A Queensland truck driver who stabbed his lover to death after she refused to kiss him goodbye as he left for work has been jailed for life for her murder.

Wayne Ashley O'Sullivan, 50, stabbed mother-of-six Michelle Reynolds, 46, in the throat and chest as she lay in bed on April 4, 2016 in her home at Rosewood, near Ipswich.

The fatal blow severed an artery and vein in her neck, and also punctured Ms Reynolds' lung before exiting out her back.

The sister (left) and son (centre) of victim Michelle Reynolds are seen leaving the Supreme Court in Brisbane. (AAP )

O'Sullivan delivered six more blows before the attack finished as Ms Reynolds tried to defend herself.

O'Sullivan pleaded guilty today in the Supreme Court in Brisbane to her murder.

Crown prosecutor Vicki Loury told the court when O'Sullivan dressed for work at 4.30am he tried to kiss Ms Reynolds goodbye but she told him to get out and pushed him away.

O'Sullivan went outside and grabbed his fishing knife from his tackle box before returning to the bedroom where he again tried to kiss Ms Reynolds.

"Again she said go away, just leave me and he said that he then put the knife in her," Ms Loury said.

O'Sullivan then drove to his aunt's house, where he asked her to call an ambulance for Ms Reynolds.

"The defendant said there had been no previous history of violence between him and Ms Reynolds but they had been arguing over money. He said she accused him of not pulling his weight, of not contributing enough money to the household," Ms Loury said.

"He said he was doing all he could and she would complain about him working on the weekend when he was doing so to provide money for her. She was, in his words, always at him."

In the weeks prior to the murder, O'Sullivan had started working as a truck driver after being unemployed for three months.

The couple's financial position had just begun to improve until they received a letter doubling O'Sullivan's child support payments for his own five children.

Justice David Boddice said O'Sullivan's actions had sentenced Ms Reynolds' children to lifelong "vexation".

"It appears financial pressures resulted in the relationship deteriorating to the point where you were regularly arguing and on the day in question it became too much," he said.

O'Sullivan will spend 20 years in prison before being eligible for parole.