Campbell in a quandary over carbon

Ms Bligh's husband, Greg Withers, is the assistant director-general of the state's Office of Climate Change.

She says the Opposition should debate ideas, not family members.

I can give this guarantee, I won't be at any stage insulting or criticising any member of Mr Newman's family.

But we also need to recognise that as part of the play you need to be looking at ongoing sustainable technological developments and looking to change behaviour."

Dr Clark, the CSIRO's chief executive, said 25 per cent of carbon savings came from changed human behaviour, with 75 per cent coming from sustainable development and technology.

On Sunday Mr Newman said he wanted science to play a larger role in policy development and criticised Premier Anna Bligh's husband, Greg Withers, as the head of the Office of Climate Change.

"Our plan, which we will detail further over coming months, will see the chief scientist properly in charge of science policy and the government's applied science efforts."

Mr Newman could not be interviewed yesterday over whether the LNP's policy on climate change would be influenced by the view on carbon of Queensland's chief scientist.

A statement provided by his office said the LNP did not have a problem with Queensland's chief scientist, only the ALP's carbon tax policy, which it said would cost jobs.

Treasury modelling says jobs will be created in other areas, disputed by the Resources Council.

"The LNP's argument is with the ALP's carbon tax policy, which will destroys jobs, and the economy and do nothing to help the environment,” the statement said.

“The LNP is committed to using proper science to identify the necessary actions required for many decisions, including climate change.

Campbell Newman

Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman, born 12 August 1963 is the leader of the Liberal National Party of Queensland. He was the 15th Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 2004 to 2011.

He was elected to the mayoralty in 2004 and re-elected in 2008. Newman's slogan during the 2004 and 2008 election campaigns was "Can Do". It is common for supporters to refer to him as "Can Do Campbell". At Duntroon, he was nicknamed "Noddy", in reference both to his appearance and to his misadventures during his time in the Army.

Since July 2008, Newman and his Liberal council colleagues have been members of the merged Liberal National Party of Queensland. Jeff Seeney led the LNP state parliamentary opposition from September 2006 until January 2008 when he was ousted in favour of Laurence Springborg. In March 2011, successive leader John-Paul Langbroek stood down in favour of Newman. Seeney was elected interim opposition leader, Newman will lead the LNP to the next Queensland state election and simultaneously contest the seat of Ashgrove. If he is successful, Newman will assume the position of parliamentary leader of the LNP, and if the party is elected to government, Premier of Queensland.

Early life and military career

Born in Canberra, Newman is the son of former Senator and Federal Minister Jocelyn Newman, and former Member for Bass and Federal Minister, the late Kevin Newman. He was raised in Tasmania, where his father held the federal seat of Bass, then returned to Canberra where his mother served as a Senator.

Newman attended the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and joined the Australian Army as a lieutenant in 1981. He is a qualified civil engineer with an honours degree in civil engineering from the University of New South Wales and spent thirteen years in the army, retiring with the rank of Major in 1993.

He moved to Queensland where he graduated with an MBA from the University of Queensland, then worked for the agricultural storage company Grainco, before deciding to stand for election as Lord Mayor of Brisbane.

State politics and LNP leadership

On 22 March 2011, Newman announced that he was seeking pre-selection for the state electoral district of Ashgrove, and if successful, he would then challenge for the leadership of the Queensland Liberal National Party.Following Newman's announcement, the existing leader of the LNP, John-Paul Langbroek, resigned. As Newman was not a member of parliament, Jeff Seeney was elected as parliamentary leader and Leader of the Opposition by the party, with an undertaking to cede the leadership to Newman should his pre-selection and election be successful. On 4 April 2011, Newman was elected to lead the party's election team, with Seeney remaining as the party's parliamentary leader and Leader of the Opposition.

Soon after, Labor state Treasurer Andrew Fraser used parliamentary privilege to claim he had received information from within the LNP that previous party leader Bruce Flegg was offered an inducement to step down and allow Campbell to contest his seat at a by-election to assume the parliamentary leadership. The Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) is investigating the allegations, the LNP denies the charges. Billionaire and LNP benefactor Clive Palmer said the "CMC colluding with the government" while the LNP accused Fraser of "knowing too much about the investigation".

Newman made it clear that when he took over the LNP leadership, all policies previously announced would be scrapped and essentially become "null and void" with new policy announcements to be made. In an attempt to win voter support in regional Queensland, Newman's first official LNP policy announcement was that he would not support daylight saving in Queensland or South East Queensland, even though as Brisbane's Lord Mayor he had been a vocal advocate for daylight saving.

Newman lives in Brisbane with his wife Lisa and their two children, Rebecca and Sarah.

Lord Mayor of Brisbane

Due to the laws governing the election of Brisbane's Lord Mayor and City Councillors, Newman was elected directly to replace Tim Quinn. However, in the 2004 election a majority of wards returned ALP Councillors, meaning Newman had to work with a cabinet dominated by his nominal Opposition, and a Labor Deputy Mayor. In the 2008 election, the ALP lost at least 6 wards to the Liberal Party, giving the Liberals a majority.

Newman was selected as one of 25 mayors from across the world shortlisted for the 2010 World Mayor Prize, an online competition aimed at raising the profile of civic leaders. When the results were announced, Newman was declared the 5th best mayor in the world.

Campbell Newman to grab Ashgrove

Survey for The Weekend Australian is the first to take the pulse of voters in the make-or-break state electorate of Ashgrove and shows that the former Brisbane lord mayor will comfortably overcome the 7.1 per cent margin of Labor incumbent and former cabinet minister Kate Jones. The swing against Anna Bligh's government is so pronounced that a 70 per cent approval rating among Ashgrove voters won't save Ms Jones, leaving Mr Newman on track to win the seat outright. He has grabbed 50 per cent of the primary vote against 37 per cent for Ms Jones.

When likely preferences are factored in, Mr Newman's two-party-preferred vote kicks him 10 points clear of the high-profile, two-term MP, who recently relinquished her position in Ms Bligh's ministry to work full-time to try to save the seat.

The two-party-preferred split, 55-45 per cent in Mr Newman's favour, broadly reflects internal LNP polling that was leaked to the Brisbane media last month.

Greens candidate Sandra Bayley, who told The Weekend Australian she was inclined to support Ms Jones over Mr Newman, has 11 per cent of the vote, slightly down on what the party polled at the last state election in 2009.

While most of her preferences will flow to Labor -- whether or not a deal is struck with the Greens to direct them -- Queensland's optional preferential voting system at the state level will cause many of them to exhaust.

The encouraging news for Ms Jones, however, is that Ashgrove voters have a greater propensity to number the ballot paper and not "just vote 1", lowering the exhaustion rate of preferences to the benefit of Labor.

Paper says the swing against Anna Bligh's government is so pronounced that a 70 per cent approval rating among Ashgrove voters won't save Ms Jones, leaving Mr Newman on track to win the seat outright with 50 per cent of the primary vote against 37 per cent for Ms Jones.

With likely preferences factored in, Mr Newman's two-party-preferred vote puts him 10 points ahead of the high-profile MP, who recently left her post in Ms Bligh's ministry to work full-time to save her seat.

Greens candidate Sandra Bayley, who has told The Weekend Australian she is likely to support Ms Jones, has 11 per cent of the vote, slightly down on what her party polled at the last state election in 2009.