The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk served as the Premier of Queensland for nearly 9 years, from 2015 to 2023.
Ms Palaszczuk led the Queensland State Parliamentary Labor Party for over a decade, leading Labor back to a historic victory in 2015 and again in 2017 and 2020.
She is the first woman in Australian politics to win a premiership from opposition and the first leader to preside over a majority female cabinet in Australian state and federal history.
Annastacia Palaszczuk is the fifth longest serving Premier in Queensland’s history.Ms Palaszczuk led an ambitious and modernising economic, social and environmental agenda that has set Queensland up for the future. Of particular note was the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan, transitioning the state from fossil fuel energy to renewables, developing new clean economy industries such as critical minerals, hydrogen and battery manufacturing.
Ms Palaszczuk led the successful bid for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, built one of the strongest economies in the nation with record unemployment and undertook the largest infrastructure build in the state’s history.Â
In 2019, Ms Palaszczuk announced that her government had delivered on its target of fifty percent women on government boards by 2020.
Her leadership was instrumental in steering Queensland through the worst days of theÂ
COVID-19 pandemic.
Ms Palaszczuk previously held the Ministerial portfolios of Transport, Disability Services and Multicultural Affairs in the Bligh Government.
Ms Palaszczuk holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland, a Master of Arts (Hons) from the University of London, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the Australian National University.
Ms Palaszczuk was also the recipient of a British Council Chevening Scholarship, enabling her to study for a year in London at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and the London School of Economics.In 2018 the Premier was awarded the International Leadership Award by the Biotechnology Innovation Organisation (BIO).