Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls has called on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to reaffirm her pre-election commitment not to do any deals with crossbench or minor party MPs, if she falls short of majority government.
Speaking from Toowoomba on Wednesday morning, Mr Nicholls said he had not given up hope of forming government, and the election was far from over as ‘we have seen the swings and roundabouts’ since the polls closed Saturday night.
“The final results will not be known until 300,000 postal votes are counted by next Tuesday, and the Queensland Electoral Commission closes next Friday (December 8),” Mr Nicholls said. “There are still nine seats in doubt as the Electoral Commission works its way through postal votes and allocates preferences.”
He said it looked like it was getting harder and harder for Annastacia Palaszczuk to get to the 47 seats needed for majority government.
"The real question as we head into the next few days and wait for those votes to be counted is, what is Annastacia Palaszczuk's position?”
Mr Nicholls said Queenslanders deserved to know whether she remained behind her promise now.
“Is she back-tracking from the commitments she gave or will she do what she said she would do and go into opposition if she cannot get a clear majority when the count is finished?"
Mr Nicholls was in Toowoomba to congratulate the LNP’s Toowomba North candidate, Trevor Watts, and Toowoomba South candidiate, David Janetski.
“Both these two candidates are looking like they have successfully held their seats,” Mr Nicholls said.
He was pleased with how the LNP polled west of the range, with both the Toowoomba candidates in front, along with Pat Weir in Condamine and Ann Leahy in Warrego.
When contacted by Queensland Country Life, KAP’s Robbie Katter said he had not been contacted by either party.
“We are always more than willing to work with either side of government, but our support comes at a cost,” Mr Katter said.
“We have secured two seats, and it is highly likely we will secure a third, and take Hinchinbrook.
“The last time we went through this process we had a number of conditions that were met by the LNP, but unfortunately, Independent, Peter Wellington gave his vote away.”