QLD election campaign begins ahead of polls on October 26

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Queensland election campaign official begins today, with fewer than four weeks to go before the sunshine state heads to the polls.

Transcript

00:00This morning, we've seen the Premier Stephen Miles, who's actually just moments ago left

00:06from Government House behind me.

00:08Now, in true Queenslander style, he actually caught a public bus from Brisbane's CBD all

00:12the way here to Government House, utilising his party's 50 cent public transport fees.

00:18He went to Government House and met up with the Governor, Dr Jeanette Young, to officially

00:23sign off the writs, hand them over, and what that means is effectively the 57th Parliament

00:28here in Queensland has now officially been dissolved.

00:31It not only marks the start of the official election campaign for both parties, all parties,

00:36but it also highlights that State Parliament is now in caretaker mode, so that's for the

00:40next four weeks.

00:41But of course, as you can imagine, in the last 10 months, we've seen raft after raft

00:45of policies being announced by both the major political parties, as well as the Greens,

00:49so this has really been a long time coming.

00:52Now, we spoke with the Premier Stephen Miles on the bus earlier this morning.

00:56Here's a little bit of what he had to say.

00:59David Crisafulli is playing small target politics.

01:02He's hoping to sneak into government with just slogans and soundbites, but he hasn't

01:07learned from history.

01:08He was a minister in Campbell Newman's government, and at the end of the day, that means it was

01:13him who cut those healthcare workers, him who closed those schools, him who cancelled

01:19those projects.

01:20Right now, when we're on the cusp of recovery, we can't afford to be taken backwards by David

01:26Crisafulli and the LNP.

01:28Neither of those political leaders have really waited at the starting line for the official

01:32campaign to launch, so so far we've heard from the LNP, who've been running on a platform

01:36of youth crime.

01:37They've touted that slogan, adult crime, adult time.

01:41They're also looking to add additional housing stock to address the state's housing crisis,

01:45as well as additional rental stress ease as well.

01:49And they've also said and touted that they would continue the Labor policy of 50 cent

01:54public transport fees, so that is quite interesting.

01:57Meanwhile, in the Labor camp, they've pledged to deliver one million homes by 2046.

02:02That's to address the housing crisis here in Queensland.

02:05They've also said that they would further invest into two youth detention centres here

02:10in the state to combat crime.

02:12Certainly quite interesting as well, but it is shaping up to be quite a bit of an election

02:17race.

02:18Now, we did hear from the opposition leader, David Crisafulli, who spoke on ABC News Breakfast

02:23earlier this morning.

02:24He says it is time for a change.

02:27The battle lines for this election is after 10 years of this government, are things better

02:31or worse when it comes to youth crime, health, housing, cost of living, and who's got the

02:35right plans to do something about it.

02:38And that's our focus.

02:39And the state does need a fresh start.

02:43Now, what's really interesting about this state election is that it's really shaping

02:46up to be some of the key seats are in the far north of the state, as well as the regions.

02:52Proving to be some of the most crucial seats that either party are going to have to either

02:55gain or retain to win government.

02:57And as you can imagine, after the Premier finished speaking this morning, he got on

03:01a bus and he's heading straight for Townsville right now, while the opposition leader, David

03:05Crisafulli, is in Cairns today.

03:07So it is certainly heating up, not just weather-wise here in Queensland, but also politically.

Category

Transcript

Recommended