Queensland Premier Steven Miles said his government needed to do better after voters turned on Labor, which will lose one of its safest seats after suffering a big swing against it in two by-elections on Saturday.
The devastated prime minister faced the media on Sunday following the devastating result just seven months after the October 26 general election.
“We will listen to voters and we will now redouble our efforts to deliver on these issues,” he said.
‘It’s an admission we need to do better and it’s an acknowledgment that that’s what we’ve started to do, much more focused on these immediate concerns – cost of living, community safety, health and housing.
“We’ve made great strides on some of them, but there’s clearly more for us to do, especially in terms of cost of living and community safety.”
Queensland Premier Steven Miles (pictured) said his government needed to do better after voters turned against Labor, which will lose one of its safest seats after suffering a big swing against it in two by-elections last Saturday
LNP candidate Darren Zanow is expected to claim the Ipswich West seat after his Labor opponent Wendy Bourne suffered a 15.2 per cent swing against her.
Former Labor MP Jim Madden, who resigned to stand in the council elections also held on Saturday, held the seat by a margin of 14.2 per cent. Labor has held the seat for 19 out of 22 elections since 1960.
Labor will hold on to the seat of Inala vacated by former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk despite voters turning against the party with a massive 30.9 per cent swing against the government.
Candidate Margie Nightingale, who was supported on Saturday by Ms Palaszczuk, Premier Steven Miles and Deputy Premier Cameron Dick, will take her seat in Parliament after defeating the LNP’s Trang Yen.
Federal National leader David Littleproud said voters had sent a message to Labor but the LNP and leader David Crisafulli should not be complacent.
“This is a big ‘up yours’ for the Queensland Labor government. This is a big message,” Mr. Littleproud for the Today show.
“But I wouldn’t be raising the curtains yet if I were David Crisafulli. There’s a lot of work to be done between now and October to convince Queenslanders.
‘Understand that there is a big message for federal Labor in this. This was a cost of living choice.
“And so I think from Anthony Albanese to Steven Miles, all the way down, they should be very concerned about making sure they attack the real problem, which is cost of living pressures here in Queensland.”
Crisafulli said voters had voiced their concerns.
“It was clear that they could not change the government, but they could change their vote and send a message. And they did so in large numbers,’ he said on Saturday evening.
Sir. Miles told supporters on Saturday night that Labor was ‘talking about issues in the campaign that we know people care about’.
“Only Labor knows and understands and cares about communities like Inala and Ipswich West,” he said.
‘We will continue to listen to Queenslanders and continue to deliver on those things.’
It was the first election test for Mr Miles, who succeeded Ms Palaszczuk late last year after her sudden resignation, ahead of the October 26 state election.
He has previously spoken about how difficult it would be for Labor to win a fourth term in October.
LNP candidate Darren Zanow (pictured) is expected to claim the Ipswich West seat after his Labor opponent Wendy Bourne suffered a 15.2 per cent swing against her
“Whatever the results are tonight, Ipswich West in particular is always going to be a very tough place for us,” he said.
On Saturday night, Deputy Opposition Leader Jarrod Bleijie said a strong message had been sent to the Labor government.
“Trang has taken what was one of the safest seats in Labor to what is likely to be a marginal seat within a swing of election winner status in October,” he said.
‘Trang and the team should be hugely proud of what they have done and it shows that people in Inala are unhappy with the cost of living crisis, the health crisis, the youth crime crisis, the housing crisis, all the things that the Trang LNP have been talking about.’