* Born August 12, 1963. Mother Jocelyn and father Kevin both former federal ministers. Married Lisa in 1991, two daughters - Rebecca and Sarah.
* Served in the Army for 13-years as an engineer, retiring in 1993 at the rank of Major. Later worked as a management consultant before working for Queensland agribusiness Grainco Australia.
* Elected Lord Mayor of Brisbane in March 2004, promising five tunnels in a $4 billion plan to ease traffic congestion.
* Helped deliver Brisbane's Clem7 tunnel in 2010, later criticised when the project went into receivership after failing to meet traffic predictions.
* Launched Brisbane's bike hire scheme, CityCycle, in 2010. The scheme was bagged as a "white elephant" that suffered from a slow take-up.
* Resigned as Lord Mayor in April 2011, to enter state politics. He became the LNP opposition's unelected leader in an unorthodox arrangement which saw Jeff Seeney act as parliamentary leader.
* Was attacked over his family's finances and developer donations by Labor Premier Anna Bligh during a bitterly personal 2012 campaign. Cleared by the Crime and Misconduct Commission in the final weeks of the campaign.
* Led the LNP to an unprecedented victory in which it claimed 78 of Queensland's 89 seats, while Labor was reduced to just seven. He promised to govern "with humility, dignity and grace".
* Cut 14,000 public service jobs after declaring "the public service has nothing to fear from me" during the campaign. The austerity measures prompted mass rallies and stirred the ire of unions.
* Engaged in a war of words with mining magnate Clive Palmer, once the LNP's largest donor, after Mr Palmer accused the government of "cooking the books" with its Commission of Audit into Queensland's finances. Mr Palmer's party membership was cancelled.
* Introduced tough anti-gang legislation in December 2013. The laws, criticised as draconian by civil libertarians, made it illegal for bikies to wear insignia in public, gather in groups of three or more, meet in clubhouses, made bail conditions tougher and added longer mandatory sentences for convicted office bearer.
* Suffered major swings when Labor won back the seats of Stafford and Redcliffe in by-elections.
* In a stunning backlash, the LNP lost at least 30 seats, including Ashgrove.
* January 31, 2014 - Newman's high-profile run came to an end. "My political career is over, it is over."
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