Queensland election: David Crisafulli flags political donation overhaul as Steven Miles seeks reward for handouts

David Crisafulli is set to repeal a ban on political donations from property developers that he decried as a ‘financial gerrymander’ as Steven Miles asked voters to reward him for borrowing billions of dollars for cost-of-living handouts.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli before the second leaders’ debate. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

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David Crisafulli is set to repeal a ban on political donations from property developers that he decried as a “financial gerrymander” while Steven Miles asked voters to reward him for borrowing billions of taxpayer dollars for cost-of-­living handouts.

In the second debate of the Queensland election campaign, LNP leader Mr Crisafulli flagged a major overhaul of the state’s ­donation laws to ensure a “level playing field” after Labor made it illegal for property developers to make donations and for parties to accept them.

“Everyone should have the same rules or no one should be able to donate,” he said. “At the moment here in the state, you have a situation where every registered union is able to spend a million dollars campaigning against heavily capped environments for political parties.”

The electoral donation laws were changed after a recommendation from the Crime and Corruption Commission to ban developer donations at council elections, but the Labor government extended the prohibition to state campaigns as well.

In Wednesday’s debate, hosted by the Queensland Media Club, the two leaders clashed over the management of public hospitals, crime rates and abortion, with Mr Crisafulli again refusing to say whether his MPs would be granted a conscience vote on matters of life and death but insisting there would be “no changes” to the law.

“I know my team, and I know what they stand for … this guy doesn’t even remember the name of two of his team,” he said in a jab at Mr Miles, who has twice forgotten the name of his candidates on the campaign trail.

Putting forward his “case for change”, Mr Crisafulli detailed failures of the third-term Labor government to address crime and adequately manage the state’s public hospital system.

He asked the audience – filled with lobbyists, union officials and industry leaders – what a fourth-term Labor government would mean for youth crime victims, people on the social housing waiting list, and people died while waiting to be admitted to hospital.

“Imagine waking up to four more years of that,” he said.

Mr Crisafulli said under an LNP government, there would be a “fresh start” with fewer victims of crime, through the opposition’s “adult crime, adult time policy,” a shared equity scheme for young people to buy a home, and removing stamp duty for first-time home buyers.

Pressed on other issues, including where Brisbane’s marquee Olympic venue would be and where he planned to build pumped-hydro projects, Mr Crisafulli was light on detail.

Mr Miles seized on his opponent’s small target policy strategy, accusing him of refusing to take positions on key issues out of fear he would risk losing votes.

“That’s why we get … a kind of slogan salad full of carefully rehearsed slogans that don’t mean anything,” Mr Miles said.

“You might not agree with my position on everything, but you will always know where I stand and what I stand for.”
Mr Crisafulli returned fire, saying his strategy was not a small target but “four year of discipline, not making mistakes, a unified team, and that’s refreshing”.

He said he had outlined a 100-day plan, including new youth crime laws, real-time hospital performance and a maintenance guarantee for power plants.

Mr Miles said he believed he has stepped out of the shadow of former premier Annastacia Palas­zczuk and asked voters to judge him on his 10-month record as Premier, despite serving in Labor cabinet for almost 10 years.

“I’m running on my record,” he said. “Being Queensland’s Premier is the greatest honour of my life, and in the last 10 months I have worked hard to deliver for Queenslanders … the biggest cost-of-living package any state or territory has ever delivered.”