Qld election 2024: Annastacia Palaszczuk absent from campaign trail after Steven Miles snub

Premier Steven Miles has banished Annastacia Palaszczuk from Labor’s campaign trail the day after she publicly refused to endorse him.

Premier Steven Miles at the opening of the Neville Bonner Bridge from South Bank to Queen's Wharf on Wednesday. Picture: Richard Walker

Premier Steven Miles has banished Annastacia Palaszczuk from Labor’s campaign trail the day after she publicly refused to endorse him.

Despite further distancing himself from his predecessor, Mr Miles said on Wednesday he still kept in touch with Ms Palaszczuk, clarifying their relationship was now personal.

“We were at a football game not too long ago,” he said.

“It’s now a personal relationship, we worked together for a long time.”

But he quickly shut down any possibility of Ms Palaszczuk joining Labor’s upcoming campaign trail, stating it was time to “give us a mandate in our own right”.

“It’s very unlikely that you would ever see a former leader on the campaign trail,” he said.

“That’s not how we campaign. This is me and my team.”

A starkly different opinion was offered up by senior Minister Grace Grace just last week who said she would “love Annastacia Palaszczuk to join the campaign trail”.

Mr Miles says he continued to receive advice from Ms Palaszczuk after she stepped down in December, but the pair have had little contact, with some Labor heavyweights under the belief her resistance to resign has hindered Mr Miles’ chances at the upcoming election.

Rumours of the fractured relationship swirled on Tuesday when Ms Palaszczuk brushed aside the opportunity to endorse Miles at the Smart Energy Council Expo in Brisbane, before later telling the Courier-Mail she would “of course” endorse him.

In a prerecorded message played to the expo, Mr Miles touted his government’s renewable efforts, but he failed to make mention of Ms Palaszczuk’s contribution, despite many of the green achievements being starting under her leadership.

Mr Miles said he was “not at all” disappointed Ms Palaszczuk did not endorse him when first asked.

“Annastacia endorsed me the day she resigned as premier,” he said.

“What she was trying to say yesterday was she didn’t intend to become a political commentator and she was avoiding political commentary.

“The endorsement that matters isn’t Annastacia Palaszczuk’s, it’s the endorsement of Queenslanders.

“I’m seeking a mandate in my own right in October and I’m spending my time every single day talking to Queenslanders, delivering for them.”

Ms Palaszczuk on Tuesday also declined to offer a message to disenfranchised Labor voters who might be considering switching to the LNP on October 26.

“I’m not commenting on state politics, we’ll just leave that,” she said.