Gregory Joseph Craven is an Australian academic. He was

vice-chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

and president of the

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamation ...

from February 2008 until January 2021.

Early life and education

Craven was educated at St Kevin's College in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

suburb of . He graduated from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

with a BA (1980); an LL.B (1981); and an

LL.M A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

(1984). The literary critic Peter Craven is his older brother.

Career

Craven taught at

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

from 1982 to 1984. He was appointed director of research for the Legal and Constitutional Committee of the

Victorian Parliament The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly ...

, spending three years in the position between 1985 and 1987. He was then appointed associate professor at the University of Melbourne. He then served as Crown Counsel to the Attorney-General for Victoria from 1992 until 1995, briefly returning to his previous post before being appointed professor of law at

Notre Dame University The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Catholic religious order o ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, in 1996. He then became deputy vice-chancellor (strategy and planning) at

Curtin University of Technology Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, Prime Minister ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. He also served as executive director of the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy. Craven became vice-chancellor and president of the Australian Catholic University in February 2008. His initial term was set to finish in 2013, but was extended to March 2018. On 8 April 2020, the ACU chancellor, John Fahey, announced Craven's planned retirement, to become effective in January 2021. His successor was named as Zlatko Skrbis.

Other activities

Craven has researched and written on constitutional law, government, public policy, constitutional history, and

federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...

. He is a regular columnist for ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' newspaper. He was a leading advocate of

republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology that encompasses a range of ideas from civic virtue, political participation, harms of corruption, positives of mixed constitution, rule of law, and others. Historically, it emphasizes the idea of self ...

in the leadup to the (eventually unsuccessful) 1999 referendum on the proposed change in Australia from being a

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

to a

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

. Craven, Greg
Chapter One: The Republican Debate and the True Course of Constitutional Conservatism
from ''Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society'', Rydges Carlton Hotel, Melbourne, 9 -11 July, 1999. Craven has served on a range of public bodies. He chaired the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group and was deputy chair of the COAG Reform Council. He was a member of the Commonwealth Higher Education Standards Panel (HESP) and the lead vice-chancellor for Universities Australia on quality and regulation. In February 2019, following the 2018 trial and conviction of Cardinal

George Pell George Pell (8 June 1941 – 10 January 2023) was an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. From 2002, he faced recurring accusations of sexual abuse, although his subsequent sexual abuse conviction was quashed on appeal to the High Cour ...

for child abuse, Craven provided one of 10 positive character references for the purposes of the sentencing hearing. Pell was eventually acquitted and all the convictions quashed by the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

on 7 April 2020. Within the Australian Catholic community, Craven is a member of the National Catholic Education Commission and the Truth, Justice and Healing Council. He is also noted as a key Australian Catholic layman for opinions on important issues.

Bibliography

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Degrees and honours

*Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Melbourne (1980) *Bachelor of Laws (LLB), University of Melbourne (1981) *Master of Laws (LLM), University of Melbourne (1984), *Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great (GCSG) (2015), *Officer of Order of Australia (AO) 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craven, Greg 1958 births Living people 20th-century Australian lawyers Australian republicans Officers of the Order of Australia People educated at St Kevin's College, Melbourne University of Melbourne alumni Academic staff of the Australian Catholic University Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great