Although Crean won comfortably, speculation about his leadership only intensified, and in November 2003 he announced that he would resign, and was replaced by his shadow treasurer Mark Latham.

Crean supported Julia Gillard in her leadership challenge to Kevin Rudd in June 2010, and remained in the Cabinet after she was successful.

[3] His father was a federal Labor MP from 1951 to 1977, who served periods as Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister in the Whitlam government.

His other brother, Stephen Crean, a public servant, died while skiing alone at Charlotte Pass, New South Wales, in 1985, aged 38; his body was not found for two years.

[6] In 1979, Crean was elected General Secretary of the SPU, which entitled him to a seat on the board of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).

[4] In this position, he played a key role in negotiating numerous agreements on wages and other industrial issues as part of the Prices and Incomes Accord with the Government of Prime Minister Bob Hawke, himself a former ACTU president.

After Labor's victory at the 1993 election, Keating moved Crean to become Minister for Employment, Education and Training, a role he held until 1996.

[12] On 4 February 2003, Crean led the Labor Party to condemn Prime Minister John Howard's decision to commit Australian troops to the Iraq War.

This failed to stop Crean losing even further ground to Howard in opinion polls as preferred Prime Minister, and on 28 November 2003, Crean announced that he would resign as Leader of the Labor Party, stating that he felt he no longer had the confidence of his colleagues; this made him the first Labor Leader not to contest a federal election since 1916.

He then faced a pre-selection challenge for his seat of Hotham from Martin Pakula, a member of his former union, the SPU, a move which Crean publicly blamed on Beazley, Hong Lim, and the Labor Right.

In this role, Crean visited Singapore and Vietnam to pursue Australia's trade and economic interests at a range of ministerial and other high-level meetings.

Crean also attended the APEC Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade and the OECD Roundtable on Sustainable Development on behalf of the Australian Government.

Crean said he would challenge Wayne Swan for the role of deputy leader, if Rudd ran for the leadership.

After Rudd did eventually replace Gillard as prime minister in June 2013, Crean ran for the position of Deputy Leader but was defeated by Anthony Albanese by 61 votes to 38.

[32][33] Crean died from a pulmonary embolism in Berlin, on 25 June 2023, while visiting Germany as part of an industry delegation as head of the European Australian Business Council.