Who is Steven Miles, how old is he and is he married? Everything you need to know about Queensland’s new premier – and his little-known nickname

Steven Miles has an immediate task ahead of him after becoming Queensland's new premier: improving the Labor Party's election results.

While Mr Miles will say he wants to improve the state's governance, the only reason he is now premier is because Annastacia Palaszczuk's government was heading for defeat in the October 2024 state election.

A recent YouGov poll for the Courier mail showed the LNP leading Labor 52-48 on a two-party preferential vote.

Ms Palaszczuk's personal ratings were even lower than those of her party, so Labor power brokers decided she had to go, prompting her to leave last Sunday.

Although the new prime minister is well known in his home state, he is little known beyond his borders; so who is steven miles?

New Queensland Premier Steven Miles (left) is pictured with his predecessor Annastacia Palaszczuk

Early life, education and introduction to politics

Mr Miles, 46, was born in Brisbane on November 15, 1977, to a mother who was a workplace health and safety inspector and a father who was a mechanic at the Golden Circle cannery.

He was educated at the private St Paul's Anglican school in Bald Hills and joined the Labor Party at the age of 16 after spotting membership forms in a driving instructor's car during a lesson.

Mr Miles later laid out his left-wing credentials while studying at the University of Queensland, where his majors were political science and journalism.

He was awarded the TJ Ryan Scholarship – named after the Prime Minister in Queensland's first majority Labor government – ​​to study at UQ.

He subsequently obtained his PhD, entitled: 'Trade Union Renewal in Australia: Reconstructing Employee Engagement.'

After college, Mr. Miles was co-founder and director of Reveille Strategy, a public relations agency that helps left-wing organizations “mobilize for campaigns and get their message out to the community.”

Before being elected to State Parliament in 2015, he also worked as an adviser to then State Treasurer Andrew Fraser and as industrial relations director of Together, the Queensland public sector union.

He had previously run, unsuccessfully, for the seat of Ryan in the 2010 federal election.

Private life

Mr Miles is married to Kim McDowell, who he met at the union they both worked for, and they have three children, Sam, 15, Aidan, 12, and Bridie, 9.

He was Minister of Health during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

When the pandemic hit, his daughter Bridie, then six years old, asked her mother if this meant her father had to work more. It did.

Mr MIles said hearing that comment was “heartbreaking” for him Courier mail at the moment when 'you can't decide when the bus comes, you just have to decide whether to get on it or not'.

“A lot of it comes down to changing the way Kim and I balance things,” he said.

Queensland Prime Minister Steven Miles is pictured with his sons Aidan and Sam and daughter Bridie

Steven Miles (left) and his wife Kim McDowell (right) are pictured voting during the Queensland state election

Political life

The failure of his first attempt to win a seat for Labor in 2010 taught him a valuable lesson: there are no guarantees.

“The day after losses like this you feel like it was all a wasted effort, but actually it always helps you move in the right direction,” he said.

He was elected to the state parliament during Labour's unexpected 2015 election victory, just three years after a landslide loss reduced the party to just seven MPs.

Mr Miles did not have to spend time on the backbench and was immediately sworn in as Environment Minister under Ms Palaszczuk.

He became health minister after Palaszczuk's government was re-elected in late 2017 and, as the most senior member of the left-wing Labor faction left, he was promoted to deputy prime minister in May 2020.

Following Ms Palaszczuk's third consecutive election victory in October 2020, Mr Miles moved from Minister for Health to State Development and Infrastructure.

Labor insiders claim Mr Miles has a unique nickname: 'Lord Giggles'.

Steven Miles is pictured with Annastacia Palaszczuk and then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during an announcement at the Gabba in Brisbane, Monday, March 21, 2022

A difficult road ahead

There are still ten months to go until the next Queensland election on October 26, 2024, and winning it will be an uphill battle for Labor, which trails the LNP under David Crisafulli 52-48.

An LNP MP told the Courier mail that what he called Mr Miles' unconvincing “attack dog” position during the pandemic meant many voters had a negative opinion of him.

“It's not rocket science – they'll portray him as the family man, a suburban dad, but the perception is established, it's a huge hurdle for him to change that,” the MP said.

But after failing in his first attempt to win a political contest and winning every time since, Mr Miles has shown he is up for the challenge.