The advice Crisafulli ignored on his way to forming government

David Crisafulli’s vision to win successive elections shouldn’t be a groundbreaking one.

One year after sweeping the Queensland electoral map, the premier says he wants to tap into what got him there to make sure he stays – the delivery of services.

In the 2024 state election, this was expertly – and arguably nauseatingly – done by eroding trust in the former Labor government’s handling of the so-called crises: crime, housing, health and cost of living.

Zeroing in on these issues has been a defining feature of the government. As much as anything else, it has served as a tool to avoid the ideological toxicity that’s divided federal conservatives.

It’s a Friday afternoon in October when the premier is outlining to this masthead his plan to lead a generational government. Speaking from the relatively new digs of the public service “tower of power” at One William Street, Crisafulli says he’s still awed by the view out over the Brisbane River.

And rightly so. The suite faces south-west and laps up the vast expanses of Brisbane’s urban sprawl, and the housing affordability crunch within it. The state’s agricultural bowl is beyond the horizon. It’s a spectacular site, but the floor-to-ceiling windows also frame the many pressures that weigh on whoever sits behind the premier’s desk.

It’s barely 4pm, but the congestion on the Pacific Motorway is already compressing as the surge of population strains transport infrastructure. Sirens from emergency vehicles roar towards clogged hospitals, and there’s a distinct lack of hotels in South Bank and the city’s central area as the state rushes preparations to host the world at the 2032 Games. Not to mention the lack of building under way to erect the Olympic stadium in the inner north at Victoria Park.

How these issues and economic factors are managed will define Crisafulli’s legacy.

“If we can just nail those services – build the roads and the hospitals and schools and make sure that we’ve got proper resourced police and fireys and ambos and teachers and public service in general – there’s a golden era ahead,” he says.

“It’s not a level of government that deals with foreign policy and high-level taxation – it’s about services. My side of politics probably hasn’t grasped that as well as we should have over a long period of time.”

The simplicity of the strategy that has led to electoral success and ongoing personal popularity is of course in direct contrast to the failings of Crisafulli’s federal colleagues, who were hammered in the May election and continue to be divided over climate and migration policies.

Crisafulli tells this masthead the same fringe conservative elements continuing to squabble over ideological issues were critical of his years in opposition, and gave unsolicited advice about his strategy.

“For four years, I was told by all of these people that I needed to be more all sorts of things – more angry, more talk on more issues. And I said that state governments are about services,” he says.

“I didn’t bark at every car that went past … ideological battles are not where real people are.”

The famously disciplined Crisafulli has run a tight ship which has, for now, avoided the types of cabinet leaks that plagued the dying days of the previous Labor government.

But it hasn’t all been rosy.

The premier’s most important cabinet figure tasked with delivering a key election promise to drive down juvenile crime, Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber, has faced persistent accusations of running a toxic workplace following a revolving door of key staffers.

Gerber is already onto her fourth chief of staff but Crisafulli remains resolute that she has the support of cabinet and is delivering in her role.

“I want her to drive down victim numbers and, so far, she’s done a good job on it,” he says.

And while the cabinet remains free of leaks and the hefty majority government is filled with Crisafulli loyalists, there have been grumblings that Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie is the only party room figure given the license to share ideological views.

The exuberant deputy has regularly spoken out on pill testing, saying recently that only the “commies in Victoria” supported the policy, while some party figures say Bleijie’s retreat from renewable energy undermines the delivery of Energy Minister David Janetzki’s highly anticipated energy road map.

Crisafulli bristles when pressed on this, pointing out that Bleijie’s purview as planning and state development minister includes the delivery of major projects such as renewables.

He also stresses that a good government, particularly in Queensland, relies on the balance of strength between the premier and their deputy.

“I grew up in the Beattie era, and I saw the way [former premier Peter] Beattie and [former deputy Terry] Mackenroth worked together, and I thought that was formidable – I like that model,” Crisafulli says.

“I like a premier that is able to set a vision and travel the state and explain to Queensland and encourage Queenslanders to be optimistic about the future.

“And I like a deputy that’s strong and able to call out failings of former governments and ensure that we don’t stray from who we are.”

The other criticism the premier is quick to dismiss is the routine “jobs for mates” jibes levelled at the significant turnover of government board positions and appointments of those linked to the LNP.

A Brisbane Times investigation found the Crisafulli government has updated a third of its 320 boards in its first year in power. A total of 20 figures with links to the LNP as former politicians, candidates or members of the party’s executive have been appointed to 25 positions.

But Crisafulli insists all changes were based on merit and notes former Labor ministers have also been appointed to relevant positions based on their experience.

These include former treasurer Curtis Pitt on the Ports North board, former mines minister Scott Stewart on the Port of Townsville board, and Dr Anthony Lynham to a medical board.

He also stresses the importance of ushering in new faces – noting his government’s priorities differ from Labor’s – and hints there will be more high-profile appointments to come from “both sides of politics”.

“An incoming government should be able to refresh a board, that should be the case because you’ll have different priorities,” Crisafulli says.

“The only thing I ask is that the people are suitably qualified.

“Amongst all the yelling and screaming from the opposition, they haven’t yelled and screamed about those Labor appointments.

“It is important that we refocus the bodies and the boards in this state – I’ve made no secret of the fact that a lot of them haven’t run the way they should, which is why we’ve seen things get away on us.”

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