Springborg 'would reject' Hanson deal

27 Feb 2009, 5:59 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Lawrence Springborg denies he would do a deal with Pauline Hanson to form a minority government if the Queensland state election results in a hung parliament.

Lawrence Springborg says there is "no way on earth" he would do a deal with Pauline Hanson to form a minority government if the Queensland state election results in a hung parliament.

A Galaxy Poll in The Courier-Mail newspaper showed Labor and the Liberal National Party (LNP) sharing 50 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.

Mr Springborg earlier on Friday danced around the question of whether he was willing to enter into talks with the One Nation founder should it be necessary and she wins the seat of Beaudesert at the March 21 poll.

But the LNP leader told AAP later there was "no way on earth" he would negotiate.

"We would never negotiate power with Hanson," he said.

Mr Springborg went further, saying he would not negotiate with any independents if the parliament was hung, and would rather sit on the opposition benches.

"You don't have any mandate. I am not interested in negotiating in a hung parliament," he said.

Ms Hanson on Friday confirmed she would stand in Beaudesert and would launch her campaign in Boonah on Monday.

With incumbent LNP MP Kev Lingard retiring this election, Ms Hanson has been rated as a chance of winning her first Queensland state parliamentary seat after five tilts at federal politics including one high-profile win in 1996.

Mr Springborg, who visited the seat on Friday to campaign with LNP candidate Aidan McLindon and unveil a maternity services policy, dismissed Ms Hanson as "irrelevant".

He said the only two choices in the election were "an 11-year-old stale Labor government out of ideas, or the LNP".

But former LNP frontbencher Stuart Copeland, who is standing as an independent in the southwest seat of Condamine after missing out on preselection in the wake of redrawn boundaries, said party officials had a different view.

"If it is a close race both the LNP and ALP would negotiate to gain government rather than letting the chance slip out of reach," he said.

"Not negotiating would simply hand government to the other side."

Ms Hanson's main opponent Mr McLindon made headlines when he was charged and fined after storming the stage at the 2005 season finale of the Network Ten reality TV show Big Brother.

The Logan City councillor, who was 25 at the time, was trying to promote his rock band KillTV, and highlight Big Brother's breaching of the TV code of conduct.

The Greens and Labor are also standing in the seat.

Ms Hanson's former One Nation party polled strongly in Beaudesert during past elections.

At the height of its popularity, One Nation won 27.4 per cent of the primary vote in Beaudesert - just 5.5 per cent behind former member Mr Lingard.

Pauline's United Australia Party earned just over 101,000 votes in the 2007 Queensland Senate race.

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