Miles tears up policy platform in long bid to claw back government

Queensland Opposition Leader Steven Miles has resisted the urge to make a bold policy announcement in a key speech to the Labor faithful, instead tearing up the party’s platform and vowing to rebuild its pitch to voters before the 2028 state election.

Miles had considered using the state Labor conference to announce a headline reform to claw back relevance and galvanise support within the party as his personal popularity trails that of LNP Premier David Crisafulli.

Miles has faced pressure from MPs within his party room to ramp up attacks on the now year-old LNP government, as well as broader hopes of a bold policy position. But his speech in Brisbane on Saturday revealed he would delay a major announcement until at least late 2026.

Steven Miles held on to the Labor leadership after losing the 2024 state election.Credit: Joe Ruckli

“We have travelled the state to hear directly where we – to be blunt – failed as a government and what we need to do better if we want to earn the trust of Queenslanders again in 2028,” he said.

“We are approaching this term in opposition with a clean slate – a chance to acknowledge where we went wrong and lost focus, to own our mistakes and rebuild.”

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Brisbane Times was told by a range of Labor MPs from across the factional divide that rumours of a pre-Christmas coup to oust Miles were greatly exaggerated.

But party figures have essentially given the leader a deadline of the end of next year to boost Labor’s primary support. They are keenly aware that any replacement would need two years in the role before the 2028 election after internal Labor analysis blamed the 10-month runway offered to Miles as the key reason for his electoral drubbing last year.

This leaves Miles in an unenviable position – too far out from the 2028 election to promise bold reforms, but in desperate need to improve his relevance and likeability to fend off a leadership challenge.

In Saturday’s speech to the party faithful, Miles dismissed speculation of disunity.

“I can assure all of you that my team and I are absolutely determined to lead Labor back to government in 2028,” he said.

“And to spend every day in between fighting against David Crisafulli and the LNP. I find myself more certain every day, not just of how important this task is … but also how possible.”

A key element of the “pathway to government”, Miles said, was repairing Labor support in the regions after the party suffered significant losses in 2024 outside urban areas.

“We need your determination too – the same support that we all threw behind Albo and the federal campaign,” he told the gathering.

“We have commenced a regional recruitment drive based around our regional shadow cabinet program, which we will continue to roll out next year.”

A recent Resolve Strategic poll for this masthead showed Labor trailed the LNP by just one percentage point – 33 to 32 – but Crisafulli was well ahead of his rival in personal polling.

Crisafulli’s personal net likeability score sat at +17 compared with -2 for Miles.

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