Alternative plans for Queensland

IMAGINE a Queensland where milk costs twice as much.

Where you'd be forced to refuel your car with an ethanol blend.

Where children who hadn't been immunised would be barred from child care centres, and parents would no longer have to shield youngsters from x-rated billboards.

Welcome to the alternative Queensland.

It is what the state would look like if it were being run by Labor and the minor parties.

Although currently relegated to the sidelines of politics, they are starting to get more attention.

A recent poll shows Katter's Australian Party, The United Australia Party and the Greens each have about five per cent of the vote.

But turning growing popularity into power won't be as straightforward as it was at the 2012 poll.

The government plans to change electoral funding laws so that parties would need 10 per cent of votes before they pocket any cash.

The Greens say they could win their first Queensland seat at the 2015 state election, with their best chance in Brisbane's west or the Sunshine Coast.

Spokesman Charles Worringham says they'll campaign on "big picture issues" to steer Queensland away from dependency on mining, and instead promote agriculture, tourism and further education.

Katter's party hopes to increase its three seats to nine at the next election, and to hold the balance of power.

The party has produced detailed policies and claimed some success.

Its proposal to shift or cull flying fox colonies has more or less been adopted by the government.

And its bill to ban sexy billboards from child friendly areas is also expected to be mirrored in government policy.

It's unclear yet if Katter MP Shane Knuth will get support for a new milk labelling system which he hopes will "bugger up" Coles and Woolworths.

Under the scheme milk labels will state whether farmers have received a fair price for the contents, giving consumers the power to stop the milk price war which has forced many dairy farmers off the land.

"We are making things happen in parliament, but the LNP is taking credit," Mr Knuth said.

Executive Director of the Public Policy Institute, Scott Prasser, says it's easy for minor parties to over-promise and under-deliver as they'll never have to implement policy.

He says although policies are developed with the best intentions, it's an appeal to particular supporters.

"There isn't much policy coherence overall," he told AAP.

"Government is always about compromise.

"Minority parties never want to be government. They can never be government, they can only hope to exert some influence on particular issues from time to time."

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