I've been curious about him for a while since he was supposedly a good sort but unpopular, and I have a lot of sympathy for politicians like that.

Looking at the obituaries and tributes, you'd be forgiven for thinking the only thing Simon Crean ever accomplished in his life was opposing the Iraq invasion, also he was a union figure and did some non-specific trade diplomacy. What were his values and policy positions? Why would he have been better than Latham? Dunno lol, Iraq

I read on Wikipedia that he was the ACTU president during the Accord, which would have been a tough job and quite a legacy, whether you think it was ultimately a bad idea or not.

Regarding his supposed unpopularity, I just saw someone point out that he actually would've beaten Howard with an 8-seat majority off Greens preferences, but the Australian didn't calculate the 2PP properly and so created the narrative.

https://twitter.com/mumbletwits/status/1673198594512527360

Given a Crean Labor government may well have happened in a less stupid world, what might that have looked like? How would his government have changed the country and faced challenges like climate change, asylum seekers and the GFC? Would something like the Intervention still have happened under his leadership? Etc