Going down: Miles dismisses new poll as underground station work escalates

The news

Acting premier Steven Miles has dismissed the second poll in a month showing slipping support for his Labor government ahead of his boss’s weekend return from an overseas break.

Asked about some recent media commentary his past two weeks of travel across the state and almost daily press conferences had been an “audition” for the top job, Miles said he was “perplexed” by the suggestion.Credit: Matt Dennien

The RedBridge Group survey placed the Labor share of Queenslanders’ primary voting intention at just 26 per cent, compared to 41 per cent for the LNP and 14 per cent for the Greens.

Speaking at a Woolloongabba press conference to mark the installation of the first of almost 100 escalators in new Cross River Rail stations, Miles said he was “not too concerned”.

“We’ve seen across consecutive terms people write us off through the middle of the term, but come election time when Queenslanders really focus in on the choice before them ... they have chosen our government to continue to lead the state,” he said.

How we got here

With still more than 13 months until the next state election in October 2024, a series of polls – including one for Brisbane Times last month – have showed souring support for Labor and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

This, along with an extraordinary last sitting week of parliament, has helped push internal party frustrations public as Palaszczuk left the country for a two-week break.

Why it matters

While this has fuelled speculation about Palaszczuk’s leadership, there is no active push to remove her and party rules which make it incredibly hard to do so unless the Premier decided to go.

The RedBridge poll, which surveyed 2012 Queenslander voters between Palaszczuk’s departure on August 26 and September 6 with a margin for error of 2.2 per cent, is the first this year to place Labor’s primary vote below 30 per cent.

At the 2020 pandemic-era election, the third consecutive statewide vote won by Palaszczuk’s Labor, her party increased its majority with a primary vote of 40 per cent compared to the LNP’s 36 per cent.

Miles said the Premier was due back in Queensland on Sunday ahead of Monday’s meeting of cabinet and the 52-member Labor partyroom before parliament resumes on Tuesday.

What they said

Asked about some recent media commentary his past two weeks of travel across the state and almost daily press conferences had been an “audition” for the top job, Miles said he was “perplexed” by the suggestion.

“It’s just maybe people have noticed a bit more, but the last couple of weeks haven’t been especially unusual,” Miles said. “It’s a big state, I tend to travel most non-sitting [parliamentary] weeks into the regions.”

He also criticised the Greens when asked about their support in the poll among 18-to-34-year-olds – which sat above that of both Labor and the LNP.

RedBridge director Kos Samaras, a former Victorian Labor election strategist, said while the major parties’ primary votes have been declining nationwide, it had been unclear who those voters may support instead.

“There’s something going on in the 18-to-34-year-old bracket,” Samaras said. “If I was a major party I would not be sitting on my hands doing nothing because the Greens are picking up a lot of that vote.”

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