‘I’ve sought to do my best’: Steven Miles prepares for Annastacia Palaszczuk’s return

Queensland Deputy Premier ­Steven Miles says he has tried his best filling in for Annastacia Palaszczuk while she has been holidaying in Europe, and is looking forward to her return.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles. Picture: Annette Dew

Queensland Deputy Premier ­Steven Miles says he has tried his best filling in for Annastacia Palaszczuk while she has been holidaying in Europe, and is looking forward to her return on Monday.

Ms Palaszczuk flies back this weekend after a two-week Italian holiday with her bariatric surgeon partner Reza Adib.

She returns to work on Monday and will address speculation within Labor ranks about whether she will lead the party to a possible fourth consecutive election victory next year.

Speaking on the Gold Coast on Friday, Mr Miles said it would be “great to see her back”.

“I hope that she’s managed to have a good break despite all of the attention here, and there, from the media,” he said.

“We’ve got a very big 12 months ahead of us and I can’t wait to get back to work with her.”

Asked if it had been a “good dry run” for how Labor would cope without Ms Palaszczuk, who has won three state elections on the back of her personal popularity, Mr Miles said he had acted in the role “many, many times”.

“We’ve got a great team, we have lots of people doing very good jobs in their portfolios and it’s always a pleasure to work with them,” he said

“I’ve sought to do my best in the two weeks as Acting Premier to serve Queenslanders, just as I do every day as the Minister for State Development, Local Government, Planning, Infrastructure and (minister) assisting the premier with Olympics and Paralympics infrastructure.”

Ms Palaszczuk will meet Mr Miles on Monday morning before they attend a cabinet meeting with the rest of the frontbench and a pre-parliament caucus meeting with all Labor MPs later in the day.

The Premier, who accompanied Dr Adib at a medical conference in Naples, did not want to talk about leadership issues when approached by The Australian last week and revealed she was suffering from health issues.

Some of Ms Palas­zczuk’s Labor colleagues, factional allies and union leaders believe Labor cannot win the October 2024 election if she remains leader and want her to quit politics soon to give her replacement a year to prepare for the campaign.

Three consecutive published polls show her popularity falling, and the government is headed for defeat.

But Ms Palaszczuk, who has been Labor leader since 2012 and Premier since 2015, is understood to still have the support of leading powerbroker and United Worker’s Union official Gary Bullock.

Mr Bullock has declined to ­declare publicly his support for Ms Palaszczuk.

Labor Party rules in Queensland makes it difficult to roll Ms Palaszczuk, with at least 50 per cent of her MPs needed to support a petition to the ALP state secretary for a ballot.

Then, there are three separate votes to determine who should be leader: of the state parliamentary party, of eligible grassroots branch members, and of affiliated unions.