EDITORIAL: Desperate Steven Miles clings to power for power’s sake

After a brief phase of denial, Steven Miles has blown past the anger and has become stuck in the negotiation phase of mourning his impending political demise.

Queenslanders are waiting with baseball bats in hand to deliver a massive blow to Miles’ Labor party later this month.

Dire predictions of huge swings in Brisbane’s regions and suburbs could create a nightmare scenario in which both the Prime Minister and his potential successor Shannon Fentiman lose their seats.

Mr. Miles knows this. And he’s desperate enough to use every cynical trick he can to prevent the worst damage.

Dirt cheap fares for public transport.

As much as $1000 for each household’s energy bill.

A downright bizarre plan to open twelve state-owned gas stations to compete with commercial operators.

This month, just a few weeks before the election, Miles’ promise – apparently conjured out of nowhere – to create a new publicly owned energy retailer came almost two decades after former Labor Prime Minister Peter Beattie bought large parts of had privatized the system.

Mr. Miles is spraying taxpayer money on anything he thinks might convince voters to keep him around a little longer.

Queenslanders happily take the 50 cent train fares and electricity subsidies.

But they still come for Labour.

They can see Miles’ election promises for what they are: a cynical ploy to stay in power for power’s sake.

In doing so, he only digs his hole deeper with voters who find the whole thing a bit annoying.

Mr Miles owes his job as Prime Minister to the same cynical political desperation he now displays. That is what led Labor to force the party’s long-time leader, the electorally successful Annastacia Palaszczuk, into forced retirement late last year.

So overwhelming is Mr Miles’ desperation to cling to power that when a strong northerly wind blows, its stench is carried all the way to Canberra and the other state capitals.

Anthony Albanese has closed the windows so the Queensland stench wouldn’t permeate his Zegna suits.

He has spent much of this week in Laos for the ASEAN summit, giving him a credible excuse to skip this weekend’s campaign launch in Brisbane.

Mr Albanese’s reluctance to be associated with the slow-moving train wreck unfolding in the north is understandable. He is likely hoping angry Queenslanders will take the opportunity to air their frustrations with Miles’ government, giving them time to cool down once his own day of reckoning arrives in the first half of next year.

But it would be foolish to look away.

The example of Queensland is a powerful lesson in what can happen when a government puts its own survival ahead of the interests of its voters and reinforces the divide between our professional political class and Central Australia.

They are lessons that Mr. Miles will likely have plenty of time to think about when he is finally accepted.