Annastacia Palaszczuk’s leadership polled during overseas mission
A union-linked pollster has this week asked Queenslanders for their thoughts on Annastacia Palaszczuk, with the Premier facing leadership speculation again while overseas.
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A union-linked pollster has this week asked Queenslanders for their thoughts on Annastacia Palaszczuk, with the Premier facing leadership speculation again while overseas.
Information seen by The Courier-Mail shows voters in the ultra marginal Labor-held electorate of Bundaberg and the seats of Bonney and Ferny Grove were asked by UComms what they believe the government “could do better” and what state policy was “most important” to them.
They were also asked to “in a few words tell us your thoughts on Annastacia Palaszczuk”.
Ms Palaszczuk flew out to China on a trade mission on Monday – it is the second time in two months her leadership has been questioned, following a two-week vacation in Europe in September with her government under fire for its handling of youth crime.
It was also reported by The Australian that senior union officials were feeling frustrated over the burgeoning issue of leadership, with claims of threats to cut campaign spending unless Ms Palaszczuk stands aside.
Queensland’s Acting Premier Steven Miles – himself a former union leader – on Thursday said Queensland’s unions should remember what “their members went through under the LNP” after it was revealed secret polling was being conducted on Ms Palaszczuk’s leadership less than a year out from the next election.
Mr Miles continued to publicly back Ms Palaszczuk, and said the reports of secret union polling had not come up in a phone conversation with Ms Palaszczuk in China that morning.
“I don’t think she’d be too concerned about this kind of gossiping, this happens from time to time,” he said.
“In every conversation I’ve had with anyone from the union movement, they have indicated strong support for the Premier.
“They know that their members, the workers of Queensland, are far better off because of the actions and the leadership of Annastacia Palaszczuk over the last three terms.
“I know those same unions remember what 2012, 2013, 2014 felt like, what their members went through under the LNP.
“I know that none of them would do anything that would put that at risk.”
Asked if he would ask the unions to back Ms Palaszczuk, Mr Miles said we would “say to them privately the same thing I’ve said publicly”.
“That is, that the best future for their members, the working people of Queensland, is to re-elect the Palaszczuk Labor government,” he said.
An exclusive YouGov poll, commissioned by The Courier-Mail, revealed last month that Ms Palaszczuk was no longer Queensland’s preferred premier for the first time, and her performance rating was worse than previous premiers Anna Bligh and Campbell Newman.
It was the worst result for Ms Palaszczuk since she took office in 2015 and shows Labor is on the path towards a bruising defeat at next year’s election.
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