David Andrew Campbell (born 27 July 1957), a former Australian politician, was a Member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

for Keira between 1999 and 2011. A former Lord Mayor of

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near w ...

, Campbell was appointed Minister for Police from 2 April 2007 to 5 September 2008, as well as Minister for Transport from 8 September 2008 until his resignation on 20 May 2010, with both positions as part of the

NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

. On 28 September 2010, Campbell announced that he would not seek Labor endorsement for re-election at the 2011 NSW election.

Background and early years

Campbell was born in

Bulli, New South Wales Bulli ( ) is a northern suburb of Wollongong situated on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. History Bulli is possibly derived from an Aboriginal word signifying "double or two mountains", but other derivations have been suggeste ...

the son of Margaret and Harry Campbell. In 1974, Campbell married Edna and together they have two adult sons. Campbell joined the Labor Party in the mid-1970s. He was an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members ...

on the

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

of the

City of Wollongong The City of Wollongong is a local government area in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is situated adjacent to the Tasman Sea, the Princes Motorway and the Illawarra railway line. Located south of Sydney central bu ...

from 1987 to 1999 and Lord Mayor from September 1991 to 1999. He was appointed a Fellow of the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

in 1995.

State politics

Campbell was elected as Member for Keira in March 1999 representing the Labor Party following a decision by Col Markham to contest the seat of

. Campbell was re-elected as Member for Keira at the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

elections. In 2003, Campbell was appointed Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollong ...

, and Minister for Small Business by

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...

, and Minister for Water Utilities in February 2006 by Premier Iemma. Following the 2007 election, Iemma appointed Campbell to the role of Police Minister and Minister for Illawarra. Premier

Nathan Rees Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees wa ...

promoted Campbell as Minister for Transport on 8 September 2008, which was expanded to include Roads under Premier

Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Repre ...

in December 2009. For most of 2009, Minister Campbell was dogged by the controversial Metro project, a Metro style rail proposal for the Sydney CBD and Inner West. Originally expected to cost AUD2 billion), the CBD Metro was later estimated to cost $7 billion and caused Campbell to come under pressure from the public over the continued viability of the project. The Sydney Metro was cancelled in February 2010. Campbell was labelled 'Mr Slow' by the NSW opposition and the ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' for his handling of transport issues.

Resignation

On 20 May 2010,

Seven News ''7NEWS'' is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins ar ...

broadcast video surveillance revealing Campbell leaving a gay sex club in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...

. Shortly before the footage was aired, Campbell resigned as minister for Transport and Roads citing personal reasons and said that he would remain as the Member for Keira. The journalist who broke the story, Adam Walters, defended airing the footage, saying it was in the "public interest". Walters was supported by former Labor Premier

Barrie Unsworth Barrie John Unsworth (born 16 April 1934) is a former Australian politician, representing the Labor Party in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988. Early years Unswort ...

, who described Campbell's actions as "deplorable." Mr Unsworth told ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' newspaper "Campbell has been the police minister and he's been on the NSW Crime Commission, and he's frequented places where he's easily recognised. The threat is not from Channel 7 lurking outside but by the people inside. We've got a criminal milieu in this city and he laid himself open to all sorts of threats and blackmail." Another former Labor Premier

defended Campbell. "My position has always been that the private life of MPs is precisely that," Mr Carr said. Others, including the former High Court justice Michael Kirby, criticised Walters and Seven, with Kirby describing

as "''serial homophobes''" for their coverage of the story. On 28 September 2010, Campbell announced that he would not seek Labor Party endorsement, nor re-election, for the seat of Keira at the 2011 general election. It was reported that Campbell claimed he had strong support from the Labor Party and was confident he would have been endorsed for his seat should he have decided to contest the election. Campbell retired after serving 24 years as an elected representative in local and state politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, David Gay politicians Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Living people 1957 births People from Wollongong Political scandals in Australia LGBT legislators in Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians Mayors and Lord Mayors of Wollongong 21st-century LGBT people