Annastacia Palaszczuk is a well-known politician in Australia. She became Queensland’s 39th Prime Minister following the 2015 elections.
Palaszczuk has served in the Queensland State House of Representatives since the 2006 elections. She began her political career as an Enala representative in the early 2000s and has held several committee posts since then.
Before being elected to the Legislative Assembly, Annastacia worked as a political adviser and lawyer, following her father Henry Palaszczuk in the seat of Inala. She served in many capacities in the Bligh administration from 2009 to 2012, when Queensland Labor lost a historic defeat.
Similarly, as one of only seven remaining Labor Assembly Members, she was voted unopposed as Queensland Labor Leader, becoming Leader of the Opposition.
Despite Labor’s crushing defeat in 2012, she led the party to victory in the 2015 election, becoming the first woman in Australian history to become a state premier from the opposition.
In Addition, Annastacia’s first ministry had a majority of female ministers, which was also a first in Australia.
Table of Contents
Anastasia Palaszczuk’s Profile
Firstly, Let’s take a look at Annastacia Palaszczuk ’s profile before moving on.
| Name | Annastacia Palaszczuk |
| Birthday | July 25, 1969 |
| Age | 51 years |
| Gender | Female |
| Parents | Lorelle Palaszczuk, Henry Palaszczuk |
| Birth Place | Durack, Brisbane. |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Ethnicity | Mixed |
| Religion | Christian |
| Height | 5 Foot 8 Inches |
| Weight | 68 KG |
| Education | St. Mary’s College University of London, University of Queensland, Australia National Universit |
| Profession | Politician |
| Net worth | $1million-$5 million |
| Marital status | Divorced; George Megalogenis (m. 1996; div. 1998), Simon Every (m. 2004; div. 2009) |
| Relationship Status | Single |
| Children | No children |
Early life
Palaszczuk grew up in the Durack suburb of Brisbane. Her father Henry Paaszczuk, a veteran state Labor MP, was born in Germany to Polish parents whereas,Lorelle Paaszczuk her Australian mother, is a descendant of German settlers. From 1982 to 1986, Annastacia Palaszczuk was a student at St Mary’s College in Ipswich.
Annastacia earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland, as well as a Master of Arts from the London School of Economics (where she was a Chevening Scholar) and even a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from Australian National University.
She was admitted to practice law two weeks after being elected to the Queensland Parliament in 2006, after deciding to pursue a parliamentary career in which she could make rather than interpret laws.
Annastacia entered politics after her father, Henry Palaszczuk, retired and ran for the seat of Inala.
She worked as a part-time sales assistant, a tutor with the University of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Island Students Service, a tutor at the Australian National University, and an advisor to federal and state members of parliament and ministers before entering politics.
Anastasia Palaszczuk’s Net worth
Anastasia Palaszczuk’s exact net worth is unknown. However, as a successful politician, she may have amassed a sizable fortune.
Similarly, according to various resources and observing her lifestyle her net worth is estimated to be around $1million-$5 million.
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Political career
Early career
Palaszczuk has advised many Labor ministers, including Warren Pitt, the Minister for Communities, Disabilities and Seniors, and Dean Wells, the former Minister for the Environment.
When her father announced his intention to retire at the 2006 election, she decided to pursue a career in the legal profession and was studying for admission as a solicitor.
After her father’s retirement she contested and won Labor preselection for his seat of Inala in southwest Brisbane, the safest Labor seat in Queensland, and was elected with a margin of more than 30 points
The Bligh government was overwhelmingly defeated by the Liberal National Party, led by Campbell Newman, in the 2012 election, losing 44 seats.
In addition to that Palaszczuk lost over 17% of her primary vote from 2009, but retained her seat with 46.2 percent of the primary vote and 56.9% two-party vote, a 14-percentage-point swing from 2009.
After that, Bligh resigned as premier and party leader the day after the election and left politics. As one of only three surviving members of Bligh’s cabinet, Palaszczuk announced that she would run for Prime Minister.
Palaszczuk had the difficult task of rebuilding a party that had just suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government in Queensland history, and one of the worst defeats ever suffered by a governing party in Australia.
Not only that, She also had to deal with the challenge of leading a caucus of only seven members, two short of official status (though Following that, Newman promised that Labor would have all of the official opposition’s rights and resources).
Politics from 2020
Palaszczuk led Queensland Labor to victory in the 2020 election, however, she was challenged by the LNP’s Deb Frecklington.
In 2020 election Palaszczuk came strong and extremely popular with Queenslanders and voters, with approval ratings regularly exceeding 60%.
Deb Frecklington, the LNP leader, on the other hand, has become increasingly unpopular with voters, trailing Palaszczuk by around 20 points in the preferred premiership and having negative net approval ratings.
To distract voters from Frecklington’s unpopularity, the LNP therefore, aired a slew of negative ads, including one featuring unpopular former Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, who was dubbed “Dodgy Jackie” and claimed she would become Premier in a leadership spill if Labor won the election.
Labor’s campaign capitalized on Frecklington’s unpopularity, claiming that her government would follow in the footsteps of the equally unpopular Newman administration.
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad was defeated in her South Brisbane seat, but it was the government’s only loss in the election. Labor gained four seats, winning 52 to the LNP’s 34, for a net loss of five seats.
In short, Labor won all but five of Brisbane’s 40 seats during the campaign, their best showing in the capital since 2009. On the night of the election, Palaszczuk declared victory, After that Frecklington conceded and resigned as leader the next day.
Euthanasia
Despite opposition from the Queensland Liberal National Party, Palaszczuk announced during the 2020 election campaign that her government would legalize euthanasia by February 2021.
However, many people claimed that her approach to the issue was simply to gain votes from marginal seats, which she denied.
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Husband
From1996 to 1998, she was married to journalist George Megalogenis, and then to Simon Every. Shaun Drabsch, an infrastructure advisor, was her partner from 2015 to 2018.
Furthermore, Drabsch was accused of having a conflict of interest concerning Adani Group’s Carmichael coal mine during the 2017 Queensland election. In February 2018, Palaszczuk and Drabsch divorced “amicably.”
Parliamentary posts
Current
- Working as Premier and Minister for the Olympics: 7 Oct 2021
Past:
- Worked as Premier and Minister for Trade: 12 Dec 2017 – 6 Oct 2021
- Worked as Premier and Minister for the Arts: 16 Feb 2015 – 11 Dec 2017
- Worked as Member, Education, and Innovation Committee: 18 May 2012 – 12 Feb 2013
- Worked as Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Minister for Justice and Attorney-General; Industrial Relations; Tourism, Worked as Major Events and Commonwealth Games: 10 May 2012 – 5 Aug 2014
- Worked as Shadow Minister for Education, Training and Employment: 10 May 2012 – 4 Mar 2014
- Worked as Minister for Transport: 21 Feb 2011 – 26 Mar 2012
- Worked as Minister for Multicultural Affairs: 26 Mar 2009 – 26 Mar 2012
- Worked as Minister for Disability Services: 26 Mar 2009 – 21 Feb 2011
- Chair, Estimates Committee C: 2008 – 2008
- Worked as Member, Members’ Ethics and Parliamentary Privileges Committee: 11 Nov 2008 – 20 Mar 2009
- Worked as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Main Roads and Local Government: 9 Oct 2008 – 20 Mar 2009
- Chair, Estimates Committee E: 2007 – 2007
- Worked as Chair, Members’ Ethics and Parliamentary Privileges Committee: 1 Nov 2006 – 12 Nov 2008
- Worked as Temporary Speaker/Deputy Speaker: 1 Nov 2006 – 12 Nov 2008
- Worked as Member, Public Works Committee: 11 Oct 2006 – 1 Nov 2006
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Social Media Presence
Her Instagram id is @annastaciamp, she has 94.2k followers with 5,351 posts. Similarly she also has a verified twitter account, her Twitter id is @AnnastaciaMP which has 211.2K Followers, 1,254 Following and 16.3k tweets
