In normal times, in a state with rugged frontier pretensions such as Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk might have been expected to struggle to win a third term.

Since becoming the so-called accidental premier at the shock 2015 election, Ms Palaszczuk has run a typically pro-big government intervention Labor government, and presided over an explosion in the size of the public sector and the highest level of state debt in the country.