‘Gender quotas made me premier’: Anna Bligh’s career bombshell

Queensland’s first elected female premier says her career stemmed from a 1980s Labor push to boost female representation in senior roles.

Former Queensland Premier and outgoing CEO of the Australian Banking Association, Anna Bligh. Picture: John Gass

Anna Bligh has credited gender quotas for elevating her to Queensland’s top job and backed expanding them to ensure the state’s parliament reflects the full diversity of its people.

The first elected female premier said her career stemmed from a 1980s Labor push to boost female representation in senior roles.

“The rule wasn’t formally exercised when I became a conference delegate... but it was the threat of it that made sure that my faction (left) looked for women to put on the ticket,” she told The Courier-Mail exclusively.

“If it hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have been put on the ticket.”

Ms Bligh said the disparity between parliament and the wider community was “much less so than it used to be” when she succeeded Peter Beattie, before losing office in a landslide to Campbell Newman five years later.

Former Queensland premiers Peter Beattie and Anna Bligh. Picture: File

“For me it’s a really simple equation, the parliament is meant to represent the people, then it should look as much like the people as possible,” she said.

“And we all come from different backgrounds, different genders, different age, different life experience, that’s how our parliament should work.”

Speaking in Brisbane as outgoing CEO of the Australian Banking Association, Ms Bligh compared the challenges of politics and banking, saying corporate life had been “in many aspects kinder” than George Street.

She recalled a “rough, rough week” in Canberra when Malcolm Turnbull’s government proposed a tax on major banks, prompting three bank CEOs to check on her.

“And I just reflected that in politics if someone had come up to me and said, ‘are you okay?’ I’d be thinking, ‘who’s stabbing me in the back?’” she said.

Former Queensland Premier Anna Bligh. Picture: John Gass

Since leaving politics, Ms Bligh has avoided staying out of the state political spotlight.

Asked why, she said: “Having been in government, I know that it doesn’t matter whether you’re Liberal or Labor, governing is tough.

“And I don’t think leaders and governments are helped by former politicians being part of the commentary.

“You’ve had your chance, you leave the stage, leave it.”

Ms Bligh, who successfully bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, backed the Brisbane 2032 Olympics and said they would be “fabulous for the whole state.” She intended to attend as a spectator.

“Delivering it is always subject to lots of scrutiny but I believe in Queensland, I think you’re going to pull it off.”

Asked if she would return north, Ms Bligh said, “I’ve built a life in Sydney. I’ve got roots in Sydney and I’m loving it, but you never say never, you never know what the future holds for you.”