Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the LNP forming an alliance with One Nation to take government would be an “embarrassment...to the world”, as LNP leader Tim Nicholls continued to struggle to answer how he would deal with a hung vote.

The question of whether or not the LNP would accept One Nation’s support to form government has dogged Nicholls’ attempts to rebrand both himself, and the party, in the wake of the Newman government.

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In an increasingly fraught election campaign, which is approaching its final week, Labor has seized on the LNP decision to directly preference One Nation ahead of Labor in 50 of the 61 seats it is running in, as proof a deal has been done between the two parties.



Standing in front of an audience of 100 undecided voters, chosen by Galaxy polling for the leaders’s debate in Brisbane hosted by Sky News and News Corp, Nicholls was repeatedly asked whether he would take One Nation’s support to form government and was heckled for failing to give a straight answer.

“Well, we’re in this contest to win it. No team goes on to...”



“Yes or no,” the audience, including Palaszczuk, began to shout.

“No team goes on to the field.....” he tried again, before he was cut off again by forum host David Speers.

“There are plenty of people here saying yes or no Tim Nicholls, it is a straight forward question.”

“No team goes out onto the field,” Nicholls repeated, before he was once again cut off.

“Voters at this point, with nine days to go, probably deserve to know would you be willing to take the support of One Nation,” Speers said.

“I have said very clearly,” Nicholls said, “no deals, no coalition, no shared ministry and we will deal with the parliament and the elected representatives that the people put forward.”

Asked if that meant he would form government with “the supply and confidence of One Nation”, Nicholls, prevaricated once more.

“I am looking to ask the people of Queensland, to say if you want a team that is unified or solid and will act in the best interests of Queensland, please support the LNP and I will deal with the outcome of the election once that is known, I am not going to deal with the hypothetical or what not.”

Audience members once again began to shout “yes or no”, and, when asked one more time, “would you be willing to accept the support of One Nation if you need it for supply and confidence”, Nicholls fell back on a practised answer.

“I will deal with parliament, that Queenslanders ...” he said, before being cut off by laughter and jeers from at least half of the audience.

The preference decision helped Labor to reset its message after a week and a half of missteps, mostly centred around Palaszczuk’s announcement she would veto any Naif funding for Adani.

Labor uses every opportunity it has to talk about the “chaos” a One Nation balance of power would create and when asked if Labor would do a deal with One Nation, Palaszczuk’s direct answer earned her one of the biggest cheers of the night.



“Uh no,” she said, prompting audience applause.



“You have to stand on your principles, and I will stand on my principles and if that means going into opposition, we’ll go into opposition, because I don’t want to see the chaos and confusion that will come with having these two former cabinet ministers ... forming an alliance, a coalition that will be an embarrassment not just to Queensland, not just to our nation, but to the rest of the world. It would undo all of the good things we have been trying to do to work together.

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“They don’t agree on policies. How is it going to work?”

Queensland’s One Nation leader, Steve Dickson, a former minister in the Newman government, said Palaszczuk’s answer meant she did not want to deal with 20% of the Queensland population which was planning on voting for his party.

“I am happy to work with both of these people for the benefit of Queensland,” he said.

Energy, public transport and a lack of positivity in politics, with more than one plea for politicians to work together from voters earning applause, were also canvassed.

At one point, asked who wanted Adani to receive the $1bn loan for the train line, not a single audience member raised their hand.

But at the end of the night, it was the One Nation question which loomed large.

“I wasn’t on board with Labor before tonight, but I am onboard now,” said Lyn, one of the chosen undecided voters, who declined to give her surname.

“The fact that Mr Nicholls didn’t answer and wasn’t straightforward with his questions – that he was just waiting to see what the result was to see how he responds – that wasn’t good enough for me. It’s a yes or no answer, and the crowd sort of felt that way too. He led us to believe he was going to change his mind if it didn’t go his way at the end. I didn’t like that.”

The majority of the audience appeared to feel the same way, with 60% declaring Palaszczuk won the debate, with 12% siding with Nicholls and 10% choosing Dickson. The last 18% remained undecided.