I'd Have Done Anything For A Child

In her most personal interview ever, the Queensland Premier talks to Michelle Endacott about a deep personal tragedy, fighting off sexism and how she’s making history.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is still strapped tight into a lifejacket as she clambers down from a defence force helicopter and into the midst of almost inconceivable devastation.

The aftermath of Cyclone Debbie lays strewn around her, destruction on a massive scale. In late March, the storm ripped through the state and Annastacia has flown in to find locals still in a rescue centre, unsure if their homes are intact or if animals left behind are safe.

“The huge tailwinds of the cyclone were behind us and, as we flew in, all we could see was this sea of water engulfing Proserpine,” she recalls.

Her activity and obvious concern during the cyclone and its after-effects gave this embattled politician a much needed boost in opinion polls, but now the Queensland Premier is facing a different threat – a state election which will see her in the fight of her political life.

In recent months, her government has been savaged by critics who accuse her of preferring to review rather than do – but she is quick to hit back with a long list of new teachers, doctors and policies.

Today, Annastacia, 47, is determined to make this a poll to remember. Personal interviews are few and far between for political leaders. Most prefer to talk policies. Yet the Premier has invited The Weekly into her home to share a revealing story of tragedy, sexism, bullying and a political baptism of fire. Hers is a state forged on mining, farming and battling big disasters, so it’s heartening it’s onto its second female Premier – and from the notoriously blokey Labor Party to boot.

In an historic first, her Cabinet has more female ministers than male.