Bob Katter says his party has snookered the Queensland premier, and she's got limited time to placate the powerful crossbenchers who have threatened to take down her government.
The federal MP says he played a key but collaborative role in bedding down a new agreement between Queensland's two state Katter's Australian Party MPs and Labor defector Rob Pyne.
The trio, all from north Queensland electorates, have threatened to use their power in the hung parliament to make Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg premier should Annastacia Palaszczuk try to call an early election.
Ms Palaszczuk has warned she could force voters back to the polls, less than halfway through the minority Labor government's term, if she can't get parliamentary support for her jobs plan.
But Mr Katter says he's seen nothing of substance from the premier that would help grow jobs in the north, and the government is now in "the most perilous of situations".
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He says the premier must kill off the culture of arrogance in her government, start actually governing the state, and demonstrate a renewed focus on north Queensland, including investing in major infrastructure projects.
"We're trying to encourage the government to do the right thing," Mr Katter told AAP on Tuesday.
"I'd say in two or three months, we're going to stop encouraging and from then on I think it'll get increasingly brutal."
He said Labor was treating crossbench MPs who hold the balance of power with the same contempt that forced Mr Pyne to abandon the party.
"You don't respect your own backbenchers. You treat them so shabbily and arrogantly that they're leaving you. Rob Pyne has moved and there's a lot that haven't but they're extremely unhappy," Mr Katter said.
"And they're treating the MPs with the balance of power the same way. You want to lead your party into oblivion?"
Mr Katter's son, Mt Isa MP Robbie Katter, said the early election threat had annoyed him, but crossbench MPs did not intend to support a no-confidence motion in the government at this stage.
"They've got a fair run - if they're going to do the right thing by the people," he told ABC radio.
Ms Palaszczuk has been forced to admit there are no job-related bills currently before the parliament that would cause her to follow through on her early election threat.
The premier suggested Mr Katter should be more focused on securing federal funding to match state money for key job-creation projects.
"Queenslanders are sick of political point scoring. They want all their parliamentarians to back-in job generating projects," she said in a statement.
She said the three crossbench MPs must keep their vow to help the current parliament deliver on jobs, infrastructure and development for the benefit of all Queenslanders.
PRIORITIES FOR THE KATTER PARTY:
* A government-funded rail line into the resource-rich Galilee basin
* A new deep-water port at Yarrabah, near Cairns
* New heavy-freight routes into Cairns
* A government-backed rescue plan for Clive Palmer's nickel refinery near Townsville
* Completion of the Hell's Gate dam west of Townsville for irrigation.
