Queensland Premier Steven Miles says he's focused on making family life more affordable if re-elected, promising free lunches for primary school students.
With just 13 days until voters head to the polls, Mr Miles and his team launched Labor's campaign to 200 party faithful at a North Lakes community centre in the heart of his electorate on Sunday.
"Being Queensland premier is the greatest honour of my life," he said to a sea of red.
Mr Miles unveiled a $1.4 billion commitment over four years to make school lunch free for all state primary students from prep to year six starting in 2025, if returned to office.
Doing so would save families an expected $1600 per student per year.
"We all want kids to have the best start in life and they learn best with full tummies," Mr Miles announced to a round of cheers.
"It's universal, to avoid stigmatising the kids that need the food the most, but also to ensure it supports every Queensland family."
Parents would be able to opt in for as many days a week as they want or need their children to have access to the offer.
The menu would be decided in consultation with nutritionists and dieticians with vegan, gluten-free and other allergy-friendly options.
Mr Miles said depending on the success of the program, it may be expanded into state high schools.
He and daughter Bridie brought a live rendition of their TikTok trends of making sandwiches and explaining election commitments to the launch on Sunday by creating a lettuce, tomato, cheese and ham sanga.
"There's a reason I've been making lunch every Sunday and posting it to my social media because I know how important good nutrition is to our state's future," Mr Miles said.
But the announcement was not welcomed with fanfare by Labor's opponents, who claim the government has simply adopted a popular minor party policy.
Greens MP Amy MacMahon said their electorates have had free school lunches in place for years but it has taken until a fortnight before the election for the government to promise it statewide.
But she welcomed that Labor was now committed to the initiative.
The Greens introduced a private members bill in 2021 to make school lunches free but it was shut down by Annastacia Palaszczuk's Labor government.
Mr Miles defended the announcement, claiming he didn't take a page out of the Greens' book and the difference between 2021 and now is that he is premier.
But Liberal National Party Leader David Crisafulli says the announcement is a last-ditch effort from the incumbent government to sway votes.
"You can't have a conga line of people rubbishing something for so long and then flick a switch and all of a sudden have your heart in something," he said while unveiling plans to legislate Making Queensland Safer Laws, begin tenders on the regional reset residential program and review the state's forensic DNA lab.
"That's desperation."
Labor has governed Queensland for 30 of the past 35 years but polling has the party on track for defeat by 56 to 44 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis.
