REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Thursday, May 18, 2006

ANNA Bligh wanted to be Queensland premier.

The normally cautious Deputy Premier revealed for the first time her ambitions for the top job.

As Acting Premier while Peter Beattie was overseas, Ms Bligh was unusually candid when she revealed she thought Queensland was ready for a female premier and she was prepared to be that premier.

The loyal deputy told 250 business and industry representatives at a

Queensland Media Club lunch that there was no agreement with Mr Beattie on when she would take over and she would not be challenging him.

But she said she would be ready when her time came.

Ms Bligh said she enjoyed a good working relationship with the Premier, which was destined to continue ‘long into the future’.

“There is no Kirribilli agreement," she said, referring to the failed deal between former prime minister Bob Hawke and Paul Keating in 1988.

“I can assure people who are sitting here wondering about vacancies, there is no prospect of any immediate vacancy and if there ever is one it won’t be because I caused it."

Mr Beattie himself publicly anointed Ms Bligh, a former Miami High School student, as his preferred successor.

Speculation about the timing of the handover increased as the Beattie Government faced a series of controversies and the loss of three by-elections.

The Beattie Government won the 2006 state election some months later and Ms Bligh would go on to become Premier in late 2007.