Why the Contempt Finding
The matter dates back to February 2025, when Miles in parliament claimed Bleijie had a conflict of interest by failing to tell Sunshine Coast residents about a Sunshine Coast property during the 2024 state election campaign. Mr. Bleijie hit back, saying the property had been declared on his register of interests since 2021 and described Mr. Miles’s comments as deliberate and malicious. The allegation led to a formal referral to an ethics committee to consider whether Miles deliberately misled the parliament.
Committee’s Conclusions
After its investigation, the ethics committee recommended parliament formally find Miles in contempt and that he make an unreserved apology to the House. The committee also questioned deputy opposition leader Cameron Dick and shadow industrial relations minister Grace Grace, who also spoke in parliament regarding Bleijie’s property. Both Dick and Grace were investigated but cleared. No findings were made against Dick or Grace.
Miles apologizes.
Miles appeared before parliament on Thursday, accepting the committee’s findings and tendering his apology. He told the House he accepted the findings of the report and gave his unreserved, sincere, unequivocal apology. It is worth noting this was not the first time Miles had tried to deal with the matter. He had previously apologized in April 2025 but that earlier apology was rejected by Bleijie, who described it as qualified, disingenuous, and containing further misleading claims. The committee concurred with this assessment and observed that the April apology appeared to be a re-prosecution of the original argument rather than a full retraction and thus not a genuinely unreserved and unequivocal apology.
Bleijie’s reply to the contempt finding
Deputy Premier Bleijie responded to the contempt finding by saying Miles was not fit to serve as leader of the opposition. It was a serious and extraordinary situation, he said, and Miles had knowingly lied to Parliament, knowing the information he gave was wrong. Bleijie's comments underlined the seriousness with which the government is treating the issue, and the finding is likely to hang over Miles's credibility as he takes the Labor opposition forward.
A rare event in Queensland politics
It is rare for a leader of a major political party in Queensland to be found in contempt. The last time a similar case was in 2021 involving then Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who was found in contempt after threatening to take staffing resources from members of Katter's Australian Party. The rarity of such findings makes the outcome against Miles all the more significant. It shows the seriousness with which Queensland’s parliamentary standards committee treats deliberate attempts to mislead the legislature.
What This Means for the Opposition
The contempt finding and its context provide a difficult moment for Queensland's Labor opposition. Miles’s credibility has been called into question, and the government has pounced on the finding to question his fitness to lead. The opposition will have to re-form and re-direct its efforts. The formal apology has now been made and accepted, but the political fall-out from the episode is likely to linger, not least as both sides of parliament continue to battle over the story around Bleijie’s property declaration and the conduct that led to the inquiry in the first place.
