LNP won't commit to seats it doesn't win

• by: Nathan Paull
• From: AAP
• January 23, 2015 2:00PM

QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman will not guarantee election promises in seats his Liberal National Party does not win.

MR Newman said this week his government would not fund a $1.5 million cycling facility in Ipswich if it was re-elected without local MP Ian Berry.

He justified the stance on Friday by saying voters knew the LNP's plan and they could choose to vote for other candidates if they preferred theirs.

"If the community don't elect them, we're not going to make the commitment to deliver on things that the community might not want," Mr Newman said.

He said the same would apply to his own electorate of Ashgrove, where he has pledged $18 million worth of infrastructure upgrades.

When asked if he was holding electorates to ransom, Mr Newman said: "I can't make commitments for someone from a different political party or an independent - it's easy to understand."

It was not the only distraction from Mr Newman's campaign on Friday, with revelations Mr Newman and his deputy Jeff Seeney have taken defamation action against Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones.

Mr Jones claimed the premier lied to him by pledging that stage three of the Acland mine, on the Darling Downs, would not proceed.

Mr Newman said the LNP would fund the legal action.

"Mr Jones will have to justify in court his defamatory statements," he said.

The premier said he was looking forward to a people's forum in his Ashgrove electorate on Friday night, where he will debate Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk.

"We will be able to see the leader of the opposition finally answer some questions to an audience," he said.

"There'll be nowhere to hide and it will be clear that the Labor party has no plan for jobs in this state."

Mr Newman was at a commercial laundry in Darra in the electorate of Mount Ommaney on Friday morning, which the LNP MP Tarnya Smith comfortably holds with a 16.5 per cent margin.

Ms Palaszczuk campaigned in the same electorate just hours earlier with Labor's candidate Jessica Pugh.