Campbell Newman slams Labor’s ‘pathetic’ obsession with him

He’s compared himself to Harry Potter’s nemesis Voldemort, but the name of this former Queensland politician won’t leave one party’s lips after it was mentioned more than 3000 times.

Six years after he was booted from office one-term premier Campbell Newman remains at the centre of Queensland politics, with analysis revealing the parliament’s staggering “obsession” with the former LNP leader.

Analysis by The Courier-Mail reveals Mr Newman has been referenced a whopping 3329 times since in parliament the LNP Premier lost office in January 2015.

His is largely referenced in Question Time, when LNP questions about the government’s track record are answered with a historic comparison to the administration of Mr Newman and then-treasurer Tim Nicholls.

While both sides of parliament have mentioned Mr Newman, he is far more popular on the government benches where ministers repeatedly refer to his track record of public service and fiscal cuts more than half-a-decade on.

Former premier Campbell Newman says Labor’s “obsession” with him reflects poorly on its time in government.

Mr Newman and the “Newman LNP Government” were mentioned most times – 708 – in 2016.

This year he has already been referenced 320 times – on track to surpass last year’s 356 references.

There has been only three of the 236 sitting days under the Palaszczuk Government where Mr Newman has not been mentioned in state parliament.

Only the start of the Covid-19 pandemic could limit the obsession with the former LNP Premier, with two of those days being March 17 and 18 last year.

At the time Queensland’s leaders were about to plunge the state into lockdown after cases grew to almost 700 in less than two months.

Mr Newman said the repeated references to him more than six years ago reflected poorly on the government.

“It just shows how pathetic Annastacia Palaszczuk, Steven Miles, Cameron Dick and the whole of Labor are,” he said.

“They’ve never had any plan for Queensland, strong economic policies for the state or vision.

“The government has almost been there for seven years and they have done nothing that really matters – everywhere you look they’ve done a lousy job.”

Campbell Newman has compared himself to Voldemort because the LNP refuse to talk about his time as premier. Picture: Supplied

Mr Newman, who compares himself to Harry Potter’s nemesis Voldemort because of the LNP’s silence on his Premiership, said “disappointment” remained with the party for “failing to point out the achievements” of his government.

Opposition frontbencher Jarrod Bleijie said the government was “stuck in the past”.

“Labor is losing control of the state and service delivery and is taking the blame game to an extraordinary level and Queenslanders are getting very tired of it,” he said.

“They cry Canberra, Campbell or Covid every time they’re out of ideas or to cover up another mess they’ve made. 

A spokesman for Ms Palaszczuk declined to comment on why the government continued to focus on the former Premier.

“How about the Opposition think of some policies rather than get stuck in this minutiae,” he said.

“We’re not commenting on trivialities.”

Griffith University Political expert Paul Williams said Mr Newman had become “electoral poison” in some areas of the state due to his strong but “poorly received leadership”.

“Campbell Newman became synonymous with privatisation and arrogant leadership,” he said.

“Labor has got so much electoral mileage out of Campbell Newman … you will see Labor will no doubt trot out Campbell Newman again.

“Over time the link gets more and more tenuous – but that (2024 election) will be their last gasp.”

THE NEWMAN QUOTES

“When the Leader of the Opposition was Campbell Newman’s protege, they actually cut police.” – Annastacia Palaszczuk, October 2019

“Campbell Newman -now known as ‘Nuclear Newman’ – is still so taken by a dangerous, outdated technology – a power source that costs five times the amount of renewable energy.” – Mick de Brenni, May 2021

“Campbell Newman and the former Attorney-General destroyed goodwill and civility in the legal community.” -Yvette D’Ath, March 2015

“They recycle Newman government era MPs. They recycled the member for Broadwater. They recycled him.” – Mark Bailey, September 2020

“I will not be lectured by the Leader of the Opposition, who sat around the cabinet table, who sat next to Campbell Newman and decimated health in this state.” – Annastacia Palaszczuk, April 2021

“Don’t worry about Anna Bligh, worry about Campbell Newman. You worry about Campbell Newman. That’s what you’re becoming. You’re becoming Campbell Newman.” – Cameron Dick, April 2021

“He is demanding massive cuts — unheard of cuts, greater cuts than even Campbell Newman inflicted on us, and we all know what the result of that was.” – Steven Miles, December 2020