Annastacia Palaszczuk is set to leave politics this week after almost nine years as the head of Australia’s Sunshine State, following her shock resignation.
The 39th Queensland premier will go down in history as the state’s second longest- serving premier, just behind Peter Beattie, who held the top job for nine years.
However, she will hold the title of the first female Australian premier to have won three consecutive terms, while she also held the first majority female cabinet in Australia.
She was described as the “accidental premier” when she stunned the political world by defeating Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman to become premier 2015.
But Palaszczuk went on to become a “trailblazer”, as NSW Premier Chris Minn has called her, making human right reforms, leading the state through 63 natural disasters.
She also steered the state through the COVID-19 pandemic, making sometimes controversial decisions.
Abortion and euthanasia legalised
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It was under Palaszczuk that both abortion and voluntary euthanasia were made legal in Queensland.
Palaszczuk was the last remaining state or territory leader, aside from Canberra’s chief minister Andrew Barr, who led through the COVID-19 pandemic still in power.
After cases of the virus began to spread around the world, Palaszczuk was responsible for locking down Queensland from March 23, 2020, and banning non-essential services, like schools and universities, from operating.
She then lifted the state’s border closure in July 2020 to all Aussies except Victorians, before closing the border to NSW and ACT again in August.
Palaszczuk has grappled with a growing youth crime crisis in Queensland during her time as premier.
She introduced “tough new measures” and laws aimed at youth offenders, including police powers, stricter anti-hooning laws, reversing the presumption of bail for certain offences and GPS ankle monitors, in 2021.
