You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
That's the offer Katter's Australian Party (KAP) has brought to last-minute crisis talks with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to keep her controversial lockout laws alive.
With Independent MP Billy Gordon already ruling out supporting the changes, Ms Palaszczuk's minority government needs KAP's support to get the laws - which are to be debated on Tuesday night - over the line.
KAP MPs Rob Katter and Shane Knuth on Tuesday emerged from a second meeting with the premier insisting the government needed to address high unemployment in outback Queensland before it could secure their support.
Mr Katter said the lockout laws wouldn't impact his and Mr Knuth's rural electorates, but addressing outback Queensland's unemployment rate of about 15 per cent - a major contributor to social problems and violence - would.
"If we're being forced to come down here and deal with the government on issues that are very important to them, they need to acknowledge the problems that are important to us and that impact on violence in our communities," Mr Katter said.
The KAP MPs wanted the government to also address problems with illegal drugs and include a phase-in period for regional centres like Townsville and Cairns, which were likely to suffer economically due to the changes.
"What we're seeing is, no doubt about it, there'll be jobs lost," Mr Knuth said.
He said if the government didn't address KAP's concerns, it could forget about its support.
Although indicating KAP was unlikely to support the bill, Mr Knuth offered some hope by describing the negotiations as "a work in progress".
Meanwhile, the Liberal National Party (LNP) opposition reiterated its intent to vote against the laws later this week.
Shadow attorney-general Ian Walker said there wasn't enough evidence to support the laws and the government needed to consider safety measures like ID scanners.
"You don't legislate first and then get the data, you get the data before you legislate," Mr Walker said.
Despite the increasing likelihood of failure, the government remains hopeful the changes will be passed.
"I wouldn't say that at this stage," Ms Palaszczuk said when asked whether the bill was doomed to fail.
The legislation, which will ban shots after midnight and impose a 2am statewide last drinks call or 3am call for some venues if combined with a 1am lockout, will continue to be debated on Wednesday.
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