Arabic version: حزب العمال في كوينزلاند يواجه طريقاً طويلاً للعودة إلى السلطة
According to ABC News, Queensland Labor is confronting what pollster Kos Samaras described as its “greatest challenge in decades” as Steven Miles seeks to lead the party back to government. Miles, who served as premier for 10 months after succeeding Annastacia Palaszczuk, is attempting a return to the role that has not been achieved since 1911. Labor is past the halfway point of a rare term in opposition and faces a popular Crisafulli government, internal frustration and the rise of One Nation.
Samaras, the director of the RedBridge Group, said Labor was in a tight contest with One Nation to be Queensland’s second most popular political party. He said One Nation’s vote share in Queensland appeared to be drawn evenly from the LNP and Labor, unlike federally, where it has largely siphoned votes from the Coalition. Miles has rejected suggestions that colleagues have set him a deadline to improve the party’s position, saying Labor had two more years to highlight how much worse off Queenslanders were under the Crisafulli government and present a plan for the state’s future.
Labor has begun holding local forums on voters’ concerns about the housing crisis, an approach compared with the LNP’s Health Crisis Town Halls while in opposition. Sarah Mawhinney, executive director of the McKell Institute and a former Labor policy adviser, said the party needed to “start taking bark off the government” but was building towards 2028. She said reconnecting with voters and restoring trust would take substantial work.
Possible leadership contenders commonly mentioned include frontbenchers Cameron Dick, Shannon Fentiman and Meaghan Scanlon, though all have publicly backed Miles. Labor’s regional weakness remains a major obstacle: outside south-east Queensland, it holds Cairns, Bundaberg and Gladstone. Samaras said the combined One Nation and LNP vote made it difficult to see Labor gaining traction outside Brisbane, and he did not rule out further Labor losses in Brisbane. Queensland voters will judge the party’s performance when polls open in October 2028.
