Annastacia Palaszczuk: The last of the Covid-era Premiers is gone

When Annastacia Palaszczuk looked around the national cabinet table on Wednesday, she was taken aback by the loss of ‘friendly faces’. She says that was the turning point in her decision to quit.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hosts premiers and chief ministers at The Lodge in Canberra on the eve of his first National Cabinet in 2022 – from left, front, Annastacia Palaszczuk (QLD), Natasha Fyles (NT), Jeremy Rockliff (TAS), Daniel Andrews (VIC), rear, Mark McGowan (WA), Andrew Barr (ACT), Peter Malinauskas (SA) and Dominic Perrottet (NSW). Picture: Twitter

When Annastacia Palaszczuk looked around the national cabinet table in Canberra on Wednesday, she was taken aback by the loss of “friendly faces”.

The Queensland premier was the last remaining Covid-era state leader, after the sudden resignations this year of fellow Labor premiers Daniel Andrews in Victoria and Mark McGowan in Western Australia.

She said she made the final decision to quit following the national cabinet meeting, and after taking counsel from her university friend Mr McGowan.

“Finally, last week, my mind was made up at national cabinet. I was sitting there and thinking this is the fourth prime minister, there were all these new faces around the cabinet table, we got a great deal for Queensland – $4bn – and I thought to myself, renewal is a good thing,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“I got to the end of the year, I’ve been to national cabinet, and that was the turning point. I just feel now is the right time. I’ve run this marathon. I’ve had discussions with Mark McGowan as well.

“To be down there at national cabinet and not have all those friendly faces around … it’s time for me to go and do something else.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her then-WA Labor counterpart Mark McGowan at a jobs summit in Canberra in September 2022. Picture: Gary Ramage

Ms Palaszczuk won her third election on October 31, 2020, at the end of the first year of the pandemic, with an increased ­majority. Her hardline stance on Covid-19, particularly her decision to close borders and keep them closed, was popular with voters, particularly older Queenslanders who felt especially vulnerable to the virus as it spread.

“I think, during those Covid times, of all those lives that were saved,” Ms Palaszczuk said in her final press conference as premier on Sunday, describing her three terms as leader as a ­“marathon”.

She said a week was a long time in politics, but nearly nine years as premier – and three years as opposition leader before that – felt like an “eternity”.

“I’ve dedicated my whole life to community service, there’s no greater honour,” she said.

When Mr McGowan announced in May he was quitting as WA premier after six years in the top job, he said the “relentless” role was “all-consuming” and he was exhausted.

Ms Palaszczuk and Mr McGowan met as law students at the University of Queensland and formed a strong bond at the UQ ALP Club in the dying days of the reign of controversial Nationals premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

Daniel Andrews resigned in September after nearly nine years as Victorian premier. He had also won a third term, at the 2022 election, after leading the state through the Covid pandemic.

The ACT’s Andrew Barr is now Australia’s final Covid-era leader; he became Chief Minister in 2014.