North Queensland will get Shorten focus if he is PM

OPPOSITION leader Bill Shorten has promised a Queensland-focused prime ministership

The Hon. Bill Shorten, MP Leader of the Opposition, visited Barney point Coal Terminal in Gladstone. Picture: Matt Taylor GLA090218BILL

OPPOSITION leader Bill Shorten has promised a Queensland-focused prime ministership if he wins the top job, as he targets five key marginal, regional seats where the LNP is under pressure.

He has been to the Sunshine State 29 times since the 2016 election, including 27 visits to five make-or-break electorates - Herbert, Capricornia, Dawson, Flynn and Leichhardt.

His comments follows a three-day "jobs blitz” tour, in which he made a series of announcements around infrastructure projects to create construction jobs including promising more than $100million to a roads project in Mackay.

Labor has been repositioning itself on Adani and announced its Queensland jobs package on the back of criticism it had gone too far distancing itself from the mine.

It has this year promised a series of smaller infrastructure projects in Townsville, Rockhampton, Gladstone and Mackay - within those key marginal electorates - which would create a combined 970 construction jobs.

Of the five seats being targeted, Townsville-based Herbert is the most marginal in Australia held by Labor by just 36 votes.

The LNP holds Capricornia by a margin of 0.6 per cent, and Dawson by 3.3 per cent.

Mr Shorten's 29 trips, which include stops in multiple cities per trip, compares with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's 18 stops in the state.

Originally published as North Queensland will get Shorten focus if he is PM