Five days out from the Queensland state election in 2015, a barefoot Annastacia Palaszczuk was photographed having a laugh and playing backyard cricket.

The image, according to Griffith University political expert Associate Professor Paul Williams, could not have provided a greater contrast to that of the cranky incumbent premier Campbell Newman, who had been sparring with journalists over an unproven allegation he made that bikies were pouring money into Labor through the CFMEU.