Steven Miles wants a ‘mandate in his own right’, David Crisafulli says Queensland needs ‘fresh start’
David Crisafulli has again declared his LNP is the ‘underdog’ in the Queensland election, despite its dominant lead in the opinion polls and the baggage carried by the three-term Labor government under Steven Miles.
Steven Miles has asked Queenslanders to return his Labor government for a fourth consecutive term to keep the state’s unemployment rate below 5 per cent and continue to dole out billions of dollars in cost-of-living relief.
As he prepared to dissolve parliament on Tuesday morning and begin a 26-day campaign, Mr Miles sought to again distance himself from former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, insisting he was a “different leader”.
“I’m seeking a first term as Queensland’s premier, I want four years in my own right to deliver on the kinds of policies, the vision, that I have for our state,” he said.
“I’ve had an opportunity to audition for the job to show Queenslanders what I would be like, and what I’m asking for on the 26th of October is a mandate in my own right.”
Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli is determined to convince voters that the state needs a “fresh start” after nearly a decade of Labor government.
“What we have that the government does not have is we have a comprehensive plan, we have a united team, we are hungry to serve and Queenslanders know they need change more than ever,” he said.
Mr Crisafulli jumped the gun on Tuesday’s official start to the campaign, heading north to the key marginal seat of Cairns high on both sides’ must-win list.
Launching a $100m early intervention program on youth crime – an issue he has hammered – Mr Crisafulli said community organisations would be funded to reach young offenders sooner.
“We have spoken a lot of the need for consequences for actions,” he said of the LNP’s hardline “adult crime, adult time” crackdown.
“But … we want to drive down youth crime before it begins.
“We want to have less victims in this state, and we are determined to make sure that those people who are providing early intervention can do so to deliver hope to young people.”
Elevating youth crime as Mr Crisafulli’s first-up election announcement underscored the issue’s primacy in the LNP’s election pitch.
It has added bite in the regions, where the elevated rate of home invasions, car theft and assaults has fuelled white-hot community anger.
While his tough stance on crime has boosted the LNP’s primary vote, particularly in the regions, Mr Crisafulli enters the campaign proper under pressure on key policy fronts, including his venue plan for the Olympics, how he will reach the legislated target of slashing 75 per cent of carbon emissions by 2035 and achieve his promise of lower taxes and debt.
The 45-year-old ex-journalist, who Labor has dubbed the “invisible man”, has come under increasing attacks over his detail-light “small target” policy approach.
His party needs a net gain of 12 to take majority government and The Australian’s latest Newspoll puts the LNP 10 points clear of Labor in two party-preferred terms, on track to a convincing victory should it maintain that level of broad support.
Speaking from Brisbane on Monday, Mr Miles accused his LNP rival of hubris, claiming Mr Crisafulli “thinks this election is going to be easy”.
“But we’ve barely even started, and with four weeks to go, I can assure you that this election will be much, much harder for him than he realises,” he said.
Mr Crisafulli insisted Labor’s winning record at the state level in Queensland – 11 of the 12 general elections contested since 1986 – and the quantum of seats required by the LNP to clinch a majority in the 93-place house from its starting position of 35, meant “we are the underdogs”.
Labor holds 51 seats in the unicameral parliament, after a bruising by-election loss in its heartland seat of Ipswich West in March, and needs to retain 47 seats to govern in its own right.
Echoing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Made in Australia policy and foreshadowing more manufacturing announcements during the campaign, Mr Miles said he believed “more things should be made here”.
“It’s all part of our economic plan to keep unemployment below 5 per cent … so that wages can catch up with how much everything else has gone up with inflation,” he said.
Despite a year of disastrous polls, senior party sources are confident of retaining key seats in Labor’s fortress of Brisbane, where 50 cent public transport fares have been popular.
Far North Queensland seats of Cairns and Cook are also considered salvageable.
Party sources have privately conceded that Townsville, home to a trio of Labor-held seats where crime has dominated public debate, is considered “a lost cause”.
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