QUEENSLAND — The Queensland government, led by Premier David Crisafulli, has enacted several policy changes, including the defunding of the Murri Watch program and exempting planned Olympic venues from 15 state laws. The government also introduced "adult time" crime laws, banned puberty blockers for transgender healthcare in public hospitals, and enacted laws restricting expressions related to pro-Palestine protests. The Queensland government plans to contest all native title claims.

Joshua Creamer, an Indigenous barrister, stated this month on ABC Radio that he heard the government's approach to First Nations people described as "project invisibility" by a public servant. Creamer added, "There's an organised strategy and that is to ultimately eliminate, remove, reduce the Indigenous affairs, Indigenous initiatives, Indigenous voices."

Sandra King, an elder of the Yagara, Quandamooka, and Bundjalung people, reacted to a sign, saying, "At first I got a bit shocked by seeing [the sign]." King compared current actions to a previous administration, stating, "That is going back to Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who we did not like."

The exemptions for planned Olympic venues include the heritage and planning acts. A protest against plans for an Olympic stadium in Brisbane's Victoria Park took place last month. The State Library of Queensland stripped author Karen Wyld of her $15,000 black&write! fellowship last year, less than five hours before it was to be awarded, in connection with comments she made about the conflict in Gaza.

Premier Crisafulli has compared himself to Frank Nicklin, who became Premier in 1957. Joh Bjelke-Petersen and Campbell Newman are the only other conservative leaders to have won general elections in Queensland. In 1977, the Bjelke-Petersen government banned all protest marches. His government also declared a state of emergency during a tour by an all-white rugby team from apartheid South Africa. In the 1980s, cultural institutions in Queensland pulped books, and the Bjelke-Petersen government enacted legislation for the 1988 World Expo that acquired 40 hectares of inner-city riverfront land.

Paul Williams, an associate professor of politics and journalism at Griffith University, stated, "Queensland voters tend to 'think the LNP is a centrist government, or at least centre-right'." He added, "But it's not." Williams characterized it as "a capital-C conservative government."