Asterisk furor in election pledges
Lawrence Springborg has defended his election promises after the LNP Maroochydore candidate marked a media release with an asterisk making it subject to the global financial crisis.
Sunshine Coast
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Queensland Opposition leader Lawrence Springborg has been forced to defend all his election promises after one pledge was shown to contain an opt-out clause.
The Liberal National Party's (LNP) infrastructure spokeswoman and Maroochydore candidate Fiona Simpson last week announced a $640 million rail line to Redcliffe would be built by 2016, should the opposition win government.
But Ms Simpson's media release was marked with an asterisk and a note saying the plan would be subject to the global financial crisis.
Mr Springborg, who last week said the global financial crisis was a "peripheral issue" in the election campaign, said it did not mean voters could not trust his other spending commitments.
However, he admitted the LNP could not guarantee the rail plan.
He said the LNP wanted federal government money to build the project and that with good management, it could "hopefully" be delivered in time.
"Outside of that, it is something we would be hoping could be done within the second term," he told reporters on Great Keppel Island on Monday.
"Now it's going to be very much dependent upon the money which is available at the time, but what we're doing is making a very strong in-principle commitment."
Meanwhile, Mr Springborg, who will on Tuesday announce where the money will come from for his election commitments, ruled out privatisation and infrastructure cuts.
But he would not be drawn on whether he would order across-the-board savings for government departments.
Deputy Premier Paul Lucas used the chance to lampoon the LNP leader on his economic credentials.
He said Ms Simpson had let the cat out of the bag on the LNP's economic policy, using a placard featuring a large asterisk to illustrate his point.
"We had a train line announced, without trains, and of course... with a big asterisk on it, in fact, a big asterisk like that... saying, subject to a world financial crisis," Mr Lucas told reporters in Brisbane.
"So Lawrence Springborg says there isn't one, Fiona Simpson says there is one, but I haven't got any trains to put on the train line I've announced.
"These people have got to come up with $2.5 billion in 24 hours.
"How could you leave the state economy to them?"
Asked if there was an exclamation mark at the end of that sentence, he said: "No, just an asterisk."
Originally published as Asterisk furor in election pledges
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