Nicholls under fire
One Nation casts shadow over LNP as Premier wins debate
THE spectre of a One Nation-controlled crossbench in the next parliament has continued to haunt LNP Leader Tim Nicholls during a heated public debate last night.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was declared the winner with 60 per cent of the audience of undecided voters at the People’s Forum last night declaring they would vote for her after witnessing her debate Mr Nicholls and One Nation state Leader Steve Dickson.
Mr Nicholls started strongly with an opening address pledging to make the state better.
But he came under fire from the audience as he struggled to say whether or not he would accept the resurgent right-wing party’s support to form Government should he fail to secure a majority at the November 25 poll.
“Yes or No,” jeered the crowd as Mr Nicholls attempted to avoid stating his position on the issue.
“We understand people are frustrated with the major parties,” he said.
“We’re not going to say the will of the people shouldn’t take place.
“We will deal with the parliament and the elected representatives that the people put forward.”
It comes amid a concerted campaign by Labor to paint Mr Nicholls and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson as one and the same in the lead up to election day. And his position hurt with just 12 per cent of the voters declaring they would now support him.
Just 10 per cent sided with Mr Dickson while 18 per cent remained undecided.
Ms Palaszczuk earned applause as she declared she would rather be in Opposition than take supply from One Nation.
“Sometimes you have got to stand on your principles,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “If that means going into opposition, we will go into Opposition.”
She again repeated her claim that an LNP government formed with the help of One Nation would be an “embarrassment”.
Ms Palaszczuk was put on the spot over her decision to veto Adani’s application for a taxpayer-funded loan through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. Ms Palaszczuk struggled to articulate why she took that step.
Both leaders also struggled over how they would bring down debt with neither guaranteeing they would stop the debt reaching the $81 billion predicted by 2020/21.
Mr Dickson spent most of the debate deriding the major parties as he pledged to bring down power prices and scrap cross river rail.
QUEENSLAND Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls says his plan to introduce literacy and numeracy tests for teachers is a new policy, despite a similar testing scheme being recommended by the Federal Government.
Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham introduced the tests in 2013, however Mr Nicholls says they weren’t taken up by the Palaszczuk government.
“In fact, it will be new here in Queensland and importantly it’s about lifting teacher standards,” Mr Nicholls said.
“We are introducing a test which is currently under Labor not being provided for our beginning teachers.”
Mr Nicholls clarified that the tests he was proposing to introduce would be different from the ones put forward by the Federal Government.
As part of the education package announced yesterday, the LNP also promised 1000 new teacher mentors, as well as 80 new paid internships in specialist areas.
They also announced free hearing tests for prep students.
Mr Nicholls made the announcement in Brisbane after touching down following a trip to the state’s far north.
A ReachTEL poll conducted for parents group The Parenthood yesterday showed the LNP leading Labor 52-48 on a two-party preferred basis.