Campbell apologises

Campbell apologises

Former NSW Transport Minister David Campbell asked for privacy and spoke of the difficulties he and his family face, at his first press conference since resigning.
“The last 24 hours have been particularly difficult for me, but it’s nothing compared to the difficulty that my family has confronted,” Campbell said, referring to the hours since Channel Seven aired images of him entering a sex-on-premises venue.
“I’ve made some personal choices which have put me and my family in this position. I’ve apologised to them and the community for it. I accept responsibility for the situation.
“I want to make it very clear that never, over the period of my public life have those personal choices impacted in any way shape or form on the decisions I’ve had to make in public life.”
He refuted suggestions that he had been at Ken’s of Kensington on the night of the F3 highway debacle, which saw motorists trapped for eight hours by a truck crash.
Campbell said phone records will soon be released, proving that he was at his Macquarie St office and then his Potts Point home throughout the evening.
He thanked his staff and supporters.
“I have been humbled to see the number of messages coming to my family and myself, from members of my community and others. I thank them for those messages of support,” he said.
“This is a very difficult time for my family. I put them in this situation and as I’ve said, I have accepted responsibility for that, but they need privacy at this point in time, so we can resolve this and put it behind us, and get on with our life.
“I would ask that their need and right be respected.”

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12 responses to “Campbell apologises”

  1. 7.30 Report and 4 Corners! Quality news and if not they always have Jonathon Holmes to deal with!!!

  2. Channel Seven have lamely tried to argue that Campbell was a “family man” while all the time having furtive homosexual sex. The station never outed him in the interests of the gay community and have just made life harder for his family. As for “the public interest” (a commonly abused term), Seven really mean their interests and their profits.

    Is a rally outside Seven’s premises being planned? If so, it may be shown on the other stations and would demonstrate our anger more publicly than a boycott (although that is a good idea as well).

  3. Friends, I don’t see how boycotting Ch.7 is going to help David Campbell. Take the time, write a letter, fold and put it in a spamped, addressed envelope and be as grateful as possible to Mr Meakin for all the free KKK publicity. Then tell him you’ll never involve yourself in any of his sponsors’ products/serviceS AGAIN.
    This’ll cost you 55c, an A4 sheet of paper. An envilope and a healthy&pleasant walk to the post box.
    Oh, don’t forget to ask for a receipt/reply.

    Love from Hell xo

  4. K8- I do not think outing people is a great idea unless they are constantly attacking our community.

    When Campbell was a young man it was illegal to have a homosexual act. He grew up in a very different society. His life was fromed around that. In addition he supported our community in many ways. People like him often do not have the support to come out. I am not going to judge him for not comming out. I respect him. I respect his family. All are going through a difficult time.

    I am sure if I followed some fo the staff at Channel 7 around I would find all sorts of things out. Who knows what Senator Conroy did with Kerry Stokes whilst on holidays recently. But I am not that sort of scum. We are all better then that.

  5. First things first, sending strength to David and family to work things out. I wonder, in light of this story, if our Parliaments and 3 biggest political parties (ALP, Libs, Nats) would survive an equal opportunity and diversity quality control audit. Almost any other workplace, a person would have an HR dept and access to counselling services, yer David had no support. How many out queer MPs are there across all State, Territory and Federal Parliaments – only 4 come to mind and it can’t be more than 10. Not good enough.

  6. there is no collective good 2 come from outing people……. no matter how disgusting u think his double life or whatever what about his right to privacy ?? i feel sorry 4 him…… shame on channel 7

  7. “I want to make it very clear that never, over the period of my public life have those personal choices impacted in any way shape or form on the decisions I’ve had to make in public life.”

    Dead right. He could have done plenty more to make Oxford St safe for gays when he was Police Minister.

    Even so, Channel 7 ought to have a good look at their practices and their ethics. This was journalism at its tackiest and most destructive, and for what? Going to Ken’s is not against the law. It’s not a corruption issue, it doesn’t impact on the public in any way. Seven did it just because they could, and to break a story.

  8. This raises the tricky question of whether to out or not: there is the argument that the collective good of asserting gay presence in society benefits versus the temporary hurt of any individual. Comments?

  9. After this huge mess- Kristina Keneally should now ALLOW a ceremony option in the new NSW Relationship Register. Punishing gays & making them invisible by not allowing a ceremony does just that- makes them invisible.
    She needs to take leadership & stand up to the Christian Extremists who want to keep gays in the closet through various ways including through government bans on the visibility of happy committed relationship ceremonies.

  10. Boycott Channel 7 Immediately. According to the grapevine Channel 7 are now staking-out other gay venues in an attempt to find other prominent members of the unofficial gay community. It won’t be long until we have a media war between ACA and Today Tonight on ‘outing’. We should immediately make our displeasure known to Channel 7 by boycotting its programs and refusing to support advertisers who use the Channel.

    David Campbell has done nothing illegal. Channel 7 is only after ratings using homophobia and the Gay community. Let’s stop them!!

  11. I hope SSO has the courage to support David Campbell and go so far as to call for a total gay boycott of Channel 7. They only understand money. All 7 – Meakin (news director, a convicted drunken driver more than once), the reporter (a father of three children to three different mothers) and the goody two-shoes news presenter (an adulterer). I don’t support Campbell politically,but he has been treated shabbily by the media and the Premier and we should have the balls and honesty to ask why. By the way, I am a disillusioned gay Catholic. Ken’s? They should give him life membership. They could never have bought this amount of publicity!!