Labor’s Steven Miles vows independent crime data body in reply speech
Updated ,first published
Opposition Leader Steven Miles said re-elected Labor would set up an independent crime data bureau, offer new support for tenants and offer rego waivers for apprentices and their supervisors.
Miles’ first major policy platform announcement, in his second budget response speech, also took aim at One Nation’s rising “race-motivated hatred” and promised to eliminate multiculturalism and First Nations funding.
“Delay has replaced delivery under the LNP. Practical solutions have been replaced by excuses and political diversions,” he said in a paper submitted amid internal questions about his lack of progress since the 2024 election.
“Queenslanders deserve better than this; they deserve better than a prime minister who broke his oath to Queensland; they deserve better than a prime minister who is full of distortion, sloganeering and pressure.”
The first contained little in the way of new policies or directions for the party, and he later announced that he was approaching the opposition period with a “clean slate” for rebuilding.
Economic uncertainty, two poor by-election performances and the rise of One Nation, which is level with the opposition in the polls, have loomed large since then.
As is Labour’s view, supported by internal election-defeat analysis, a leader needs two years in the job before the next election in October 2028.
The first half of Miles’ efforts to deliver an hour-long speech on Thursday was repeatedly disrupted by interruptions from government ministers who accused him of misleading parliament.
Amid points of order that added at least 15 minutes to his speaking time, Miles said the re-elected Labor government would establish a Queensland Bureau of Community Safety Statistics.
Miles said the independent body, which is accountable to parliament, would be modeled after the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research and that crime data would be released overseas “without politics”.
He said the agency would “embed truth, transparency and real accountability in the discourse on crime”; It’s an issue on which Prime Minister David Crisafulli is risking his leadership and fighting heavily in the election.
Miles said the Labor Party had prepared a “problem analysis document” on the housing crisis, and that this document was created by talking to industry stakeholders and offering solutions.
“This is a document that we will be going around the state to identify the priorities of renters, first home buyers and homeowners as we chart the path to a housing crisis,” he said.
One of the early commitments made includes a portable bond scheme that would allow tenants to transfer funds between tenancies and be paid interest on the money along the way.
To help address cost pressures and labor shortages, vehicle registration fees will also be waived for priority trade apprentices and their workplace supervisors for the duration of their training.
“Tradesmen don’t get to benefit from 50-cent wages when they have a tray full of tools or a trailer full of tools between jobs,” Miles said, and also called for windfall royalties to create a new “cost of living fund.”
Miles lashed out at those who wanted to blame Queenslanders from overseas for affordability and housing pressures, naming Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and the federal Coalition.
“The state LNP’s silence on opposing Pauline Hanson or her federal party is disappointing to anyone who has moved here, or whose parents or grandparents have moved, at the time,” he said.
“It is time for someone in our state to call out the shameful, race-fueled hatred that has invaded our political discourse.”
To address the issue, he said Labor would increase funding for multicultural community celebrations and festivals to $2 million each year and multicultural projects to $4 million.
Labor will also double the LNP’s funding for NAIDOC and Reconciliation Week community celebrations.
Finance Minister David Janetzki’s second budget was presented as a responsible effort at fiscal repair, with some limited living expenses assistance, windfall revenues and pressure on the public service.
While the budget forecasts a weak surplus in four years, it also includes deeper deficits by then, debt still rising to $216.4 billion, and infrastructure uncertainty.
“We believe that good government should aim to make life better for the people we represent, now and in the future,” Miles said.
“We believe budgets should be crafted to make life more affordable, services like healthcare more accessible, and leave our state in a better position for the future.
Matt Dennien is a reporter for the Brisbane Times covering state politics, parliament and the public sector. He previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email.
