Why Gillard put Crean first

Prime Minster Gillard's announcement of her new ministry on Saturday provided much to kick along established themes among the commentariat.

How will she control Kevin Rudd as Foreign Minister? What will Stephen Smith's reward be for 'taking one for the team' in shifting to Defence? Will Penny Wong's strong negotiation skills find more fertile soil in Finance? And, look, Bill Shorten has taken his fee for disposing of Rudd in the form of a promotion to Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation.

But when 'Queen Julia' – as one women's magazine has dubbed her – fronted journalists on Saturday there was a telling symbolism in who she chose to name first:

"Okay, I'm here today to announce the shape of the new ministry of the Gillard government, and first and foremost can I say the new ministry delivers on my promise to have a dedicated Department of Regional Australia that will be within my portfolio as Prime Minister, and it will be led by a dedicated Cabinet minister, Simon Crean."

Gillard's motives are not hard to fathom – her first few months as elected PM will involve much pandering to Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, the two independents who showed impressive tactical nous in holding out on Labor (and the Coalition) until they'd extracted maximum value in pledges for their electorates and regional Australia. Putting the new Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local government (oh, yes, and Minister for the Arts) at the top of the list was merely prudent.

But there is a second reason for putting Crean at the top of the list, perhaps more important than any Machiavellian rationale driving Gillard's communications staff – Crean is a solid performer (okay, except during his brief tenure as Labor leader between 2001 and 2003) and a Labor stalwart, now charged with redeveloping a neglected, and vitally important part of the Australian economy.

For all the stink raised over the $10 billion package Oakeshott and Windsor negotiated with Labor – much of it re-allocated funding from existing programs that will now 'go bush' before spending big in the cities – it is indeed time to invest in the regions.

Crean seemed to know of his impending portfolio switch days before his leader announced it. The day after the historic Oakeshott-Windsor announcement, Crean was quoted in one of his Hotham electorate's local papers, The Moorabin Leader, as saying: "We need to find ways to deal with the pressures of growth, the issues of service delivery, so I think the focus on regions is long overdue."

One of the cut-through moments of the August campaign – one that put the 'population debate' in perspective – was when Mt Gambier mayor Steve Perryman told an ABC Q&A audience that his town had ample water, land and fertile soil and yet had a population of just 25,000 compared to Adelaide's 1.2 million. If the cities are gridlocked and overflowing, he was suggesting, there are plenty of towns that should grow into Australia's second generation of cities. There is a massive social good for city folk, it would seem, in giving them a bit of help.

A former Crean staffer told this columnist recently that their former boss, if a little uncharismatic in front of the camera – perhaps the main reason for his appalling polling figures as opposition leader – was nonetheless one of the ALP's most intelligent and hard-working MPs.

Let's hope that's true. Gillard announced his new role before telling Oakeshott and Windsor just who would be delivering their goodies, but showed confidence that somebody of his calibre would make the right impression: "I'm well aware that Simon Crean, over a long period of time, has exhibited a passion for localism, for the embrace of localism, for the embrace of regional development, and I'm sure the independents know that."

Federally funded regional infrastructure, incentives for large-scale renewable energy projects, boosts to regional education and, perhaps most significantly, the 'roll in' of the NBN (as opposed to the previously planned 'roll out' in metropolitan areas) promise to make the regions drivers of growth in industries far wider than mining.

Crean, who was Minister for Primary Industries and Energy between 1991 and 1993, better dust off his region-building skill set and get to work.