Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Names like Crean, Cameron, Cairns, Hayden—these are the people that gave my parents hope in the sixties and seventies. In the very dark days of Labor oblivion, really—we were out of power for 23 years—it was men like Frank Crean who sustained us and were heroes to so many people, including my parents and me as a child. In government, he was a voice of reason, economic stability and prudence in a cabinet that was not necessarily renowned for strict adherence to economic issues.

Frank Crean came from a Labor family, and he laboured for Labor. The third of five children, raised in a Christian household, he was a Presbyterian, a Sunday school teacher, active in the life of his church and community. The son of a mineworker and a schoolteacher, he suffered ill-health in childhood, and his experiences as a child and what he saw gave him a deep commitment to those who suffered from disadvantage and were dispossessed. Like many on our side of the House, education was the key to his success—not just a good family life but the opportunities that education gave to him. He graduated with honours from high school, was employed at what we now call the Australian Taxation Office and qualified in accountancy at 19 years of age. He went on to earn two university degrees, a BA and a Bachelor of Commerce, as well as a diploma in public administration.

Frank joined the Labor Party in 1942, so he had a lifelong commitment to the ALP. A state member for two terms, from 1945 to 1947, he knew the thrill of victory in Albert Park and the despair of defeat—and there are those on this side of the House who have experienced both. He was a state member again in 1949, when he married Mary, his lifelong companion.

I am privileged to have been in a relationship with the same woman for 25 years but I hope to be in a relationship with her for decades to come. The partners of politicians endure much, and Mary obviously did, but she stuck with Frank through thick and thin. They had the privilege of having children, and children really are a blessing. They had three sons, one of whom was Stephen, who died tragically in the mid-eighties. David was a cabinet minister in the Tasmanian government and served his local community well. I see much of Frank in Simon: the decency, the humility, the modesty, the amiability. Simon is a tremendous fellow. He has made a great contribution to the political life of this country and is a credit to his parents.

Frank won the federal seat of Melbourne Ports in 1951 and held it for 11 terms—that is, 11 victories. It is hard to conceive. I have won once and have lost once, in 2004, but to go through election after election and make what was then a marginal seat into a fairly safe Labor seat would have been difficult. There were swings and roundabouts for him, I am sure. He was a founding member of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship. He stands in that great tradition of Christian nonconformism in the Labor Party. There is a secular humanistic tradition in the ALP—a tradition of the Irish Catholics—but there is also another tradition, and I am happy to be in that tradition, that of the Christian nonconformists, who are influenced so much by the Christian socialists of the 19th century, and Frank was one of them. But he was not a patsy; he was an independent-minded person. He was the forerunner of the participants in the Victorian ALP who really had a big influence and whose commitment to economic responsibility and to political success drove Victorian Labor from the depths of defeat to victory. We very much see that today. For a long time, the Labor Party has been a great success for Victoria, with the Bracks and the Brumby governments.

Gough Whitlam made a terrible blue with Frank: he got rid of him as the Treasurer. Frank served as the Treasurer from December 1972 until late 1974. It was a shocking mistake; Gough should never have done it. He sacked him in favour of Jim Cairns. For all of Jim Cairns’s virtues and activism—his commitment to social justice and equality of opportunity and his fervour against the Vietnam War—Jim was not the right guy to put in the Treasury. In part, Gough remedied the situation by putting Bill Hayden in the Treasury position. Bill delivered a budget which the coalition government, then under Malcolm Fraser, agreed with. Bill, who was my federal member until 1988, was someone who, like Frank, believed in economic responsibility and that Labor governments could deliver economic stability as well as help those who were disadvantaged.

Frank had the honour of being the Deputy Prime Minister for a short time, not just the Minister for International Trade. Simon is also the Minister for Trade. It is a great honour for both of them. Frank nearly became the Leader of the Australian Labor Party. It is not too well known these days, but he nearly did it. When Arthur Calwell failed to win the 1966 federal election, he agreed to step down on 8 February 1967. It is interesting that Frank was Arthur Calwell’s first choice. He wanted Frank to assume the leadership of the federal ALP. Nevertheless, Whitlam got 39 votes and Crean and Cairns shared the other 29 votes, so Gough won pretty comfortably. Frank set about doing his work with good humour, humility, modesty and diligence.

Frank had a second tilt at the leadership of the ALP; he had a second go. After 1975, the legend goes in my part of Ipswich that Gough approached Bill to take on the leadership of the ALP. Bill said no. Bill had faced some pretty tragic circumstances and he nearly lost in 1975—I remember that as a kid. He got there by the skin of his teeth, so Bill decided not to take on the leadership of the federal ALP. Frank had another tilt at the leadership when Bill refused to stand. Whitlam beat Frank and Lionel Bowen, again pretty comfortably in the circumstances. There was a lot of affection for Gough which meant that Frank did not get it.

Frank served as Treasurer for this country. He said something which I will never forget and which really influenced me. Clyde Cameron recorded these words in his book, and I will finish with this. Frank said that we raise taxes in order to buy civilisation. I have spoken on a few tax bills in the year that I have been here and I have pointed out a couple of times that it is the taxes that we raise which help us build schools, roads and hospitals—the infrastructure which our country needs. And it is a big country. But it is also taxes which help us help those in need and show compassion. That is the legacy of that very modest and humble man Frank Crean. He in his own way went about helping civilisation and helping those who were disadvantaged and dispossessed. He showed that you could do that and still be a good economic manager. Frank showed what he could do for this country in his two years as Treasurer. It is a great shame that he did not spend more time on the government benches as a cabinet minister making even a greater contribution to the welfare of this country and his local community.

My sympathies go to his family, particularly to Simon, who I know well as a good man. We on this side of the House loved Frank Crean. He was a legend and a hero and we honour his legacy.

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