"As he said, if he doesn't win Ashgrove, then Annastacia Palaszczuk will be Premier." Assistant Minister to the Premier Deb Frecklington, Lisa Newman, Premiere Campbell Newman and Treasurer Tim Nicholls at Parliament House on on Monday. Credit:Glenn Hunt Earlier Premier Campbell Newman faced almost exactly the same question as he did almost three years ago the moment he called the election - who would lead the LNP if he lost Ashgrove. But despite repeated questions, Mr Newman would not give a concrete answer. A government spokesman later 'clarified' that Mr Newman would not be moving seats if he lost, hours after the original press conference.

Mr Newman, who holds the seat by a 5.7 per cent margin, is facing a strong challenge from former Labor MP and minister, Kate Jones. Recent polls have shown Ms Jones to be the preferred candidate. Mr Newman said if he loses the seat, it means Opposition Leader "Annastacia Palaszczuk will be Premier". "That will be a real problem for Queensland, because she has no plan, I'm afraid, for Queensland," he said, while formally announcing the election for January 31. "It means that there are a number of LNP people who aren't in Parliament any more."

For Labor to win, there would need to be a uniformed swing against the government of 11 per cent, just less than double the 5.8 per cent needed to displace Mr Newman. But despite being asked numerous times if he would rule out moving to a safe LNP seat if he lost the 2015 poll, Mr Newman did not. Premier: "The LNP Government will be out of office in that eventuality and I wouldn't see -" Journalist: "It is not borne out?" Mr Newman: "If you want to get into that, you need to ask a political commentator. I am not a political commentator."

Journalist: "It's mathematics." Mr Newman: "In South Australia, there was supposed simple mathematics that would have had the Labor State Government out of office quite decisively and that's not what happened. That's my position on that." Journalist: "So you are not ruling out a seat shift?" Mr Newman: "I have been asked this many times." Journalist; "But there is a chance you are going to lose."

Mr Newman: "You have asked my opinion, you have my answer." But while he would not rule out a change in geography, he did say Prime Minister Tony Abbott was welcome to join him on the hustings. "He is more than welcome to come up here," Mr Newman said. "I would see him being here if we have a particular announcement about some sort of federal support, it could be to an infrastructure project, or some policy to benefit Queenslanders. "But I make this point - this campaign is about state issues and the performance of the strong LNP team. OK? It is about a competition between a strong LNP team and the plan that we have versus the Labor Party at state level and Annastacia Palaszczuk. It is not about Tony Abbott. It is about Campbell Newman, the LNP v Annastacia Palaszczuk v Labor.

"The Labor Party and unions will try and blur the issues and confuse people, but Queenslanders are smart and know at the end of the day they have to judge this government, and I urge them, again, to judge us on the plan, the strength of the plan, what's been done to date and the preparedness to make the important decisions to ultimately benefit them and their families and kids." But given the size of the LNP backbench, Mr Newman said it was "clearly the case" that he would not be able to give all of them his personal support. He did not say how he would choose, but any electorate with a margin less than 5 per cent, was expected to be written off. Mr Newman said he decided on Sunday to call the election, as the state could not afford "the uncertainty". He cancelled a trade mission to India to push ahead with the campaign, a decision he said he made after "counsel of people, I was very much advised by people in business, people I respect, that the state needed to get on with this election and deal with it first."