Lawrence Springborg

Australian politician

The Honourable Councillor

Lawrence Springborg

Leader of the Opposition in Queensland
Elections: 2004, 2006, 2009
In office
14 February 2015 – 6 May 2016
Premier| Annastacia Palaszczuk
Deputy| John-Paul Langbroek
Preceded by| Annastacia Palaszczuk
Succeeded by| Tim Nicholls
In office
21 January 2008 – 2 April 2009
Premier| Anna Bligh
Deputy| Fiona Simpson
Mark McArdle
Preceded by| Jeff Seeney
Succeeded by| John-Paul Langbroek
In office
4 February 2003 – 18 September 2006
Premier| Peter Beattie
Deputy| Jeff Seeney
Preceded by| Mike Horan
Succeeded by| Jeff Seeney
Minister for Health of Queensland
In office
3 April 2012 – 14 February 2015
Premier| Campbell Newman
Preceded by| Geoff Wilson
Succeeded by| Cameron Dick
Shadow Minister for State Development, Major Projects, Infrastructure and Planning
In office
29 November 2010 – 11 April 2011
Leader| John-Paul Langbroek
Preceded by| David Gibson
Succeeded by| Jeff Seeney
Shadow Attorney-General
Shadow Minister for Justice
In office
5 April 2009 – 29 November 2010
Leader| John-Paul Langbroek
Preceded by| Mike Horan
Succeeded by| Jarrod Bleijie
In office
2 July 1998 – 27 September 2005
Leader| Rob Borbidge
Mike Horan
Himself
Preceded by| Matt Foley
Succeeded by| Mark McArdle
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations
In office
5 April 2009 – 29 November 2010
Leader| John-Paul Langbroek
Preceded by| Steve Dickson
Succeeded by| Jann Stuckey
Deputy Leader of the Opposition of Queensland
Deputy Leader of the Liberal National Party
In office
2 April 2009 – 11 April 2011
Leader| John-Paul Langbroek
Preceded by| Mark McArdle
Succeeded by| Tim Nicholls (Opposition)
Jeff Seeney (LNP)
Deputy Leader of the
Queensland National Party
In office
26 February 1999 – 2 March 2001
Leader| Rob Borbidge
Preceded by| Mike Horan
Succeeded by| Vaughan Johnson
Minister for Natural Resources of Queensland
In office
16 February 1998 – 26 June 1998
Premier| Rob Borbidge
Preceded by| Howard Hobbs
Succeeded by| Rod Welford
Queensland Government Chief Whip
In office
20 February 1996 – 16 February 1998
Premier| Rob Borbidge
Preceded by| Don Livingstone
Succeeded by| Rob Mitchell
Member of the Queensland Parliament for Southern Downs
In office
17 February 2001 – 25 November 2017
Preceded by| New seat
Succeeded by| James Lister
Member of the Queensland Parliament for Warwick
In office
19 September 1992 – 17 February 2001
Preceded by| Des Booth
Succeeded by| Seat abolished
Member of the Queensland Parliament for Carnarvon
In office
2 December 1989 – 19 September 1992
Preceded by| Peter McKechnie
Succeeded by| Seat abolished
Mayor of the Goondiwindi Region

Incumbent

Assumed office
28 March 2020
Preceded by| Graeme Scheu
Personal details
Born|

Lawrence James Springborg

(1968-02-17) 17 February 1968 (age 56)
Inglewood, Queensland, Australia
Political party| Liberal National
Other political
affiliations| National (1989–2008)
Spouse| Linda Springborg
Nickname| The Borg

Lawrence James Springborg AM (born 17 February 1968) is an Australian politician. He led the National Party in the Queensland Parliament from 2003 to 2006 and again in 2008, before becoming the first leader of the merged Liberal National Party from 2008 to 2009. He led the LNP again from 2015 to 2016 before announcing his retirement. He currently serves as Mayor of Goondiwindi Regional Council, having been elected in March 2020.[1]

As Leader of the Queensland branch of the National Party, he led the National-Liberal coalition to defeats at both the 2004 and 2006 Queensland elections. He resigned as leader after his second election defeat, and was replaced by his former deputy, Jeff Seeney. However, after only 16 months as leader and facing poor opinion polling against Seeney, Springborg replaced him.

Following this defeat, Springborg played a leading role in the creation of the Liberal National Party (LNP), becoming the party's first leader but resigning after he led it to defeat at the 2009 Queensland election. John-Paul Langbroek was elected as his successor, with Springborg elected as Deputy Leader.[2] Following a move by the LNP organisation to install Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman as leader of the state Party from outside of Parliament, both Langbroek and Springborg lost their positions to Newman and Jeff Seeney, respectively. The Newman-led LNP overwhelmingly won the 2012 election and Springborg became Minister for Health in the Newman Cabinet. After the 2015 election, Newman lost his electorate of Ashgrove and Springborg was once again elected leader of the LNP, with Langbroek serving as his deputy as the LNP returned to opposition after one term in office.[3] On 6 May 2016, Springborg lost the leadership of the LNP to Tim Nicholls.[4]

## Early life

[edit]

Born in 1968, Lawrence Springborg resided in the town Yelarbon for much of his younger life. He left school at the age of 14 and went on to work a farm on Queensland's Darling Downs for seven years before he was elected to Parliament in 1989 at the age of 21.[5]

## Parliamentary career

[edit]

In the 1989 Queensland state election, Springborg became the youngest person elected to the Parliament of Queensland, winning the safe Nationals seat of Carnarvon on the Darling Downs.[5] In the same year, the 32-year reign of the Nationals at the State level drew to a close. Springborg represented a new generation of Nationals not associated with the era of long-serving former Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen and the allegations of corruption and maladministration arising from the Fitzgerald Inquiry. Subsequent redistributions forced Springborg to relocate to his later seat in Southern Downs.[6]

The Nationals remained in opposition until 1996, when the Goss Labor government lost office following the 1995 state election and a consequential adverse finding in the Queensland Court of Disputed Returns and subsequent by-election loss of the seat of Mundingburra by Labor led the resignation of the then Premier Wayne Goss. The reformed National-Liberal coalition took power under Rob Borbidge but only with the support of independent MLA Liz Cunningham. In 1998, shortly before the Borbidge government lost office, Springborg was sworn in as Minister for Natural Resources, again setting a record as Queensland's youngest ever minister. In February 1999, he was as elected Deputy National Leader.

The 2001 state elections saw a massive win for the Labor Party, with Premier Peter Beattie going from a one-seat to twenty-two seat majority, and the Nationals reduced to 12 seats out of the 89-seat Parliament. After the election loss, the Coalition with the Liberals was ended and Springborg was reelected Deputy Opposition Leader.

Borbidge subsequently resigned as Leader of the Nationals and his place was taken by Mike Horan, father of international Rugby Union player Tim Horan. After widespread speculation and criticism, the Nationals elected Springborg as leader in 2003.[7]

## 2004 election

[edit]

The campaign for the 2004 state election relied heavily on Springborg's personal profile. He literally ran for much of the campaign, appearing to be jogging through state forests on electoral advertising, emphasising his physical fitness. The Nationals marketed Springborg merchandise extensively, including life-size cardboard cutouts. In a move unthinkable for Nationals of an earlier era, he appeared in a Courier-Mail photograph clad only in a towel and ironing his own shirt.[8]

## 2006 election

[edit]

As water management became an increasingly important issue during the drought, Springborg criticised Labor's handling of the water issue. Amid speculation that the 2006 state election election would be called early, the Liberal Party deposed Quinn and elected Bruce Flegg as leader in his place, who has in the past had a poor relationship with Springborg. Springborg pressed Beattie to serve a full term and not call an election before one was due. On 15 August 2006, Beattie called an election for 9 September of that year. Springborg again conceded defeat at 8pm on 9 September 2006.[9]

In the wake of his second election defeat, he announced his resignation as leader of the National Party on 14 September 2006. His former deputy, Jeff Seeney, ascended to the leadership position uncontested on 18 September 2006, alongside Maroochydore representative Fiona Simpson as Deputy Leader.[10]

## Political comeback and Conservative merger

[edit]

After Deputy Fiona Simpson withdrew her support for current leader Jeff Seeney, he announced a partyroom challenge to take place on 21 January 2008, with former leader Springborg the front runner.[11] Springborg won the challenge and like his rolling of Mike Horan in 2003, Springborg's rolling of Seeney meant that Springborg once again ousted a leader prior to this leader being given a chance to lead his party into an election.

After resuming the leadership, he began renewed talks of a merger to form a single 'non-Labor force' in Queensland. On 26 July 2008 this became reality when both parties voted to form the Liberal National Party of Queensland.[12]

The failure of the two conservative parties to sign a new Coalition agreement convinced Springborg of the need to merge the Liberals and Nationals at a state level. Presenting a proposal modelled on the Conservative Party of Canada, Springborg went about campaigning through 2004 for the support of both state party organisations in creating a new unified party.

Prior to the 2006 state election, Springborg's proposal ran into early hurdles when John Howard, John Anderson, and other federal Coalition identities dismissed the idea of a state-level merger.[13] Bob Quinn and the state Liberals reacted cautiously, ultimately rebuffing Springborg's efforts. However, Springborg did attract strong support for the idea from the National Party at a state organisational level, with the central executive supporting his proposal in February 2005. Springborg toned down some of his advocacy,[14] however, and was content to announce a renewal of the Coalition agreement with the Liberals on 26 September 2005, aiming to maximise Labor's trouble regarding the scandal instigated by Dr Jayant Patel and the Bundaberg public hospital.

On 29 May 2006, plans for merger received a new life when the state division of the Liberal party announced its in-principle support for the idea. State director Graeme Greene stated that the merged party "would effectively operate under the federal Liberal Party's model".

However, senior figures within both the National and Liberal parties, particularly federal Nationals leader Mark Vaile, quickly spoke out against the proposed merger.[15] By the end of the week, Springborg had to rescind his proposal.

On 26 July 2008, his vision of a united non-Labor force in Queensland finally became reality when both parties voted to form the Liberal National Party of Queensland. He has been described as the "father of the party" by successor, John-Paul Langbroek.[16]

## 2009 election

[edit]

Springborg led the LNP into the 2009 Queensland election; despite opinion polls predicting a close contest, the ALP led by Anna Bligh retained government. A 20-seat swing to the LNP would have been required to deliver majority government. Springborg led the LNP to an eight percent swing and took 10 seats from Labor, the largest swing to the conservatives in over 14 years. However, the LNP came up 11 seats short of making Springborg premier, largely due to winning only six seats in Brisbane. Following his third electoral defeat, Springborg announced his retirement as party leader and instead was elected deputy leader under John-Paul Langbroek.[17]

Springborg, along with the entire Liberal National Party, supported changes to Queensland's abortion laws.[18] Springborg resigned as deputy leader on 22 March 2011, after Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman announced he was launching a challenge for the LNP leadership.[19]

## 2015 election

[edit]

The LNP won the biggest majority government in Queensland history at the 2012 election, only to lose it after one term at the 2015 election. Newman lost his own seat, and Springborg was elected LNP leader for the second time. He briefly harboured hope of becoming premier in a minority government, but this was brought undone when independent Peter Wellington threw his support to Labor. Springborg thus became leader of the opposition for the third time.

### Loss of leadership

[edit]

Springborg lost the leadership to Tim Nicholls on 6 May 2016 in a leadership spill, by 22 votes to 19.[4] On 3 December 2016, he announced his retirement from politics at the next Queensland state election.[20]

Months before losing the leadership, there was speculation that Springborg would make a switch to federal politics and therefore resign the leadership by seeking preselection for the safe National seat of Maranoa following incumbent and Deputy Speaker Bruce Scott's announcement that he would be retiring at the next election due in 2016 but Springborg ruled this out.[21]

## Local politics

[edit]

In November 2019, he announced he would be standing as a candidate for Mayor of Goondiwindi Regional Council in the March 2020 election.[22] He was elected unopposed.[23]

## See also

[edit]

* Shadow ministry of Lawrence Springborg

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Electoral Commission of Queensland". Goondiwindi Regional Mayor - Results. ECQ.
2. ^ "John-Paul Langbroek elected new leader of Queensland LNP". AAP. 2 April 2009. Archived from the original on 6 April 2009.
3. ^ "Lawrence Springborg elected as new Queensland LNP leader, John-Paul Langbroek as deputy". ABC News. 7 February 2015. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015.
4. ^ a b "Tim Nicholls topples Lawrence Springborg to become Queensland LNP leader". ABC News. 6 May 2016.
5. ^ a b "Lawrence Springborg elected as new Queensland LNP leader". ABC News. 7 February 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
6. ^ Hui, Jin (30 October 2017). "'The Borg' bows out". Warwick Today. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
7. ^ "PM - Springborg takes control of Queensland National Party".
8. ^ Frances Whiting (17 March 2009). "Sexing up the Queensland election". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
9. ^ "Beattie wins historic fourth term". smh.com.au. 9 September 2006. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
10. ^ Steven Wardill and Rosemary Odgers (18 September 2006). "Seeney takes National Party reins". Herald Sun. Retrieved 18 September 2006. [dead link]
11. ^ Bring on challenge, says Seeney Archived 25 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian, 19 January 2008.
12. ^ Dunlevy, Gabrielle (26 July 2008). "Merger a win for 'grassroots democracy'". News.com.au. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
13. ^ "Nats push for merger with Libs in Queensland". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 December 2004. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
14. ^ Mark Todd (2 April 2005). "Lost in the bush". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
15. ^ Dana Robertson (31 May 2006). "Qld conservatives dump party merger plans". Lateline. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
16. ^ "New leader John-Paul Langbroek warns about LNP disunity". The Australian. 3 April 2009. Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
17. ^ Odgers, Rosemary; Wardill, Steven (3 April 2009). "New LNP leader John Paul Langbroek warns dissidents". The Courier-Mail. Archived from the original on 5 April 2009.
18. ^ "Abortion law changes pass". The Australian. 3 September 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
19. ^ Campbell Newman's Queensland coup Archived 17 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine. 6PM with George Negus (Ten News), 22 March 2011.
20. ^ "Lawrence Springborg to quit politics". The Courier-Mail. 3 December 2016. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
21. ^ Atfield, Cameron (3 August 2015). "Lawrence Springborg rules out replacing Bruce Scott in Maranoa". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
22. ^ "Former LNP leader Lawrence Springborg confirms political comeback". Brisbane Times. 27 November 2019.
23. ^ "Vote Result System | Electoral Commission of Queensland".

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lawrence Springborg.

* Official Biography

Political offices

Preceded by

Mike Horan

|  Leader of the Opposition in Queensland
2003–2006  | Succeeded by

Jeff Seeney

Preceded by

Jeff Seeney

|  Leader of the Opposition in Queensland
2008–2009  | Succeeded by

John-Paul Langbroek

Preceded by

Mark McArdle

|  Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Queensland
2009–2011  | Succeeded by

Tim Nicholls

Preceded by

Annastacia Palaszczuk

|  Leader of the Opposition in Queensland
2015–2016
Preceded by

Howard Hobbs

|  Minister for Natural Resources
1998  | Succeeded by

Rod Welford

Preceded by

Geoff Wilson

|  Minister for Health
2012–2015  | Succeeded by

Cameron Dick

Parliament of Queensland
Preceded by

Peter McKechnie

|  Member for Carnarvon
1989–1992  | Seat abolished
Preceded by

Des Booth

|  Member for Warwick
1992–2001  | Seat abolished
New seat |  Member for Southern Downs
2001–2017  | Succeeded by

James Lister

Party political offices
Preceded by

Mike Horan

|  Leader of the National Party in Queensland
2003–2006  | Succeeded by

Jeff Seeney

Preceded by

Jeff Seeney

|  Leader of the National Party in Queensland
2008  | Party amalgamated
New political party |  Leader of the Liberal National Party in Queensland
2008–2009  | Succeeded by

John-Paul Langbroek

Preceded by

Mark McArdle

|  Deputy Leader of the Liberal National Party in Queensland
2009–2011  | Succeeded by

Jeff Seeney

Preceded by

Campbell Newman

|  Leader of the Liberal National Party in Queensland
2015–2016  | Succeeded by

Tim Nicholls

* v
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Leaders of the National Party (and predecessors) in Queensland

* Appel
* Vowles
* Moore
* Maher
* Nicklin
* Pizzey
* Bjelke-Petersen
* Ahern
* Cooper
* Borbidge
* Horan
* Springborg
* Seeney
* Springborg

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