Miles re-elected Labor leader, vows to learn from mistakes
By Savannah Meacham
Steven Miles has been re-elected Labor leader and will scrutinise the new LNP government from the opposition benches in a bid to regain the trust of Queenslanders.
After a caucus meeting in Brisbane, Miles said Labor needed to reflect on its period in government while “developing the platform that we will take to the election in four years’ time”.
Miles became premier after Annastacia Palaszczuk resigned in December 2023, but he was unable to see Labor re-elected for a fourth term and gain a mandate of his own.
The LNP opposition savaged the Labor government on crime issues, and overcame a spirited Miles campaign to secure a majority on October 26.
“I think we were too slow to respond to the concerns about crime, particularly in Townsville,” Miles told reporters on Tuesday.
“And when we did respond, even though that plan was effective, people ... had already made up their minds.
“We will now begin that process of analysing what happened, talking with Queenslanders.
“It’s a process that starts tomorrow, but we have four years to do that rebuilding, and I intend to make best use of every single one of those years.”
The party will also commission an election review to dissect what went wrong.
Asked what kind of opposition leader he would be, Miles said: “What you see is what you get.”
In Townsville, Premier David Crisafulli said he would not be distracted by the Labor “soap opera”.
“The more things change, the more things stay the same for the Labor Party,” he said, after accusing the former Miles government of hiding the $36 billion cost of a now-scrapped pumped hydro project.
The opposition has a revamped front bench, with Mark Ryan and Mark Furner relegated from their respective police and agriculture portfolios to the backbench.
New faces include Mansfield MP Corrine McMillan, Lytton MP Joan Pease, Logan MP Linus Power, and Bundaberg MP Tom Smith.
Former transport minister Mark Bailey, relegated to the backbench in the Palaszczuk government, returns to the frontbench.
Shadow cabinet portfolios are expected to be announced this week.
Votes are still being counted but the LNP is expected to hold 53 seats to Labor’s 35.
Three seats are still being finalised, with the LNP’s Amanda Cooper narrowly leading Aspley ahead of Labor’s Bart Mellish.
South Brisbane looks set to fall to Labor’s Barbara O’Shea, with incumbent Greens member Amy MacMahon trailing.
AAP