The democracy sausages will be sizzling in Australia’s ‘Sunshine State’ today, as voters head to the polls for the Queensland election.

With the polls against him, Premier Steven Miles will look to lead Labor into its fourth term. The LNP’s David Crisafulli is looking to lead his party out of Opposition and become the state’s new leader.

Over recent weeks, Labor and the LNP (Liberal National Party) have campaigned up and down and across Queensland, from the Gold Coast to the state’s Far North. 

Miles and Crisafulli have also clocked up their share of digital miles.

TikTok has become a central battleground for this election, as two 40-something Dads/ party leaders lean into trends and dances on the video-sharing platform to spruik their promises to young people.

What are the major issues heading into polling day? Cost of living, crime, and abortion.

Labor has been in power in Queensland for all but three of the past 35 years.

The party’s popularity increased at the last state election in 2020.

The poll, held in the early months of the pandemic, rewarded then-Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for her handling of the COVID-19 crisis. In the years since, support for the Labor Government has slipped.

Palaszczuk’s successor, Steven Miles, has spent the past 10 months trying to convince voters to keep his party in Government.

He’s up against Opposition leader David Crisafulli, who is an ex-journalist, Townsville councillor, and 1999 winner of his hometown’s spaghetti-eating contest (no, seriously).

Both Miles and Crisafulli have eagerly taken their re-election fight to TikTok.

In an interview with TDA earlier this week, Miles said “politicians should meet people where they are.”

For him, that’s meant throwing himself into dance trends, recruiting influencers in an effort to boost his clout with young voters, and interviewing young Queensalders on the streets.

The Premier has also been sharing regular kitchen content, filming himself preparing school lunches for his three kids while talking about Labor’s policy commitments. He’s no stranger to a bench press – even uploading gym videos as part of his campaign.

Crisafulli has matched the Premier’s passion for online campaigning by remixing videos with LNP announcements and sharing emotional videos of crime victims, and their families, telling their stories.

So what are their messages to young people?

The dominant issues for voters in the state are cost of living (65%), housing (56%), and crime (55%), according to a poll conducted by Freshwater and the Australian Financial Review last month. The next highest-ranking area of concern was healthcare (28%).

The issue of inflation (rising prices) has become a mainstay of every election around the world and Queensland is no exception.

Labor has promised to cut car registration fees, set up state-owned petrol stations, and bring in free school lunches for state primary school students.

Meanwhile, the LNP has vowed to cut various taxes – removing stamp duty, first homebuyer levies, and the GP payroll tax – a tax based on the wages paid by a GP clinic to its staff.

Both sides have agreed to make Queensland’s reduced 50-cent public transport fare trial permanent.

Crime has also featured prominently in the Queensland election.

The LNP have branded rising rates of crime as “Labor’s youth crime crisis”.

Its key promise is to introduce “adult crime, adult time” laws, where children will face the same sentencing as adults for a range of serious crimes including stealing cars, business break-ins, serious harm, and murder.

The LNP has also announced a plan to divert “at-risk” youth to “intensive intervention” programs in regional Queensland, which are camps designed to rehabilitate young people who are considered “at risk” of offending.

Crisafulli has continuously accused the Labor Government of “weakening” youth justice laws leading to a spread of crime, but Miles has fired back at the charge.

“They [LNP] want to exploit crime for political benefit,” Miles told TDA.

He pointed to his government’s plans for early intervention and prevention measures. Labor has also ruled out raising the criminal age of responsibility from 10 to 14.

Both major parties were somewhat surprised when women’s reproductive rights emerged as an election issue.

Queensland decriminalised abortion in 2018, but the issue has been at the centre of renewed discussion after rural MP Robbie Katter said he would introduce a bill to outlaw abortion in the next term of Parliament.

While Katter has since reversed his plans, it has reignited debate. Some within the LNP have previously spoken against the state’s abortion laws, including former Federal Senator Amanda Stoker, who is running as a candidate.

The Premier has repeatedly asked whether the LNP will change the laws, which Crisafulli says he has “no plans” to do.

Queensland elections are difficult to predict, with some polls in recent years having turned out to be a bit off the mark.

The seat of Bundaberg – Australia’s ginger beer North Star – was won by Labor on a margin of nine votes at the last election. NINE! When you hear terms like “razor thin” or “down to the wire”, they truly mean it in Queensland.

Queensland is also a very politically diverse state, with electorates varying from the far-north to the dense urban suburbs of Brisbane. The regional/south-east divide is so pronounced that the Katter Party actually wanted to pass legislation to split the state in two.

The Greens are targeting Labor seats in the south-east inner suburbs of Brisbane, hoping to swell its presence beyond its two current seats.

Meanwhile, in the regions, there are some multi-cornered races between the LNP, One Nation, Katter’s Australia, and Labor. One race in the state’s north, near Cairns, has a record 10 candidates.

Despite the uncertainty, most polls predict Labor’s hold on Queensland is about to end. Both Crisafulli and Miles have claimed “underdog” status in the election, but in reality, Miles is the statistical underdog.

Ultimately, millions of voters heading to the voting booths today will be the ones who decide their future government.

When I was young, Queensland was the farthest place I could think of from Sydney. So I would tell my Mum I loved her as high as the sky and all the way to ‘cleansland’ (Picture four-year-old me struggling to wrap my mouth around the oh-so-difficult ‘Q’ consonant).

Happy voting, Cleanslanders!

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