‘First indication she’s going’: Annastacia Palaszczuk silent on future
Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed on holidays in Italy she is suffering from health issues, leaving colleagues wondering if it’s the beginning of the end of her 11 years as an ALP leader.
Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed on holidays in Italy that she is suffering from health issues, leaving colleagues wondering if this could be the beginning of the end of her 11 years as ALP leader.
The Queensland Premier is on a two-week European holiday with her surgeon partner Reza Adib as speculation grows within Labor ranks about whether she has the energy, or will, to lead the party to its fourth consecutive election victory next year.
Ms Palaszczuk, who is accompanying Dr Adib at a medical conference in Naples, did not want to talk about leadership issues when approached by The Australian.
“I don’t want to say anything … I have got some health issues,” she said.
In Australia, some of Ms Palaszczuk’s Labor colleagues interpreted the mention of previously undisclosed health problems as the 54-year-old preparing the ground for a possible exit.
One backbencher said the Premier’s comment “could be the start” while another source said “that might be the first indication that she’s going”.
A Right faction figure said they were unaware of Ms Palaszczuk’s health issues but felt it was increasingly likely she would quit politics before the October 2024 election. “It’s starting to look pretty terminal,” the source said.
“It feels like it is a case of when (she goes), not if. She has been great but it comes to a point when you have to consider what is best for the party.”
Former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says Ms Palaszczuk should resign from her position. Mr Newman believes she should act in the interest of her colleagues, and offer a resignation as he did during his tenure as Premier. His offer was rejected, before he was voted out in favour of Ms Palaszczuk in the 2015 state election.
“If Annastacia Palaszczuk was truly a team player she’d stand aside now and let new leadership take the party forward,” he told The Courier Mail.
“I’m not Annastacia Palaszczuk, but when my personal standing was dragging things down I offered to go – in September 2014 – but I don’t think she will.”
Ms Palaszczuk and Dr Adib are staying at a five-star hotel opposite Castel dell’Ovo, the seafront castle in Naples, also known as the egg castle.
The surgeon is to attend and speak at a three-day conference, the XXVI World Congress of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders, south of Naples on Wednesday to Friday.
Ms Palaszczuk said she was upset that news photographers had taken her picture on a private holiday.
Dr Adib said the situation was embarrassing to him as well because he was “surrounded by 1000 of my colleagues”.
The Australian revealed on Saturday that Ms Palaszczuk had lost the confidence of key sections of Labor in Queensland and internal fears were mounting that the government would lose the October 2024 election unless she quit.
Three consecutive published polls show her popularity is falling, and the government is headed for defeat. The research reflects the findings of earlier internal ALP research.
Opening a mental health rehabilitation ward on the Gold Coast on Wednesday, Health Minister Shannon Fentiman, widely considered a frontrunner to replace Ms Palaszczuk, said she was not aware of the Premier’s health issues.
She said the Premier “works extremely hard” and deserved privacy. “Everyone deserves a break. Everyone deserves a chance to look after their health and recharge; she’s on a break, we’re all here getting on with the job,” Ms Fentiman said.
“Mental health is a huge issue in the community; that’s why I thought it really important I come and see the rooms being developed at our new $120m facility.”
Ms Fentiman said she was “not interested in becoming premier” because “the Premier gave me a job to do three months ago”.
“I’m focused on supporting the Premier to lead us to the next election,” she said.
Ms Fentiman said “I think we all hope the Premier’s health improves”.
She and her colleague in the party’s dominant Left faction, Deputy Premier Steven Miles, are considered the most likely contenders to replace Ms Palaszczuk should she quit.
Right faction Treasurer Cameron Dick is an outside chance, bur would need a seismic factional shift to occur before he could become leader.
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