Annastacia Palaszczuk ranked the best Queensland premier of the 21st century

In an exclusive poll, Annastacia Palaszczuk has pipped another Labor leader as best Queensland premier this century. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Annastacia Palaszczuk has been ranked the best Queensland premier of the 21st century, with voters putting her just ahead of Labor luminary Peter Beattie.

In a four-way contest between Mr Beattie, Anna Bligh, Campbell Newman and Ms Palaszczuk, the incumbent premier was judged the best, attracting the support of 21 per cent of Queensland voters.

Mr Beattie was not far behind, with 20 per cent of respondents to The Courier-Mail’s exclusive YouGov poll giving him the thumbs up as the state’s best premier of this century.

Mr Newman – the only LNP premier of the four – came third with 17 per cent support, while Ms Bligh came last with the backing of 12 per cent of those polled.

Exactly 30 per cent of the 1044 people who were surveyed between June 23 and June 30 said they didn’t know or had no opinion on who was the best.

Despite having a slight lead among all voters, Ms Palaszczuk was the clear favourite with Labor voters – attracting support from 37 per cent of them, compared to Mr Beattie’s 23 per cent and Ms Bligh’s 16 per cent.

Ms Palaszczuk has already overtaken both Ms Bligh and Mr Newman in length of service as premier, after notching up more than seven years and four months in the top job.

If she was to go the full term through to 2024, Ms Palaszczuk would overtake Mr Beattie’s roughly nine years in power and become Queensland’s fourth longest serving premier.

Ms Palaszczuk came to office in February 2015 after ousting Mr Newman, forming government in a hung parliament and going on to win two more elections.

Her legacy will likely be shaped by her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the state’s successful bid for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Her immediate predecessor, Mr Newman, left office in 2015 when the LNP not only lost government, but he also lost his seat of Ashgrove.

Mr Newman was elected with a huge majority in 2012 that reduced Labor to just seven seats in the then-89 seat Queensland parliament.

He quit the LNP last year and ran as a senate candidate for the Liberal Democrats at the 2022 federal election.

The YouGov poll showed Mr Newman was the most favoured premier among LNP voters, with 34 per cent backing him over the rest.

Ms Bligh was the first woman to be premier of Queensland, and became the first female premier in Australia to win an election when she beat Lawrence Springborg in 2009.

She led the state’s recovery in the wake of the 2010/2011 summer of disasters, and is now head of the Australian Banking Association.

Mr Beattie left office in 2007 after leading Labor to four election victories. He was a champion of innovation during his time in office, spearheading the ‘Smart State’ agenda.