Labor fights the trend as election day looms in Queensland

The Queensland election campaign ending on voting day, 26 October, has seen cut-throat professionalism in the scramble to persuade electors.

Both Labor Premier Steven Miles and the Liberal National Party (LNP) Leader David Crisafulli are products of the “politics industry”, without careers to speak of outside the political game. This always raises the suspicion they will prioritise getting electoral support and be good at it, over other responsibilities in state-craft.

The Labor Government has run out concrete and costed initiatives to try and retain support; the LNP has adopted a low-profile approach on policies, except for a proposed blitz against child criminal offenders, citing a “youth crime crisis”.

Steven Miles made an early and calculating start in politics, heading to a respected performance now within his party as a highly capable leader in a tough situation. At Queensland University, as he says, “coming from the suburbs”, he chose a Labor Party faction, then worked through the factions system taking on union jobs, appointments with ministers, then election to Parliament, currently in the North Brisbane electorate of Murrumba. His PhD thesis was useful political learning, studying unions.

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Miles has organised a systematic election campaign exploiting both the idea of a renewed government, following the resignation of his predecessor, Annastacia Palaszczuk, last December and advantages of incumbency.

A set of initiatives has been unveiled progressively this year:

Queenslanders pay only 50 cents per trip on local buses, ferries and trains (an initiative so popular the Opposition has had to match it);
a $1,000 cost of living rebate on household electricity bills;
new GP clinics offering bulk billing; and
with shades of Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, campaigning in the United States, free school lunches.

He is able to say his programs are costed and being implemented. It is something more than only a rear guard campaign, with hopes of holding seats in Brisbane and the regional cities, “youth crime crisis” or not.

However, the outlook for Labor looks bleak with any published opinion polls, unchanged over a full year, indicating a double-digit swing against it and trouble for the Labor brand. Labor, in office for 27 or the last 32 years, is facing a “time for a change” factor, especially with a Federal Labor Government now elected, itself under attack on several fronts, starting to limp in polls.

While the State Government’s spending measures might blunt the economic impacts, and so also the electoral impacts of higher prices and interest rates, the Government, like any government in office, will still be getting blame. The ALP has 51 seats in the 93-seat Parliament; losing only four would take away its majority. The LNP, with 35, has to win 12 seats for a majority – looking likely – and it might count on help from bush conservatives in the Katter's Australia Party (at present with three seats). The current parliament also has two Greens and two Independents.

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What of the alternative and bookies’ favourite? David Crisafulli got his political start doing an internship with a Liberal MP, Peter Lindsay, while studying journalism at James Cook University. After what must have been a minimal journalistic career, he got a seat on the Townsville City Council. The next stop was a state seat and in 2012, employment as a Minister in the one-term Newman Government – an experiment in radical neoliberalism.

The Newman Government sacked 14,000 public servants, causing Minister Crisafulli to lose his seat in 2015, as did Premier Major Campbell Newman. A seat was found for him in Liberal territory on the Gold Coast clearing the way to taking over as party leader.

The Opposition in 2024 has opted for a small target on promises, putting out a “plan” that proposes a general renovation of government services but is low on costings. It has prompted charges from Labor that any new projects would be paid for out of the wages of sacked public servants. Parts of the plan include familiar initiatives, to ease ambulance ramping, increase land supply for housing and reduce government “waste” and “red tape”.

The central plank, the designated winner for the regions, is an attack on the “youth crime crisis”, by imposing hard prison sentences on offenders: ‘Adult Crime, Adult Time’ is the slogan. Everybody knows it is about Indigenous children stealing cars, a dire problem at night in several parts of Queensland. The campaign theme is victimhood. The yardstick will be reductions in the figures on victims. (Labor says the figures have gone up, but only after it expanded the definition of victims to include domestic violence).

Several aggrieved persons have been publicised in the campaign, for example calling for “payback” penalties in sentencing.

Amongst Dr Lee Duffield’s vast journalistic experience, he has served as ABC's European correspondent. He is also an esteemed academic and member of the editorial advisory board of Pacific Journalism Review.