BOB Katter has confirmed he is negotiating preferences with both parties, and is trying to secure his own wish list in the trade off.

While no deals have been made, Mr Katter hopes he can strike preference agreements that are in his interest.

"We are entitled to seek some leverage for our party and get our members elected," he told The Courier-Mail.

"We may well be able to secure a few things before the election."

He said fixing rural debt and a copperstring wire project were on his wish list.

Mr Katter put one of his pet projects on the table last night as he talked with Liberal party boss Brian Loughnane last night - the copperstring project.

The copperstring project is the proposed development of a high voltage electricity transmission line to connect electricity users in the North West Minerals Province and the Mount Isa region to the National Electricity Market at Woodstock, near Townsville.

Mr Katter wants a commitment for money on the table to get electricity into the minerals province to mine iron ore and what he believes are some of the largest phosphate deposits on the globe.

"We do have some of the largest phosphate deposits in the world up there but we can't get at them,' he said.

In meetings with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Mr Katter has called for the establishment of a government bank to help farmers deal with the rural debt crisis.

Last October Brisbane hosted a crisis summit which heard rural debt was approaching $70 million.

Mr Katter is pressuring Labor, if re-elected, to establish the bank to allow low-interest reconstruction loans before the rural debt situation gets out of control and spreads to other sections of the economy.

Mr Katter has estimated rural debt in Queensland has risen from an average of $700,000 per farm to $1.1 million per farm.

Earlier it was reported, that Mr Katter was holding himself out as the kingmaker of the election campaign.

Katter in secret preference deal with Labor

Katter, Palmer courted by major parties

Labor is hoping to strike a preference deal with Mr Katter that could help it snatch several seats in Queensland.

But the Coalition is hitting back, actively courting the MP who was once a member of the Nationals and warning it will attack him as a Labor stooge if he sides with the government.

The Courier-Mail can reveal Mr Katter flew from Mount Isa to Melbourne to hold last-minute preference talks with Liberal Party federal director Brian Loughnane last night.

Preference deals for the Senate must be completed by the weekend.

Katter's Australian Party preferences could be decisive in northern and central Queensland where the party secured large swings in last year's state election.

But his smaller support base could also be influential in southeast Queensland and knife-edge electorates in other states.

From as far back as April, Labor's number-crunchers have been looking at potential targets for preference deals.

By transposing state election booth results on to federal boundaries, the ALP determined the Katter vote to sit above 20 per cent in both Herbert and Dawson, where the party would be expected to finish a close third after the primary vote count.

However, the real KAP primary vote share is expected to be much smaller than 20 per cent, given its 2012 support may have been greatly inflated by protest votes against both major parties.

The Gap vote could also be influential in the LNP held seats of Flynn in central Queensland and Leichhardt in the far north.

A Labor-KAP preference swap could help secure the government's hold on the Rockhampton based seat of Capricornia, where the minor party won the seat of Dalrymple in the state election.

It could even put the Bundaberg-based seat of Hinkler in play, where National Party veteran Paul Neville is retiring and both KAP and Clive Palmer's parties have polled strongly.

The Liberal Party fears it will not be able to strike a deal with Mr Katter.

But the wily north Queensland MP is trying to keep both sides guessing and says he is open to deals seat by seat.

A Senior Liberal National Party source said the party would use a deal with Labor to campaign against Mr Katter.

Mr Katter has already discussed preferences directly with Mr Rudd, considered a friend. Mr Rudd ventured into the Mackay-based seat of Dawson last night, where the Katter vote could be decisive.

A senior Labor source who is closely involved in the negotiations said a deal with KAP could be days away.

But others warned Mr Katter may have made Upper House deals with other parties, making it difficult to strike an agreement.

Labor sources last night said Herbert and Dawson remained the focus of any preference deal, with Flynn and Leichhardt also in play.

But in the marginal Sunshine Coast seat of Longman, the Palmer United Party is expected to be more influential.

KAP president Rob Katter last night confirmed the meeting with the LNP, but dismissed rumblings that a deal had been struck with Labor.

"I can give you an unequivocal no," he said. "That is scaremongering from some disgruntled ex-candidates or the LNP."

Mr Katter added that both Upper and Lower House preferences would be discussed, saying that "everything will be tabled".

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