Queensland election: Annastacia Palaszczuk fires up over One Nation preference direction

The Qld Premier will ‘read the riot act’ to a Labor MP and candidate who are flouting her direction on preferences.

Annastacia Palaszczuk tries her hand at lawn bowls. Picture: Dan Peled

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she’ll “read the riot act” to a Labor MP and candidate who are flouting her direction to tell voters to put One Nation last.

Burdekin Labor candidate Mike Brunker appears to have defied Ms Palaszczuk’s instruction, again telling voters on social media on Tuesday to “put (LNP MP) Dale Last last”.

And Labor Keppel MP Brittany Lauga’s corflutes have been photographed on the back of a ute, flanking a sign urging voters to “put the LNP last”.

Ms Palaszczuk denied she’d lost control of her candidates.

“No, no…yeah well, they’ll be read the riot act, I’ll tell you that,” she said.

“I’ve made it very clear and the party secretary has made it very clear that One Nation is last.”

She said she was not aware of Ms Lauga’s signs.

Ms Palaszczuk was campaigning at a gravel plant at Jacobs Well, in the northern Gold Coast, in the LNP-held electorate of Coomera.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles has previously warned voters “freaks and weirdos” could be elected because of the LNP’s plan to put One Nation ahead of Labor across the state.

Asked about the rogue Labor candidates on Tuesday, he said One Nation was the worst of the “freaks and weirdos”.

“If there are worse freaks and weirdos, they’ll be considered. But the campaign here is between us, a united Palaszczuk majority government, and Deb Frecklington and all of the freaks and weirdos Deb Frecklington hopes to elect and govern in minority government.”

Palaszczuk bowled over by poll pledge

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s attack on the LNP for preferencing One Nation ahead of Labor has been dealt a blow after she was blindsided by one of her marginal seat candidates.

The Queensland Premier has spent the past two weeks slamming LNP leader Deb Frecklington for putting Labor last behind One Nation across the state, insisting that Labor would put Pauline Hanson’s party at the bottom of its how-to-vote cards in all 93 seats.

But she was caught off guard on the campaign trail on Monday when asked about Labor’s Burdekin candidate, Mike Brunker, urging voters on Facebook to “Put (LNP MP) Dale Last Last” in the ultra-marginal regional Queensland LNP electorate targeted by the ALP.

Ms Palaszczuk had just finished warning that the state’s economic and health recovery “could be at risk because of Deb Frecklington and her deals with One Nation and all the other ­parties”.

Asked whether she was aware of Mr Brunker’s direction to voters, Ms Palaszczuk said: “No, I’m very clear that I’ve said to everyone that One Nation is last.”

She did not say whether she would require Mr Brunker to “fix” the advertisement.

“He should talk to the party about that,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Burdekin is the LNP’s most marginal seat, held by Mr Last by just 0.8 per cent, after he beat Mr Brunker by 400 primary votes at the 2017 election.

Mr Last was elected with the help of One Nation preferences.

LNP deputy leader Tim Mander accused Labor of “saying one thing in Brisbane and another thing in the bush”.

“Labor tried to make a virtue out of putting One Nation last at the start of the campaign … Labor tried to vilify One Nation for political gain but has secretly preferenced them above the LNP.”

Mr Brunker’s official how-to-vote card puts One Nation last and he said the Facebook graphic — which carries Labor’s branding — was a “throwaway line” that had not been authorised by state ALP headquarters.

“I don’t see any difference between both of them (the LNP and One Nation),” he told The ­Australian.

“All the miners out west are saying ‘Put Last last’, it’s just a throwaway line.

“There are five conservative candidates here, and they are all sharing a tent in the Burdekin.”

By late Monday, Mr Brunker’s Facebook post had been deleted. The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union-backed Mr Brunker runs a newsagency, is a former coal­miner, an ex-mayor of Bowen and a current councillor in the Whitsunday Regional Council.

A One Nation spokesman said Labor was saying “one thing publicly and doing the opposite behind closed doors”.

“Labor candidates across regional Queensland, including the Burdekin, say they are pro-coal and then vote against mining projects when they head to parliament,” he said.

Ms Palaszczuk was campaigning on Monday in Labor’s sole Gold Coast seat, Gaven, held by first-term MP Meaghan Scanlon by 0.71 per cent, to announce a debt-funded $140m package for small businesses, and the preferred site for the Coomera hospital, at a small natural skin care business.

In a rare unscripted moment for the her heavily stage-managed campaign, she was convinced to take off her shoes and try her hand at lawn bowls at the Nerang bowls club, beating Deputy Premier Steven Miles with a perfectly aimed bowl.

“Not enough cornflakes there,” Ms Palaszczuk sledged her deputy.

Opposition Leader Ms Frecklington was also in a Labor seat (Lytton, 12.02 per cent) at a recycling plant, where she said an LNP government would ban batteries and electronics from going into landfill. She also promised to spend $50m to work with councils to build roads from recycled plastic bottles and bags and set up a solar panel recycling industry.