In 2012, Campbell Newman chose MP for Gympie, David Gibson as his Police Minister. However, two weeks into the job he resigned.
Gibson had been caught speeding and driving without a licence on February 16, 2012. A non payment of a fine for a prior speeding infringement in May 2011 had led to his licence being suspended. Over the following four months, five letters were sent to his home reminding him to pay.
Ten News Qld: David Gibson resigns as Qld Police Minister after two weeks in the job over speeding infringements.
Gibson claimed he was unaware of his licence being suspended. However, after a late night meeting with Premier Campbell Newman, he announced his resignation the following day and retired to the backbench.
ABC News Qld: Political blackmail, ethics & freedom of speech. LNP MP David Gibson quits as Select Ethics Chair.
Eight months later, Newman handed Gibson the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning.
Following that, in 2013, Newman appointed Gibson Chair of Select Committee investigating the Levy Affair into the actions of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee (PCMC) and their response to a report into Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) boss, Dr Ken Levy.
However, trouble was brewing for Gibson.
Before entering parliament in 1999, Gibson faced allegations of theft of $7335 when he was an army lieutenant. The outcome was no conviction recorded and he received a 12-month good behaviour bond.
Having become common knowledge, his Gympie branch lobbied the LNP hierarchy in July 2013 at the LNP state conference to tighten the vetting process for candidates.
In contradiction, Campbell Newman, refusing to front the Queensland media, issued a statement declaring he first heard of the allegations on April 2, 2014. He referred the matter to the clerk of Queensland Parliament but there were no grounds preventing Gibson performing his duties as a MP.
Yet, Gibson did the ethical thing and quit the Select Ethics Chair citing political blackmail.
7 News Brisbane: Political rival, Scott Elms, reveals David Gibson’s past.
This was a 100 per cent LNP self-inflicted dilemma.
A former friend and now political rival in Gympie, Scott Elms, declared his intention to challenge Gibson for the seat. He told the media it was in the public interest to know of Gibson’s past and claimed freedom of speech for allowing Gibson’s past to become public.
Elms had recently been ejected from the LNP for “breaking party protocol” and had published Gibson’s record against Qld’s statute of limitations.
@DavidGibsonMP has advice from @CoPStewart police will investigate ‘blackmail’ against him @9NewsBrisbane #qldpol pic.twitter.com/X9IHvA1KeN
— Shane Doherty (@ShaneDoherty9) April 23, 2014
ABC News Qld: The ABC understands that David Gibson now faces a struggle to be endorsed to run for his seat of Gympie again.
According to LNP doctrine, all MPs needed to submit an application to hierarchy for pre-selection ahead of the next election. After two second chances, ABC News Qld’s Chris O’Brien reported that Gibson now faced an uphill battle.
However, Gibson told The Gympie Times that he was glad the issues of his past were now out in the open. He believed the threat hanging over him was related to a property development at Rainbow Beach that he and the Qld Government refused to fast track.
Having both his parents afflicted by hearing impairment, Gibson has been the LNP’s strongest supporter of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). With this background, it is a shame he was never considered for the portfolio of Disability Minister.
As Chris O’Brien points out, it may now be up to the voters to decide Gibson’s fate.
David Gibson has held the seat of Gympie since 2006 and holds the conservative seat by 68.2 per cent after preferences. His nearest rival in 2012 was KAP with 31.8 per cent of the vote.
***In an earlier version of this story, it was suggested that David Gibson took over Chair of Ethics from Redlands LNP MP Peter Dowling following the sexting scandal. This was not accurate. Gibson was given a special, Select Ethics Chair to investigate the Levy Affair.***
Update 1: (May 2, 2014) David Gibson announces retirement from politics, May 2nd, 2014
Citing a nervous breakdown, David Gibson announced his retirement from politics late on Friday. Currently seeking psychological support, Gibson will not contest the next election in 2015.
Update 2: (May 6, 2014) David Gibson rival & fmr LNP member Scott Elms referred to Ethics Committee
Queensland’s Parliamentary Ethics committee will investigate Scott Elms, the political rival to David Gibson.
Campbell Newman wrote to Qld Speaker Fiona Simpson with allegations of intimidation of the MP for Gympie. Speaker Simpson referred the matter on to the Ethics committee.
The committee contains three government members, two opposition members and one independent.
No he should not be given a third chance. I never bothered to contact Mr Gibson about public education in his electorate while Anna Bligh was in power. I thought he was only going to say that his hands were tied as he was not in government. At that time I lived in gympie. I now live in the seat of callide, but my son had always attended a public school in his electorate. I tried to interact with him on twitter and he gave me five minutes on the phone. I asked him more questions on twitter about education and he told twitter world, that he did not have to interact or answer questions about gympie schools as I did not live in his electorate. He then blocked me. That is cool he only ever tweeted about #coda(child of deaf adult) he tweeted very little about gympie. I guess he doesn’t need to worry about his constituents as gympie will always vote for dead wood. I stole that phrase from a commenter about gympie voters. He has never tweeted out his strong choices campaign that government is paying millions to get out in the public eye. As far as being a child of deaf adult. We all have problems with our upbringing. My father drank every day to rid his mind of ww2 memories and was a wonderful man whilst sober. But drinking does come with its downside. My mother come from a family split up because her father was an abusive drunk and mums siblings were put in orphanage. Mum gave us a pretty ordinary upbringing. So there would not be a person out there that does not have some baggage. He over eggs this cause. What about excessive drinking, addressing the flow on affects of abuse. So many issues out there. We did not have the opportunities that Mr Gibson. As far as using his age as an excuse to steal is a joke. A thief is a thief is a thief. I have always said they come in different clothes. You have the poor break and entering and then you have the so called privileged who think they are entitled. So I do not forgive him for thieving. No excuse. If it is not yours, DON’T TAKE IT. Lets give gympie a good person to represent us. Also as far as him playing the poor me card, I was blackmailed. He gave the katter candidate, Shane Paulger (dairy farmer that has lived in region all his life) (mr gibson flew in from perth) and absolute roasting for not living in gympie electorate. Gees mr gibson you never talk about your precious gympie. He also intimidated him to apologise for a katter flying that was anti gay. Mr paulger did not write this pamphlet. Thanks madonna
Dear No Fibs Crew, i am still whinging. you dont have to publicise this whinge, but i would liketo air it any way.thanks madonna.
As I shifted irrigation pipes, I kept thinking about the David Gibson thieving from the public purse. How so many people knew, and how he was given head job on the ethics committee. All kinds of wrong.
We were broken into and the gympie police botched the investigation. Nearly ruined me. I had people judge me, saying that i should not have left my wallet in the locked car. Not only did I lose a lot of money, I had to repair my car window. It is an invasion of my privacy. Victim Blaming! Easier than finding the perpetrator. I went to Len Stephan the local LNP member and I think he slept though the whole conversation. Not one person was questioned, fingerprints were botched. So I get a little bit annoyed about the poor thief syndrome. At 31 he should have known better. Imagine if I went to him whinging about being broken into. What can a thief say back to me. Like I said on @nofibs. Thieves wear different clothes and come from different walks of life. You have the poor break and entering, you have people that don’t pay their bills, you have family that steal from you or you have the rich stealing to keep up appearances. You have the odd mail box thief.
Dictionary definition http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stealing
At 31 Mr Gibson probably had kids and you would think that he would want his kids not to steal from anyone. The old saying, don’t do to others that you don’t want done to you. Just because he stole from the tax payer, doesn’t make it any different to the thief that broke into my car, because it is still stealing. But lucky for the tax payer, they caught their thief. Closure! Yes he has paid the price, but I think we can find a better representative for gympie.
He does come across as a bit of a yup. He may think he is a bit better than someone else. But there are a lot of poor, not so privileged people that would not steal & know right from wrong. We all make mistakes.
My mother thinks me having an illegitimate child was a mistake. I think not. But I will have to live with that label forever. So if he has to live with the fact that he stole,then so be it.
Ps.
He only moved to gympie in 2004 from Perth. Got a plum job at the Gympie Times. so the Gympie Times are probably the reason he got into gympie seat. so i would imagine they will take it pretty easy on him.
Is this the best person the LNP can find. I hope not.
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Gibson stole the money from his fellow Aussie soldiers when he was a Lieutenant in the Army.
He was accused of creating false invoices valued at $7,335.
Gibson pleaded guilty and although no conviction was recorded the Court imposed a penalty.
Gibson did not tell voters of this past "experience".
Gibson voted along with newman's gang to "name and shame children" for any offence they may commit.
#qldpol Does Gympie MP David Gibson deserve a third chance? http://t.co/5WzdpCshMe via @NoFibs #auspol
EMPHATICALLY NO!!