Queensland’s newly elected Premier Annastacia Palaszcsuk has used her first official day in office to name a cabinet dominated by women.
Palaszczuk was sworn in on Saturday, February 14 after winning 44 seats in the state election on January 31. Falling just short of the 45 seats required to form a government, Palaszczuk has spent the weeks since the election attempting to win the support of elected independent MPs in order to form a minority government.
On Friday, Queensland Labor officially won the support of independent MP Peter Wellington and, against the odds; Palaszczuk became Premier.
Palaszcsuk announced her new cabinet on Sunday, February 15, comprising 14 ministers, eight of whom are women. The three top leadership positions are all held by women; Palaszczuk at the helm, Jackie Trad as Deputy Premier and Yvette D’ath as Attorney General.
The cabinet also features newly elected Brisbane MP Leanne Enoch, who at the state election became the first Indigenous woman to be elected to the Queensland parliament. She is now also the first Indigenous woman to be appointed to the ministry.
Palaszcsuk and Trad made history in this year’s state election as the first female leadership team to stand for election to the Queensland parliament. They have now become the first female leadership team to take office as Premier and Deputy Premier.
At the party meeting on Sunday, Palaszcsuk reflected on the journey Labor has taken from winning only 7 seats in a record-breaking LNP landslide at the state election just three years ago, to winning enough seats to form a government in 2015.
“I think back three years ago there were seven us of us. Look now,” she said to her parliamentary colleagues. “We have climbed Mount Everest. But having climbed Mount Everest there is now an enormous amount of responsibility that needs to be placed on each and every caucus member sitting here today.”
Palaszcsuk also said on Sunday she was confident in her ministry appointments, calling the cabinet a “mix of experience and fresh faces”.
So who are the 8 women in Palaszczuk’s ministry?
Annastacia Palaszczuk herself comes from a political family, succeeding her father and ALP veteran Henry Palaszcuk as the member for Inala. She was first elected to parliament in 2006. She was training to become a lawyer, which she chose to give up for a career in politics. She had been a policy advisor for the ALP prior to being elected, and once elected she became the transport minister, the minister for disability services and multicultural affairs and finally leader of the party in 2012. When former Premier Anna Bligh stepped down, Palaszcsuk won the party leadership unopposed.
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad was first elected to the Queensland parliament in a by election in 2012 for the seat of South Brisbane. The seat became vacant when former Premier Anna Bligh resigned from parliament following a landslide loss at the polls. Trad was formerly Queensland’s Labor’s assistant state secretary and secretary of the Labor Women’s Organisation Queensland. When Palaszcsuk became party leader in 2012, she appointed Trad as Shadow Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Environment and Heritage Protection, Small Business, Consumer Affairs and the Arts. The pair then ran together as a leadership team in the 2015 state election.
Attorney General Yvette D’ath was elected to federal parliament in 2007, representing the seat of Petrie. She was defeated in the 2013 federal election and then turned her efforts to state politics. While in federal parliament, D’ath served as Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change, Industry and Innovation when the Gillard Ministry was re-arranged in 2013. She then won the state seat of Redcliffe in a by election in 2014 and was appointed Shadow Minister for Education and Training, Disability Services, Science IT and Innovation. She was then appointed Shadow Minister for Justice in a cabinet reshuffle later in 2014. She has now been appointed Attorney General and Minister for Justice.
Leeanne Enoch became the first Indigenous woman to hold a seat in Queensland’s state parliament when she won the seat of Logan at the January 31 election. She is a schoolteacher and has spent more than ten years working in local high schools in Logan. She has also held senior roles in local government and state government as well as senior leadershiproles in the Australian Red Cross. Until her election to parliament, she was working at the Queensland Council of Unions. She is now Minister for Housing and Public Works, Minister for Science and Innovation.
Kate Jones is the youngest woman to ever be elected to a Queensland parliament, first winning the seat of Ashgrove at the age of 27. She retained the seat at the 2009 election and became the youngest woman to be appointed to a Queensland ministry when she was installed as Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability by Premier Anna Bligh. She lost her seat to Premier Campbell Newman in the 2012 election, but surprised the country when she managed to win it back this January. She is a lawyer by training but has had a decorated career as an advisor to various ALP members before entering parliament herself.
She is now Minister for Education, Minister for Tourism, Major Events and Small Business, and Minister for Commonwealth Games.
Jo-Ann Miller is the recently appointed Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services and Minister for Corrective Services. One of the most experienced members of the new cabinet, Miller this year celebrates her 15th year in state parliament. She was first elected to the seat of Bundamba in the 2000 state election and has retained it ever since. She was previously the Opposition Whip and Shadow Minister for Health, Natural Resources and mines and Shadow Minster for Housing.
Coralee O’Rourke was elected to parliament for the first time at last month’s election. She is the member for Mundingburra. Prior to her election, she directed a community-based early learning centre and is a passionate advocate for the early years education industry.
She is now the Minister for Disability Services, Minister for Seniors and Minister assisting the Premier on North Queensland.
With a record-breaking cabinet and party leadership dominated by women, we hope Queensland’s new government continues to make history with ground breaking policies and achievements.