A Sunrise reporter who branded Annastacia Palaszczuk “very rude” at a press conference will learn tonight whether she will be elected Liberal National Party MP – as exit polls show a surprisingly tight race in the Queensland state election.
Ms Palaszczuk, then Labor state premier, clashed spectacularly with long-time Channel Seven journalist Bianca Stone during a memorably frosty Covid press conference.
In July 2021, Ms Stone accused the Labor leader of staging a ‘publicity stunt’ when she claimed she could not get enough Pfizer vaccines. She cheekily told Ms Palaszczuk: ‘I work for Sunrise – the show you weren’t on this morning’.
The Prime Minister snapped back: “Well, I’m not going to answer when people are rude, so does anyone else have a question?
“You are very rude,” Ms Palaszczuk continued, before moving on and avoiding the issue Ms Stone had raised.
Ms Stone has resigned from her TV role in 2023 and is tonight a candidate for the northern Gold Coast seat of Gaven, which represents Ms Palaszczuk’s old enemies in the Liberal National Party.
Bianca Stone, the former Queensland Sunrise reporter, turned a political page in the years after her clash with Annastacia Palaszczuk
Ms Stone, who has worked as a journalist for 20 years, is running against the ALP’s Meaghan Scanlon.
Ms Scanlon romped home at the last election, winning a seven per cent swing and beating LNP candidate Kirsten Jackson by 58 per cent to 42 per cent.
Ms Stone made headlines herself on Saturday when she clashed with a local resident at the polls.
According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, Vicki Campbell – who claimed to be a Liberal voter – asked Ms Stone where she had been during the campaign.
She replied that she had been ‘out and about’, but Mrs Campbell hit back, saying ‘not at our house’.
Ms Stone was asked on Sky News whether her awkward clash with Ms Palaszczuk motivated her to enter politics. She denied that — with her hand on her heart — and instead pointed to the state’s youth crime crisis.
Ms Stone and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli will be confronted by local resident Vicki Campbell on Saturday
In her LNP election candidate profile, Ms Stone said she was driven to run because “the chaos and crisis we are experiencing under the Palaszczuk/Miles Labor Government has prompted me to raise my hand to serve the community.
‘I have seen first-hand the consequences of Labour’s mismanagement: fewer police in the workplace, the expansion of hospitals putting lives at risk, the rising cost of living and widespread housing stress.’
A Courier-Mail exit poll of ten crucial seats showed Labor and the LNP were neck and neck tonight.
About 2,000 voters were polled as they cast their ballots, which showed 33.9 percent supported the LNP, while 33.6 percent supported Labour. Ms Stone’s seat was not among those surveyed.
