Campbell Newman, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Queensland
Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland between 24 March 2012 and 31 January 2015. He was LNP Leader from 2 April 2011 to 7 February 2015; Newman previously served as the 15th Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 27 March 2004 to 3 April 2011.
Newman was elected to the lord mayorship as a member of the Liberal Party. He became a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland following the July 2008 merger of the Queensland Liberals and the Nationals. In March 2011, Newman announced that he would challenge opposition leader John-Paul Langbroek for the leadership of the LNP. Langbroek resigned, and Newman was elected his successor. As Newman was not a member of the Legislative Assembly, former state Nationals' leader Jeff Seeney was elected interim opposition leader while Newman headed the party's election team from outside the legislature.
Newman led the LNP in the 2012 state election, winning 78 of 89 seats from a 44-seat two-party swing, the first time LNP had formed a majority government. At the same time, he was elected to the seat of Ashgrove in western Brisbane. He was sworn in as premier two days later, becoming the first Brisbane-based non-Labor premier in 97 years. At the 2015 state election, the Newman-led LNP suffered a 14.0-point two-party swing, resulting in a hung parliament—of 89 seats, Labor won 44 seats and the statewide two-party vote while the LNP were reduced to 42 seats. Newman himself lost his own seat to his Labor predecessor, Kate Jones. On 10 February 2015, Newman submitted his resignation and he was replaced as premier by Annastacia Palaszczuk four days later as Labor formed a minority government.
In July 2021, Newman resigned from the LNP, and in August 2021 announced he had joined the Liberal Democrats and would be standing as the party's lead Senate candidate in Queensland at the 2022 Australian federal election. To date, Newman remains the only premier of Queensland from the Liberal National Party.