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Ms Palaszczuk says she wouldn't hold talks with any crossbenchers in the event of a hung parliament. (AAP: Dan Peled)
Annastacia Palaszczuk has said she won't hold
discussions with any crossbenchers if she fails to get enough seats to
govern on her own in this Saturday's election
The Premier's election line is that voters can either elect a majority Labor government or a "chaotic" LNP minority government.To underline the all-or-nothing strategy, Ms Palaszczuk has vowed to not accept the support of One Nation, the Greens, or the Katter's Australian Party.
She said she would rather go into opposition than minority government.
"Every single one of my team, every single one of my candidates accept that," Ms Palaszczuk said.Treasurer Curtis Pitt said the Premier had discussed the position with all her ministers
"This is something we stand on our principles on," Mr Pitt said.
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One Nation Queensland leader Steve Dickson is hoping his party will hold the balance of power. (AAP: Dan Peled)
Ms Palaszczuk was asked if she would contemplate having a conversation with any crossbench MPs if there were a hung parliament.
"No, because there is so much at risk here," she said.
In 2015, Ms Palaszczuk had a similar message, ruling out forming a minority government.
"Let me make it very clear, no, no, no, no deals," she said during that election," she said.
But she accepted the support of independent Peter Wellington to form government in 2015, and on occasion passed laws with the help of the Katter's Australian Party.
Ms Palaszczuk now justifies that by saying Mr Wellington was a man of integrity.
She would not say whether any of the potential crossbenchers had a similar level of integrity.
"You can try and twist my words, I'm making it abundantly clear, I am going for a majority," she said.
Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls has said he would work with the parliament Queensland provided.
He said no One Nation MP would get a ministry if he were to form a minority government with the party.
"A vote for any of the minor parties is a vote for another three years of a do nothing Labor government," he said.
Mr Nicholls announced $3.8 million towards existing upgrades of the Bruce Highway at Miriam Vale.
Queensland will never be debt free: Pitt
Both major parties have been criticised in the election campaign for having no clear plan to make more inroads into reducing total government debt, which has been projected to climb above $80 billion.Campaigning with the Premier in Cairns, Mr Pitt said a re-elected Labor government would pay off more debt.
But he said borrowings would always be necessary.
"There's no case in Queensland where you'll ever see zero debt, so let's be clear about that."We have to make sure that we manage it and make sure that we don't sacrifice the economy in the process."
Although dividends from publicly owned power companies have been earmarked for cost-of-living relief, Mr Pitt said income from other government-owned corporations (GOCs) would be used for debt repayments.
"Tim Nicholls talks about stabilising debt, we want to go further than that by maintaining ownership of our government-owned corporations which provide a fantastic revenue stream to the people of Queensland.
"We'll use those revenue streams to pay down debt … but we'll also use them to provide the services that Queenslanders expect."
The Treasurer also does not expect the current debt trajectory to reach $81 billion.
"The forecasts are that it is not going to quite get to that point, but however I want to say very clearly to you today we have a big amount of things we're talking about today but we have a lot at stake for next Saturday," he said.
He said taxpayers do not pay the interest on GOCs' debt.
"This $80 billion is total debt in Queensland and it is important not to be focusing on that," Mr Pitt said.
"We've been able to lower general government sector debt by $14.8 billion compared to where Tim Nicholls left it in his last budget."
Mr Nicholls said he was prepared to lower debt but would not give specific details.
"We've said quite clearly that under the LNP the debt level would be lower than the $81.1 billion projected by Labor," he said.
"We are going to make sure that we are going to manage debt over the economic cycle so that over time we are not paying more interest that we need to.
"We've said the idea is to target the fiscal balance — that is to make sure that over the economic cycle the ups and downs that you keep your expenditure under control compared to your revenue."
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