Flashback: Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek celebrates 18 years in office
Most wouldn’t recognise their MP but Member for Surfers John-Paul Langbroek stands out. As he marks 18 years, we look back at him being dubbed ‘hunk of the house’ & that ‘boobies’ shocker.
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FROM Opposition Leader to being the Gold Coast’s “hunk in the house”, John-Paul Langbroek has seen a lot since he was first elected to State Parliament 18 years ago on Monday.
The Surfers Paradise MP, known to many simply as “JP” or “JPL” said he was
always “proud, honoured, humbled and privileged” to hold the role which the practising dentist won just days after his 43rd birthday.
Here are some of Mr Langbroek’s most memorable moments.
February 2004: The giant killer
Nobody expected Mr Langbroek to win the seat of Surfers Paradise. He’d failed at the 2001 by-election and was up against the incumbent MP - Independent former mayor and Gold Coast icon Lex Bell who was running for a second term.
But a hardworking campaign saw Mr Langbroek as one of just two new Liberal MPs elected during the 2004 Peter Beattie-led Labor landslide.
June 2004: Hunk in the house
Mr Langbroek has kept himself in shape throughout his 61 years and it was his gym body which drew notice during his early days in parliament.
In June 2004 he was working out in the parliamentary gym when the bells rang for a vote.
With just four minutes to get to the chamber and no time to change into a suit, Mr Langbroek dashed to the opposition benches in his gym gear, immediately being dubbed the Gold Coast’s own “hunk in the house”.
April 2009: Opposition Leader
The newly merged Liberal and National parties crashed out to their eighth successive electoral defeat at the hands of Labor in a 20-year period in March 2009, spelling the end of Lawrence Springborg’s leadership.
Keen for new blood, the LNP voted to install the third-term MP as Opposition Leader in a bid to appear to metropolitan conservatives.
Gold Coasters were delighted, with both Mr Langbroek and then-Premier Anna Bligh both hailing from the city.
March 2011: Dumped
Mr Langbroek proved a successful leader but saw his support fall away in the way of a resurgent Labor following the January 2011 floods.
With less than a year to go before the long-running Labor administration went to the polls, LNP bosses hit the panic button and dumped Mr Langbroek in favour of Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman.
He remained on the opposition front bench.
March 2012: Minister
The LNP won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in Australian history in March 2012 and Mr Newman, the new premier, installed Mr Langbroek as Education Minister.
As a senior member of the state government, Mr Langbroek proved a highly effective parliamentary performer and in administering his portfolio.
October 2013: Bikie Wars
Mr Langbroek was a witness to the infamous Broadbeach bike brawl in late September 2013 and played a key role in urging Mr Newman to crack down on the city’s OMCG, leading to the passing of the controversial VLAD laws.
February 2015: Deputy Leader
Damaged by scandals and a series of highly controversial decisions, the LNP lost the 2015 election while Mr Newman himself lost his own seat.
Shell-shocked by the unexpected change in fortunes, the LNP turned to Mr Springborg and Mr Langbroek to pick up the pieces.
The pair held their roles until being turfed in a leadership spill in May 2016.
June 2016: ‘Inappropriate hand gestures
Mr Langbroek had to apologise to Parliament for ‘inappropriate’ hand gestures after he was accused simulated masturbation.
It allegedly occurred after then Speaker Peter Wellington warned the Member for Chatsworth Steve Minnikin about hand gestures. Footage then appeared to show Mr Langbroek quickly repeating at least one of the gestures for his Opposition colleagues.
It prompted Labor’s then Education Minister Kate Jones to call on Mr Langbroek to explain his actions and who they were directed at.
Then LNP leader Tim Nicholls said he would “be reinforcing to MPs the importance of maintaining appropriate standards in the house”.
Mr Langbroek later noted: “I understand that we have to set high standards of behaviour.”
January 2017: Hotel expenses
Mr Langbroek found himself in hot water after he claimed $800 in travel expenses in a single financial year for staying in hotels within minutes of his house.
While fully within the rules, political commentators said it did not pass the pub test.
September 2018: That Instagram post
Mr Langbroek’s wife Stacey gave him a telling off for an Instagram post about a woman’s breasts.
He apologised and admitted he had been “inappropriate” after he posted a breasts emoticon – (.) (.) – to the comments of an Instagram photo featuring a senior government adviser.
“She said to me, ‘You’re an old man, you can’t do things like that,’” Mr Langbroek said at the time.
“She said, ‘A bit silly, you can think it, but don’t write it’.”
September 2020: Fighting Dr Young
Labor called for Mr Langbroek to be sacked after he shared a controversial political cartoon on Twitter aimed at Queensland’s coronavirus response.
It showed Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and then-Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young attempting to ride a dead horse.
The image – which includes statements such as “COVID-19 fear campaign and “Covid is only a mild flu” – pictures Dr Young wearing a hat closely resembling those worn by Adolf Hitler’s Schutzstaffel (SS) during the Second World War.
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