Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh, now it makes sense. Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday, the twenty third of October. I'm Harry, I'm Zara. This Saturday, Queenslanders will choose their next government. Fifty cent public transport, fairs, free primary school lunches, youth crime and abortion are big talking points in this election.
Two men in their forties wanting to lead the state, the current Premier Stephen Miles and Opposition leader David chris a Fully have also taken the fight to social media, both using TikTok as part of their campaign strategy to reach young people. With the polls against Stephen Miles, the Labor premier is hoping to defy the odds and keep his government in power for a fourth term. I interviewed the Premier ahead of Saturday's election, and you'll hear that
chat in today's Deep Dive. But first, Sarah, what's making headlines.
Opposition leader Peter Dudden has called for Independent Senator Lydia Thorpe to resign from Parliament after she protested an event with King Charles the Third earlier this week. In an interview with Channel seven Sunrise program yesterday, Dudden said Thorpe should resign if she doesn't believe in the system of government. Coalition senators later denied reports they would move a censure motion against Thorpe. That's when members officially reprimand the behavior
of a fellow senator. Liberal Senator James Patterson told two gb radio he believed Thorpe would probably wear it as a badge of honor. Thorpe told nine newspapers that while she has no intention of resigning, she won't run for reelection at the end of her six year term in twenty twenty eight.
The teenage driver who accidentally killed the son of South Australian Police commissioner in a hit and run during last year's schoolies has been handed a suspended sentence. Recent High scho graduate Charlie Stevens died in November last year of multiple injuries he sustained when fellow graduate during singh Randhawa, accidentally hit him with his car at a beach south of Adelaide. Nineteen year old Randhawa, who pleaded guilty, has been disqualified from driving for ten years and will serve
as suspended sentence on good behavior for two years. Presiding Judge Joanne Tracy said while she did not want to overlook the terrible loss, the fact that Randhawa had no history of offending of any sort and has good prospects for rehabilitation was considered in her judgment.
Meta has announced it will use facial recognition technology on its platforms to improve user safety by cracking down on scams and allowing people to access their accounts if they believe they've been compromised. The tech giant said it will limit what's called celeb bait scams, which is content and accounts that falsely impersonate celebrities with the goal of duping people into being engaging with scam content or sending money, by using facial recognition to confirm if posts are real
or fake. At the moment, the removal of those kinds of accounts is based on user reports. In another change, users who have lost access to their account or whose account has been compromised will be able to upload a video selfie for verification. Meta says it has vetted these measures as well as developed important safeguards to ensure user privacy.
And for today's good news. Scientists at the University of Central Florida have developed a liquid gel that they say works like a bandage to slow down heavy bleeding in emergencies before doctors are able to help. When sprayed, the gel expands into a foam that disinfects wounds and significantly reduces bleeding by applying pressure in the same way you might press down with your hand, Researchers said. The foam can also be removed gently because it's a soft sponge
that doesn't stick to your skin. The team has so far to tested the gel on specially designed mannequins, but hopes to test it on people in the near future.
Harry, I don't live in Queensland, but I am on TikTok and for some reason, for the last couple of months, I have been absolutely bombarded by Queensland election TikTok bloody niche. But for some reason, that is the side of it.
I feel like I got right there in Queensland. Every time I'm pulled up social media, every time I pull up Instagram, I see a real from the Queensland state election.
I mean, it's just it's so interesting because we look to the US, we talk about that being a TikTok election or whatever. It is, but right here in Australia, the same thing is happening.
Well, I would say it's probably Australia's first TikTok election, So yeah, we've got the US overseas providing the model, but it's definitely a new era of online campaigning in an election in Australia. So politicians are figuring out that social media is where young people groundbreaking. Well did the
daily odds set the trend? Maybe? And both Stephen Miles, who is the Labor Premier, and David Chrscipfully who's the leader of the Liberal National Party in Queensland, are trying to target younger voters and so Miles has turned around heaps of vertical videos. He's no stranger to a bench press and so he's posted videos of himself at the gym. He's done some reaction reels to comments made by the opposition, and he's also got a regular food prep segment on his TikTok We're.
Going to make our lunchbox chat for today and we're going to talk about housing.
And then Chrisipfully has also gone hard on sharing stories and videos from his travels around the States, particularly in the regional areas he's also run a tough on crime campaign and he's shared victims and families of victims of crime on his TikTok as well, and their statements and their stories. So he's used social media as a tool to talk about some serious topics, but some at a little bit less serious.
Pineapple belongs on a pizza, no, Thomas.
Pineapple is a fruit, and a good quality Italian pizza does.
Not have fruit on it.
So we're just days out from the Queensland election. And while I would, for one not vote for anyone that says that pineapple belongs on pizza, I do know that that is not the key policy area determining the state election. Can you just take me through a bit of a lay of the land. So Labor is in government there, the Liberal National Party is in opposition. What can you tell me about the big issues?
I'd probably boil down the election campaign to three main areas. The first and no prizes for guessing cost of living. The second main issue has been crime, in particular what the LMP has branded a youth crime crisis in Queensland. The l ANDP is promising to bring in adult crime adult time laws for people under eighteen and a host of what they've called reset programs out in the regions, which are effectively camps for convicted youth offenders and trying
to resocialize them and rehabilitate them into society. David Christifullies also staked his job on tackling crime. He's promised to step down ahead of the next election if crime rates don't come down in the state. And the third issue, and this has been a late and somewhat unexpected development in the election. Abortion rights have been a focal point
of both campaigns. Queensland decriminalized abortion in twenty eighteen, but a rural MP, Robbie Catter, who's part of the minor party Cats Australia.
And is the son of Bob Katter, who my listeners would be familiar with.
Yes, he's promised to introduce a law rolling back abortion protections in the state, but it gave Premier Stephen Miles an issue to wedge the LMP on and he's asked the leader, David Christipfully many times to confirm whether he'll protect abortion rights. Chris Fully has said that he has no plans to change the abortion laws in the state as it stands, and so I wanted to ask Stephen Miles about these three key issues and what he plans
to do if he's reelected. He's currently busy on the campaign trail and we got a small window to talk with him while he was in a car traveling in Mackay, and so here's a bit of that chat. Hello Premier Stephen Miles, thank you so much for joining the Daily OS and for joining us from the campaign.
Good thanks for having me and your listeners.
So TDA has a younger audience. Many of our listeners are juggling things like work and study. How do you plan to ease the cost of living stress for these younger people.
Well, one of the things we've done that I know a lot of people who are studying really appreciate is the fifty cent fairs making it cheap better get UNI ordit tafe. That's one of the things I decided I wanted to do when I was traveling to UNI to study, and I know what a big impost can be when you're needing to pay a lot for transport.
So that's one of the things.
We have a really comprehensive housing plan that's about delivering additional supply, but also supporting renters and getting more people into their first home.
So I know that's really important to a lot of younger pett.
So in Queensland, landlords can only increase rents once a year. Will you consider capping rent hikes if you are re elected.
We've ruled out capping rent hikes because every time we ask for advice about it, the advice comes back suggesting that won't help them, We'll probably make the problem worse. And so that's why we've stuck with our current approach, which is all focused on giving rent as a greater cloud.
So we banned practices like rent bidding.
We've brought in portable bond loans to make moving between rentals easier.
Those kinds of initiatives that we know will help.
Moving on to crime, there's been a lot of discussion about a so called youth crime crisis in Queensland. What is the scale of this issue in your state to anyone who's listening from interstate and what are you doing to address youth crime?
So this is one of the things that I really focused in on when I became the premierges ten months ago, and we delivered a new community safety plan that is working We've turned a corner across pretty much every measure of crime, so we've got less offenses, less offenders, less youth offenders, less serious repeat offenders, and that turnaround has been backed in month after months, so we are seeing that continued reduction. The LMP have been very clear that
they want to exploit crime for political benefit. That's what their police spokesperson said, and that's why pretty much every day that's the only thing they've talked about.
They don't have a plan.
For cheaper power or cheaper fuel or addressing the cost of living. They really only want to focus on our focus on crime and they refuse to accept the data that's provided by the Queensland Police.
You're absolutely right. Your opponent, David chris a Fully from the LMP, has been going really hard on an anti crime message and his promises. Do you think there's a bit of fear mongering going on.
Well, those policies are just really poorly thought through. Like he says that his forward slogan will be in placed by Christmas, we know that it will see an increase in the number of young people.
Detained by about fifty percent.
He has no plan to deliver the additional beds in the detention system.
He can't answer simple questions.
About where he would accommodate the additional detainees, and it really goes to how poorly thought through his plan is.
The fact is that all.
Crime is very complex and addressing it requires a comprehensive plan, not just a slogan.
The Northern Territories lowered its age of criminal responsibility back down to ten. Victoria's backtracked on its plans to lift the age of responsibility to fourteen, and to the age of criminal responsibility, it's still ten in Queensland. Do you plan to change that?
We don't know, but we do plan to and have very comprehensive set of prevention and early intervention measures to keep those younger kids in school. That includes early learning and development checks between birth and free lunches during primary school. And we know that one of the key drivers for school disengagement is for kids who are sent to school without food, they.
Really get alienated.
Very quickly, and so by providing lunch to everyone, we think that can keep kids going to school through primary school and that that'll make a big difference.
Robbie Katter, who is a rural MP for anyone who's unfamiliar. He wants to introduce legislation to outlaw abortion in Queensland. How worried are you about that.
I'm very worried.
I was the Health minister who passed those laws decriminalizing abortion in Queensland. It's really important for women who should have the right to choose what happens with their bodies. But it's also important for our healthcare workers their work
taking care of Queenslanders shouldn't be a criminal offense. We know that many members of the LMP, in fact almost all of them voted against that change, and many of their members think that abortion should still be a crime, including David Chris Foley, who voted against it himself.
He's got a.
Candidate in Amanda Stoker who thinks that abortion should be illegal even in the case of break.
So they have very extreme views.
And I know sometimes you can be lulled into thinking that we only ever see progress on these issues, but we know from the United States that you can go backwards.
You know, women in the US had abortion rights for.
More than half a century and they were taken away with the stroke of the pen, and it's important that we defend those rights.
The LMP leader David Chrisfuley has repeatedly said that he doesn't plan to change abortion laws in Queensland. Are you scaring people by saying that reproductive rights are under threat in an LMP government?
Well, these are just weasel words from him. He said that, he says they're not in his plan.
He won't say he opposes them, he won't say he'd vote against them, he won't say he'll make his MP's vote against them.
He won't give Queensland women a straight answer.
And the fact is in an election campaign, you can't anticipate every issue that will come up in the next four years, every law that will be put before the House. But what you can do is outline to Queenslanders what you believe. And by saying it's not part of his plan, he's really carefully trying to avoid telling Queenslanders what he believes. And we have to assume that's because he still believes that women shouldn't have a right to choose.
Because that's the only point of proof we have. That's how he's voted in the past.
You're probably on social media more than any other politician in Australia. How has that helped you connect with young people.
I've been blown away by how many young people.
Have just stopped me in the street and said that I'm the first politician they've felt is listening to them and talking to them. And it's really important that everyone feels like they have a voice in government. And you know, I have a view that politicians should meet people where
they are. In the case of younger Queenslanders, many of them are getting their news from podcasts like yours, as well as from TikTok and Instagram and places like that, and so I think it's really important that politicians communicate with people there.
That's what I've tried to do. I've tried to do it as honestly as I can, and I guess it's.
Also a platform where I think I can show a bit more of myself than maybe when it's filtered through news limited newspapers or the TV news.
This Saturday, Queensland will ultimately give their verdict on your leadership, but I'm interested in a verdict that's a little bit closer to home for you. What do your kids think of your tiktoks?
I don't think they mind them, Certainly, Briey loves being in them. She's been in a lot of them. I think sometimes they think I come across as maybe a bit too daggy for them, but I guess that's just who I am.
Hey, well, if my dad was leaning into TikTok trends, I definitely have a few thoughts. So ultimately, queensland is are going to have their say this Saturday. Labor's been in power for all but three of the past thirty five in Queensland. Why shouldn't they vote for change?
Change isn't always better and David Chris Fouley is campaigning for change, but it's not change that's better. I have really changed our government over these last ten months. I've put my stamp on it, and I think I've shown Queensland as what kind of primary I would be.
If I was elected in my own right.
But that's what I'm campaigning for, a mandate to do those things, things like bring back GP bold billing. You know, I remember when I was a kid read access to a fantastic medical center that was always bulk built, and that was in the early days of medicare.
I think it's a real shame that bolk building has.
Gone backwards as far as it has, and I want to see that rebuilt with fifty new GP book billing clinics right across the state, and they want to see I want to say, school lunches.
Delivered in our schools.
There's so much evidence that the return on investment from feeding kids doesn't just relieve the cost of living pressures for their families and they getting ready for school that much easier for their parents, but it makes kids better behaved and better learners, and the long term benefits of
that are pretty substantial. And it also gives us a chance to teach young people about nutrition and there's a lot of evidence too that doing that can address obesity, childhood obesity, as well as mental healthtages.
Going back to sort of where I started, TDA does have a younger audience. What is the main thing that you want them to hear from you leading into Saturday.
I want them to hear that I've got their back, that I am delivering on policies that I think will support them, things like fifty cent fares one thousand dollars energy rebates twenty percent off for a Joe Moore Bob billing GPS, but also a really comprehensive plan for our
state to address climate change. You know, this is the big long term challenge for us, and if Queensland doesn't do our part, then we won't keep our natural assets like the Great Barrier Reef and our wonderful, wonderful rainforests. I've said that we will achieve seventy five percent emissions reductions by twenty thirty five and that zero by twenty fifty and that's really important for the reasons i've Outlan, but also so that we can keep our blue collar
jobs in heavy industries, they rely on cheap power. Their customers in global markets are increasingly demanding that their products have a lower carbon footprint. So if we can't deliver twenty four to seven renewable energy to those businesses, they won't be able to meet those markets and will lose jobs in the long run. So that plan for climate James really about jobs for the future too.
Premier Stevin Miles, thank you so much for joining the Daily Ours today.
Thanks so much for having me, Harry.
That was a very interesting chat. It's good to hear directly from the Premier about you know, what his election bid here is. I am really curious though, because labor has been in government for so long in Queensland, what are the chances that we're going to see another Labor government returned after this Saturday.
You're absolutely right. Thirty two of the past thirty five years at a state level in Queensland, Labor has been in power, which is why Kevin Rudd refers to it as the People's Republic of Queensland. So it's not particularly likely that Labour's going to hold on. Both him and Chris Fuley have called themselves the underdogs in the race, but the numbers would say that Miles is the statistical underdog.
Okay.
What's interesting is the polls have shown Labor was on track for a wipeout, but the gap between Labor and the L and P has actually been narrowing a lot in the past few weeks. The poles still show that Labor's roughly about ten points behind on a two party preferred basis, but they were tracking even worse a few months ago. I wouldn't count out Stephen Miles, though, stranger things have happened in politics, and I've said it before.
Poles can't predict that just a snapshot of a mood, so we won't actually know until all Queenslanders cast their votes and the counting starts on Saturday night. We will bring you the results of that election once they are clear. Thank you so much for joining the Daily os. If you liked what you heard, please share it with your friends and family and Maybequeenslander.
In your Queenslanders.
We love Queenslanders. Let us know what you think in the comments. We love hearing from you, and we'll be in your ears tomorrow and until then, have a great day. My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Caalcutin woman from Gadighl Country.
The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.