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''.