Queensland election 2017: Leaders get testy in final days

THE final days of the Queensland election campaign have turned nasty, with leaders trading accusations and getting testy over troublesome MPs.

Pauline Hanson has claimed the Premier is acting like a spoiled brat.

THE final days of the Queensland election campaign have turned nasty, as leaders take aim at each other, making accusations of lunacy and being spoiled brats, and getting testy over troublesome MPs.

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls has ended his kid-gloves approach to dealing with One Nation, while Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk tried fobbing off her rebel MP Jo-Ann Miller’s latest outburst but found herself the subject of name-calling by Senator Pauline Hanson.

The ramped-up rhetoric came as the ban on television advertising kicked in yesterday, ceasing the stream of political messages on screens.

The leaders crisscrossed the state yesterday in a final bid to shore up regional support, the Premier in Bundaberg while the Opposition Leader hit Townsville and Cairns.

Mr Nicholls started his campaign focused on a positive message talking about hope and opportunity, and had been reluctant to fire up at One Nation for fear of alienating voters flirting with the party.

But, as Labor has continued to pressure the LNP over refusing to rule out a deal with One Nation if it needs its support to hold power, Mr Nicholls yesterday took aim at the resurgent Right-wing party.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was frustrated by repeated questioning. Picture: Dan Peled/AAP

He blasted some policies as “lunacy”, while telling people considering voting One Nation that they should be “horrified at the party’s $18 billion in election promises”.

“They seem to say they can get all the money from Cross River Rail, but all the money for Cross River Rail isn’t in the budget, it’s just $2.5 billion,” Mr Nicholls said.

He also accused the party of committing $1.5 billion to projects on the Sunshine Coast, while ridiculing it for dropping eight candidates since the start of the year.

Flyers authorised by the LNP have also targeted Labor’s links to militant union the CFMEU. One pamphlet refers to Labor’s Clayfield candidate Philip Anthony as a “local CFMEU champion”, saying he still supported the union after it “threatened to rape co-workers’ kids” and “rip out co-workers’ spines”.

Ms Palaszczuk tried to fob off the aftermath of Ms Miller taking part in a campaign stunt with Senator Hanson on Tuesday, which undermined her stance that Labor would not deal with One Nation.

But repeated questioning on the matter appeared to frustrate her as she tried to brush it off, while she said she had not spoken to her MP about the matter.

“I have been too busy campaigning, all right?” she said.

“I have made it very clear, she backs my position, my clear position about no deals with One Nation.”

She would not discuss whether Ms Miller had a future with the party if Labor won government.

“She is a member of the team, she is out there campaigning to retain her seat of Bundamba,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

But Senator Hanson said the Premier was acting like a “spoiled brat” over the matter and needed to get out of the sandpit.

“She is saying it is OK to be nice and next minute she is talking about sacking her,” she said.

“The way she is carrying on is not leadership. If that is what she thinks leadership is, she is heading down the wrong path.”

Originally published as Queensland election 2017: Leaders get testy in final days