‘A different leader’: Miles wants his own mandate, Crisafulli wants change

Queensland’s major party leaders have used the final day before the formal state election campaign begins to make the case for why they deserve to govern for the next four years.

In Brisbane, Premier Steven Miles asked for a “mandate in my own right”, having taken over the Labor leadership in December, while LNP leader David Crisafulli headed to Cairns promising a “fresh start”.

After long-running early efforts by both parties to woo voters, the state’s first four-year fixed-term parliament will be formally dissolved on Tuesday – before votes start being cast from October 14.

Premier Steven Miles and fellow Labor cabinet members spent the day in Brisbane on Monday, and will head to Government House on Tuesday to kick-start the formal 26-day campaign.Credit: Matt Dennien

Election day is October 26.

Miles is seeking a fourth term in government for Labor, which has held power in the state for most of the last 30 years and ever since the one-term Newman LNP government ended in 2015.

Asked on Monday why his party – in which he has sat in cabinet since being elected with first Palaszczuk government – should be re-elected, Miles said he was seeking his first term as leader.

“I want four years in my own right to deliver on the kinds of policies and vision that I have for our state,” he told reporters during a visit to a Brisbane bus manufacturing site to spruik past transport announcements.

Miles said he was proud of the achievements of both himself and Labor under the former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who stepped down in December and endorsed Miles as her successor.

“But I am a different leader, and I’ve had an opportunity to audition for the job ... and what I’m asking for on the 26th of October is a mandate in my own right, a chance to introduce the policies and vision that I have for the state,” he said.

While the major election dates are now written in law, Miles will visit Governor Jeannette Young on Tuesday for a meeting after which she will formally dissolve the parliament and call for the election.

But Crisafulli will already be some distance from Brisbane. Speaking from Cairns on Monday, where Miles and Labor held an early regional campaign “launch” at the weekend, he reiterated his pitch.

“In 27 days’ time, Queenslanders get the chance to vote for change. To vote for a fresh start for our future,” he said to open a media conference in which he made another youth crime announcement.

“And the question that Queenslanders will ask themselves is, after 10 years of this government, are things better or worse when it comes to youth crime, health, housing, cost of living, and who’s got the right plans for Queensland’s future?”

Both leaders, again, claimed underdog status – with Miles pointing to polled support for Labor still well below the LNP, and Crisafulli noting the LNP had only won one of the last 12 elections.

Crisafulli also claimed the state’s compulsory preferential voting system – used in other Australian states and federally – and donation system were “rigged” to suit Labor.