Queensland election 2017: Accidental premier to political prodigy

ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk has gone from accidental premier to political prodigy.

ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk has gone from accidental premier to political prodigy.

While the final results remained volatile following one of the most unpredictable Queensland elections in a generation, Palaszczuk was set to cement her place in the pantheon of Labor legends.

She became the first woman to lead a major party from opposition into government in Australian history in 2015 with her surprise triumph over Campbell Newman.

Back-to-back victories further her status and establish a record that would be difficult to beat.

It must be remembered that almost three years ago Palaszczuk led a government that was so unprepared that it was a wonder some ministers could find their way to Parliament, let alone know what to do when they got there.

Her minority government was at great risk of collapsing in on itself within those early months after Member for Cook Billy Gordon was forced out.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk kisses her father Henry, a Labor stalwart, as she arrives to cast her vote at Inala State School yesterday. Picture: Dan Peled/AAP

And Labor trailed the LNP in published polling for a year, until August 2016, as Queenslanders took a dim view of a dysfunctional administration that seemed hell bent on serving itself.

However Palaszczuk has proven a political enigma.

She’s established a unique brand that her political opponents have struggled to tackle.

She’s affable and engaging.

And while satisfaction with her performance has nose-dived this year she has maintained a healthy lead over her opponent, Tim Nicholls.

Two critical factors have plagued the LNP’s efforts to take on an opponent they’d under-estimated from the start.

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls at Ascot State School yesterday. Picture: Tracey Nearmy/AAP

Firstly, they failed to make anything stick.

Governments lose when people blame them for their problems.

However, the LNP never successfully pinned anything on Palaszczuk and just saying she led a “do nothing” government was never going to be enough.

It meant than when Queenslanders entered the ballot box yesterday there was no reason to pull out their baseball bats.

Secondly, the LNP never knew how to deal with its recent history, how to align themselves with the good parts of the Newman government and divorce themselves from the bad.

The decision to switch from Lawrence Springborg to Nicholls only made this more complicated.

And the low profile of the LNP leader before the campaign was evidence of how they struggled with this question.

From Nicholls’ ascension in May 2016, it was obvious what Labor’s campaign would be:

scare about cuts, raise fears about sackings and pin Nicholls to Newman.

However, fighting the last election would not have been enough had the LNP been able to properly prosecute the case against Palaszczuk.

While she might not have been able to inflate Labor’s primary vote despite all the trappings of government, Palaszczuk has hung on to those who protested against the LNP.

Accomplishing that was not an accident.