Petro Georgiou (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion of condolence moved by the Prime Minister for the Hon. Frank Crean. I first came into contact with Frank Crean in the 1960s through my friendship with his son the late Stephen Crean, with whom I attended Melbourne High School—‘the honourable Stephen’, as we then called him in mock deference to his father’s political prominence. It was a great sadness when Stephen was lost in a blizzard.

I met Frank Crean again in the course of the 1970s when I was working for Malcolm Fraser and then again in the course of the 1980s when he was appointed a member of the Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs, of which I was director. Frank was remarkably accessible, considerate and supportive of the institute and its objectives. Malcolm Fraser, who is not an easy person to get plaudits from, described Frank Crean as ‘one of the most decent and honourable members of parliament I have ever met’. I think it is worth noting that all the senior liberal parliamentarians who watched him move through the vicissitudes of the Whitlam government held him in the highest regard for his integrity and his decency. That at the end of this troubled period he assumed the position of Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia attests to his qualities and to his commitment to Australia and the Australian Labor Party. My sincere condolences go to his wife, Mary, his sons, Simon and David, and to the family.

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