Queensland votes: What you need to know

Premier Campbell Newman and Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk have embarked on their final campaign blitz before polls open tomorrow.

It is the last opportunity for the leaders to win over undecided voters.

Labor needs to gain 36 seats if it is to win majority government.

• Palaszczuk wrecking ball cartoon 'disappointing'

• The other issues during the Queensland campaign

• The Queensland election by the numbers

• How the Queensland parliament looks now

The Queensland election campaign has focused on the key issues of:

ASSET PRIVATISATION

The LNP government has pledged to lease public port and power assets for at least half a century in return for $37 billion. Money would go towards cutting debt and raising money for infrastructure. The plan has been met with public outrage, and crossbenchers have vowed to block its introduction. Labor has campaigned loudly against asset privatisation, after its crushing 2012 defeat.

ECONOMY

Queensland has the highest debt level of any state at $80 billion, and recorded a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent in December. Premier Campbell Newman promised to bring the state's unemployment rate to four per cent in six years. The LNP has chalked up about $6 billion worth of promises, mainly big-ticket infrastructure pledges, backed by its plan to lease state assets. But Labor has committed to less than $1.6 billion worth of election promises, mainly for extra teachers and nurses, without losing any state assets. Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk did her side's economic credentials no favours when she was unable to tell a breakfast radio quiz what the GST rate was.

The federal government has already approved a plan to dump one million cubic metres of spoil in the marine park, but the state government has proposed a plan B to deposit it on land. Photo: AAP

LEADERSHIP/TEAMS

Newman has refused to be drawn on who will lead if he loses his seat of Ashgrove to Labor's Kate Jones, who is tipped to win. If there is a Plan B, the LNP isn't telling anyone about it - but the party has been spruiking its "strong team" line throughout the campaign. Palaszczuk, who was elected leader from the seven Labor MPs left after the 2012 disaster, has struggled to cut through via the media, but has done well when meeting ordinary people. Federally, Prime Minister Tony Abbott was a no-show in Queensland for the month of January, but Opposition Leader Bill Shorten made nearly a dozen appearances, leading to some claims he was propping up Labor.

LAW AND ORDER

Labor started the campaign with a policy to repeal the LNP's controversial anti-bikie laws. However, it has now promised to have an independent task force review the laws and decide whether to keep some aspects of them. The backflip has angered the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties.

Queensland Labor will retain the state's anti-bikie laws until an alternative is recommended. Photo: AAP

HEALTH/EDUCATION

Normally stalwarts of state election campaigns, health and education have largely flown under the radar this time. The LNP has committed to improving education, including major reforms in indigenous literacy. However, Labor has attacked the government over changes to TAFE funding and pricing structures. The AMAQ says it has been underwhelmed by both sides' commitments to health. The AMAQ had concerns about the lack of commitment to tackling the obesity epidemic, improving care for dying Queenslanders and updating departmental IT systems.

The other issues during the 2015 campaign

Unsurprisingly, there were other issues distracting voters from the campaign for the Queensland election on January 31.

SURPRISE. IT'S A MID-SUMMER HOLIDAY ELECTION

Most Queenslanders knew there would be a state election early this year. But no-one, absolutely no-one, expected Campbell Newman to break with Australian convention to announce a January poll. The campaign was held while most people were in the post-Christmas, post-New Year, mid-summer holiday, sport-heavy period that Australians hold so dear. The final week of the January 31 campaign came straight after the Australia Day long weekend and as the kids returned to school, leaving about three days of business as usual. That meant a lot of sweaty MPs and political wannabes campaigning vainly for the attention of voters.

2.9 million Queenslanders go to the polls on Saturday, with seven parties and 428 candidates to vote for in 89 electorates. Photo: AAP

HANGING ON TO HOME BASE

Campbell Newman is both a general and foot soldier in this election. On one front he is premier, leading the LNP's fight for Queensland; on the other, he's battling to retain his own seat of Ashgrove. According to the polls, Newman is in danger of losing the inner-Brisbane seat to its former Labor MP, Kate Jones. According to Newman, if he loses Ashgrove, the LNP loses the election. As a result, Ashgrove has been receiving a lot of love and dollars from both parties. Traditionally, party leaders are in safe seats allowing them to focus their full attention on the bigger picture. But in 2012, Can-Do Newman opted for the always risky proposition of taking on Ashgrove. Whether he can do it a second time is yet to be seen.

GHOSTS FROM THE PAST

Former Darling Downs boy turned Australia's most prominent shock jock, Alan Jones, entered the campaign with guns blazing - and all barrels aimed at Campbell Newman. A vocal anti-coal-seam-gas campaigner, he used his special broadcasts into Queensland on Fairfax radio to launch a scathing attack on Newman and his government over granting of a licence to the Acland stage three coal mine. Newman returned fire by launching a lawsuit, with several other LNP ministers, against Jones for defamation. Meanwhile, Tony Fitzgerald, who oversaw the royal commission into corruption in the Bjelke-Petersen era, broke a long interview silence warning that Queensland risked falling back into the bad old ways. "As (Wayne) Goss had set a new high standard, (the Newman government) probably set a new low standard."

Radio personality Alan Jones is facing more legal action from Queensland government ministers. Photo: AAP

FEDERAL OWN GOALS

The Newman government was doing its darndest to avoid the federal curse that afflicted the dying Napthine government in Victoria in November. But it wasn't to be. Prime Minister Tony Abbott this time stayed well away from Queensland's election campaign, saying that Campbell Newman was capable of running his own race. But Abbott - dubbed toxic during the Victorian election campaign - kept disrupting the LNP's mission with ill-fated announcements, especially the Australia Day decision to honour Prince Philip with a knighthood in the Order of Australia. The fallout lasted throughout the final week of the campaign - bumping the election off the front pages of the main newspaper, The Courier-Mail, not once but twice. Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, on the other hand, couldn't stay away, showing up nearly a dozen times. Whether it helped or hindered Annastacia Palaszczuk is to be determined.

SOME PARTIES DO HAVE `EM

There's always a candidate or two caught misbehaving. Two Gold Coast LNP MPs stood out. Verity Barton had to apologise for failing to pay fines that resulted in her being banned from driving twice in two years. Ray Stevens was caught on video dancing like a chicken and swatting at a journalist who asked about his connection to a plan to build a cableway in the Gold Coast Hinterland. The Gold Coast Bulletin took issue with Newman's attempt to laugh off the incident, saying that "reflected poorly on the LNP and raised questions in the minds of Gold Coasters already concerned about how the city is treated." Meanwhile, federal LNP MP George Christensen found no issue in posting a parody cartoon of a naked Annastacia Palaszczuk a la Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball video. Others weren't so amused.

Premier Campbell Newman has urged parties to focus on issues after a federal politician posted a cartoon on social media of a nude Annastacia Palaszczuk swinging on a wrecking ball. Photo: Facebook