This is the fifth in a series of short briefings ahead of the October election.
The past week again featured a raft of announcements but was overshadowed by missteps from the major party leaders.
Health was the theme for the Government this week Steven Miles announcing Labor would deliver 15,875 extra frontline health workers in the next 4 years.
The Premier made a range of further Health announcements during the week including a commitment to set up 50 Bulk-billing GP Clinics across Queensland, increase funding for sonographers, specialist doctors, and antenatal ultrasound scans to improve care for expectant mothers and setting up a statewide support program for endometriosis in partnership with QENDO.
The Premier rounded out the week with the official campaign launch on Sunday where he made the significant announcement of free school lunches at State Schools costed at $1.4billion.
This announcement drew strong reactions from all sides with the Oppositions critical of the cost and the Greens claiming a campaign win having advocated for a similar program since 2020.
The announcements from this week were overshadowed by the Premier twice failing to recall the name of the Labor candidate for the seat he was campaigning in.
When there are 93 names to recall, many only recently announced, forgetting a candidate’s name once is understandable but twice is an avoidable slip up.
The Premier will now be on notice to not repeat this mistake, and no doubt imaginative staffing to ensure he is availed of all names prior to and during future media appearances.
The Crisafulli Opposition continued to push ahead with significant announcements across the board, but the campaign had a rare off week with multiple distractions to contend with.
The Opposition continued to focus on Law and Order and Crime Prevention with the announcement of a Crime Prevention School in Townsville and a new advocacy service that will provide support through the justice system for victims of crime.
Crisafulli announced a water security plan that included new weirs at Mundubbera and Murgon.
As part of the plan the Opposition also announced a new Dam for the SEQ region however the location of the new dam is pending a review of the regions’ water plan creating somewhat of a distraction from the main policy pitch.
The Opposition also continued to spruik their Easier Access to Health Services Plan focusing on ambulance ramping and waitlists for elective surgery and specialists and restoring health services which included their commitment to stop Labor’s Patient’s tax.
The Patient’s tax, the LNP claim that Labor was introducing a tax on GP’s, came under significant scrutiny during the week with the Courier Mail reporting it as Mediscare 2.0.
The Government asserted that the Patient’s Tax was in fact the Opposition misrepresenting an existing payroll tax obligation, that in practice was not paid by GP’s or enforced by the Government.
Despite the Government’s attempts to nuetralise the Opposition attack and committing to formally exempting GP’s from payroll tax to bring policy in line with practice, the LNP continues to push the Patient’s tax line.
The biggest distraction of the week was the LNP’s position on abortion in the next term of parliament.
When asked to respond to the proposal put by Robbie Katter, that KAP would introduce a bill to recriminalise termination, the Opposition leader refused to provide a substantive answer instead repeating that it was not in his plan.
With vocal opponents to the decriminalisation of Abortion in both his caucus and amongst candidates likely to win on Otober 26 it was a valid line of questioning to query how he would respond and how he would allow his MP’s to respond.
His refusal to answer clearly upset the travelling media pack and his inability or unwillingness to modify his position from the established LNP Policy to respond to the KAP proposition meant that this question continues to linger.
Crisafulli and his team rounded out the week with their plan for the first 100 days in Government.
It is a substantial plan by the LNP standard, and provides a reasonably clear direction for the first 100 days that seeks to deliver on the key objectives they have identified and campaigned on in opposition.
They are yet to release costings and detail is still lacking in a lot of areas making it unclear exactly how a Crisafulli Government will fix the issues they have campaigned so heavily on. Having been so critical in area’s of youth crime and ambulance ramping they are at risk of failing to deliver.
Again there were no new policy announcements from the Greens this week, rather focusing on their already announced platform.
The Greens campaign was however keen this week to highlight their chances of success on the back of their direct voter engagement, claiming their 100,000 door knocks across Queensland will tip seats their way.
While still claiming their aim to win up to 10 seats, the seats most likely in play remain the 4 previously mentioned in these briefings – McConnell, Cooper, Miller + Greenslopes.
All of the seats the Greens are trying to win are Labor seats, continuing a long term trend of Greens campaigning not against conservatives but against the Centre Left.
Their central campaign is zeroing in on these races and they will likely take a boost from the Free Lunches announcement made by the Government.
By the end of Sunday, they had cut a video claiming the announcement as an endorsement of their policy, and by extension their candidates, and will campaign heavily on this in their target seats.
Robbie Katter confirmed his position on abortion that caused havoc in the Crisafulli campaign was a response to a direct question and not a direct attack.
Other than this foray into the headlines this week KAP continue to campaign locally focusing on crime and cost of living.
Critical of both major parties they’re hoping a protest vote against the majors delivers dividends across the North for KAP.
James Ashby continues to be the only likely pick up for ONP and this week saw a weekend feature about him and his campaign in the Australian. He is running a strong campaign making Keppel a seat to watch on October 26.
Early voting has started and if the reports of queues this morning and the trends of recent elections there is likely to be a substantial turn out during prepoll.
Crisafulli had a bad week but the release of his 100 days in office ensured he finished strongly ahead of prepoll kicking off. The Premier’s School Lunches pitch is a play to the base the ALP no doubt hopes will keep progressive votes from drifting away.
With candidates coming face to face on prepoll in over 220 booths across the state and the traditional media club Leader’s debate this week, expect some fireworks this week.
Policy in Focus
The ALP announced 15,875 extra frontline health workers, 50 Bulk-billing GP Clinics, increase funding to improve care for expectant mothers, support program for endometriosis and free lunches for all state school students.
The LNP announced Crime Prevention School in Townsville, a new advocacy service for victims of crime, a water security plan and the First 100 Days plan.
McKell Policy
This week we saw 2 pieces of McKell research released.
The first Gig work and reform of workers’ compensation.
A key recommendation made in the report is the need to extend access to workers’ compensation to all gig workers across Queensland.
As the gig economy continues to grow, the extension of workers’ compensation coverage is a critical step towards ensuring that all workers, regardless of employment type, are afforded basic safety and security.
It was great to have the support of employee and employer representatives with the Queensland Trucking Association Ltd and the Transport Workers Union supporting the call for this important change.
The second report was Bridging the Gap – making clear that growing disadvantage and declining student outcomes are the consequences of how we resource and invest in our schools.
The report makes the case that through needs-based funding, Queensland’s access to education can become more equitable and its outcomes can rise to meet community expectations and world standards.
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