Campbell Newman
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Campbell Newman became Brisbane's Lord Mayor in 2004. Newman is the son of former Liberal Party senator and Federal Minister Jocelyn Newman and, former Liberal Party member for Bass (in Tasmania) and Federal Minister, the late Kevin Newman.
Campbell Newman is a qualified engineer, formerly in the Australian Army. He lives in Brisbane with his wife Lisa (who is of Lebanese ancestry) and their two children Rebecca and Sarah.
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[edit] The 2004 Election
Prior to the 2004 election, Brisbane Lord Mayor Jim Soorley announced that he would retire. In what was widely seen as a "back-room deal", Queensland Premier Peter Beattie played a hand in organising Soorley's replacement by Tim Quinn. The actual deal itself was rumoured to have been agreed to at a Chinese New Year function, although the parties involved have not confirmed this to be wholly correct. Regardless, Quinn found himself given the nickname of "Dim Sim Tim Quinn" by the Brisbane Courier-Mail.
While there was not a perceived mood for change in Brisbane at this time. There was even a belief that the Liberal candidate - Newman - was effectively serving the same purpose as Soorley had for the ALP before his election, running against a very popular incumbent (in Soorley's case, the incumbent was Sallyanne Atkinson, in Newman's it was both Soorley and Quinn) with no great likelihood of winning. In the event, Newman's dark horse victory was seen by some commentators as proof that he had served the same purpose as Soorley (who defeated Atkinson).
[edit] Newman's Campaign
Unusually for a major party, the Liberals announced Newman as their candidate for the 2004 election, two years prior to the vote. This was seen as a bold move, but a necessary one to introduce the political beginner to voters. Even with this two year head start in campaigning, Newman's profile recognition languished in the single digits until about one month before the election.
Newman's first slogan was "I won't stand for it", generally used in relation to the gridlock problems that were claimed to be plaguing the city. Then-mayor Jim Soorley was dismissive of Newman's policies as he was from outside the Council and was believed not to understand the issues.
During the official campaign, Newman traded on his career background as an army engineer to portray himself as "The Can-Do Man". This resulted in a controversial photo opportunity when he helped to fix a pothole, despite that actually being against local by-laws for non-council workers to do any repairs to the road system. A key supporter used the opportunity to make sexist comments regarding a rival candidate.
One key policy that Newman had in his campaign was a promise to immediately halt work and re-open "consultation" with the residents of Dutton Park and St Lucia to express their views on the proposed Green Bridge linking Dutton Park to the University of Queensland at St Lucia. Jim Soorley had previously complete consultation that showed a high level of support for a bridge that would take buses, however Newman (and many Dutton Park residents) claimed that there had not been adequate consultation. Newman supported a pedestrian only bridge without buses. Despite this issue being key to his election, it is important to note that the Newman lead Council-commissioned consultation the proposal showed a high level of support for the Soorley plan and the bridge was completed in 2006 designed to carry buses, pedestrians and bicycles. Despite claims to be "on time and below budget," the Bridge was completed some 12 months after it was original planned to be completed and after taking into account ancillary works, was over budget. The delay and budget blowout was entirely attributable to Newman's waffling support for the bridge.
Some of Newman's other key promises were not to raise council rates and utility charges more than inflation - and if he did, he would resign; to fully fund the building of five cross city tunnels called TransApex through a $2 toll; to abolish all bus lanes throughout the city; to provide "neighbourhood plans" to every suburb in Brisbane within his first term; and to an open and accountable council government that would not keep any secrets.
Newman was not expected to do well at all, due to his lack of experience and the ALP machine being deployed against him. For Newman was the support of local Rupert Murdoch controlled media, who had taken this opportunity to help a Liberal win an election. However, on the eve of the poll, it was clear that Tim Quinn was going to be returned with a much reduced majority - if he were returned at all. In the event, Quinn was not returned at all.
The "two party preferred" vote resulted in Newman claiming 52.5% with Quinn getting only 47.5% of the votes. It is also interesting to note that approximately 8% of total votes cast were "exhausted" before preferencing to either Newman or Quinn. This is more than the separation between the two main candidates, and clearly calls into question the claim by some pro-Newman commentators (particularly David Fagan, editor of the local News Corporation newspaper Courier-Mail and John Miller of 4BC radio) that Newman has a strong mandate to govern as "the boss" of Brisbane.
[edit] Split Council
Due to the laws governing the election of Brisbane's Lord Mayor and City Councillors, Newman was elected directly to replace Quinn. However, a majority of wards returned ALP Councillors, creating the situation in which a Liberal Lord Mayor would have to work directly with his nominal opposition.
Early negotiations between Newman and the then-Labor leader, Maureen Hayes, were not promising and it appeared that this arrangement was set to fail. This was mainly a result of Newman claiming on election night that he was "the Boss" of Brisbane, and that all the councillors should just do as he said. However, both sides continued to negotiate. Newman soon realised that the extent of his powers were limited, and in any event he had no more than one vote in council and was bound to implement the policies as passed by council. The new Labor leader by David Hinchliffe also became deputy Mayor. The Labor Party claimed the majority of seats in Civic Cabinet, in line with the ward results, with the Liberals having two members in that body (the Lord Mayor plus one other Liberal Councillor Graham Quirk.)
Despite the obvious difficulties of such a government, the Newman-Hinchliffe team has been quite successful. In its first 100 days alone they brought many commentators to the conclusion that perhaps this "marriage of convenience" or "the least likely coalition in history" might work. Since then there have been very few disputes between the two sides of politics in this one government.
While the "coalition" was able to run Brisbane, there were a number of minor controversial moments which occurred in the last months of 2004 which led some commentators to once again question if this arrangement could last. Among these were:
- The extraordinary step of the Council voting against accepting the apology of a (former Liberal) Councillor Tim Nicholls who had been absent observing the 2004 US Presidential Election. Newman defended his actions by pointing out that the Councillor involved had not previously sought permission to be absent.
- A threatened legal action during Newman's absence in China. Hinchliffe had announced that, as Deputy Mayor, he could lead the Council. Newman obtained a legal opinion confirming that he remained Mayor, even when out of the country, and was therefore entitled to continue to run the city by mobile phone.
- Near the end of 2004, both the Lord Mayor and the Labor council accused each other of trying to "gazump" (upstage) the other. Cr Hinchliffe, for example, announced the increase in CityCat services on the Brisbane River, despite Cr Newman's saying it was his prerogative to announce such things. At the same time, the Liberal minority on Council criticised the highly popular floating portion of RiverWalk and in particular its innovative award winning construction. The Labor councillor John H. Campbell with responsibility for the RiverWalk hit back angrily at these claims and the proposal to rebuild the entire structure as being even more of a waste of public money than the Liberals had claimed the Walk to be in the first place.
[edit] Trivia
Newman's nickname during his military career was Noddy due to his various misadventures, especially Exercise Hardslog III, a crossing of the Tanami Desert (Northern Territory) which was an ill fated trip through the outback desert that resulted in 199 flat tyres and the Newman lead group requiring to be rescued by the Army.
Newman's self-proclaimed nickname during the 2004 election campaign was "Can Do". It is common for supporters to refer to him as "Can Do Campbell".
| Preceded by Tim Quinn |
Lord Mayor of Brisbane 2004 – present |
Incumbent |
