NSW Premier Chris Minns has delivered on his end of a bet made after game two of the State Of Origin Series. With one win in NSW’s favour, Minns and QLD Premier David Crisafulli took to social media agreeing that the loser of the series would make a tourism ad for the opposition state.
It was all laughs for Minns at the time, who, after a dominant win in game one, seemed certain he would not be hiring any creative agencies anytime soon. But with a tight game two and the QLD side fueled by the so-called “Queensland Spirit” in game three, NSW fell and Minns was left wondering how he would deliver on his promise.
Yesterday, the answer was revealed but no creative agencies were appointed to this pitch. Minns took it upon himself (and presumably his social media team) to make an ad promoting Queensland to travellers – in the most tongue in cheek way.
View this post on Instagram
“I’m happy to do it, I’ll live up to my end of the bargin,” he said kicking off the clip.
Subtly, Minns digs at the reasons perhaps one might not want to head to Queensland. Crocodiles on the edge of a lake in Noosa – for example. Or the thought of drinking XXXX beer.
But, of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. Minns put in a huge pitch for our friends up north. In 2032, the state will be in the running to have the “second-best Olympic Games ever”. And of course, how can you ignore the second-best reason to travel there… “it’s right next to NSW”.
NSW and QLD premiers have a long history of making bets of this nature during the Origin series. In 2022, then QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet made a major promise to their states.
“WHEN Queensland wins the series, Premier Perrottet will light the famous Harbour Bridge in maroon,” Palaszczuk said. “In the unlikely event of a New South Wales series win the Story Bridge will turn blue.”
Sadly for the Blues fans among us, QLD beat NSW in the first two games of the series, making the 44-12 game three win completely meaningless and leading to this, incredibly sad sight.
There might be plenty of reasons to travel to NSW, but Blues fans are holding out hope for an Origin Victory in 2026, or at least not another repeat of the eight-in-a-row Queensland dynasty.
