Annastacia Palaszczuk was born on 25 July 1969, in Brisbane, Queensland. She grew up in the Brisbane suburb of Durack and attended Jaboree Heights State School and St Mary's Catholic College, Ipswich. She graduated from the University of Queensland with degrees in Arts and Law and completed a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the Australian National University. She followed that up with a British Council Chevening academic scholarship at London University in 1996.

In 2006 she was admitted to practise as a lawyer two weeks after she was elected to the Queensland Parliament, having made the decision to embark on a parliamentary career to make the laws rather than interpret them. She followed her father, Henry Palaszczuk, into politics as she stood for the seat of Inala, on his retirement.

Before entering politics, Palaszczuk worked as a part-time sales assistant, a tutor with the Aboriginal and Island Students Service at the University of Queensland, a tutor at the Australian National University, and as an advisor to federal and state members of parliament and ministers.

Sources used to compile this entry: King, Madonna, Annastacia Palaszczuk: Queensland's accidental premier, Good Weekend, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 April 2015; https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/members/current/list/MemberDetails?ID=2980517905.