Queensland election 2015: Clive Palmer maintains PUP can snatch balance of power

Updated

Federal MP Clive Palmer maintains his political party can snatch the balance of power in Queensland at this month's state election.

Premier Campbell Newman and Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk have both ruled out doing deals with the crossbench to form a minority government.

But Mr Palmer told AM that his party had a lot of support throughout Queensland and predicted the LNP would lose seats to PUP.

"Before the last federal election they said my support was 0.1 of 1 per cent," Mr Palmer said.

"I had all these stupid interviews with journalists saying how badly we're going, and then I won 50.3 per cent of the seat of Fairfax and I got the balance of power in Australia.

"We've got around 50 candidates standing in every region of the state.

"I think we'll achieve the balance of power in Queensland and stand as the last centurion of the gates to protect the sale of our schools and hospitals.

"And we would hold the balance of power because both parties want to sell the state's assets. Anna Bligh tried to do it.

"That's why Campbell Newman got elected and now Campbell Newman is trying to do it."

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie, who quit the PUP last year, said she did not think the party would do very well in the state election.

"Unfortunately for Clive he still hasn't learnt his lesson from when he ran for the state election down here," she said.

"You cannot get runners up four weeks before the election.

"Those runners - he knew there was a state election coming out, he should have had their faces out there, he should have been able to give the candidates half a chance."

Palmer denies candidates dominated by friends, family

Meanwhile, Mr Palmer said it was wrong to suggest PUP candidates were dominated by his friends and employees.

The former Queensland leader of PUP, Alex Douglas, quit last year because he said Mr Palmer had been endorsing friends and relatives to run in the state election.

The wife of PUP senator Glenn Lazarus, Tess Lazarus, is running for the PUP in the seat of Buderim.

Mr Palmer said there were two candidates who were either a relative or close friend of his.

"There's never been more than a couple, so it's just been a media beat-up to be honest with you and it's just designed to make us think we're a party that hasn't got anyone but my friends, which is just bullshit," he said.

Mr Palmer also denied his party's election campaign had been affected by trusted media adviser Andrew Crook being charged over the unlawful detention and coercion of a National Australia Bank executive.

Mr Newman was scheduled to campaign in North Queensland on Wednesday and was expected to announce funding to help the construction of a new sports stadium in Townsville.

Ms Palaszczuk, meanwhile, was in Cairns in the state's far north for the second time in a week.

Topics: elections, political-parties, clive-palmer, qld, buderim-4556, maroochydore-4558

First posted