David Campbell

It’s an analogy that’s been used before but is worth using again, chiefly in the interests of promoting that landmark cinematic work The Naked Gun as an analogy for public life.

One of the best lines in the film – apart from the scene where, during a raid on a sex shop, the lady behind the counter looks at Lieutenant Frank Drebin and says “Oh, Hi Frank” – involves a wayward ballistic missile hitting a fireworks factory and igniting thousands of catherine wheels and flame-spewing rockets in the night sky. As the crowd gathers to watch this marvellous scene Lieutenant Drebin stands in front of the rubber-neckers and says “Show’s over folks, move along, nothing to see here.”

Some years ago when Eric Roozendaal was the state secretary of the NSW Labor Party he suggested that there was an inordinate level of media interest in a story involving Illawarra Labor identity Neville Hilton, a man who can best be described as morally dubious, who when not defending the rights of the working man in the ‘Gong was also the proprietor of the Southern Belles knock-shop in Port Kembla.

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David Campbell has a lesser right to privacy than an ordinary citizen, for a number of reasons.

The first is that as a politician his entire existence is underwritten by the taxpaying public – his salary, his car, his living arrangements, his ability to travel, all of it is fully or partially funded by the public, and to an extent which massively eclipses the average wage earner. The second is that as a politician he wields enormous and direct power over the way we live our lives, even own financial status. 

The third is that as a politician he has chosen to project an image of himself in order to win votes – the happily married father of two, who has used his wife and children as a visual backdrop for his campaigns for local and state government. The fourth is that he is part of a government which has been distracted, to say the least, by a series of scandals in which poor decisions, corrupt conduct and even criminal conduct have prevented a minister or member from doing his job.

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Updated 7.25am: Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reports it was known inside cabinet for years that Campbell had been visiting gay clubs and saunas. There’s analysis here and you can watch a video report including the Channel 7 footage here.

NSW transport minister David Campbell has just resigned after being sprung using his taxpayer-funded car to visit a gay sex club (funny how it’s always the car that does them in).

Seven News showed footage of the married father, who has actively campaigned as a family man, leaving the club where you pay $22 to spend time with like-minded blokes.

On Tuesday night just gone he’d ditched his driver, and driven himself to the establishment known as Kens at Kensington. The Kens website says: “Ken’s is the spacious, clean and safe place to meet sexy guys. Ken’s has everything you want in a venue — ideal for a short lunch-break, a long hard evening or day, or meeting up with (or finding!) someone special!”

Continue reading "Just another day in the swill that is NSW politics" »