Steven Miles comes to Rockhampton, cops an earful from voters

The new Opposition Leader returned to the once Labor stronghold of Rockhampton for the first time since the state election eager to hear from disgruntled residents.

Steve Miles, Craig Marshall and Grace Grace visit Jack's House in Rockhampton as they look at homelessness issues in the region.

Steven Miles returned to Rockhampton today for the first time since losing the state election, a once safe Labor seat, and he came to listen, more than talk.

The Opposition Leader, free from his previous travel entourage as premier, cut a lone figure for a few seconds as he walked down the footpath at Jack’s House, a youth crisis accommodation facility in the Rockhampton CBD.

“The regions sent us a strong message and they want to see Labor do better and I’m here to hear from them,” he said at the Jack’s House press conference, joined by Shadow Minister for Trade and Industrial Relations Grace Grace and unsuccessful Rockhampton candidate Craig Marshall.

“I’ve been talking to locals at Stockland Shopping Centre today and people were concerned about crime and safety.

“We should have responded quicker and done better.”

He said Labor had put in place new community safety plans which were working but voters “had already made up their minds”.

He said other feedback had been about the need for the State Government to upgrade the Rockhampton Hospital Emergency Department, which was a $50m Labor election pledge.

While the LNP didn’t make the ED an election commitment, new Premier David Crisafulli last week said the government would be upgrading the outdated and undersized facility as a priority.

Mr Miles said Rockhampton residents also wanted the new government to follow through on the state’s commitment towards completing the Rockhampton Ring Road following its cost blow out from $1bn to $1.7bn.

He said the need for more skills and training to supply the workers for the job growth in Central Queensland was another major topic.

Mr Miles said he chose Jack’s House to highlight the homelessness problem in the region caused by a lack of housing and the resulting accommodation crisis.

“We (the Labor government) bolstered homeless service funding by 20 per cent and we want to see how it’s playing out on the ground,” he said.

“The LNP government has made a lot of big claims (about fixing homelessness) so we want to hear from (related) services exactly what that looks like here and what we should be demanding from them (the government).”

He also spoke about another fatal Bruce Highway crash, this one at Raglan, on Tuesday night.

“Firstly, can I say that is another awful and tragic crash and to the families that have been affected, and our first responders they feel these tragedies too, I want to say to them my thoughts are with them.”

Mr Miles said Labor had a very clear plan it had put to the Australian Government to bolster safety standards across the entire Bruce Highway, and urged the new state government to deliver those projects because “they’re what will make the Bruce Highway safer”.

Originally published as Steven Miles comes to Rockhampton, cops an earful from voters