Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is the leader of the Liberal National Party of Queensland. He was the 15th Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 2004 to 2011.
He was elected to the mayoralty in 2004 and re-elected in 2008. Newman's slogan during the 2004 and 2008 election campaigns was "Can Do". It is common for supporters to refer to him as "Can Do Campbell". At
DuntroonThe Royal Military College, Duntroon is the Australian Army's officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, in the Australian Capital Territory, in 1911 and is situated on picturesque grounds at the foot of Mount Pleasant near Lake Burley Griffin, close to the Department of Defence...
, he was nicknamed "Noddy", in reference both to his appearance and to his misadventures during his time in the Army.
Since July 2008, Newman and his Liberal council colleagues have been members of the merged Liberal National Party of Queensland.
Jeff SeeneyJeffrey William Seeney is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since the 1998 state election, representing the National Party and merged Liberal National Party ....
led the LNP state parliamentary opposition from September 2006 until January 2008 when he was ousted in favour of
Lawrence SpringborgLawrence James Springborg is an Australian politician and became Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Queensland since 2 April 2009. He was deputy leader of the new Liberal National Party...
. In March 2011, successive leader
John-Paul LangbroekJohn-Paul Honoré Langbroek is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly representing the Liberal Party and its successor, the centre-right Liberal National Party, in the seat of Surfers Paradise since 2004...
stood down in favour of Newman. Seeney was elected interim opposition leader, Newman will lead the LNP to the
next Queensland state electionThe 2012 Queensland state election will elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly. Queensland elections must be held on a Saturday, the last possible date being calculated by reference to the previous election writs, and therefore slightly longer than 3 years after the previous election...
and simultaneously contest the seat of
AshgroveThe division of Ashgrove is a Queensland Legislative Assembly electoral division in the state of Queensland, Australia.It is located in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, encompassing Alderley, Ashgrove, Enoggera, The Gap, and Newmarket...
. If he is successful, Newman will assume the position of parliamentary leader of the LNP, and if the party is elected to government, Premier of Queensland.
Early life and military career
Born in
CanberraCanberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Newman is the son of former Senator and Federal Minister
Jocelyn NewmanJocelyn Margaret Newman was an Australian Senator for Tasmania for 15 years.Newman was born in Melbourne and was a Barrister and solicitor before entering Parliament. She married Kevin Newman in 1961. Her son Campbell Newman is the Lord Mayor of Brisbane.Newman was appointed to the Senate on 13...
, and former Member for
BassThe Division of Bass is an Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania. The division was created in 1903 and is named for the explorer George Bass. It has always been based on the city of Launceston and surrounding rural areas, and its boundaries have changed very little in the century since its...
and Federal Minister, the late
Kevin NewmanKevin Eugene Newman AO was an Australian soldier and politician. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Australian Army, serving in Malaysia and the Vietnam War....
. He was raised in
TasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, where his father held the federal seat of Bass, then returned to Canberra where his mother served as a Senator.
Newman attended the
Royal Military College, DuntroonThe Royal Military College, Duntroon is the Australian Army's officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, in the Australian Capital Territory, in 1911 and is situated on picturesque grounds at the foot of Mount Pleasant near Lake Burley Griffin, close to the Department of Defence...
, and joined the
Australian ArmyThe Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
as a lieutenant in 1981. He is a qualified
civil engineerA civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
with an honours degree in civil engineering from the
University of New South WalesThe University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
and spent thirteen years in the army, retiring with the rank of
MajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
in 1993.
He moved to Queensland where he graduated with an MBA from the
University of QueenslandThe University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
, then worked for the agricultural storage company Grainco, before deciding to stand for election as Lord Mayor of Brisbane.
Lord Mayor of Brisbane
Due to the laws governing the election of Brisbane's Lord Mayor and City Councillors, Newman was elected directly to replace
Tim QuinnKieron Owen Timothy Quinn is an Australian politician.Tim Quinn entered local politics in 1985, becoming Brisbane's Lord Mayor after a factional deal by party officials following Lord Mayor Jim Soorley's retirement from politics in 2003...
. However, in the 2004 election a majority of wards returned
ALPThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
Councillors, meaning Newman had to work with a
cabinetA Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
dominated by his nominal Opposition, and a Labor Deputy Mayor. In the 2008 election, the ALP lost at least 6 wards to the Liberal Party, giving the Liberals a majority.
Newman was selected as one of 25 mayors from across the world shortlisted for the 2010
World Mayor PrizeWorld Mayor is a biennial award organized by The City Mayors Foundation since 2004. It intends to raise the profile of mayors worldwide, as well as honour those who have served their communities well and who have contributed to the well-being of cities, nationally and internationally...
, an online competition aimed at raising the profile of civic leaders. When the results were announced, Newman was declared the 5th best mayor in the world.
During Newman's time as Mayor his administration delivered 700 new buses, 12 new ferries, spent $1 billion on improving suburban roads, built two new bridges across the Brisbane River, one tunnel- with two more under construction, opened three new swimming pools and a library. His Can Do Council team also spearheaded the change to 100% use of green electricity and full carbon offset of emissions of council vehicles. His team also purchased 500 hectares of bushland to save it from development and planted 2 million trees.
State politics and LNP leadership
On 22 March 2011, Newman announced that he was seeking pre-selection for the state
electoral district of AshgroveThe division of Ashgrove is a Queensland Legislative Assembly electoral division in the state of Queensland, Australia.It is located in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, encompassing Alderley, Ashgrove, Enoggera, The Gap, and Newmarket...
, and if successful, he would then challenge for the leadership of the Queensland Liberal National Party. Following Newman's announcement, the existing leader of the LNP,
John-Paul LangbroekJohn-Paul Honoré Langbroek is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly representing the Liberal Party and its successor, the centre-right Liberal National Party, in the seat of Surfers Paradise since 2004...
, resigned. As Newman was not a member of parliament,
Jeff SeeneyJeffrey William Seeney is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since the 1998 state election, representing the National Party and merged Liberal National Party ....
was elected as parliamentary leader and
Leader of the OppositionThis is a list of Leaders of the Opposition in Queensland. Prior to 1898, opposition to the government of the day was less organised. Thus the Queensland Parliamentary Record does not designate Leaders of the Opposition before then....
by the party, with an undertaking to cede the leadership to Newman should his pre-selection and election be successful. On 4 April 2011, Newman was elected to lead the party's election team, with Seeney remaining as the party's parliamentary leader and Leader of the Opposition.
Soon after, Labor state Treasurer
Andrew FraserAndrew Fraser may refer to:* Andrew Fraser, 3rd Lord Fraser, Lord Fraser* Andrew Fraser , lieutanant governor of Bengal from 1903–1908...
used parliamentary privilege to claim he had received information from within the LNP that previous party leader
Bruce FleggDr Bruce Flegg is the Queensland Shadow Ministerfor Education, Training and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and the Member for Moggill having been elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2006 and 2009....
was offered an inducement to step down and allow Campbell to contest his seat at a by-election to assume the parliamentary leadership. On 18 July 2011, the Crime and Misconduct Commission announced that the investigation found no evidence to support Fraser's allegations and all parties were cleared.
Billionaire and LNP benefactor
Clive PalmerClive Palmer is a British folk musician and banjoist best known as a founding member of the Incredible String Band.Born in Edmonton, North London, he first went on stage at the age of 8, and took banjo lessons from the age of 10. Around 1957 he began playing with jazz bands in Soho...
said the "CMC [was] colluding with the government" while the LNP accused Fraser of "knowing too much about the investigation".
Newman made it clear that when he took over the LNP leadership, all policies previously announced would be scrapped and essentially become "null and void" with new policy announcements to be made. In an attempt to win voter support in regional Queensland, Newman's first official LNP policy announcement was that he would not support
daylight savingDaylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
in Queensland or
South East QueenslandSouth East Queensland is a region of the state of Queensland in Australia, which contains approximately two-thirds of the state population...
, even though as Brisbane's Lord Mayor he had been a vocal advocate for daylight saving.
Newman has since announced a number of policies including a number of measures to reduce the cost of living for Queenslanders, policies to protect Fraser Island's dingoes and dugong and turtles from animal cruelty and a comprehensive planning process to fix the Bruce Highway.
Personal life and family
Newman lives in Brisbane with his wife Lisa and their two children, Rebecca and Sarah.
External links
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