As he so thoroughly deserved, Simon Crean was lauded by all sides of politics in a series of condolence speeches on Monday, which was the first time parliament had sat since the former Labor leader’s sudden death on June 25.

Similar to the tributes that poured in immediately after Crean’s death from a pulmonary embolism, a significant focus of the condolences was his principled stance in 2003 against the US-led invasion of Iraq.