Campbell Newman’s stinging assessment of Palaszczuk, Young
Campbell Newman says Queensland missed out on a “fantastic future” under his leadership, and has some stinging words for Labor. VOTE IN OUR POLL
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Why? Why? Why?
Why would battle-scarred Campbell Newman stand again after such a humiliating defeat in 2015? He has a successful company and doesn’t need the money.
Is he suffering relevance deprivation?
“I never wanted to go into politics again,” he concedes.
“Getting involved in the political arena again doesn’t fill me with joy.
“But I have never been so concerned about the future of Australia in my entire life.
“We are seriously going in the wrong direction.
“You can sit on the sidelines and watch the place deteriorate or stand up and take a stand.
“I am taking a stand. I want to make a positive difference. I’m doing it with the Lib Dems.”
They are a “natural fit” because they share his values.
“The objective is to have a number of Lib Dem senators in the Senate to provide a foil to the Left,” he said.
“They are about small government, fiscal responsibility, low debt, reasonable taxes … tick, tick, tick. That is all my kind of stuff.
“And on the social side the Lib Dems are progressive. I backed gay marriage in 2011 before Penny Wong would dare. I backed VAD laws.’’
He dismissed my suggestions he is running again to repair a bruised ego.
“I don’t care two hoots about losing in 2015,’’ he said.
But regrets, he has a few. He regrets the state “missed out on a fantastic future” under his leadership.
“This state should be the most prosperous, dynamic, amazing place in the whole of Australia. It should be the Texas of the South Pacific. We don’t need to have high unemployment. We don’t have to have a huge debt and deficit.
“The Premier here has murdered the tourist industry and doesn’t care. She doesn’t get it.’’
He rates the Palaszczuk government as three out of 10. “They don’t do much and when they do, they do it slowly and expensively.
“They have been less open, less accountable and far more arrogant than the Newman government.
“There were a lot of things said about my government that were simply untrue.”
Newman rejects a rumour he is being secretly funded by billionaire Clive Palmer.
“I’ve not seen a dime from Clive. Not one brass razoo. But if Mr Palmer wants to back us, we’d welcome his support.”
‘DOESN’T HAVE THE QUALIFICATIONS’
Campbell Newman believes the pandemic response in Queensland has been mishandled, and says Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young is partly to blame.
“Dr Young has done more to create vaccine hesitancy in this nation than any other single person,” he said.
“It was very strange.
“The fact we have a very low vaccination level in this state is probably due to those comments she made about AstraZeneca.
“I think the approach to the pandemic has been mishandled from the beginning.
“I’ve worked with Dr Young, and I do not think she has the qualifications to be governor.”
Newman is against mandatory vaccinations but says that doesn’t make him an anti-vaxxer. Forcing workers to vaccinate was anti-democratic, he said.
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