Queensland Election 2017: Debt questions dog Palaszczuk, Nicholls
Billy Gordon has announced he won’t recontest his far north Queensland seat, backing Labor to get the job done.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Day 3 of the Queensland state election campaign as the state prepares to head to the polls on November 25. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will be hoping to avoid more anti-Adani protests in Townsville today, while Katter’s Australia Party chimes in.
Sarah Elks 6.47pm: Gordon quits politics
Controversial Queensland crossbencher Billy Gordon has announced he is quitting politics and won’t recontest his far north Queensland seat at this election.
The first-term MP for Cook (which takes in Cape York and Port Douglas and is notionally Labor by 6.8 per cent) has had a tumultuous but brief political career.
Mr Gordon was elected as a Labor MP at the last election, but was quickly banished to the crossbench as an Independent after it was revealed he had not disclosed his juvenile record of criminal misdemeanours to the Labor party during vetting. It was also alleged Mr Gordon was behind on his child support payments, and later emerged he had allegedly sent unsolicited photographs of his genitals to some women.
In a statement, Mr Gordon said it had been a “great privilege and honour to represent the good people of the great electorate of Cook”.
“There have been many great things achieved over the last three years that I am extremely proud of,” Mr Gordon said.
He said he fought for the rights of canegrowers, was an advocate for community control of Cape York health care, and objected to Labor’s proposed crackdown on tree-clearing laws.
Mr Gordon endorsed Labor’s candidate for Cook, Cynthia Lui, at the November 25 state election.
“As an indigenous Australian, I am excited at the prospect of having for the very first time a Torres Strait Islander elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly.”
He also backed Ms Palaszczuk, who in 2015 personally asked he be removed from Labor.
“Only Annastacia Palaszczuk has the courage, belief and vision needed to lead this great state into the next term of government.”
Charlie Peel 5.43pm: Nicholls responds to KPMG report
LNP leader Tim Nicholls criticised the Premier for keeping the taxpayer-funded KPMG report secret and promised to release it immediately if elected.
“I think it is completely unfair, Queenslanders have paid for this report,” he said.
“What is it hiding?
“What should it be telling us about what has happened in the last two-and-a-half years while Annastacia Palaszczuk and Labor have been in charge.
“If we are in charge we will release it straight away.”
Michael McKenna 4.02pm: One Nation door shuts
One Nation has today closed applications for candidates to run in the Queensland state election.
The party, which polls indicate could hold the balance of power after the November 23 election, is set to stand 61 candidates for the parliament – which is expanding from 89 to 93 seats.
It is understood that the party has just recruited a candidate to run against Annastacia Palaszczuk in her seat Inala.
One Nation state leader Steve Dickson also announced that the party had chosen not to run against the LNP’s Sid Cramp in the Gold Coast seat of Gaven or Labor’s Leanne Linard in the Brisbane seat of Nudgee.
One Nation had already announced it would not run against Labor’s Jo-Ann Miller in Bundamba.
Charlie Peel 2.19pm: LNP wings clipped
Budgetary constraints and a lack of appropriately-sized planes are impacting the Liberal National Party’s election campaign.
LNP leader Tim Nicholls today admitted logistical issues had kept his campaign grounded in southeast Queensland, despite polls showing some of the fiercest battles of the election would be fought in regional areas.
One Nation has its sights set on several marginal seats in the north where Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk jetted on day one of the campaign.
“Our resources are controlled by the government,” Mr Nicholls said.
“My understanding is that they haven’t changed over the past three years.
“The budget the Opposition has was the same three years ago and our costs have increased.”
Charlie Peel 2.01pm: Nicholls’ day in the marginals
Shoring up a swathe of marginal seats in southeast Queensland is the strategy behind Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls’ third day of campaigning.
After spending a day trying to combat the One Nation factor in the rural seat of Lockyer, a tour of Brisbane and the Gold Coast shows the campaign will feature more traditional elements and is not solely about One Nation and the regions.
The first stop of the morning was a fabrication business in Mount Ommaney in Brisbane’s southwest where Mr Nicholls continued to spruik the party’s economic blueprint and fended off questions about debt reduction.
LNP MP Tarnya Smith currently holds the seat but the boundary redistribution has the 1 per cent margin leaning towards Labor.
The campaign bus then turned south to the Gold Coast where Mr Nicholls is aiming to defend a cluster of traditionally LNP safe seats and win over voters in newly-created electorates.
The LNP leader is set to attend a small business forum in the seat of Gaven, based around Nerang.
Gaven is set to be a close-run affair with a margin of 2.8 per cent.
Nearby Theodore, margin 5.3 per cent, will also be on the LNP’s agenda.
12.40pm: ‘I have a plan’
Both Queensland Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and LNP leader Tim Nicholls have refused to outline plans to pay down the state’s debt.
The issue of the spiralling debt-lode, set to to hit $81bn by 2020-21, has exploded onto the campaign trail today after both sides tried to ignore the issue in the opening exchanges.
Ms Palaszczuk says she “will” have a plan to pay down the state’s nation-leading debt, but can’t say what it is today.
Meanwhile, The opposition leader has come under fire over the absence of a clear plan to reduce Queensland’s spiralling government debt. But asked how he planned to reduce debt he said the first priority was to “stabilise” it and would not elaborate on whether or how he planned to bring it down.
The minority Labor Premier is campaigning in the marginal Labor electorate of Thuringowa, in Townsville, on Day Three of the campaign, announcing an extension of the government’s Back to Work jobs-creation program.
But Ms Palaszczuk was hammered with questions about the state’s total debt after she was yesterday unable to give a dollar figure for how much debt had been reduced using dividends from the state-owned electricity assets.
Asked what specifically she would do to pay down debt now the dividends had been redirected to reducing Queenslanders’ power bills, Ms Palaszczuk did not answer the question.
“That is always a key element of any government and government’s budget, OK? And of course the Treasurer will be announcing our funding and costings later on in the campaign,” she said, at a TAFE and training centre in Thuringowa.
“But we will continue to make that a priority. Let me tell you this, I have been listening to Queenslanders…and the number one issue is jobs.”
Asked again whether she currently had a plan to pay down debt, Ms Palaszczuk said: “Of course we will have a plan to pay down debt”.
Asked once again whether she had a plan now, she said: “We are always working on paying down debt.”
“I went to the last election and I said to the people of this state that we would use the dividends of our assets to pay down debt and restore frontline services….what Tim Nicholls did, is he went to the last election wanting to sell your assets, so how many dividends would you have had? Zero. Absolutely zero.”
In 2015, Mr Nicholls, who was treasurer of the Newman Government at the time, had championed privatisation of state-owned electricity assets to raise $25 billion he said was critical to reducing debt.
“In the economic policy we announced yesterday we said the first thing we needed to do was stabilise debt over the economic cycle,” he said.
“The first thing we need to do is stop things getting worse and under Labor they are getting worse, under Labor debt is going to $81 billion.
“That’s despite $15 billion worth of raids, rip-offs and write-downs.
“They’ve raided superannuation funds, they’ve ripped off money out of the state-owned generators and they’ve loaded debt up onto the government-owned corporations.”
Mr Nicholls said the LNP would need to “find out what the real numbers are” if it formed government after the November 25 election.
He has previously said the only way to drive down debt was to sell assets, hike taxes and make cuts but could not say which of those methods he would use if elected.
Instead, he appealed to voters to look at the party’s “runs on the board” and economic management reputation.
Asked whether he wanted to reduce the debt, Mr Nicholls said: “Well the people of Queensland spoke at the last election and we respect what they said”.
“What we are now saying to the people of Queensland is you know the LNP are better economic managers than Labor.
“You know we won’t waste money, you know that we can manage the state’s finances and our commitment is to stabilise the situation so that the patient doesn’t get worse.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has herself stumbled on the question of debt and was yesterday unable to provide insight on her government’s failure to make a significant dent in the state’s escalating total debt levels.
Total debt is forecast to hit $81 billion by 2020-21.
She could not put a dollar figure on how much she had reduced the state’s debt levels but a spokesman later said $600m of the dividends from all government-owned corporations had been used to pay down debt.
11am: Unions weigh in on campaign
Queensland’s peak union body has come out swinging against Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls on day three of the state election campaign, AAP reports.
Queensland Council of Unions members got into the Halloween spirit on Tuesday, warning that life would be “grim under Tim” if the LNP was elected to govern. General secretary Ros McLennan said it was mathematically impossible for Mr Nicholls to secure a majority on November 25, and even the “ghost of Campbell Newman” had said he could not be premier without One Nation’s support. “The lead in Tim Nicholls’ saddlebags is that Queenslanders don’t trust him,” she said.
Ms McLennan said voters had a clear choice to make and union members would be campaigning for Labor and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk over the next four weeks, particularly in 16 target seats.
“If the LNP and One Nation were elected to govern we’d be subjected to a horror show of epic proportions,” she said.
But Ms McLennan would not comment on the controversial Adani coal mine in light of a series of protests on the election trail, instead saying the QCU didn’t have a position “at this point”.
9.30am: One Nation’s seat plan
One Nation won’t stand candidates in two Queensland seats after deeming the two incumbents - one Labor, one LNP - decent performers, AAP reports.
The leader of Pauline Hanson’s party in Queensland, Steve Dickson, says the Labor member for Nudgee Leanne Linard and the LNP’s member for Gaven Sid Cramp won’t face competition from One Nation.
“They’re both really, really good representatives for the people of Queensland,” Mr Dickson said.
9am: Malcolm Roberts confident of victory
Ousted One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts predicts he’ll easily steal the very safe Queensland seat of Ipswich from Labor, AAP reports.
Mr Roberts believes Labor and LNP voters will support One Nation and secure himself a seat in the Queensland parliament on November 25.
He’s says Ipswich voters are sick of being fed lies by politicians. “It’s not about selling things, it’s not about trying to hoodwink people, it’s not about window dressing, and pretending and putting up a facade,” he told Sky News on Tuesday night.
“People have had a gutful of that in Queensland, and in Australia, from both Labor and from the LNP. They are fed up.” He said One Nation was routinely misrepresented in the media, but its candidates would rise above that.
“We will all have the discipline, no problem about that at all.”
Incumbent Jennifer Howard won Ipswich for Labor at the 2015 state election and holds it with a 16 per cent margin.
But the seat has twice changed hands in recent years, despite even fatter margins.
In 2012, Labor’s Rachel Nolan lost Ipswich to the LNP after a swing of almost 21 per cent.
Three years later, the swing back the other way was on par, with the LNP’s Ian Berry losing to Ms Howard with a swing of just over 20 per cent. Mr Roberts says One Nation has “already got the momentum”.
Sarah Elks 7.50am: Palaszczuk defends Adani support
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has defended her government’s support of the controversial Adani coal mine, insisting regional cities such as Townsville were desperate for the jobs it would provide.
It has been revealed Adani has turned to China to help finance the $16 billion Carmichael coal mine after Australia’s big four banks ruled out lending for the project.
In an interview with Sydney radio broadcaster Alan Jones this morning, Ms Palaszczuk said there needed to be a gradual transition from coal to renewable energy in the state, where she wants to introduce a 50 per cent by 2030 renewable energy target.
Mr Jones — who began the interview by calling Ms Palaszczuk “a very good person” and a “very good listener” — heavily criticised the Indian conglomerate’s proposed Galilee Basin coal mine.
“It’s low quality high cost, and if coal prices go south, this thing would lose money hand over fist, you’d be left with a giant hole in outback Queensland,” Mr Jones said.
But Ms Palaszczuk said it was necessary for job-creation, and said she would not give taxpayers money to Adani.
Mr Jones: “So you’re not doing a royalty deal with them?”
Ms Palaszczuk: “We have done a royalty agreement, framework, which means every single dollar of taxpayers’ funds comes back … every single dollar is coming back … with interest.”
“I’m in Townsville, right? Townsville unemployment here is 10 per cent. We had Clive Palmer, and what he did at Queensland Nickel, had a huge impact.”
“And these people need jobs.”
“Queensland has a huge resource sector, we have a strong agriculture sector as well … but the resources sector means jobs. This is not the only mine, there are a number of mines across Queensland.”
“We are not going to transition overnight from coal to renewables. It has to be progressive.”
The first two days of Ms Palaszczuk’s election campaign — ahead of a poll to be held on November 25 — have been marred by anti-Adani protests.
Mr Jones also asked whether Ms Palaszczuk would accept a decision of the state’s Land Court to block the stage 3 expansion of New Hope’s Acland coal mine, in south east Queensland.
The broadcaster has long campaigned against the project.
Ms Palaszczuk said she would accept the decision of the court that was currently conducting a judicial review of the matter.
“There’s actually a judicial review happening at the moment, and absolutely we will accept that view,” the Premier said.
The next hearing of the Queensland Supreme Court judicial review in the Acland case is not until November 28, three days after the state election.
A trial of the matter has been set down for the 19th to the 23rd of March.
The Premier is now in Townsville, in north Queensland, where Labor holds three marginal seats based on the city. Ms Palaszczuk is keen to stave off the rise of One Nation in the electorates, where the protest party is believed to be polling strongly.
At the start of the interview, after Ms Palaszczuk told Mr Jones she was in Townsville, where it was threatening rain, and about to head out for a walk, Mr Jones said: “Make sure you don’t eat at (Labor powerbroker) Graham Richardson’s restaurant”.
There were several seconds of silence, before the broadcaster moved on.
“Now to business,” he said, before starting the interview proper.
7.45am: Katter awaits Palaszczuk
Meanwhile Katter’s Australian Party is set to hold a media event in Townsville today to announce its candidate for the seat of Hinchinbrook.
The seat north of Townsville is held by the LNP’s Andrew Cripps on a margin of 3.7 per cent, with Labor and One Nation also throwing their hats into the ring for the contest.
7.30am: What’s making news
• A $25,000 increase in the payroll tax threshold every year for 10 years is at the centre of the LNP’s employment policy.
• An internal brawl has erupted in federal Labor over preselection in Rockhampton.
• Annastacia Palaszczuk will today launch an electoral assault on jobs-starved Townsville.
• The anti-Adani protester who interrupted Annastacia Palaszczuk has GetUp! ties.
• Judith Sloan writes that when it comes to creative accounting, Queensland is on top.
• LNP leader Tim Nicholls headed deep into Pauline Hanson territory to launch an attack on One Nation.
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