Brisbane City Council is the largest local council in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.  Covering an area of 1367 square kilometres, Brisbane is a modern, diverse city with a population of almost 980,000 people.

It is known for its friendly, relaxed environment and outdoor experiences.  Brisbane is ranked among the world’s top cities for quality of life and is rated safer than other Australian cities by 56% of residents.  Brisbane enjoys a subtropical climate with humid summers and mild winters.  The Brisbane River is a special feature, winding 19 kilometres through the middle of the city.

Brisbane City Council manages Australia’s biggest local government budget, at $2.1 billion for 2006/07.  Its permanent workforce of 6400 employees delivers core local government services such as water and sewerage, public transport, urban management and city administration to a culturally diverse population.

It maintains 5,500km of roads and 550km of bikeways.  About 160,000 vehicles enter the CBD each day.  Since 1990, the average number of vehicles entering the CBD has grown by about 17%.

Brisbane continues to be the fastest growing area in the state and country, a position held consistently for the past decade.  With 2.3% growth (or nearly 40,000 people) over the year to June 2004, the Brisbane area is currently growing almost twice as fast as the average for all of Australia’s capital cities and the national rate of growth.  Of Brisbane’s 188 suburbs, population growth remains strongest in the outer fringe suburbs. Urban renewal areas have also accommodated a high proportion of growth.

The Lord Mayor and twenty-six councillors govern the operations of Council.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman is Chair of Council’s Civic Cabinet and an ex officio member of all Council Committees.

Cr Newman is dedicated to making Brisbane a smart thinking and easy living city.  As Brisbane's Lord Mayor, he is drawing on his diverse experience to plan for our city's future.

His number one priority as Lord Mayor is to get Brisbane’s traffic moving by building a network of cross-city tunnels and improving the public transport system.

Cr Newman was elected on 27 March 2004.  As Lord Mayor, he represents all the residents of Brisbane. In Brisbane, the Lord Mayor is directly elected by Brisbane’s 617,854 voters.

Brisbane City Council is the largest local council in Australia.  It covers 1220 square kilometres, spanning the Brisbane River in radius of up to 25 kilometres from the Central Business District. 

Qualifications and background

Campbell Newman is a qualified Civil Engineer. He had a 13-year career as an Australian Army Engineer, retiring at the end of 1993 with the rank of major.

Following his service in the army, Campbell worked as a business consultant. During his career he helped improve the performance of large Australian companies such as Telstra, BHP Australia Coal and the Hydro Electric Commission in Tasmania.

Campbell moved from consulting to leading Queensland agribusiness, Grainco Australia, where he developed a $60 million grain handling system for growers in southern NSW and Victoria. He later became responsible for the operations of the entire company, including export grain terminals in Mackay, Gladstone, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Before entering Council, Campbell established his own consulting firm, specialising in bulk commodity logistics.

Campbell has an honours degree in civil engineering from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Queensland. 

He is married to Lisa and has two primary-school aged daughters.

Committee memberships

Cr Newman has been the Chairman of Civic Cabinet since he took office on 13 April 2004.  He is also an ex officio member of all Council Committees.