How Queensland welched on an Origin bet
State of Origin has a longstanding tradition of prompting bets between politicians on both sides of the border but it turns out Queensland isn’t so great at paying up when they lose.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealed at a morning tea to honour the NSW teams for their Origin wins this season that she was still waiting to collect from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
The leaders of their respective states wagered that the loser of this year’s Origin series would have to hold a press conference to spruik the winning state.
“Can I tell you something,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“The Queensland Premier lost her bet and she still hasn’t paid up. When we lost a few years back I paid up but lucky I didn’t have to pay up this year or last year.
“She promised she’d get up at a press conference and say how great NSW was and she still hasn’t done it so I’m still trying to pull in that bet.”
Ms Palaszczuk was confident of success when she announced the bet before the opening State of Origin game in June stating: “I’ve lost count of the number of NSW Premiers we’ve humiliated.
“I’ll never forget Premier Berejiklian having to stand on the steps of her Parliament and yell, ‘Go the Maroons’.
“It’s come to symbolise the way Queenslanders have to stick up for themselves. That’s why we love it and why I am so much looking forward to the NSW Premier singing Queensland’s praises.”
Other bets in the past have seen the NSW flag flown from the Story Bridge in Brisbane, the Queensland flag flown from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and former NSW Premier Mike Baird wear a Maroons jersey on the floor of the NSW Parliament.
In case Ms Paslaszczuk has forgotten, or maybe she just missed the news, the Origin series ended in July and NSW came from a game down to win back-to-back Shields for the first time since 2005.