This is the third in a series of short briefings ahead of the Queensland election in October.
It was the calm before the storm last week as the leaders of both parties continued to traverse the state but still offering little in the way of new policy announcements.
Premier Steven Miles was joined by his Deputy, Treasurer Cameron Dick to kick off a local campaign launch in Cairns for the Far North Queensland ALP team.
While polling indicates heavy losses for Labor in regional Queensland, the launch and frequent visits to Cairns to deliver funding announcements suggest the Premier believes these seats are still in play.
As part of the local launch the Premier announced a $10m investment in Tourism Tropical North Queensland, a $15m Queensland Seafarers Skills and Jobs Fund and $45 million to build a new common user hangar if elected.
The week saw the Queensland Deputy Premier and Treasurer forced to defend $9billion in unforeseen expenditure and he was pressed again this week about broken promises regarding commitments made in previous elections about the ALP position on new taxes.
The Deputy is considered one of the strongest performers on the Government benches and managed to weather the storm and defend his position while also continuing his role as chief attack dog of the Government.
Time will tell if the electorate is still in favour of the Treasurers’ economic strategy.
The Premier received some negative attention over the type of content being posted across social media channels.
Both sides are running highly nuanced strategies pitching both positive and negative content aimed at the demographic relevant to the platform.
The purpose is to make content that is appealing.
The risk is that for those it is not aimed at, the content is a turn off.
Both sides need to be in this space to win and so expect more stories in this space.
The Opposition Leader and the entire LNP caucus continued to deliver a masterclass in discipline this week.
Crime was again the primary policy focus for the Opposition Leader.
The week kicked off with an ad campaign featuring the LNP candidate for Capalapa, Russell Field, talking about the loss of his son, daughter-in-law and unborn grandson.
An incident that shocked the state when it occurred, it continues to be a compelling justification for the LNP policy.
With Police Remembrance Day falling on Friday, it offered the Opposition the opportunity to announce a new policy during the week to incentivise the return of former officers’ and additional money to fund mental health programs to support the existing workforce.
Crime Prevention and Policing are looking more like fully formed policies with more detail being added weekly.
Policy detail is still lacking in a range of areas with attention turning to the Opposition’s plans for the economy if elected in under 4 weeks’ time.
Unable to resist the opportunity to attack the government on the announcement of the Government’s ‘unforeseen expenditure’ Crisfafulli and his Deputy Jarrod Bliejie were out in force with their criticism.
The opposition was unable to provide answers to the obvious follow-up questions from the travelling press pack regarding the LNP’s economic policy.
The Courier Mail has now picked up this theme too.
Queensland is an economy with an $80billion operating budget that is forecast to grow with the next decade full of opportunities and significant challenges.
With the issuing of the writs on October 1 kicking off the formal 4 week campaign period the opposition still has time to announce detailed policy.
The Greens this week made education their focus with the major announcement committing to abolishing NAPLAN, funding state schools to 100% of minimum standards & scrap out-of-pocket expenses for parents at state schools.
Federal Greens’ leader Adam Bandt hit the hustings in Queensland this week to rally the troops in support of the Greens’ campaign in Cooper.
With the billboard campaign going up during the week the central campaign is kicking in to gear in their target seats of Cooper, McConnel, Greenslopes and Miller in the inner city.
The Katter’s Australia Party (KAP) team continue to play to their base arguing for greater investment in critical infrastructure in regional Queensland and continuing the discussion about a separate state in the North.
The KAP strategy is so far reiterating their existing policy positions rather than adding much new to the mix.
One Nation is focusing the majority of their efforts on the seat of Keppel in Central Queensland being contested by ONP figure James Ashby.
One Nation has been quiet relative to their usual approach to an election cycle and are likely to wade in to the conversation before voting starts.
As expected Brisbane Lions’s scarves and hats were the accessory of choice during the week as the AFL Grand final and Lions victory took over most of the coverage over the weekend.
This week will see activity increase from both sides across the state.
With voters starting to switch on and pay attention and an increase in attention from the travelling media packs, both leaders will be at pains to stay on message.
This coming week will bring a televised debate between the leaders of the 2 major parties.
This is not a common feature of the Queensland election cycle and will test both leaders with Crisafulli with more to gain than Miles from a strong performance but going in with greater risk with so few policy details to refer to.
With Greens’ Federal Leader Adam Bandt joining the campaign this week on the back of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Queensland last week, will we see Federal LNP Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on the hustings any time soon?
Policy In Focus
- Labor will deliver a Queensland Seafarers Skills and Jobs Fund
- The LNP will incentivise the return of former officers’ and additional money to fund mental health programs to support the existing workforce.
- The Greens’ will abolish NAPLAN, fund state schools to 100% of minimum standards & scrap out-of-pocket expenses for parents at state schools
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