What Palaszczuk's nine years in office looked like

TIMELINE OF ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK * September 2006 - Annastacia Palaszczuk is elected to the seat of Inala in Brisbane’s southwest after the retirement of her father, former Labor minister Henry Palaszczuk * March 2012 - Ms Palaszczuk becomes opposition leader after Anna Bligh’s Labor government is ousted by Campbell Newman and the LNP in the worst defeat of a sitting government in Queensland’s history * February 2015 - Ms Palaszczuk, having rebuilt the Labor opposition from fewer than 10 MPs, becomes Queensland’s 39th premier after leading her party to a surprise election victory and forming a minority government, making her the first woman to become premier from opposition * March 2016 - A referendum changed Queensland’s unfixed three-year terms to four-year fixed terms * May 2017 - Ms Palaszczuk apologies to people who were convicted of homosexual offences while it was criminalised as the government introduces legislation to throw out past convictions * November 2017 - Ms Palaszczuk becomes the first woman in Australia to win two terms of government as leader when Labor is re-elected with a four-seat swing * October 2018 - Laws are passed in Queensland legalising abortions up to 22 weeks’ gestation and establishing safe zones around abortion clinics * January 2020 - Queensland declares a public health emergency a day after the state detects its first COVID-19 case * March 2020 - The Queensland government announces lockdowns and border closures that go on to exist in some form over the next two years * October 2020 - Ms Palaszczuk is elected Queensland premier for a third term on the back of her government’s handling of the pandemic * July 2021 - Brisbane is awarded the 2032 Olympic Games in a landslide vote by the International Olympic Committee, with Ms Palaszczuk part of the delegation to Tokyo * September 2021 - Parliament votes to legalise voluntary-assisted dying * May 2023 - The premier reshuffles her ministry, admitting her government has to do better in the face of increasing concerns about its handling of health, housing and youth crime June 2023 - The government hands down a record $12.3 billion budget surplus on the back of bumper coal royalty payments along with a raft of cost of living measures * August 2023 - Leadership speculation intensifies following a series of bad polls and Ms Palaszczuk taking an unannounced overseas holiday, which sparks reports of discontent among MPs, but on her return insists she will lead Labor to the next election * September 2023 - Ms Palaszczuk becomes Australia’s longest-serving sitting premier after her Victorian counterpart Daniel Andrews announces his resignation * October 2023 - Ms Palaszczuk and Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli foreshadow their campaigns for the October 2024 election, with the premier saying she will stay the course for the full next term * December 2023 - Ms Palaszczuk announces she will retire from politics after almost nine years as premier, saying she has “run a marathon” and it’s time for renewal