She was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for the district of Inala at the election. Palaszczuk was a political adviser and lawyer before her election to the Legislative Assembly, succeeding her father Henry Palaszczuk in the seat of Inala.
She held several roles in the Bligh Government from to , when Queensland Labor suffered a historic defeat. Despite Labor's heavy loss in , Palaszczuk led Labor to victory at the election , becoming the first woman in Australian history to become a state premier from opposition. Her first ministry was majority female, also a first in Australia. Palaszczuk was raised in the Brisbane suburb of Durack. In the wake of her father's retirement, Palaszczuk contested and won Labor preselection for his seat of Inala in south-west Brisbane, the safest Labor seat in Queensland, and was elected with a margin of more than 30 points.
Just over five months later, she was appointed Minister for Disability Services and Multicultural Affairs in the Bligh ministry following the election. At the election , the Bligh government was overwhelmingly defeated by the Liberal National Party led by Campbell Newman , losing 44 seats. Palaszczuk lost over 17 percent of her primary vote from , but retained her seat with a The day after the election, Bligh resigned as premier and party leader and retired from politics.
Palaszczuk, as one of only three surviving members of Bligh's cabinet, announced that she would be a candidate to succeed Bligh. This left Palaszczuk to take the leadership unopposed at a meeting of the Labor Caucus on 28 March in Ipswich. Bligh did not attend the meeting. Tim Mulherin was elected Deputy Leader, also unopposed.
Palaszczuk faced the task of rebuilding a party which had just suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government in Queensland history, and amongst the worst that a governing party has ever suffered at the state level in Australia. She also faced the difficulty of leading an opposition caucus of only seven members , two short of official status though Newman subsequently promised that Labor would have the full rights and resources entitled to the official opposition.
