Opposition leader Tony Abbott has told Queenslanders he is confident he will be the next elected Prime Minister of Australia.
Addressing the Liberal National Party's 2012 Queensland state election campaign launch in Brisbane on Sunday, Mr Abbott said senior Labor frontbenchers Stephen Smith, Bill Shorten and incoming foreign affairs minister Bob Carr also stood a chance of snaring the top job.
"But I think I will be the next elected Prime Minister of Australia," he said.
He said the outcome of the upcoming Queensland election, to be held on March 24, was important Australia wide.
"The message which has to go loud and clear, from the people of Queensland to the whole of Australia, is that bad governments get punished," he said.
Mr Abbott reiterated statements often made about federal Labor by the opposition - that it addresses its problems by spending recklessly and introducing taxes that are bad for the economy.
"The carbon tax is economic insanity for the people of Queensland" he said.
People could stop the tax by voting for Queensland Liberal leader Campbell Newman, rather than Labor premier Anna Bligh, Mr Abbott said.
In reference to former NSW Premier Bob Carr being offered the foreign affairs portfolio by Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday, Mr Abbott said he couldn't stop Ms Gillard from also offering Anna Bligh a job in Canberra.
"But I tell you what. I am so proud to be helping Campbell Newman deny Anna Bligh a job here in Queensland," he said.
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