[5] She went on to lead Labor to increased majorities at the 2017 and 2020 elections, making her the first Australian female premier to win three terms.

[14] She later decided to have a career in the legal profession and was studying for admission as a solicitor when her father announced his intention to retire at the 2006 election.

On 9 October 2008, Palaszczuk was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Main Roads and Local Government in the wake of Ronan Lee's defection to the Greens.

[17][18] At the 2012 election, the Bligh government was overwhelmingly defeated by the Liberal National Party led by Campbell Newman, losing 44 seats.

Palaszczuk defended the decision itself, saying it was made to save jobs across the state, but conceded that the Government should have been more open more quickly regarding the policy.

During her time as opposition leader, Palaszczuk closed the two-party gap between Labor and the LNP, and on several occasions outpolled Newman as preferred premier.

The balance of power rested with the lone independent in the chamber, Peter Wellington, and the two MPs from Katter's Australian Party.

[27] Palaszczuk herself reverted Inala to its previous status as a comfortably safe Labor seat, scoring an 18-point swing to increase her majority to 25 per cent, the second safest in the state.

Palaszczuk's environmental policies included the introduction a ban on single-use plastic bags and the implementation of a container refunding recycling scheme, with support from the LNP opposition.

[40] In May 2018, after achieving a parliamentary majority, Palaszczuk passed legislation for a suite of new laws on land clearing restriction, with its deforestation rate being the worst in the country.

Local environmental groups praised the legislation, whilst agriculture businesses protested outside the Queensland Parliament opposing the land-clearing laws.

[44] Palaszczuk supported and helped pass legislation on 13 August 2020 that would ban gay conversion therapy, which would see health practitioners who attempt the practice jailed up to 18 months.

Opposition to the mine led to the creation and growth of the Stop Adani campaign, which is as of 2024[update] a movement of thousands of individuals and community groups across Australia.

[48] Before the 2019 federal election, Palaszczuk was accused by both environmentalists and the coal mining industry of stalling the process of approval.

[citation needed] Palaszczuk signed off on a deal for Adani to defer royalty payments for an unspecified amount of time in October 2020, sparking criticism from the Greens.

[54] Palaszczuk announced lockdown measures and state border closures from 23 March, as confirmed cases follow the worldwide trend of skyrocketing.

[57] After being lifted to all bar Victoria in July,[58] the border was shut to NSW and ACT again in early August after a small spike in cases in these areas.

Palaszczuk entered the 2020 election in a strong position, and was immensely popular amongst Queenslanders and voters, with her approval rating often soaring above 60%.

In contrast, the LNP leader Deb Frecklington became increasingly unpopular amongst voters, trailing Palaszczuk as preferred premier by around 20 points and suffering negative net approval ratings.

[67][68] During the 2020 election campaign, Palaszczuk announced her government would legalise euthanasia by February 2021, in spite of opposition from the Liberal National Party of Queensland.

This included enhanced police powers, stricter anti-hooning laws, reversing the presumption of bail for certain offences and GPS ankle monitors.

[71] In 2021, the Palaszczuk government passed legislation giving police the power to stop and search persons without reasonable suspicion with the intention of reducing knife carrying primarily by young people.

The plan would use solar and wind power as well as hydro storage technology to provide eight times more renewable energy than is currently available.

Under the plan, 80 per cent of Queensland's power would come from renewable sources by 2035 and the largest hydro storage facility in the world would be built west of Mackay.

[78] Palaszczuk was married to journalist George Megalogenis from 1996 to 1998, and to Simon Every, who was then Senator Joe Ludwig's chief of staff, from 2004 to 2009.