Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk insists she is refreshed and energised about leading her government to the next Queensland election despite suffering a medical episode.
Ms Palaszczuk returned from her overseas holiday on Sunday seeking to draw a line under two weeks of speculation about her leadership, insisting no one had raised the issue with her and her “door is always open”.
“Thank all the ministers for their wonderful support today and it’s just like being back to another normal Monday,” she told reporters.
“I feel refreshed, I feel energised and I’m absolutely determined to lead the party and this government to the next election.
“I just want to make that very clear to everybody.”
The premier conceded that she could “always do things better”.
“I need to communicate more to the people of the state and I need to communicate more to the people of the party”.
Ms Palaszczuk revealed she was rushed to hospital after a “medical episode” in June at the Labor state conference in Mackay, which contributed to her need for a break.
She said she was taken to emergency and spent about five or six hours there.
“I’ve had some tests following and everything’s fine now,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk mentioned she had had health issues when she was approached by the media during her holiday in Naples, a move she slammed on Monday as an invasion of privacy.
She defended her break with her partner, surgeon Reza Adib.
“It’s healthy for leaders to have a break and I felt I needed the break”.
The premier also said the expected severity of the coming bushfire season played a role in the timing of her holiday.
Ms Palaszczuk touched down in Brisbane on Sunday night, telling media at the airport she “absolutely” intended to stay on and was looking forward to a big week in parliament.
News she had flown to Europe last month took some of colleagues by surprise, and came after a tumultuous week in parliament during which the goverment came under fire for forcing through without notice a raft of laws, including controversial changes allowing children to be detained in watch houses and adult prisons.
Deputy Steven Miles and fellow ministers were pressed to repeatedly defend Ms Palaszczuk’s leadership in the fortnight she was away, with Mr Miles and other potential leadership contenders insisting she was the best person to take Labor to the October 2024 election.
A string of polls have suggested the government is on track to defeat next year, with the latest giving the opposition LNP a commanding primary vote of 41 compared with Labor’s 26 per cent.
The RedBridge Group poll has the LNP leading with 55 per cent to Labor’s 45 per cent two-party preferred.
The premier dismissed the survey, saying “polls change all the time” and Labor “hasn’t even kicked into first gear” for the election campaign.
Ms Palaszczuk has led Queensland Labor since 2012 and has been premier since 2015, leading Labor to victory in three elections.
© AAP 2023
