‘Vote for change’: David Crisafulli pleads with voters to give him a chance
In a candid interview with The Courier-Mail, the man on the cusp of leading the LNP to a rare victory insists the election will be “bloody close” and promises he’s learnt from his party’s mistakes.
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David Crisafulli is pleading with voters to give him the chance to lead Queensland, promising the LNP has learnt from the Campbell Newman era and will now govern with compassion.
In a candid interview with The Courier-Mail, the man on the cusp of leading the LNP to a rare victory insists the election is “going to be bloody close” and warned voters against assuming a 10-year Labor government would be defeated.
“This election is still going to be tough,” he said. “You’ve got local members who are debranding to try and convince voters to support them, believing that the government will change. I have to be that direct because there’s a whole heap of people who will cast their vote today and they have the opportunity to hit a button that says a fresh start for this state.”
Coming within striking distance of an LNP win marks a remarkable recovery from the devastating defeat Mr Crisafulli suffered in 2015 when an outgoing tide angrily swept Mr Newman’s one-term government from office.
For the young local government minister, a 13 per cent swing in his Townsville-based seat of Mundingburra left him pondering whether his short political career was over. “In 2015, I just received a big lesson and I certainly wasn’t thinking about this,” he said.
“I was reflecting on the importance of governments that conduct themselves with compassion and that was a pretty big and important lesson for me.”
Mr Crisafulli credits the LNP’s position in October 2024 to the “massive” work of former opposition leaders John-Paul Langbroek, Tim Nicholls and Deb Frecklington, the latter two who were defeated by the Annastacia Palaszczuk juggernaut.
“They held, during tough elections, they prevented what could have been far more damaging results,” he said. “They’re great people, but they’re also great parliamentarians.”
In the LNP there is speculation about what another election loss would mean for the future of the party – but Mr Crisafulli won’t be drawn on it. “No one wants me focused on the future of a political movement, they want me focused on the future of Queensland,” he said.
Despite being in public life for 20 years, Mr Crisafulli remains an enigma to many voters. His small-target campaign has hardly deviated from the four “crises” of crime, housing, health and cost of living. Beyond a rare interview granted on his family’s Ingham cane farm, little is known about the LNP leader’s personal life.
Pictures in these news pages won’t feature wife Tegan or their two daughters.
“I am intensely private about my kids and it’s a decision that Tegan and I have taken and I think it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in my second journey to politics,” he said.
“We’ve raised two brilliant girls and they are our everything and I’ll protect them with every ounce of fibre I have. We have some wonderful private moments and I’ve never shared them and I don’t want to. I want them to be their own, independent, articulate women that they are.”
Mr Crisafulli doesn’t criticise Premier Steven Miles from sharing his family with Queensland as part of a suburban dad charm.
“I think that’s special that people are comfortable doing that; I’m never critical of that,” he said.
“That’s probably the thing that people don’t know about me is how much I enjoy a Sunday afternoon red wine with my pasta, watching a game of footy with my daughters – it’s the highlight of my life.”
He says it’s to protect them from incidents such as this four-week campaign, when he and his family have been targeted with vitriolic comments over abortion.
“I’ve never used the word lie in politics but I have to in this case because it’s crossed the line and it’s been deliberate, it’s been nasty,” he said.
“If Queenslanders vote for change today … (they) will put an end to a scare campaign like this because you run the risk of turning Queensland politics into an American-style politics.”
Originally published as ‘Vote for change’: David Crisafulli pleads with voters to give him a chance
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