Qld election: Behind the scenes with the media as parties conjure covert and contrived stunts

Take a rare look behind the scenes of the media coverage of the 2024 Queensland election campaign, as the parties and their personnel conjure plenty of stunts, both covert and contrived.

This election campaign trail is a tale of two men on vastly different trajectories. One has nothing left to lose.

The other needs to do nothing to jeopardise his grip on a winning ticket.

And the tone of Premier Steven Miles’s all-or-nothing bid to keep Labor in power against Opposition Leader David Crisafulli’s bubble boy bid to get the LNP through without scandal will be reflected in their respective election campaign trails.

It has showed from day one. Mr Miles chose the unorthodox route of taking a train then bus to Government House on Tuesday.

The LNP campaign camp was already in Cairns, ordering travelling journalists to gather at 5am on Monday – more than 24 hours before official electioneering began.

What most Queenslanders don’t see is what happens before the slick news packages are put to air – a gaggle of travelling journalists, photographers and camera operators attached to each major party, to be held in effective captivity for four weeks.

There will be carefully curated photo opportunities, daily press conferences, and the occasional gaffe. Politicians will smile and shake hands with Queenslanders as they zip from one part of the state to another.

Premier Steven Miles kicks off the election in Queensland while a group of journalists cover his every move. Pics Adam Head

But it works like a covert operation, with journalists kept in the dark on where they’re going and when. Where the magical mystery tour starts for the day is rarely where it ends.

On Tuesday Mr Miles would have had breakfast in Brisbane, lunch in Townsville and dinner in Mackay.

Mr Crisafulli and his travelling media pack had already spent Monday feeding a snappy turtle in Cairns before flying to Bundaberg on Tuesday to talk to Wazza in his car yard.

It was a taste of what was to come on the LNP campaign for the week, with journalists spending hours loitering in the sun, setting up cameras in strange locations including the back alley waiting for Mr Crisafulli to arrive.

The early mornings have quickly become a hallmark the LNP camp. As has the penchant for scheduling an appearance at a “mystery location” that turns out to be a local netball court.

It’s meant nursing lukewarm coffee while bleary eyed, watching a full-grown man in a dress shirt and tailored pants play sport with teenagers – as though a politician’s ability to handle a ball will reveal their ability to handle the economy. There has been a distinct lack of hi-vis on either side so far this campaign, in contrast to the 2020 election when it seemed Labor’s Annastacia Palaszczuk and the LNP’s Deb Frecklington never took their hard hats and neon vests off.

Leader of the Opposition David Crisafulli takes advantage of a photo op at Barmaryee, near Yeppoon. Picture: Liam Kidston.

If hi-vis was Palaszczuk’s 2020 calling card, the Miles campaign may be trying to make “mingling with the public” his. Although there is nothing natural about doing a lap of shopping centre with half a dozen journalists, the same number of camera operators in tow, and a handful of Australian Federal Police officers.

Spare a thought for a regular punter Zeb Russell in Mackay who felt passionate enough about the Bruce Highway to holler at the Premier but not fussed enough about politicians to get up from the Canelands Central Shopping Centre massage chair.

While Mr Miles is in an accountancy storefront saying g’day, one shopper leant over to ask “what’s this all about”. He knows it’s the Premier but he’s not too keen to meet the man. “Nah, I’m a Liberal man myself to be honest,” he says.

Election campaign cuisine has a tendency to be made up of foods low on the five star health rating system. The calorie count has been aided in part by Treasurer Cameron Dick’s decision to source baked goods to keep ravenous journalists at bay. The state might be in debt, but the sugar content is in surplus.

Treasurer Cameron Dick. Photo: Madura McCormack.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles visiting Dale Rolls at her home in Caloundra. Pics Adam Head

As soon as the curated opportunities are over, journalists are whisked on to the bus and into the plane. It’s meant mastering the art of filing stories, writing scripts or recording voice overs from anywhere; buses, planes, or sitting in a gutter hunched over laptops tip tapping away.

Deadlines have no respect for altitude. Mobile phone services in the regions can be patchy on the ground, but it turns out you can fly low enough in a nine-seater Beechcraft King Air to touch Telstra towers.

Reporters crammed into the Premier’s SAAB 340B turboprop. Pics Adam Head

This election’s main flying machines are two 30-seater SAAB 340B turboprops, with the LNP jet helpfully supplied by embattled regional carrier Rex and Labor’s by Link Airways (with the Premier’s camp temporarily using King Airs, perhaps to prove the absence of luxury).

Then it’s back on solid ground, on to a bus back to the hotel then to the pub to eat a steak at The Cri in Rockhampton while waiting for the leader’s keepers to reveal what’s in store tomorrow.