Nothing really stands out from Palaszczuk’s near-9 years in office

Last year, it was reported that the Queensland police force actually shrank in size.

A Queensland police officer moves a stop sign at a vehicle checkpoint on the Pacific Highway on the Queensland-New South Wales border, in Brisbane on April 15, 2020. (Patrick Hamilton/AFP via Getty Images) The education department is back in control of schools, and the latest Program for International Assessment (PISA) scores continue to dive.

The construction union, CFMEU, has become entrenched in the building industry, with the "CFMEU tax"-the government's Best Practice Industry Conditions policy which effectively mandates the CFMEU on large projects-inflating costs by 30-40 percent.

Since 2013, the social housing stock in Queensland has increased by less than 2 percent-from 51,675 to 52,463.

And then there is COVID.

While Ms. Palaszczuk won strong electoral support for her measures, particularly in electorates with an older demographic, that was then, and the population has moved on.

At the time lockdowns were implemented it was obvious they would cost more in health outcomes than they would save.

In retrospect, while that might not be widely recognised, everyone knows they couldn't be done again because the economy couldn't afford it.

They also remember the inhumanity and the capriciousness of some of the measures-footballers allowed in, but pregnant women from Ballina re-routed to Sydney rather than the Gold Coast; Black Lives Matter marches and football encouraged, but peaceful protests not.

Unions in the background

Ms. Palaszczuk's relationship with the unions bears special mention. I understand that when Ms. Palaszczuk first won the state election, the nurse's union had an officer sitting in the health minister's office dictating policy.

No wonder that when a rival union, the NPAQ, was formed, the government bent over backwards to change the legislation to try to put them out of business.

The CFMEU is another organisation that has privilege. As is the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) who had a direct line to the energy minister, Mark Bailey.