What is to be made of the apparent brain snap that saw Queensland's work-experience Premier let loose with both barrels on the bush capital this week?
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If he wasn't the boss of the Sunshine State he'd be being called in for a meeting with his immediate supervisor and HR and asked "Steve, mate, is everything all right at home?"
That's what happens to most people who lose it in a major way at work. Questions about work-life balance, on the job performance and the future needs of the organisation then quickly follow.
Is this what is going on here? Mr Miles hasn't been polling all that well since he took over the reins from Annastacia Palaszczuk. He is certainly concerned about his political future.
Queensland is due to go to the polls on October 24 and the LNP, which has been on the outer for most of the last 26 years, has made up significant ground in recent polling.
That's not good news for Mr Miles even though Labor holds 52 of the 93 seats in the unicameral assembly. The LNP, now led by David Crisafulli, has 34 seats and Katter's Australian Party has three.
According to secret polling commissioned under Annastacia Palaszczuk before her departure late last year (at a cost of $400,000 to the Queensland taxpayer) only 23 per cent of respondents - down from 28 per cent - believe the Miles government can be trusted.
The polling, which was released this week after months of pressure from the opposition, found that as of November only 16 per cent of respondents were satisfied with the way the government is tackling Queensland's youth crime epidemic. Only 16 per cent were satisfied the state is doing enough to ease the cost of living and make housing more affordable.
Only 53 per cent felt safe (compared to 61 per cent in September) and support for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics has fallen from 43 per cent to 38 per cent over the same period.
The trend is clearly not Mr Miles's friend. That's unfortunate given 13 of the government's seats are considered marginal. Another 10, held with margins of between 6 and 10 per cent, are considered "fairly safe".
It is telling that as of December, shortly after Mr Miles became the Premier, the LNP was ahead of Labor on a two-party preferred basis by 53 per cent to 47 per cent.
While, on paper, the LNP needs at least nine seats it has the option of pursuing minority government through a deal with the Katter party if it falls short.
So, rather than focusing on the specifics of Mr Miles's childish and puerile remarks, it makes more sense to ask whether they were the result of a fit of pique over Queensland's failed bid to snaffle the AIS ahead of the increasingly unpopular - and expensive - Brisbane Olympics or something else entirely.
Given Queensland politicians have a long and inglorious history of bagging out Canberra at every opportunity, especially when like Joh Bjelke-Petersen, they needed to distract attention away from allegations of incompetence, there is every reason to suggest Mr Miles is just following suit.
Is it only a matter of time before he starts muttering about "feeding the [media] chooks", saying "you don't tell the frogs anything before you drain the swamp" and warning Queenslanders they are "a long way from Canberra"?
Whether or not Queensland voters would still fall for such tactics remains to be seen. Given the massive influx of southerners from NSW, the ACT and Victoria much has changed since Joh was ridden out of town on a rail.
Irrational Canberra-hating parochialism might not be what it used to be Mr Miles.
