Campbell Newman
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Campbell Newman became Brisbane's Lord Mayor in 2004 following the defeat of Tim Quinn. Newman is the son of former Liberal Party senator Jocelyn Newman.
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Background
Campbell Newman is a qualified army engineer. He lives in Brisbane with his wife Lisa (who is of Lebanese ancestry) and their three children.
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 such activity was legal and quite normal, there was a wide perception that the Brisbane City Council had become very undemocratic and that the 2004 election would be a surrogate referendum on the years of Soorley leadership, as well as on the manner of his leaving. That said, there was not a perceived mood for change in Brisbane at this time. Indeed, there was 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).
Newman's Campaign
Unusually for a major party, the Liberals announced Newman as their candidate for the 2004 election more than a year prior to the vote. This was seen as a bold move, but a necessary one to introduce the political neophyte to voters.
Newman's first slogan was "I won't stand for it", generally used in relation to the gridlock problems then 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 illegal for civilians to do.
A key policy that Newman had in his campaign was a promise to allow 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 announced that it would take buses, however Newman (and many Dutton Park residents) believed that there had not been adequate consultation. Despite this issue being key to his election, it is important to note that Council-commissioned studies of the proposal showed a high level of support for the Soorley plan.
Newman was not expected to do well at all, due to his lack of experience and the ALP machine being deployed against him. 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.
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. However, both sides continued to negotiate and the eventual result was the replacement of Hayes as Labor leader by David Hinchliffe who also became deputy Mayor. The Labor Party dominated Civic Cabinet, in line with the ward results, with the Liberals only having one member in that body.
Despite the obvious difficulties of such a government, the Newman-Hinchliffe team was quite successful in its first 100 days - bringing many commentators to the conclusion that perhaps this "marriage of convenience" or "the least likely coalition in history" might work.
Further Council Controversy
While the "coalition" was able to run Brisbane, there were a number of 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 (Labor) Alderman who had been absent observing the 2004 US Presidential Election. Newman defended his actions by pointing out that the Alderman involved had not previously sought permission to be absent.
- A threatened legal action during Newman's absence in Singapore. Hinchliffe had announced that, as deputy Mayor, he would lead the Council. Newman had 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 it nominally being Cr Newman's prerogative to announce such things. At the same time, the Liberal minority on Council criticised the RiverWalk and in particular its construction - claimed by Newman to have ignored the natural movement of the River. The Labor councillor 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.
Policing
As Mayor, Newman has been particularly vocal on the perceived lack of police in inner-city Brisbane.
His comments began following a brawl instigated by female high school students in the Queen Street Mall and were repeated following a criminal case dealing with a rape in the centre of the same mall. In early November 2004, he also raised concerns about the ability of police to deal with street kids after a group threw rocks and other projectiles at cars and pedestrians from the roof of an abandoned building.
The Queensland Police Minister, Judy Spence, and Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson were quick to defend their officers from allegations that they were not doing their jobs properly - however both sides admitted that there was at least a perception that there were not enough police on active duty in the city. Newman's claims were seemingly vindicated to an extent following the publication of a report showing that violent crime in the city had increased to the end of 2004.