Federal minister Matt Canavan has inadvertently taken the heat off Annastacia Palaszczuk by alleging a "domestic" between the Queensland premier and her "boyfriend" is jeopardising thousands of Adani coal mine jobs.
Senator Canavan put himself in the firing line by lashing out in Ms Palaszczuk in the midst of a Queensland election campaign which continues to be dominated by Adani's polarising Carmichael coal mine.
Ms Palaszczuk has been plagued by her initial support for the megamine and then her decision to veto a proposed $1 billion commonwealth loan for the Indian mining giant to build a rail line to the Abbot Point coal terminal.
The decision to veto the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund loan came on Friday, after she alleged LNP senators were orchestrating a smear campaign over the involvement of her partner, Shaun Drabsch, with the loan deal.
She denied any knowledge or conflict of interest but Senator Canavan, the Northern Australia minister, has been among her most hardened critics over the loan backflip.
He continued to take aim in Mackay on Wednesday, saying the deal has been potentially jeopardised by a "domestic" between the premier and Mr Drabsch, who he regularly referred to as her "boyfriend".
"It took me a while to believe it, that a domestic could cost us thousands of jobs in regional Queensland," the senator said in a press conference.
The minister was quickly panned by both sides of politics over his "inappropriate" choice of words.
Queensland LNP leader Tim Nicholls moved to distance himself from Senator Canavan.
"I would never use that language," he said.
Federal Labor's spokeswoman against family violence, Terri Butler, said the comments were appalling and demanded an apology.
"The prime minister is always talking about respect for women ... he must tell his minister to pull his head in, show some respect and apologise," Ms Butler said.
The premier responded by saying: "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."
Senator Canavan also appeared on Andrew Bolt's Sky News program on Tuesday night, saying he hoped the premier's business consultant "boyfriend" didn't talk in his sleep while Ms Palaszczuk was listening.
"Because if, in the future, he mentions other projects he's working on while the premier is awake, that might kill thousands of jobs as well," he said.
Mr Drabsch is a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, which is handling Adani's loan application to NAIF, but Ms Palaszczuk has maintained she was unaware of his work.
The premier's decision to veto the loan, which the LNP has opposed, did receive support in the form of a survey held 10 days before her controversial call.
A new poll, commissioned by the Stop Adani Alliance, showed 70 per cent of Queenslanders believe the state should block any taxpayer-funded loan to the Indian mining giant.
The survey, released on Wednesday, showed opposition to the loan was strong across all parties.
