capacity as Treasurer. Later he became the Minister for Overseas Trade—so, again, like father like son; we see our colleague Simon Crean now carrying out that role with great distinction—and later on he became the Deputy Prime Minister of this nation until the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975. Frank finally retired from the federal parliament in 1977. He was also, for a lengthy period of time, a member of the executive of the federal parliamentary Labor Party, holding a position on that executive from 1955 until his retirement in 1977. It is amazing to think that, although he reached the heights of being the Deputy Prime Minister of this nation, of Frank’s 26 years in federal parliament only three were actually served in government, but, as I said earlier, contesting 11 elections, particularly in that part of Melbourne, is no mean feat.

Frank married Mary Findlay in 1946. Mary was Frank’s bedrock in a marriage of 63 years. Mary’s contribution to Frank’s political career is inestimable. As well, her contribution in accepting the major responsibility of rearing three wonderful sons is something that she should take a lot of credit for—the three sons, Simon, David and Stephen, and the six wonderful grandchildren. It is no surprise that Simon and David followed in Frank’s footsteps, devoting themselves to the notion of public service. It was a great tragedy for the family to lose their son and brother Stephen in very tragic circumstances, but the family has always been a very close-knit and an inspirational one. When you see all the members of that extended family gathered at the Creans’ family home, you appreciate the strong bonds of affection and love that extend way beyond the immediate family.

Frank Crean was a decent, dedicated and honourable man and a Labor man through and through, deeply committed to the party he loved and to the principle of public service. I believe he served the Labor Party with great distinction. On behalf of Denis Lennen and myself, I extend my sympathy to Mary Crean, to Simon and Carole, to David and Sue and to the extended family. Our thoughts are with you in this difficult time.

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