In Saturday’s speech to the party faithful, Miles dismissed speculation of disunity.

“I can assure all of you that my team and I are absolutely determined to lead Labor back to government in 2028,” he said.

“And to spend every day in between fighting against David Crisafulli and the LNP. I find myself more certain every day, not just of how important this task is … but also how possible.”

A key element of the “pathway to government”, Miles said, was repairing Labor support in the regions after the party suffered significant losses in 2024 outside urban areas.

“We need your determination too – the same support that we all threw behind Albo and the federal campaign,” he told the gathering.

“We have commenced a regional recruitment drive based around our regional shadow cabinet program, which we will continue to roll out next year.”

A recent Resolve Strategic poll for this masthead showed Labor trailed the LNP by just one percentage point – 33 to 32 – but Crisafulli was well ahead of his rival in personal polling.

Crisafulli’s personal net likeability score sat at +17 compared with -2 for Miles.

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