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Nicholls calls on Palaszczuk to come clean

Tim Nicholls says Annastacia Palaszczuk needs to tell Queenslanders if she will break her promise and do deals with crossbenchers if Labor doesn't win 47 seats.

2 min read

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Source: AAP


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LNP leader Tim Nicholls has again called on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to tell Queenslanders if she will keep her promise to go into opposition if Labor does not win enough seats to secure a majority government.

The result of Saturday's election hangs in the balance as eight seats are still considered undecided and neither party is currently able to claim a majority.

Mr Nicholls said Labor was yet to win the 47 it needed to govern in its own right, so the real question was what would happen if that number wasn't reached.

"The answer that Annastacia Palaszczuk is refusing to give is whether she will keep her word or whether she will break her promise like she did in 2015," he said in Toowoomba on Wednesday.

"She said she wouldn't govern with minor parties or independents and she did."

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Mr Nicholls said the premier had "form" and Queenslanders were entitled to know what she would do if she didn't win a majority this time around.

"If they don't get to 47 seats will they do a deal with crossbenchers and minor parties or will Annastacia Palaszczuk keep her word and go into opposition rather than be a minority government?" he asked.

Ms Palaszczuk said during the campaign she wouldn't do any deals and would rather go into opposition than form government with One Nation.

Labor has won 44 of the 47 seats it is predicted to gain, while the LNP sits on 37.

Mr Nicholls, who on Tuesday called on Ms Palaszczuk to let him have the chance to form government if she didn't win a majority, said he had not reached out to crossbenchers because the election was not over.

"The counting will not be known until next week and I think until we know what the final count is, until we know what the numbers are, I think it would be premature to do that," he said.

Mr Nicholls reiterated his commitment to respecting the will of the Queensland people and working with whoever they elected.

He also deflected questions about his deputy Deb Frecklington and if she would take over from him as LNP leader.


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