Steven John Miles (born 15 November 1977) is an Australian politician who is the 40th and current

premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...

, in office since 2023. He is the state leader of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms ...

(ALP) and previously served as

deputy premier A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

from 2020 to 2023. Miles was born in Brisbane and completed a PhD on the trade union movement at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = ...

. 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 The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a sec ...

, initially representing the seat of

Mount Coot-tha Mount Coot-tha is a mountain and a suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , there were no residents in the suburb. Visible from much of the city, Mount Coot-tha is a popular bushland tourist destination including the M ...

before switching to Murrumba at the 2017 election. Miles was appointed to state cabinet after the 2015 election victory and replaced

Jackie Trad Jacklyn Anne Trad (born 25 April 1972) is a former Australian politician. She was Deputy Premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2020, Treasurer of Queensland from 2017 to 2020 and represented the Electoral district of South Brisbane for the Labor P ...

Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , Polish: Annastacia Pałaszczuk, ; born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who has been the 39th premier of Queensland since 2015 and the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since ...

'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 Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

on 15 November 1977. He attended

St Paul's Anglican School, Bald Hills , motto_translation = By Faith and By Learning , location = , Brisbane, Queensland , country = Australia , type = Independent co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day school , denomination = Anglica ...

. He went on to complete the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the

. 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 ''ToGetHer'' (, aka Superstar Express) is a 2009 Taiwanese drama starring Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit, Rainie Yang and George Hu. It was produced by Comic International Productions ( 可米國際影視事業股份有限公司) and directed by Linzi P ...

Political career

Miles was initially a member of the

Labor Right The Labor Right, also known as Modern Labor, is a political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the national level that is characterised by being more economically conservative and, in some cases, more socially conservative. The Labor ...

faction, but switched to

Labor Left The Labor Left, also known as the Progressive Left or Socialist Left, is political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It competes with the more economically liberal Labor Right faction. The Labor Left operates autonomously in each s ...

after he failed to win a

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

ballot for the seat of

Pine Rivers The Shire of Pine Rivers was a local government area about north of Brisbane in the Moreton Bay region of South East Queensland, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed as a local government entity from 1888 until 2008, when ...

prior to the

2009 Queensland state election The 2009 Queensland state election was held on 21 March 2009 to elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral parliament. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal Nationa ...

. He was the unsuccessful Labor candidate for

Ryan Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

at the

2010 Australian federal election The 2010 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 21 August 2010 to elect members of the 43rd Parliament of Australia. The incumbent centre-left Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard won a second term against the o ...

. In 2014, Miles defeated Fiona McNamara for preselection in the state seat of

, and was elected in 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 The First Palaszczuk Ministry was a ministry of the Government of Queensland led by Annastacia Palaszczuk. Palaszczuk led the Labor Party to victory in the 2015 state election, forming a minority government with the support of independent MP Pe ...

on 16 February 2015. Following an electoral redistribution in 2017, 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 The Second Palaszczuk Ministry is a ministry of the Government of Queensland led by Annastacia Palaszczuk. Palaszczuk led the Labor Party to a majority victory in the 2017 state election. Initial ministry On 11 December 2017, Premier Palaszczuk ...

after the election. He was health minister for the first months of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January ...

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

. 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 The Third Palaszczuk Ministry is a ministry of the Government of Queensland led by Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , Polish: Annastacia Pałaszczuk, ; born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who has been the 39th premier ...

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 The United Workers Union (UWU) is an Australian trade union. Described as the biggest blue-collar union in Australia, the UWU covers more than 150,000 workers within over 45 industries, including warehousing, defence, hospitality, health, disabil ...

. He was initially opposed for the leadership by

Shannon Fentiman Shannon Maree Fentiman is an Australian politician. She has been the Labor member for Waterford in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2015 and is the current Queensland Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Women, and the Prevention ...

, but Fentiman subsequently withdrew after a deal was struck between Miles and

Cameron Dick Cameron Robert Dick (born 1 January 1967) is an Australian politician and member of the Labor Party currently serving as the 51st Treasurer of Queensland. He previously served as Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure a ...

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.

Personal life

Miles has three children with his wife Kim McDowell. Miles supports the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Steven 1977 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Australian republicans Labor Left politicians Deputy Premiers of Queensland Premiers of Queensland 21st-century Australian politicians