Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman will launch his authorised biography next week detailing his rise to the premiership with one of the biggest parliamentary majorities in history to losing his seat and government after just one term.
Here are eight things we have learned from reading Can Do: Campbell Newman and the Challenge of Reform by Gavin King:
Newman thinks Julia Gillard’s handling of the National Disability Insurance Scheme was one of the most reckless things he has ever seen:
“Julia Gillard was totally reckless and politically cynical in her approach to NDIS. She proceed to go headlong into that scheme without proper costings, without a proper funding mechanism and without proper agreement from the states. Gillard and Shorten essentially announced it in the media and rolled over the top of everybody. Given the level of expenditure it was one of the most reckless things I’ve seen anyone do in politics.
He wishes he had sued Clive Palmer with public funds:
“I regret that I didn’t sue Clive Palmer using taxpayer resources, I do regret that. If I’d won I would have put that money back in the system. I think in hindsight I was given poor political advice. If we’d taken legal action early in 2013 when he started making outrageous comments it might have changed the whole tone. By not standing up to people like Palmer we actually ceded civility, rationality and reasonableness and we bore the consequences of that. It was a big mistake.
He regrets scrapping the premier’s literary awards even though he is happy to justify it:
“That was a bad political decision, which I have to take responsibility for. I don’t think it actually hurt us at all at that time out in the general population, most people didn’t give two hoots about a literary prize, but the left did. It became emblematic of us as a government, it was one of those important causes to the left in the community who chatter and carry on and network, it was like a rallying flag for them. It was just another excuse for the left to engage us in their usual negative personal labelling of people and political teams. It was a free kick for them to help them create their narrative. I’m quite happy to justify why the decision was made but was it a good political decision? No, it wasn’t.”
He wanted more women in his cabinet:
“I was never happy with the number of women that we had in the cabinet, but we just didn’t have the experience in the team to do otherwise. That’s why we had some up and coming female candidates as assistant ministers ... to give them an opportunity to work their way up to cabinet.”
The adults are no longer in charge:
“I’m afraid we’ve got a bunch of kids in the media and a bunch of kids as political staffers. We’ve got a bunch of kids as politicians and all of that is helping to create a bunch of kids in the electorate. The national debate is dominated by silly, time-wasting nonsense rather than the big issues. We are not debating how to create jobs and a real future for the country. As a community we’re not really engaged with and debating government spending or debt or the federation.”
Newman now sees how people might see appointing Peter Costello to head the state’s commission of audit as a political move:
“It would’ve been better to go with someone else, that’s not a negative reflection on Peter Costello but we needed to explain to Queenslanders how bad things were in the state because of what Labor had done when they were in power. But by using Costello, unfortunately the Labor party unions and the media were able to claim it was a political exercise, which is completely untrue ... that’s one of the things I regret, I take responsibility for it as premier, if I could turn back time I would pick a different person.”
Newman really, really, really, really hates the media:
“They only ever look for short-term politics and gossip. And they have got a lot of nerve to ridicule people like me. They have always ridiculed and sneered.
“Pack of bastards.”
“That vicious and unyielding media cycle left little room for policy debate, and the same level of bloodthirst scrutiny didn’t seem to apply to the Labor party.”
Rupert Murdoch thought Newman should have sacked more than 14,000 public servants:
“A number of News Corporation insiders have said that Murdoch made it clear he wasn’t happy with the Courier Mail’s coverage of the LNP government, and he let [editorial director David] Fagan know about it at that April editor’s meeting [in 2013]. Fagan was defensive and told his boss the paper’s coverage was a reflection of the Government’s culling of 14,000 public servants. Murdoch reportedly leaned in and pointedly told Fagan the premier should’ve sacked thousands more of them.
“Campbell’s media team hoped the changing of the guard at the Courier Mail would help generate some clear media air for its many achievements to be seen and heard.”
