Queensland election forum: One Nation leader stuns with weird croc farms answer

ONE Nation’s Queensland leader managed to answer a question on indigenous incarceration with tone deaf spiel about crocodile farms policy.

Tim Nicholls (LNP), Annastacia Palaszczuk (ALP) and Steve Dickson (One Nation) faced off over Adani, jobs, political deals and cost of living at the Sky News, Courier Mail leaders forum at the Broncos Leagues Club. Picture: Josh Woning/AAP

ONE Nation’s leader in Queensland proposed addressing indigenous incarceration rates with crocodile farms, and the Liberal leader was tripped up trying to sidestep questions about making deals with One Nation in a lively debate leading up to next week’s state election.

One hundred undecided voters gathered at the Broncos Leagues Club in Brisbane on Thursday night where Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk, Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls and One Nation’s Queensland leader Steve Dickson put their case to voters.

The Adani mega-mine, deals with One Nation and cost of living pressures dominated discussion that saw the Labor leader come out clearly on top after a number of missteps by her political opponents.

The issue of Adani has loomed large over the campaign and it came up quickly during the forum, with audience member Craig asking the leaders what the impact from the mine would be on the Great Barrier Reef.

Ms Palaszczuk insisted there were environmental controls in place to hold Adani to account, while also ensuring the mine could bring jobs to Queensland. Mr Nicholls also said the Reef and the mine could coexist, while Mr Dickson wanted the billion-dollar rail line from the mine to the coal port built by the state government, so the money could remain in Queensland hands.

Mr Nicholls had two major stumbles during the night, on state debt and whether he would accept One Nation support if they hold the balance of power after the November 25 poll.

LNP leader Tim Nicholls was tripped up a couple of times during the debate with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Josh Woning/AAP

On that point Mr Nicholls demurred, saying repeatedly it was up to voters who they elected.

“People should be able to vote how they want. We will deal with the parliament and the elected representatives that the people put forward,” he said.

There were murmurs from the crowd over his repeated attempts to sidestep the issue, with one yelling “yes or no?”.

Ms Palaszczuk was more firm on whether she would accept One Nation support, saying “um, no” to laughter from the audience.

For his part, Mr Dickson simply said he would work with anyone who would work with him, warning he “wasn’t a soft touch” when it came to putting his position forward.

Mr Dickson had an early stumble of his own, responding to a question about indigenous incarceration rates by bizarrely deviating to crocodile management.

Asked what each of the leaders would do to decrease the numbers of Aboriginal people in jail — who currently represent 32 per cent of the adult prison population in Queensland and are 11 times more likely than non-indigenous Queenslanders to be jailed — Mr Dickson was first to answer.

“Indigenous people in this country, I think, have got the raw end of it. We’ve got to look after them, we’ve got to create prosperity, we’ve got to create opportunity, and there are many, many opportunities to do that,” he said.

One Nation’s Queensland leader Steve Dickson said he would work with anyone who would work with him. Picture: Josh Woning/AAP

The former Liberal minister’s response started off OK, but quickly went off the rails.

“(When) I was a minister for national park and recreation, we were looking at creating opportunities with indigenous areas so that they could get into tourism ... that will created log of employment,” he said.

“But also, another policy we have here in Queensland is in our crocodile management.

We’re going to create crocodile farms up and down the east coast of Queensland, it is a big problem in north Queensland where potentially many people get taken in the not too distant future.

“One Nation was the first party to come out and say if we can’t relocate, we're going to eradicate those but at the same time create crocodile farms up and down the east coast, these are money making machines but there are many other ideas.”

Like the rest of the room, Nikki, who asked the indigenous incarceration question, seemed perplexed by Mr Dickson’s answer. Picture: Josh Woning/AAP

One Nation’s Steve Dickson just turned a question about indigenous communities into an answer about crocodile farms. So this is going well. #QldPol #qldvotes

— Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) November 16, 2017

Host David Speers had to interject and bring the discussion back on track as he noted the debate was “heading a bit off the topic of indigenous incarceration”.

“To you, Premier, is crocodile farms the answer?” he asked Ms Palaszczuk.

The Premier ignored the croc factor, an acknowledged that the numbers of Aboriginal people in the prison system “are too high”.

“The best way is to get young people into employment, and that’s exactly what I have been focused on,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk was declared the resounding winner by those in attendance, with 60 per cent saying they would be voting for the premier.

Both Mr Nicholls on 12 per cent and Mr Dickson on 10 per cent were beaten by the Undecided cohort of 18 per cent.

Queenslanders head to the polls next Saturday, November 25.

Annastacia Palaszczuk came out on top after last night’s forum. Picture: Josh Woning/AAP