A LONG YEAR AHEAD IN QUEENSLAND POLITICS

BY DAN GALLIGAN CEO CANEGROWERS

You don’t have to be political scientist to detect a shift in the atmosphere around Queensland state politics. The next state election is just 12 months away. It is the first election to be held since the introduction of four-year fixed terms and you can literally see the deck chairs being manoeuvred by the major political parties as they work out the team that will put them in the best position to either retain or win government.

It is almost as if they have itchy feet as they reach the traditional three-year mark of the current electoral cycle. A year seems like a long way away, but the nature of political advocacy is that the earlier you begin, the better chance you have of achieving the outcome you want.

CANEGROWERS has been advocating on industry policies since the day after the 2020 state election. Successful advocacy is built on relationships. Relationships at the highest level with the Premier, Cabinet ministers and local members of parliament, right through to senior government officials and party or union officials.

CANEGROWERS has, over many years and with the help of our extensive regional and national connections, forged relationships at each and every one of these levels.

Many of the agricultural industry issues are not new, they relate to planning policies, biosecurity, agricultural research and development, water and electricity pricing, and state development.

But, as it will have been four years since the last major opportunity to obtain public election policy commitments from an incoming government, an election campaign is a critical point in time for change in policy.

Across all these policy issues there has been enormous, rapid change - sometimes an evolution, sometimes a degradation of the role of farming.

The Queensland election landscape is very unique. Labor has been dominate since 1989, when the party came back to power after an extraordinary thirty-two years in opposition.

Since '89 they have held power with just two spells in opposition in 1996–98 and 2012–2015. Queensland has had a Labor government for 30 of the last 35 years with Premier Palaszczuk dragging them from opposition to government in 2025.

Factually, any government having spent eight years in power will come under significant pressure. The history shows that LNP opposition still needs to make a case for change and demonstrate their vision for Queensland.

Furthermore, particularly in our very important regional seats, we have many very effective and very relevant “minor” party and independent members of parliament who could very easily find themselves determining who forms government. The position of these MPs in the Queensland parliament is too important to ignore.

So even though it is 12 months out, the political jockeying is well and truly underway.

While the industry and growers are rightly focused on this year’s harvest, the staff at CANEGROWERS are well into the process of working with our colleagues at the Queensland Farmers’ Federation and their other 20 industry members to establish a very strong, very positive and very specific election platform.

We will work together to make the voice of farmers heard in this campaign and make sure politicians who want to make a mark on the state, start by showing their support for agriculture.