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Former Labor leader Simon Crean has died, aged 74.
Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum for the man who served in a range of ministries under multiple prime ministers and led the opposition from 2001 to 2003.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported the Victorian politician and union figure was visiting Europe for trade and business meetings when he passed away.
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The former ACTU president, was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1990 and held portfolios including trade, primary industries, employment and education before retiring in 2013.
He served in cabinet under prime ministers Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
Labor Treasurer Jim Chalmers described Crean as a "very good man — decent, generous and wonderful company".
"A lifetime of dedication to our country and its working people won't be forgotten," he said.
Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack said he was saddened to hear of the former member for Hotham's death.
"As a first-term opposition backbencher in 2010, the advice and assistance this Labor luminary gave me was quite extraordinary," he said.
"He offered help when our daughter moved to Melbourne. A wonderful human being, he was an MP who genuinely cared."
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Journalist Barrie Cassidy highlighted the time Crean stood up to former US president George W Bush regarding the Iraq war.
"Simon Crean told the parliament in the presence of Pres Bush that the true measure of friendship was to tell a friend when they were wrong. And they were wrong on the Iraq war," Cassidy said.
"He was right. Yet he became the only Labor leader never to contest an election."
Crean was the son of Whitlam-era treasurer Frank Crean and the brother of Tasmanian politician David Crean.
Before entering politics, he spent six years as the head of the Federated Storemen and Packers' Union and was president of the ACTU between 1985 and 1990.
Crean was a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments after first winning the seat of Hotham in 1990.
He was opposition leader between 2001 and 2003, but did not take the party to an election.
In 2013, he publicly called for a leadership challenge and retired days after Rudd took over from Gillard as prime minister.
Crean described the three turbulent preceding years of minority government as the low point of his career and backed his decision to ask Rudd to challenge.
On retirement, he said he was most proud of playing a role in the signing of the Accord between the Hawke government and the ACTU.
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