Winston Crane

Arthur Winston Crane (born 21 August 1941) is a former Australian politician. Born in Perth, Western Australia, he was a farmer and grazier, and served as Senior Vice-President of the National Farmers' Federation. In 1990, he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Liberal Senator from Western Australia. For the 2001 election, he was demoted to fourth place on the Liberal ticket, replaced by the State President of the WA Liberal Party, David Johnston. Crane was defeated; his term expired in 2002.

Early life Crane was born in Perth on 21 August 1941. He is the son of Lavina (née Longman) and Arthur Crane. His uncle Bert Crane was a state MP. During his tenure the NFF was involved with a number of industrial conflicts with trade unions, including the Wide Comb dispute, the Mudginberri dispute, and the CBH Group waterside dispute in Geraldton. He also led the NFF's campaign committee at the 1987 federal election, with the stated aim of increasing the organisation's political presence by lobbying candidates to adopt NFF policies.

Politics In 1989, Crane won Liberal Party preselection as the third candidate on the party's Senate ticket in Western Australia.

Crane was a shadow parliamentary secretary from 1993 to 1996. He served on a number of Senate committees, notably as chair of the rural and regional affairs and transport legislation committee from 1996 to 2002. As part of the investigation, the AFP took out search warrants and seized documents from Crane's office and home. Crane subsequently alleged the document seizures had breached parliamentary privilege, with the Federal Court ordering that the seized documents be presented to the president of the Senate to determine whether a breach had occurred.

Crane was placed in the "unwinnable" fourth position on the Liberal Party's Senate ticket at the 2001 election, which was attributed to the AFP investigation and factional conflict. He was defeated for re-election with his term expiring on 30 June 2002.