Annastacia Palaszczuk was first elected as leader of the Queensland Labor Party following the party's landslide defeat at the
2012 state election where the party was reduced to seven seats. She had served as a minister in the
Bligh cabinet in the Disability Services, Multicutural Affairs and Transport portfolios. Palaszczuk led Labor back to an unexpected victory at the
2015 state election defeating the then one-term
Liberal National government. During her time as Premier, Palaszczuk oversaw a range of policy initiatives and reforms. Notable among these are electoral reforms and increase in public service employees. She subsequently led the party to two additional terms following the
2017 and
2020 state election's and continued on with policies such as banning
single-use plastics, the successful bid for the
2032 Summer Olympics and commencement of the
Cross River Rail project. Palaszczuk also oversaw the handling of natural disasters, such as the
2022 eastern Australia floods and the COVID-19 pandemic in Queensland. Beginning in late August 2023, there was speculation as to how long
Annastacia Palaszczuk would remain as Labor Leader and Premier. One reason for the speculation was the
opinion polling for the
next state election (2024), which displayed
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, of the
Liberal National Party (LNP), as the preferred Premier of the state in consistent polls. Deputy Leader (and Deputy Premier) Steven Miles said at the time that there was "no prospect" of the Premier standing aside voluntarily and her ministers wanted her to stay.
Shannon Fentiman, Labor MP for
Waterford and
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, also denied the rumours, including the speculation that she was approached to replace
Annastacia Palaszczuk as leader of the party in the lead up to
Palaszczuk's formal resignation in December 2023.
Procedure Labor's rules authorise the formal method in which the leader is appointed. Section K of the party's rules state that: "A ballot for Leader of the State Parliamentary Labor Party (SPLP) will be called if any of the following conditions are met: After this, the party's Administrative Committee will call for nominations for SPLP leader and approve a timetable for elections on the advice of the General Returning Officer. If more than one candidate is nominated, an election will be held through three separate equal-weight ballots of the SPLP (state MPs, also known as the
Caucus), rank-and-file party members and affiliated unions. The rules were reformed in November 2013 to give rank-and-file members and unions a direct vote in the leadership election, following similar reforms introduced by then-
prime minister Kevin Rudd for the
federal Labor Party in July 2013. ==Candidates==