Conservative rivals the main choices for Warrego voters

With four of the six candidates living outside the electorate and a distinct lack of coreflute placing from them, it's widely acknowledged that the decision for voters will come down to a choice between sitting LNP member Ann Leahy and Katter's Australian Party hopeful Rick Gurnett.

The other four candidates are Mark O'Brien, representing the ALP, independent Mark Stone, One Nation's Joshua Coyne, and Joshua Sanderson, representing The Greens.

Despite the rivalry between Ms Leahy and her KAP opponent, Charleville grazier and former LNP branch president Rick Gurnett, he is second on the LNP's Warrego how-to-vote card.

"That's because he's the only other candidate who lives and works in the electorate," Ms Leahy said.

Saying she was a big believer in "not fattening a pig on market day" and confident that the work she had put in over the last four years would count with voters, she rejected KAP's claims that her party wasn't opposing the two biggest sins of the Labor government - tree-clearing and reef regulation legislation - hard enough.

"We have put up a very comprehensive policy on vegetation management that will fix a lot of unfair legislation and restore the balance," she said. "To say we're supportive of Labor is an absurd allegation."

KAP Leader Robbie Katter, who toured the electorate with Mr Gurnett at the start of the campaign, said it was a federal Liberal government that had precipitated tree clearing laws into Queensland.

"And then, her party just voted in part support of the reef regulations, and voted against my rural reconstruction bill for a rural finance bank, and voted against farmers being able to use category H firearms," he said.

"She's in a party that's voted with Labor on all those things, so I don't think we're all that close on a lot of things."

The main thrust of Mr Katter's argument was that arresting the decline being experienced in almost every western town meant challenging the reasons they had come to that point.

"People might have to consider a radical change in voting behaviour to try and turn that big ship around," he said. "Unless you're willing to do that, don't expect any change in the direction you're heading."

He added that he believed the next two parliaments may be pivotal in the future survival of a lot of smaller rural towns.

"We think we've got some of the answers to try and turn that around," he said.

Mr Gurnett described the LNP as a party animal, saying its MPs couldn't represent the regions and Brisbane at the same time.

"It's no good going out there and saying, we'll fix these veg laws, when your party is implementing those veg laws at a federal level and supporting them at a state level.

"It's no good saying we're going to have cheaper electricity and bring back manufacturing when you're not supporting baseload power and coal."

Ms Leahy said much of the blame for the decline in rural fortunes lay at the feet of the Palaszczuk Labor government.

"We got significant changes to the rural reconstruction legislation negotiated, to have an authority, but the government wouldn't fund it," she said. "And the reef amendments we supported scaled back requirements on farmers - we would never vote for something that was more onerous for farmers."

She described the KAP allegations as scaremongering from a minor party that had lost its relevance.

"We're the ones that support farmers - we've committed to a 20pc cut in irrigation costs, we have a Bill before parliament to deal with illegal animal activists, and there's a $300 vehicle registration rebate for a start.

"A vote for minor parties risks putting Labor back for another four years."