Crean all fired up

By Shaun Inguanzo
FACTIONAL fighting, an unsuccessful stint as Labor leader and 11 years in opposition have failed to dent Simon Crean’s political enthusiasm.
The veteran Hotham MP is one of Labor’s great political survivors enduring11 tumultuous years in opposition to win his fifth term and enter his 18th year in the seat at last weekend’s federal election.
Springvale residents strongly supported Mr Crean with some booths producing swings to Labor of up to nine per cent.
Mr Crean is expected to achieve an overall swing of about 6.5 per cent once counting is completed, extending his margin to almost 14 per cent, making Hotham a safe Labor seat.
The 58-year-old was this week elated as he spoke to Star about his passion for Hotham and excitement that Labor was back in office.
It will be second time in his career as an MP that Mr Crean’s party has been in government. He spent the first five and a half years of his time representing Hotham as part of the Hawke/Keating governments and serving in three ministerial portfolios.
But Mr Crean’s time in opposition has been marred by a Labor Party factional attempt to unseat him at 2006’s preselection and replace him with union boss Martin Pakula.
Mr Crean this week told Star the election result vindicated his fight to remain Hotham’s representative.
“This just goes to show how factional leadership is ignorant of what matters in an electorate,” he said.
“The people want a good representative but they don’t want factions telling them who that representative should be.”
Mr Crean has also survived a Labor leadership upheaval that saw him take control of the party in 2001 but he was later pressured into standing down in 2003 before the federal election because of a perceived lack of popularity amongst voters.
Mr Crean also lost his shadow portfolio before Kevin Rudd was made party leader in December 2006. Mr Rudd reinstated him as Opposition spokesman for trade and regional development.
It is now likely that Mr Rudd will reward Mr Crean with a place in his Cabinet, to be announced this week.
But on Saturday it was time to celebrate for Mr Crean after the electorate backed him in a landslide victory he described as the best result for Labor in Hotham of his 17 years as its member.
Mr Crean told Star that the Labor taking government had instilled him with extra energy and vigour ahead of another term in the electorate.
“I still have the fire in my belly,” he said.
“And while I’ve got it, I want to light some fires around the rest of the community.”
Mr Crean said a Labor government meant he would be able to secure more funding for Hotham to enhance its health, education and other necessary services.
“While the country has experienced strong growth and prosperity – and the basis for that was the previous Labor government – I think in many senses (the Liberals) have squandered opportunities in the last few years,” he said.
“A nation as prosperous as ours shouldn’t have pressures on public hospitals, it should be training people rather than importing a workforce and it shouldn’t have second-rate broadband Internet.
“And the Howard government should have addressed the challenge of climate change.”
Mr Crean thanked the Hotham electorate for its support.
“I am delighted in terms of them making that commitment to me, and (the commitment) the Australian public has made to the Labor Party,” he said.