Queensland Labor backs Steven Miles, despite swing against party
Queensland Labor figures say they are embarrassed by the sharp decline in the party’s primary support in the center seat but leader Steven Miles has the backing of the party room and will not face a challenge anytime soon.
Labour’s Luke Richmond claimed victory in Saturday’s Stafford by-election despite the party’s early votes trailing the LNP’s Fiona Hammond by nearly 10 percentage points.
Richmond will join parliament due to a number of preferences, primarily from the Greens.
External pressure will mount on Miles after Labor’s margin in the inner north Brisbane seat, which the party has largely held this century, was reduced to around 1 per cent, but there is no current movement in the party room to expand the leadership.
This imprint MPs were told they believed it was crucial for Labor to acknowledge that a message had been sent in the by-election, but low voter turnout and the absence of a One Nation candidate were cited as factors in decimating the progressive vote.
The party room’s long-held view is that a leader needs two years in the job before a state election in late 2028, after internal analysis showed Labour’s loss in 2024 was due to Miles having just 10 months of lead time before the election.
Primary support in the mid-thirties has been put forward as a key indicator of Miles continuing as opposition leader after Christmas. Labour’s current core support was 28 per cent, according to the latest Resolve Strategic poll conducted for this imprint.
Miles held a press conference with Richmond and some Labor MPs in his Stafford constituency on Sunday; this was a clear show of solidarity before leadership speculation dominated post-byelection news.
The opposition leader said he believed it was a good result in the circumstances, and attributed the primary vote shift against Labor to the absence of a One Nation candidate and the unusually high number of candidates (nine).
“The workforce was never under any illusions… the odds were against us,” Miles said.
The former prime minister said it was “absolutely” his intention to lead Labor into the 2028 election.
Cameron Dick and Shannon Fentiman, who have been repeatedly mentioned as leadership candidates, stood by Miles on Sunday and said they have complete faith in his position.
“Steven is doing a great job and we are all united behind him,” Fentiman told reporters.
“Obviously there’s a lot of work to be done, but Steven is absolutely the best person to lead us and we’re behind him 100 percent.”
The group’s heavyweight, Grace Grace, has similarly doubled down on her loyalty to the leader.
Earlier on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Jarrod Bleijie continued to agitate about Miles’ leadership.
“I’ve said a lot about Steven Miles and he’s done like a very good Sunday roast,” he said.
“The results were announced last night and it is clear that Steven Miles’ leadership is in absolute disarray.
“He’s done with it and Labor knows it – they’d better get on with it.”
Paul Williams, an expert on Queensland politics from Griffith University, said a narrow margin was expected in Stafford due to the relative unpopularity of the Crisafulli government.
But he described Miles’ public narrative that Labor was gaining momentum as “nonsense”.
“[Voters] Don’t buy; They know Labor is going backwards from 2024,” Williams told this imprint on Sunday.
“It’s very difficult to see how Steven Miles will lead the party into the 2028 election. Asking voters to re-approve him once he’s been rejected is a long nod; it’s just a standard motif in Australian politics.”
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James Hall is News Director of the Brisbane Times. He is a former Queensland correspondent for The Australian Financial Review and specializes in political and financial reporting, having reported for a variety of headlines across the country.Connect with: X or email.
