Upstart LNP leader Campbell Newman is ruffling feathers

    * Michael McKenna
    * From: The Australian
    * April 16, 2011 12:00AM
 
A FEW days after Campbell Newman dropped the bombshell last month that he was to lead the Liberal National Party at the next Queensland election, the former army major let slip a hand-grenade into his own ranks.

Asked for a "plan B" premier out of the LNP parliamentary line-up, if the party won and he didn't in his battle for a seat, the then Brisbane lord mayor instead offered a plan C.

With some LNP MPs already stung by his recruitment to lead -- a tacit admission by party bosses no one on the opposition benches is up to the job -- Newman fuelled the fire of dissent by suggesting another outsider, Ian Walker.

No mention of his parliamentary boosters, opposition treasury spokesman Tim Nicholls or leader in the house Jeff Seeney.

Newman's argument was that to take power, the LNP has to win a swag of seats in Brisbane, and there would then be a deeper pool of talent for the partyroom to elect a premier. It was an incendiary statement for the trio of the hard-fought state political arena given that Walker, a lawyer and candidate for the Brisbane seat of Mansfield, is a complete unknown.

Related Coverage

    * Newman denies LNP disunity after slur The Australian, 1 day ago
    * Tensions mount after Newman reshuffle Courier Mail, 5 days ago
    * Newman aids backers, axes foes The Australian, 5 days ago
    * Newman plays from the gallery The Australian, 5 Apr 2011
    * Campbell Newman leads from sidelines The Australian, 5 Apr 2011

While an attempt to deflect Labor attacks that Seeney, the pugnacious former Nationals MP, could end up being premier, Newman's touting of Walker exposed dangers to the LNP's bold gamble. The first is obvious.

In the already presidential-style campaign, the popular, now former, lord mayor needs to convince Queenslanders that the LNP is ready to govern, and it will be him at the helm after captaining an election victory.

To do that, he has to win and, as important, look like winning the leafy inner-Brisbane seat of Ashgrove, held by Environment Minister Kate Jones.

At this early stage, it is only an even money bet that Newman, who lives in a neighbouring Labor electorate, will unseat Jones, a locally reared MP known for attending even the smallest community events.

Insiders stress that despite the two-term MP holding Ashgrove with a healthy 7.3 per cent margin it is a closer contest, given the unpopularity of Anna Bligh and the fact the LNP ran a ho-hum candidate at the previous election, something not lost on locals.

But the touting of Walker, a long-time friend, reinforces a possibly graver danger for the LNP: whether the party can remain disciplined up to the poll.

Despite Newman giving star power and grunt to the LNP, there is a simmering resentment among some MPs to the parliamentary outsider and his omnipotent leadership.

A perception that Walker, and other candidates and MPs close to Newman, will be given ministries ahead of opposition-weary veterans has some seething.

Newman didn't soothe their fears this week when he announced a frontbench reshuffle that rewarded his supporters and ousted or demoted opponents.

Six MPs -- including Lawrence Springborg -- lost out, with a decision to punish an even number from each of the former Liberal and National parties, in a move that confirms that traditional distrust and old allegiances still exist within the two-year-old merged LNP entity.

For the past few weeks Newman has had good polling and the media profile of his switch to state politics on his side. It won't last. Some LNP MPs, not bound by the ALP's factional loyalties and threats of internal revenge killings, can't help themselves even with a victory in sight.

The spectre of the ongoing preselections, which end late next month, has been held over the heads of the parliamentary wing by party bosses.

Several of those thrown off the front bench are being targeted for forced retirement; others are just being made to feel some heat.

Newman didn't help matters by announcing, while he was still lord mayor, his intention to junk and rewrite existing LNP policies.

Party bosses have tried to quell anger among MPs and rank-and-file members, particularly old Nationals in the regions, that Newman was "caught on the hop" at a press conference and that he would be consultative.

A few days later, those same party bosses gagged frontbenchers, banning them from having any sort of discussion with political reporters outside of sound bites.

Newman may well be the answer for the opposition's repeated failures in defeating Labor, undeniably tired and battered from a slew of self-made crises. But, to do it, he needs to curtail his dictatorial style and convince his team that he is their man for the job.

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