The New South Wales Minister for Transport and Roads, David Campbell, has resigned from his ministerial portfolio but not from parliament on Thursday night after been filmed leaving a gay sauna, Kens of Kensington. Campbell, 51, is married with adult sons. His wife, who he married when he was 19, is reportedly battling cancer.
Channel 7 aired footage of Campbell as he was leaving the sauna in Sydney's eastern suburbs where he reportedly spent two hours on Tuesday night. The report focussed on Campbell’s use of his state-funded government car to drive himself to and from the club despite the fact that ministers are allowed to use their ministerial cars for personal use.
According to the Sydney Daily Telegraph, the Australian Labor Party member handed his resignation to Premier Kristina Keneally and told her he had been living a secret life for 20 years.
Keneally was quoted by ABC News as saying that while she uses her government car to go grocery shopping and to church, she believes it was not appropriate for Campbell to use his car on the night in question. "I do not believe it was acceptable to have used the resources of his office, particularly his car in the fashion that he did," she said.
“I have resigned as Minister for Transport and Roads for personal reasons, not for any reasons relating to my Ministerial duties,” Campbell said in a statement. “I apologise to my wife, family, colleagues, staff and the community for letting them down. This will be a very difficult time for my family and friends and I ask for their privacy to be respected.”
Although Channel 7’s Adam Walters reported that Campbell has “campaigned strongly and successfully as a family man” since 1999, he is not known to have openly espoused anti-gay views or voted against gay-friendly measures in parliament.
The Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew West noted on May 21: “Campbell had never set himself up as a ''family values'' campaigner. A photograph of himself with his wife and sons is merely that – a family photograph – not a morals crusade.”
West, the paper’s transport reporter and political observer, further censured Channel 7 news chief, Peter Meakin, for signing off on the story. He wrote that unlike Campbell, who has committed no offence that we know about, Meakin recently faced jail after his third conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol. He was originally sentenced to weekend detention but got off with 250 hours of community service after being found guilty of dangerous driving – having blown 0.1, double the legal limit – and of attempting to evade the police after they tried to pull him over.
“His offence, of driving while boozed up in a way that could have endangered the lives of innocent people, far outstrips any personal lapse by Campbell.
“There was no public benefit in outing Campbell as a gay man…”
David Penberthy, former editor of Sydney-based tabloid The Daily Telegraph and now editor of The Punch, an opinion-driven news and current affairs site, argued otherwise: “If people have a right to know that the man who wanted to become prime minister had enjoyed a drunken night at a New York strip club, then the people of NSW have the right to know that their Transport Minister, a man who depicts himself as a solid citizen who is wholly focussed on service delivery, is in reality massively distracted by living a highly complicated double life.”
Imre Salusinszky of The Australian asked: “What was the public interest in putting to air last night the story of Campbell's visit to a gay sex club?
“It did not involve his ministerial responsibilities and no misbehaviour is alleged to have occurred in parliament or in any government office.”
Former leaders from both sides of NSW politics have given their support to Campbell while some condemned the media's treatment of Campbell. Former Liberal premier of NSW Nick Greiner said of Campbell's actions, “The event itself is clearly not a sacking offence and clearly not a resignation offence.”
The Channel 7 report had showed the same reporter Adam Walters being brushed off as he asked Campbell his whereabouts during a notorious traffic jam on the busy F3 freeway on April 12 that left thousands of motorists trapped for up to 12 hours after an incident involving a truck and a fully laden B-double petrol tanker. The reported had seemed to have implicitly suggested that Campbell could have been at the same sauna during that time.
For weeks, the Opposition had been accusing Campbell of going missing.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, phone records released by Campbell today showed he was in contact with his staff, traffic authorities and media during the jam. The records showed that he was at his ministerial office in central Sydney between 5.51pm and 6.33pm and calls were then made between 6.41 and 10.14 from his Potts Point apartment in Sydney's east.
Campbell says he would remain in his Wollongong-based seat of Keira although media reports say it appears highly unlikely he will contest the seat at the election due next March.
Update (May 22, 2010): The Sydney Morning Herald reports that David Campbell has a long history of support for gay issues and for those in same-sex relationships when speaking in Parliament. Debating superannuation entitlements for same-sex partners in 2000, not long after he had joined Parliament, Campbell made it clear he thought society was changing, moving away from the era of the ''white picket fence with a nuclear family of a husband, a wife and two kids''.
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Reader's Comments
I feel sorry for his family and dieing wife :(
i make a point to stay away from unethical publications like such ... and of course nosy self righteous busy bodies too!
xoxoxo
yikes, I came home with an awful toe nail disease that four months of lamisol couldn't cure, egads the awful and dreaded toe nail fungus! I will never go back again plus the place had bad ventilation and horrible air and smelled like farts
sauna owners often put pics of hot muscles guys in their advertisements and on the door , but when you go in there is nothing but twinks and out of shape people, I think there should be a penalty for false advertising
but to be frank, its not at all embarassing to be gay anymore, its only mortifying to be caught going to a sauna these days, its really tacky if people at work find out you were there-- even my gay friends would be horrified and think ill of me
anyway, just watched Glee, I keep wondering when Ryan Murphy is gonna get that hot Asian kid Mike a speaking and singing part, I am going to get my gay married brother's husband to ask him soon, OMG, speaking of my brother and his hubbie-- those snooty Upper East side gays would be mortified to be caught in a sauna in the wrong neighbor in Chelsea-- a real scandal of incredible intrigue in my very gay family
One has to wonder about his motivations for outing David Campbell - knowing how the Labor Party in NSW works I would hazard a guess that his motivation was payback for a slight, real or imagined, from David Campbell against one of those other two politicians.
Reba Meagher was an appallingly bad Health Minister, so maybe David Campbell voted in caucus for her to be removed. Who knows, I don't, but it shows how karma might work.
I feel extremely sorry that David Campbell didn't feel confident enough, and comfortable enough with his sexuality to have come out earlier, and I condemn the gutter press methods, false reasoning and utter bastardry of the act of outing him in such an unforgiving and sensationalist manner by a journalist who ought to have had some understanding of his situation and at least have shown some compassion.
We are not living in 19th century and being gay and public figure in the same time is not that unusual.
Fact remains he was deceiving electorate posing as a family man as well as using taxpayer's funded car for his private purposes. I am 100% sure if he was using taxi he would still be in government. I woudn't be suprised if he claims entry fee to KKK as entertainment expenses.
He was a bad transport minister and now the allegations go deeper -he was a Police Minister for number of years and there are speculations some of his decisions could be influenced by extortion or blackmail.
Obviously Channel 7 has acted on the tip from the public, can't imagine journalists were stalking or watching him. The bottom line is - he played with fire and he got burned, looks like he stepped on someone's toe harder than he should.
The journalists are simply trash.
And why isnt he a good family man? Im sure he loves his kids and his wife but his bisexuality wont fit into the straight jacket that so many in the straight and gay world want to fit him up for.
Bi guys just dont fit in and cop crap from both sides I assure you.
Why should he have to come out as a gay man when he likes being married and likes being a father. Hes not gay hes bisexual.
The only real thing he has to answer for is lying to his partner... and there are few men either gay or straight who have the right to stand up on the pulpit and hound him on that score.
I can't imagine why I detest organized religion.
By the way .. I am atheist !
- "Fact remains he was deceiving electorate posing as a family man as well as using taxpayer's funded car for his private purposes. I am 100% sure if he was using taxi he would still be in government."
There's no problem with ministers using their state-funded cars for personal business.
- "Obviously Channel 7 has acted on the tip from the public, can't imagine journalists were stalking or watching him."
It has emerged that he was followed by Channel 7 reporters who were trying to prove a point as they were convinced that he was "somewhere" else when he should have been dealing with the freeway incident.
Post 18 - "Comparing church with fuck bar is like comparing apples and oranges..."
In the context of this incident, there's too much value-judgment in the Premier's comments. So going to a supermarket is ok, church is ok and sauna not? What about a gay bar, a female strip club or the cinema?
Pathetic. The whole affair: the man who is afraid to admit he is gay, the yellow press that lurks in the shadows to take pics on the sly, the pressure to resign, the fact that he did resign, the silly prime ministaer who says her grocery shopping is superior to someone's sexual urges...
Ah well... wiping off Australia from my list of destinations for good and concentrating on South America.
We need to remember that sexuality is not a simple dichotomy. It is multidemensional across individuals and society. Some people may develop a different type of sexuality over time. Some people may have a utilitarian notion of sexuality e.g. using it to procreate or for pleasure or both.
Also we have to remember that sexuality is a construct. There isn't a compartment in our brain marked "sexuality".
I am saying this because people are jumping to conclusions about this politician. He has I feel been with his partner long enough like many of us to have gone through the passion (sex) and progressed to the commitment phase. Surprise, surprise there is more to a relationship than sex.
He hasn't run off with a fling from the sauna. He has shown his commitment to his family.
If his situation were a little different he would have fought the media but when one's wife has cancer one would not want to cause her any stress. Sadly the media thought this stress was not an issue.
Sadly while discriminating against members of the LGBTQI community is supposed to be against the law, (both in personal lives and in workplaces) Obviously homophobia is alive and well in Australia still.
I vote.. give him back his job and leave the poor guy alone!!
I wish i could find someone like him!
all the best anyway and my deepest sorry for what happened to him.
if he was straight and caught having sex with another woman, would he have been expected to resign ... yes.
i dont see how anyone can defend him.
the only defense is if it is not related to your job, then why should you be expected to resign - but the reality is that in public service you are expected (rightly or wrongly) to confirm to certain social conventions (eg. being faithful to your partner), if he didn't have to resign then he would have an advantage over a straight politician.
‘Outing’ only exists because people want to hide, and when one is not truthful to oneself, how can one be truthful to anyone else? When one lies to oneself, does one not lie to everyone else as well?
It’s all about truth, honesty and integrity, isn’t it? Unfortunately these three aspects are sorely lacking, even today in the 3rd millennium. It’s sad that people still have to live lives of pretence. So many pretend to be something or someone they are not.
And since when do one’s sexual proclivities have anything to do with one’s work? Barring any sexual liaisons with one’s boss, what one does in the privacy of the bedroom, is just nobody’s business!
But then again, history has taught us that truth, honesty and integrity have no connection to politics anyway. Show me a politician with integrity, and I’ll show you a philosophical monkey……
The point here is not about toenails but about peoples lives being wrecked unnecessarily by the media. He was married at 19, an age when people dont always know their sexual orientation. His family will suffer because of news ratings and witchhunts. Many of us have been confused. The fact that he stuck by his family is honorable. The fact that he couldn"t resist the gay life was natural. Its is not our right to know the sex of politicians. He did not campaign against gay people. He didnt deserve this.
Anyway, using the excuse of " using his car in such a manner" is just stupid and vapid.
So where does his sexuality affect his work performance
Hypocrisy strikes another blow
Its a perfect illustration of the prejudices and narrow mindedness that exist in this country against minorities both religious, racial and sexual.
But I do make exceptions to closeted gay hypocrites who go out of their way to make it difficult for gays. In such cases, there is a social good to out such people.
Correct grammar please!
Does being a GAY made you different from all the people around you? Does it dictates what kind of Moral, Values and Heart a person has?
Serving doesn't mean you have to be straight or gay right? at least for me... not sure with those narrow minded individuals...
Can't we put it in the hands of Gays to out themselves in the right place and time? I am sure being Gay's never been an issue with him, coz he manage to live with it since the day he married his WIFE.... it just concerns me knowing about his family, especially his wife,,, Channel 7 could have revealed this later in time... WRONG MOVE.... and i hope you are happy for what you've done....
Often we lie to protect others.
Sometimes we lie to protect ourselves.
It is not always wrong to lie. (I don't know if this politician was lying)
It is interesting that few politicians have condemned the guy. It is only the media people that are doing this, mainly shockjocks.
The way some of them are frothing at the mouth you just guess they have boring, boring sex lives and that helps fuel their homophobia.
It's politics the guy will bounce back. And it's Sydney.
It makes an interesting contrast/comparison to the political situation in Malaysia
Is it okay for the media to stand outside sauna bars taking photos of everyone going in and out and publishing them? Is that what our society is about?
Should there be a column in every newspaper, dedicated to this topic of brothel visits, just like the comic strips? Maybe call it the Brothel bulletin or something. "Guess who's in the brothel tonight", like "guess who's in town tonight". The kid gets the comics page, dad gets this brothel page, and mom gets the rest, every day. How about it?
And, while we're at it, who not competitions? Just publish photos, and have a competition for the readers to identify them and win prizes. That should increase newspaper sales, shouldn't it?
Hey: female prostitutes are making tons of money. That means someone's visiting them, right? How about publishing the names and photos of all those men? How many of those are married men? Should their wives all divorce them? Should they all quit their jobs? Should they all have "come out" earlier? Should they be announcing to everyone around them as they set off to the brothels: : "guys, I'm off to visit a prostitute, okay? So, if you see my photos in tomorrow's brothel bulletins, remember I already told you, okay? Bye honey, back soon. See you at dinner. Make something nice."
How come these men don't have to "come out" about their prostitute visits? How come we don't expect a daily confession from any of them? How come only the vilified and abused gay man has to "come out" about every little hanky panky?
Every time you jerk off in your bedroom, should you rush out into the street and announce it to all and sundry -- "hey, I confess, I just jerked off" -- just to beat the newspaper who is allowed to photograph you through a hole he has secretly drilled in your window? Is that how it works? The media can invade our privacy as they like, and our solution is to "come out" before THEY do?
Why do we feel this man had a duty to "confess" his visits to the male sauna before the media invaded his privacy with such pictures? Do we expect the same "coming out" from married men who visit female prostitutes? Would you even call him gay? Maybe he was bisexual; maybe he just needed male company, for a change from his wife. Do we forget that gay and straight are not necessarily discrete qualities, but a rainbow of intermediate natures?
At the same time I would agree with zactooh above: if all gay people simply came out and acted and spoke with one voice, life would be much easier for the gay community. Really, how many people can the bigots persecute when that happens? And how long can they keep up their lies that being gay is a deliberate choice, when half their own relatives admit to being gay?
Dreams, dreams. Sigh.
Damn. By now people should realize that if and when they do get caught in such hanky panky, about the only thing that can be held against them is their use (misuse) of taxpayer money.
Why couldn't this guy take a taxi or the local train, or even just walk and get a bit of badly-needed exercise? Why do people always have to be caught misusing public property and public funds? Don't they have any reputation to consider?
Compared with the journalist in question and his "family" the politician is a much more honorable person.
Compared with the journalist in question and his "family" the politician is a much more honorable person.
I suppose gay MPs down in Sth America get treated a helluva lot better than here hey? Its a pretty stupid reason to cut Australia off your list of destinations because of an isolated incident. We have a few ministers who are openly gay (such as Penny Wong and Bob Brown) and nobody seems to have a problem with that. Also I wonder how an outed Serbian MP would be treated.....
Nevertheless, it's inappropriate for the media to expose his sexuality. It's enough to ruin a person's career and family. It's probably politically driven. When the opposition parties had to resort to such trickery to win votes, you know they can't be trusted.
Here's a little-known secret: when perceptions collide with facts, the perceptions usually win.
You and I may agree that he was free to use the car provided to him as he liked. But we have to consider how the public perceives this issue. "Dirty fag indulges in animal sex at our expense" just about sums it up. And, for the public, the "at our expense" is the most unkindest cut of all.
I do believe there was a mention of "state funded car" in the headlines. That's what catches the public's attention. All your explanations after the event will not make the slightest difference to how the public wishes to perceive this.
Hence, be one step ahead. Avoid using anything that belongs to your office when you set out on a gay tryst. Don't just set off from your office after work in your office clothes and in your office car because it is convenient. Be like Superman or Batman on a mission: change your clothes, change your car, change everything about yourself, and then do what you want to do. Ideally, go home and do all this before heading off to be "gay for the day". This simple rule will save you a lot of grief later.
And meanwhile, keep fighting for your rights; for the day until all this subterfuge is no longer needed.
I am of course aware that saunas are legal in Australia, being from Sydney myself.
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