The sign that Annastacia Palaszczuk was on her way out: How voters turned on Queensland’s socialite premier as she became a fixture at red carpet events with her surgeon boyfriend

Annastacia Palaszczuk announced she is stepping down as Premier of Queensland, ending a tumultuous reign marked by declining popularity among voters.

Labour’s poor polling ahead of next year’s election had many pundits and its opponents claiming there was growing dissatisfaction with her nine-year stint as prime minister.

Redbridge opinion polls in August showed Labor heading for defeat, with the LNP leading by a margin of 55 to 45 percent on two-party preference.

This kind of terrible outcome even led to a former minister in the Beattie and Bligh Labor governments, and power broker Robert Schwarten, last week urging current MPs to adopt a ‘new model’.

Ms Palaszczuk came under fire after attending several red carpet events and overseas holidays with her boyfriend, surgeon Dr Reza Adib. Her life as a jet-setter earned her the nickname ‘part-time prime minister’.

LNP leader David Crisafulli claimed a bitter power struggle had broken out in Labour’s ranks.

“What’s really disturbing is that the government is fighting against itself and not for the people of Queensland. And that is becoming increasingly clear,” he says.

Deputy LNP leader Jarrod Bleijie even claimed information had been leaked to him indicating Queensland ALP deputy leader Steven Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman were preparing to oust Ms Palaszczuk.

“You see it in parliament, Labor MPs are speaking to us, they have been leaking against the prime minister for 12 months now,” Bleijie told Sky News.

“It’s certainly coming at this stage and we’ve got Labour’s cuts, Labor’s chaos and Labour’s Christmas coup. That’s the reality.’

A poll for Nine Newspapers this week showed Palaszczuk’s personal popularity had fallen further compared to LNP leader David Crisafulli.

That poll showed Ms Crisafulli now leading Ms Palaszczuk as preferred prime minister by 39 per cent to 34 per cent.

Another poll conducted for The Courier Mail in October found the third-term government was heading for an embarrassing defeat under Palaszczuk, with 47 percent of respondents agreeing the state was ‘heading in the wrong direction went’.

That response was 20 percentage points higher than in the October 2020 state election.

Ms Palaszczuk’s commitment to the job has also become an issue, with some saying she has ‘checked out’ of the position this year.

In June, she was forced to angrily dismiss claims that she had become a “part-time prime minister” who had spent too much time on the red carpet with celebrities and her surgeon friend Dr Reza Adib.

Insiders claimed that MPs and senior officials had become dissatisfied with her tendency to regularly attend glamorous social events.

Ms Palaszczuk was photographed with singer Elton John as she presented him with a street sign honoring his name in September 2017.

A month later, she was photographed with actor Chris Hemsworth at the Australian premiere of Thor: Ragnarok in October.

Ms. Palaszczuk then met Jason Momoa at the Aquaman premiere in October 2018.

In 2022, Ms Palaszczuk appeared at the Magic Millions Race Day on January 15 and the premiere of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis film on June 4.

She then took part in the Stradbroke Handicap race day on 11 June and the TV Week Logie Awards on 19 June, to name a few.

Mr. Adib was seen hanging from her shoulder during many of the outings.

He accompanied the Prime Minister to the first meeting of the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane in May 2022 – with the news sparking outrage and forcing Ms Palaszczuk to apologise.

Even former Labor leader Peter Beattie urged her to start a new agenda to prove she still wanted to be prime minister.

Ms Palaszczuk also came under fire after taking several breaks, including a cruise and holidays abroad.

In 2019, she went on holiday on holiday while on a cruise as the Black Summer bushfires devastated parts of Australia, including Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

She also started taking foreign holidays for the first time in her time as prime minister with a three-week trip abroad in January.

This was followed by another trip to Italy in August, leading to the embarrassing figure that by the time she returned she had spent twelve more days on holiday than in Parliament.

Ms Palaszczuk hit back with a cheeky social media post following outrage over her trip to Europe – where she was ambushed by media in Naples.

‘I’m on leave. Everyone has the right to leave,” she wrote on Facebook.

‘I ask that the media respect my privacy. Steven Miles is acting Prime Minister. I’ll be back on September 11th.’

Acting Prime Minister Miles even held a Cabinet meeting without her in September, the first such meeting that Ms Palaszczuk had missed in 2013. six years.

Ms Palaszczuk said at the time she was having ‘health problems’.

Despite Palaszczuk’s landslide election victory in 2020, which reflected the adoption of her draconian border restrictions during Covid, making her the first woman to win three state elections in Australia, the third term saw the shine fade.

The scale of the state’s housing and cost of living crisis was highlighted this week by images of the tent city stretching along the Brisbane River in the inner-city suburb of South Brisbane.

Health care costs, especially for new ambulance stations, have soared and state hospitals have been hit by tragic scandals, including treating a deadly fungal cluster in a transplant unit and leaving an autistic man to starve.

Ms Palaszczuk’s admiration for the landing of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games has long given way to recriminations over the expensive redevelopment of the Gabba site, which recently led to Brisbane’s mayor walking out of a planning forum.

Widespread youth crime remains a problem in many parts of Queensland and has even led to a protest group marching on state parliament.

Whatever the reasons for her decision, there is one aspect of the timing that does not benefit Ms Palaszczuk.

She will miss the 11 percent pay increase that she and the 93 other MPs will receive over the next two years.