It’s almost Halloween. In Brisbane, cobwebs, skeletons, ghouls and corflute signs jostle for prominence on fences. In the inner city, the Labor red and Greens green signs still promise to protect abortion rights and cap rents. Towards the edges of the city and into the regions, green and red give way to Liberal National Party (LNP) blue signage emblazoned with the slogan “Adult time for adult crime”.
Perhaps it’s fitting that the polling booths were ghostly on election day. In the inner-city suburb of Paddington, at the school where I voted, the bake stall was well-stocked at noon and my democracy sausage, cooked early in anticipation of crowds that never came, was the colder side of lukewarm.
More than a third of Queenslanders had cast their votes during pre-polling — a record number. Perhaps it was enthusiasm for a change of government or a general malaise with communal events. Whatever the reason, election day felt bleak.
While victory came less easily than expected — the polls tightened towards the end of the race — Queenslanders, as predicted, voted to instate a majority LNP as our government.
New Premier David Crisafulli opened his victory speech by saying “Queenslanders have voted for hope over fear”. Given the campaigns of both major parties capitalised on fear, this was an odd choice of phrase.
Labor’s scare campaign — that women’s legal access to reproductive rights would be abolished under an LNP government — became slightly more concrete when, on October 8, North Queensland MP Robbie Katter pledged to introduce a bill to repeal or amend Queensland’s abortion law should his party form a minority government with the LNP.
The fear grew as Crisafulli declined to answer what his stance on abortion was until he had been asked the question more than 132 times. While he has said an LNP government won’t change the abortion law, he has not yet confirmed if he will let his party’s MPs — none of whom voted to pass the original bill — have a conscience vote should a repeal bill be put forward by the crossbench.
Crisafulli described his election campaign as “the result of a hell of a lot of hard work and a hell of a lot of strategy”. One of the main strategies was a promise to end the “youth crime crisis”. Data shows that the youth crime rate in Queensland reached its lowest-ever level in 2022, and rates have remained consistent since then. While there have been a number of high-profile tragedies in the past few years, such as the tragic stabbings of Emma Lovell and Vyleen White, many, many Queenslanders are genuinely afraid of a youth crime crisis that simply isn’t backed up by data.
Within its Making Our Community Safer Plan, the LNP has a number of youth justice policies that are progressive, but its “adult time for adult crime” policy will put more children into prisons that are already over capacity. Most of these children will be First Nations. Despite making up 3% of the total Australian population, they make up 70% of those in Queensland’s youth detention system.
Political strategies don’t come out of a vacuum. The most effective ones capitalise on existing moods, prejudices and beliefs. That the fear of youth crime was such a successful campaign strategy says a lot about a state that voted overwhelmingly against a Voice to Parliament.
Would Queenslanders concede there was a youth crime crisis if the majority of the children charged with crimes were white? Or would we call it a mental health crisis/domestic violence crisis/undiagnosed disability crisis/homelessness crisis/hunger crisis instead?
Following the Voice referendum result in Queensland — not a single regional electorate voted Yes — the LNP backflipped on its support for Queensland’s Path to Treaty and the Truth Telling and Healing Inquiry.
This inquiry is already underway. In November, hearings are scheduled for Cherbourg. Cherbourg Mayor Bruce Simpson says the inquiry is helping to correct so many “hurts and wrongs”. The head of the inquiry, Joshua Creamer, has said: “The evidence that will emerge from the inquiry’s process offers a genuine opportunity to deliver real outcomes for Queensland’s Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This is vital as we work together towards a more unified future for all Queenslanders.” With the LNP in power, the future of a process that could be deeply healing for our state is uncertain.
On Saturday, five days before Halloween, Queensland voters’ fears — overt and covert — were manipulated by both sides of politics, but most deftly, and successfully, by the LNP. We might have been a braver people, a people who faced truth with curiosity and openness and, in so doing, started to heal. Instead, we capitulated to fear.
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed in this piece are personal and do not represent those of any organisations the writer is associated with.
