Annastacia Palaszczuk needs more than a fresh coat of paint

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with new Health Minister Shannon Fentiman in Brisbane on Thursday. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

Annastacia Palaszczuk has finally pulled the trigger on the cabinet reshuffle her backbench has been begging for.

In doing so she drew the battlelines for next year’s election, which will be won and lost on housing, health and youth crime.

After winning the 2020 pandemic election on a health platform, Labor has dropped the ball on the public health system.

Shannon Fentiman is quickly earning a reputation as the government’s fixer, and will sweep in to oversee the scandal-prone health department.

Fentiman won’t shrink surgical waiting lists or unclog emergency departments. Nor is she expected to.

Her job will be to whip the health department bureaucrats into shape, repel LNP attacks and put on the spin.

A ruthless political operator, Palaszczuk knew last month something had to be done if she was to convince voters to give her a fourth term.

Polling released in late April showed the Premier’s personal popularity had nosedived and Labor was on track to lose the October 2024 election.

Backbench grumblings about ineffective and unresponsive ministers were growing louder. Even Palaszczuk was griping in closed-door caucus meetings about having to come in and clean up her ministers’ messes.

Now the frontbench has been overhauled, the government can turn its attention to sandbagging crucial seats.

Youth crime woes have put a string of north Queensland seats in jeopardy, while the government’s handling of the housing crisis leaves inner-city seats vulnerable to the Greens.

It will be interesting to see what the government does in the budget next month.

But, after eight years in government, Labor will need more than a fresh coat of paint to persuade Queenslanders it has the energy and solutions to deserve another four years in office.