‘We want new stuff’: Voters call out leaders for ‘generalised’ first day

Undecided voters have been left underwhelmed by both Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli on the first day of the campaign trail. Here’s what they had to say.

Undecided voters have their say on day one of the election campaign.

Undecided Queensland voters say they are underwhelmed by both Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli on the first day of the campaign trail.

Both leaders have been slammed for making generalised comments and not revealing anything new.

The Courier-Mail’s exclusive Voter Verdict shows a candid election analysis from more than 20 every day Queenslanders sharing their honest opinions.

Claire Wright from the Redlands said she was pretty unimpressed on the first day of the campaign.

“I think they’re saying the same things that they’ve been saying before we sort of opened up for election,” she said.

“But now we want to hear the new stuff.

“I know it is early on in the game, but they need to pull out some of their back pocket material.”

Khatra Nekzad from Brisbane City said she wanted to know more about exactly what their plans were to fix certain issues.

“I think they’re both making generalised statements without actually having any kind of idea on how they’re going to do what they’re saying they’re going to do,” she said.

“So if you’re going to do something about youth crime, what are you doing? Other than, like, coming up with a plan, that to me, doesn’t make sense.

“Cost of living is more than just bus fares. It’s like at the supermarket, buying kids books and etc, like, everything is a cost of living issue.”

Ms Nekzad said she wanted more depth from Crisafulli.

“I’ve heard more about Crisafulli in the last two days than I have ever before. I didn’t even realise that he was the opposition until then,” she said.

“But I just think both of them don’t really have plans, they’re just kind of saying big, broad, generalised statements.”

On the first day of the trail, Crisafulli came out swinging on youth crime. However the Voter Verdict aren’t convinced he has what it takes to eliminate the scourge.

Matthew Wilson from Geebung said he thought Crisafulli’s general concept was great because even where he was he saw the increase of youth crime but he isn’t convinced his plan will work.

On day one Mr Crisafulli pledged $50m to research global initiatives that turned youth away from crime.

“Why do you need $50 million to research already ongoing initiatives or initiatives that have been used internationally in other countries to reduce youth crime or crime in general,” he said.

“That makes absolutely no sense.

“It’s just sort of typical going, misappropriation of funding, that’s all going to go somewhere, and it’s just going to disappear.”

Ms Wright said she also thought Crisafulli wouldn’t change too much when it came to crime.

“He can say what he wants, and he’s going to do this, and he’s going to do that, but his powers stop extent a certain extent,” she said.

“He can’t control what the courts do, how many prisons there are, and who should and shouldn’t go to jail.”

At 11pm on Monday, Mr Miles signed off on a move to stand down embattled Townsville Mayor Troy Thompson before caretaker mode kicked in.

Mr Wilson said he was disappointed Mr Miles left it to the last minute.

“I don’t know how that really panned out. I mean, none of us really will,” he said.

“I just sort of thought, hey, look, I thought you might have that a bit more in the bag.”

Mr Miles on Tuesday arrived to Government House to dissolve parliament through public transport.

“I thought it was a really clever gimmick on Steve’s part, that he actually took a bus to government house,” he said.

“I found that was really quite clever. And also the fact that he was actually willing to forgo private transportation to actually use public transportation.

“I thought that was a really, a really smart move to show that he’s not above everyone else, and that he’s willing to come down to everyone else’s level.”