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Biography
Steven John Miles (born 15 November 1977) is an Australian politician who is the 40th and current premier of Queensland, in office since 2023. He is the state leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and previously served as deputy premier from 2020 to 2023.
Miles was born in Brisbane and completed a PhD on the trade union movement at the University of Queensland. Prior to entering parliament he worked as a union official, political adviser, and public relations consultant. He was elected to parliament at the 2015 Queensland state election, initially representing the seat of Mount Coot-tha before switching to Murrumba at the 2017 election. Miles was appointed to state cabinet after the 2015 election victory and replaced Jackie Trad as Annastacia Palaszczuk's deputy in 2020. He succeeded Palaszcuk as ALP leader and premier unopposed following her retirement in December 2023.
Early life
Miles was born in Brisbane in 1977. His father worked as a fitter at the Golden Circle cannery at Northgate and his mother was a workplace health and safety inspector. He attended Petrie State School and completed his secondary education at St Paul's Anglican School, Bald Hills. He went on to complete the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of Queensland. Miles' PhD thesis was titled "Trade Union Renewal in Australia: rebuilding worker involvement".
Miles was a co-founder and managing director of Reveille Strategy, a public relations agency working with progressive organisations to "mobilise for campaigns and trumpet their message to the community". Prior to his election to parliament he also worked as an adviser to state treasurer Andrew Fraser and as industrial relations director of state public sector union Together.
Political career
Miles was initially a member of the Labor Right faction, but switched to Labor Left after he failed to win a preselection ballot for the seat of Pine Rivers prior to the 2009 Queensland state election. He was the unsuccessful Labor candidate for Ryan at the 2010 Australian federal election.
Miles was first elected to state seat of Mount Coot-tha at the 2015 state election. He was sworn in as Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection and Minister for National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef in the First Palaszczuk ministry on 16 February 2015.
As Environment Minister, Miles announced Queensland's first container deposit scheme to improve recycling of can and bottles, which began operating in 2018.
Following an electoral redistribution in 2017 that abolished the seat of Mount Coot-tha, Miles stood for the North Brisbane electorate of Murrumba and was elected in the 2017 state election. He was appointed and sworn in as the Minister for Health and Ambulance Services in the Second Palaszczuk ministry after the election. He was health minister for the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and in January 2020 declared a public health emergency, the first such declaration by an Australian state.
On 10 May 2020, Miles was announced as the new Deputy Premier of Queensland and was sworn in the following day, following the resignation of the previous Deputy Premier Jackie Trad. He continued to be Minister for Health and Ambulance Services until the state election in October 2020, after which he was appointed the Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning in the Third Palaszczuk ministry.
Premier of Queensland
In December 2023, following Palaszczuk's resignation, Miles announced he would be a candidate to succeed her as state premier and ALP leader in Queensland. It was reported that he was aligned with the dominant left faction and enjoyed the support of the United Workers Union. He was initially opposed for the leadership by Shannon Fentiman, but Fentiman subsequently withdrew after a deal was struck between Miles and Cameron Dick of the right faction in which Dick would become deputy premier. He was elected unopposed on 15 December 2023 and sworn in as premier on the same day.
Miles' initial priorities as premier included addressing cost of living pressures, legislating stronger climate and emissions reductions targets, and reducing youth crime.
Cost of living
The Miles Government introduced a package of measures in 2024 to ease cost of living pressures including:
- 50 cent flat-rate fares on public transport across Queensland to save money for commuters and reduce road congestion. A six-month trial of 50 cent fares began on 5 August 2024. By September 2024, the trial has deemed successful with public transport patronage increasing beyond pre-pandemic levels. Miles committed to making 50 cent fares permanent if his Labor Government was re-elected.
- $1000 electricity rebate for all Queensland households. This was in addition to the $300 electricity rebate provided to households by the federal Albanese Government in the 2024 federal budget.
- 20 percent reduction in vehicle registration fees for 12 months.
- $200 vouchers to assist families with children aged 5-17 with the cost of membership and participation in sport.
The cost of living measures were funded by the State Government's progressive coal royalties regime, which provided an additional $9.4 billion in revenue to Queensland since it was introduced in 2022. The Miles Government passed legislation to protect progressive coal royalties being removed by a future LNP government.
In August 2024, Miles announced that a re-elected Labor Government would lower petrol prices by establishing 12 state-owned fuel stations to improve competition, as well as ban fuel stations from raising the price of fuel more than once a day, and require fuel stations to release price changes a day in advance.
Environment and climate change
Queensland saw a 35 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, which beat the Labor Government's previous emissions target of 30 percent reduction by 2030. In 2024, the Miles Government passed the Clean Economy Jobs Act 2024 and Energy (Renewable Transformation and Jobs) Act 2024 to legislate stronger emissions reductions targets of 75 percent by 2035 and net zero by 2050, and set Queensland's renewable energy targets at 50 percent by 2030, 70 percent by 2032 and 80 percent by 2035. The legislation also entrenched public ownership of energy assets and established a $150 million Job Security Guarantee and Fund to ensure energy workers at existing publicly owned power stations and associated coal mines have access to new jobs and training or financial assistance during the State's transition to renewable energy.
At the 2024-25 State Budget, the Miles Government announced $26 billion over four years would be invested into renewable power, storage and transmission projects in Queensland, including $8.68 billion in 2024-25 alone. Miles also opposed the federal Liberal National Party proposal to support to introduce nuclear energy to Australia and construct nuclear reactors in Queensland.
In 2024, the Miles Government expanded environmental protection in Queensland by banning all carbon capture and storage in the Great Artesian Basin; protecting an additional 59,000 hectares of land by creating two new national parks (The Lakes National Park near Hughenden and Malbon Thompson Range National Park near Cairns) and expanding 18 exisiting national parks; and adding 140 islands or parts of islands within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to Queensland's protected areas estate.
Housing and homelessness
In 2024 Miles announced the $3.1 billion 'Homes for Queenslanders' plan to build one million new homes by 2046, including 53,000 new social homes. As part of that plan the Miles Government passed rental reform legislation that strengthen the rights of tenants, banned rent-bidding by real estate agents, created a portable bond scheme to allow tenants to transfer bond from one property to another. Miles also announced every specialist homelessness services in Queensland would receive a 20 percent increase in funding.
The Miles Government removed stamp duty for first homebuyers on properties valued up to $700,000.
Social policy
The Miles Government passed legislation in 2024 to decriminalise the sex work industry that repealed all previously existing criminal offences relating to sex work and improved the health, safety, and workplace rights of sex workers.
Personal life
Miles has three children with his wife Kim McDowell. Miles supports the Brisbane Broncos.
