Is the Covid magic wearing off in Queensland, too?
Little good came of the Covid pandemic — or, more correctly, the disaster of Covid policies, which some have dubbed the worst collective policy failure since WWII — unless you were a political leader, of course. In almost directly inverse proportion, the worse and more authoritarian the Covid lunacy, the more likely an incumbent was to be re-elected.
Yet, just a few years later, it’s surprising just how many of the Class of Covid are gone. Jacinda Ardern, for instance. In Australia, WA premier Mark McGowan quit just months after all but sweeping the board in a state election. Rumours are rife that Victoria’s Daniel Andrews is preparing a successor to take over.
And it looks like Pluckachook’s future as Queensland premier can be counted in days.
Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed on holidays in Italy that she is suffering from health issues, leaving colleagues wondering if this could be the beginning of the end of her 11 years as ALP leader.
The Queensland Premier is on a two-week European holiday with her surgeon partner Reza Adib as speculation grows within Labor ranks about whether she has the energy, or will, to lead the party to its fourth consecutive election victory next year.
“Health issues” is the new “spending time with the family”?
Ms Palaszczuk, who is accompanying Dr Adib at a medical conference in Naples, did not want to talk about leadership issues when approached by The Australian.
Unfortunately for her, plenty of her colleagues are all-too willing to talk about leadership issues.
In Australia, some of Ms Palaszczuk’s Labor colleagues interpreted the mention of previously undisclosed health problems as the 54-year-old preparing the ground for a possible exit.
One backbencher said the Premier’s comment “could be the start” while another source said “that might be the first indication that she’s going”.
A Right faction figure said they were unaware of Ms Palaszczuk’s health issues but felt it was increasingly likely she would quit politics before the October 2024 election. “It’s starting to look pretty terminal,” the source said.
“It feels like it is a case of when (she goes), not if.”
The Australian
The leadership crisis has been particularly brought on by a botched effort on youth crime.
Last-minute legislative amendments were rushed through parliament to make it legal to detain children in adult jails and police watch houses, dodging the usual parliamentary committee scrutiny and overriding the human rights act.
The changes were widely attacked by the state opposition, minor parties, legal advocates and policing experts.
The Australian
But that just seems to have been the catalyst to bring into focus a more long-term malaise. The sense is that Plucka’s time is well and truly up.
The Australian revealed on Saturday that Ms Palaszczuk had lost the confidence of key sections of Labor in Queensland and internal fears were mounting that the government would lose the October 2024 election unless she quit.
Three consecutive published polls show her popularity is falling, and the government is headed for defeat. The research reflects the findings of earlier internal ALP research.
The Australian
Covid saved a lot of political bacon over the last few years, but the reckonings are finally coming.
So, who’s next?
