Former Labor leader Crean to quit politics Former Opposition Leader Simon Crean has announced his retirement from politics. FORMER Labor leader Simon Crean has joined the long line of senior party figures announcing their retirement from politics. The 64-year-old says he will not recontest the Victorian seat of Hotham after 23 years in parliament and 40 years in public life. He said he had decided to leave because of his age and the sheer length of time he has spent in politics and the labour movement. It was time then and it's time now," he told Fairfax Radio on Monday. Mr Crean, who stood for deputy leader but lost to Anthony Albanese last week, said he had turned down an offer to serve in Mr Rudd's new cabinet. "I welcomed that, but I indicated to him I had come to the decision not to contest the next election and he should take that into account," he told Fairfax Radio on Monday. I left him essentially the option to use the position to regenerate or if he needed me to plug a gap until the election, I was happy to. Mr Rudd thanked Mr Crean for his contribution. "I value his work over the years," he said. Mr Crean was regional affairs and arts minister under Julia Gillard, but stepped down in March after unsuccessfully calling on Mr Rudd to challenge for the leadership. Although stranded by the rest of his party the time, Mr Crean said he now felt vindicated by the result of the leadership ballot. "I feel vindicated in the sense that it was important to make the call and to show the lead," he said. Mr 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. When Labor returned to power in 2007, Mr Crean had stints across various portfolios, including trade, education, employment and workplace relations, regional development and the arts. 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.