Steven Miles, Karl Stefanovic clash on Today show over pledge for free school lunches for Qld kids

Steven Miles has defended his contentious pledge to fund free school lunches for Queensland kids – to the tune of $1.4bn – amid a tense breakfast TV face-off where he was asked if he thought voters were “idiots”.

Today show host Karl Stefanovic quizzed the Queensland Premier on Monday as to how he would fund the pledge, which would be rolled out across state schools in the Sunshine State if his government was re-elected in the coming weeks.

Mr Miles announced the policy on Sunday as a major cost-of-living relief he said could save parents $1600 per child each year.

Stefanovic pointed out the Greens had made a similar proposal to fund school lunches back in 2021 that was rubbished by the state Labor government at the time.

“The Greens came up with this and you guys poo-pooed it at the time,” Stefanovic said.

“At the time Labor called it virtue signalling. Labor said children in need are already being taken care of.

“And now Labor says … it’s the golden ticket.

“I mean, do you think Queenslanders are idiots?”

But Mr Miles hit back, saying Queenslanders would see the policy as a way to help busy mums and ease the stress on teachers as well as keep kids healthy.

“This has been in schools around the world since the 1940s – the US introduced it in the 1940s. New Zealand has recently expanded their school lunch program,” Mr Miles said in response.

“It’s something I’ve been passionate about since I was the Health Minister and heard a lot of the research about how this can improve learning outcomes and address obesity and something I’ve wanted to do since then.”

Mr Miles continued by saying a recent spate of cost-of-living rebates introduced by his government was driving down inflation.

The government’s latest budget pumped $11.217bn into relief, including electricity bill rebates, lower public transport fares and slashed rego costs.

Treasurer Cameron Dick said the state government was turning particular attention to bringing down household bills despite conceding the deficit blowout just months before the state election.

Queenslanders will go to the polls on October 26, with pre-polls now open across the state.

The latest Newspoll has forecast the Miles-led Labor government is on track for defeat, polling at just 30 per cent of the primary vote.

On a two-party preferred basis, the LNP dominates Labor 55 to 45 per cent.