‘Infuriated’ Robbie Katter curbs enthusiasm

Potential queenmaker Robbie Katter says he is no closer to being convinced of which major party he would support in the event of a hung parliament.

‘If anything, I’ve been infuriated more by the major parties coming up to the north and trying to bribe people’: Robbie Katter. Picture: News Corp/Attila Csaszar)

Potential queenmaker Robbie Katter says he is no closer to being convinced of which major party he would support in the event of a hung parliament and the behaviour of both camps throughout the campaign “infuriated” him.

According to tight poll results, a hung parliament is a genuine possibility, but neither Deb Frecklington nor Annastacia Palas­zczuk will say what they would do if it eventuated.

Both leaders have repeatedly ruled out doing deals with crossbenchers to form a minority ­government.

Four times on Wednesday, Ms Frecklington refused to elaborate on what she would do if neither party won enough seats to form government in its own right, saying only that she had a “good working relationship” with all parliamentarians.

The Premier has also avoided a forthright answer, saying only that she was fighting for a majority.

Katter’s Australian Party is tipped to hold its three seats and is in the contest to pick up more, putting Mr Katter in the prime position to negotiate to provide support for the next government.

“If anything, I’ve been infuriated more by the major parties coming up to the north and trying to bribe people,” he told The Australian when asked whether the campaign had swayed his decision. “It’s driven my resolve to be vigilant in my negotiations and to negotiate hard.”

Mr Katter said he was irked by the swag of financial commitments but lack of policy platforms made by the major parties.

He said even though he disagreed with the LNP’s proposed youth curfew in Cairns and Townsville, he was glad to see a policy that would directly affect the north.

Mr Katter said he would not feel compelled to support either party and he would be happy for the next minority government to be forced to “fight for every piece of legislation”.

He said the reluctance of Ms Frecklington and Ms Palaszczuk to say they would not make any deals with crossbenchers in the event of a hung parliament was “the height of arrogance”.

The potential crossbench might not be limited to or include existing KAP MPs, the Greens’ Michael Berkman, One Nation’s Stephen Andrew or a re-elected Sandy Bolton — several seats around the state are up in the air, strategists from both sides say.

In the electorate of Oodgeroo, covering the bayside town of Cleveland, LNP incumbent Mark Robinson faces a challenge from independent Claire Richardson.

The seat, which has been around for only one election cycle, is on a seemingly safe margin of 7.2 per cent but Ms Richardson’s performance in the March local government election has some strategists closely watching.

She finished just behind incumbent LNP mayor Karen Williams, winning 49.1 per cent of the vote after preferences.

It would not be the first supposedly safe LNP seat to fall to an independent in recent times. In 2017, Noosa, on an 8.6 per cent buffer, voted against four-term incumbent Glen Elmes to deliver the seat to independent Sandy Bolton, who had boosted her profile through local government.

A senior LNP strategist said Oodgeroo looked “tougher on paper” than it was and Mr Robinson would win the seat.

Mr Berkman has said the Greens would never work with the LNP to form government.