Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk reveals the personal reasons she ordered an inquiry into end-of-life care

No stranger to making controversial decisions, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk reveals the personal reasons she ordered an inquiry into end-of-life care including the controversial issue of voluntary euthanasia.

There won’t be much mirth around at the state election on October 31 next year.

Whether or not Palaszczuk can pull off a trifecta and return her party to Government again is still anyone’s guess.

The dismal performance of Labor in Queensland in this year’s federal election, in which the party was left with only six seats out of 30, does not bode well.

Nor does the loss of traditional Labor votes in regional centres and outer suburbs.

When Bill Shorten’s dream of becoming Australia’s 30th prime minister imploded on May 18 this year, so too did state Labor’s dream of lots of money to fund infrastructure and reduce some of that $78.7 billion debt.

Throw in an Opposition Leader, the ­charismatic Deb Frecklington, who many people believe is the LNP’s best chance of securing ­government in years, and Palaszczuk has quite a battle ahead.

But Palaszczuk is, as we have seen before, quite the dark horse.

Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk hasn’t been afraid to introduce controversial legislation in her time leading Queensland. Picture: Jack Evans

She goes into this election with a high personal approval rating and some riskier, legacy-style propositions in her pocket.

If people wanted to see Palaszczuk put her head above the parapet a bit more, she has certainly been doing that of late.

She introduced the historic Termination of Pregnancy Act, 2018 in October last year, making abortion legal in Queensland for the first time in 119 years.

At the time she said the Act would ensure women could access these services without “fear or stigma”.

“As a Premier and as a woman I believed that I have no right to dictate or tell another woman what to do with her body,” she says.

“A termination of a pregnancy is a very personal decision between a woman and her family, or whoever needs to be included in those decisions. A woman’s control over her own body is not a political matter.”

In September last year Palaszczuk ordered an inquiry (which the LNP has said it opposes) into end-of-life care, including the issue of voluntary euthanasia.

It’s a particularly thorny matter, with Queensland the last state in the country to ­debate it, but it’s also one which Palaszczuk ­believes we “have to at least talk about”.

“We don’t want to scare people. We are going about this very slowly and I understand that the community is bitterly divided over voluntary ­euthanasia, but I think it is time for us to address it,” she says.

“There is so much beauty in having a dignified death, when you have your family around you and there is so much love in that room, but not everybody gets that. I have watched a very slow death of a grandparent with terminal cancer and it was horrific, and I think many of us have had the same, very distressing experience.

“I’m not saying we will introduce voluntary euthanasia at all, I am saying let’s hear all the voices, including those of the people in great pain.”

Deb Frecklington and Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Palaszczuk says she knows that the 2020 state election will be “tough”, as all politicians say prior to every election.

But the difference with next year’s contest is that it will also be historic with Palaszczuk facing off against Frecklington (short of something going horribly, politically wrong for the current LNP leader).

It will be the first time in Australian political history that a female Premier and a ­female Opposition Leader will vie to form­ ­government.

“It is historic, and whatever happens that’s a pretty powerful message, isn’t it?” says ­Palaszczuk. Whatever happens – lose or win – Palaszczuk can be sure she’ll have the support of many arms around her.

Linda Dobe, Annastacia Palaszczuk, Jacueline Bond, and Tonya Clark.

For her 50th birthday, Palaszczuk has planned two celebrations. One with her entire family, travelling to the Scenic Rim this weekend, including parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, kids, dogs, the whole clan and the other with her inner circle.

Close friends from primary school, high school and university gathered on Thursday evening at Chez Palaszczuk for drinks and reminiscing, laughs and very possibly some very bad eighties dancing.

“You asked what 50 looked like to me when I was younger,” she muses. “It didn’t look quite how I thought it might, but for me, when you get to 50, you should embrace it, and be thankful that you are there at all.

“And I am thankful. I have a loving family and great, old mates. They say 50 is the new 40, well, I’m not sure about that, but from where I sit, 50 looks pretty good to me.