LNP leader John-Paul Langbroek will ignore former Prime Minister John Howard's advice and continue the party's opposition to the Bligh Government's privatisation plans.
Mr Langbroek last night attempted to downplay a report on brisbanetimes.com.au yesterday that revealed Mr Howard urged the LNP to to reconsider its opposition to the Bligh Government's planned sale of state assets.
Although he conceded the report was accurate, Mr Langbroek said Mr Howard had been "selectively" quoted.
"It was a vote of confidence in the LNP, him being here, and it was great for morale that he was here for members who've respected and known him for a long time, but in terms of specific strategy, he certainly didn't tell us things we weren't already aware of."
Mr Langbroek said Mr Howard conceded he "wasn't as aware" of the situation in Queensland as he could have been.
And the LNP leader said although the party was opposing the asset sale, it had no qualms with the principle of privatisation.
"[Mr Howard] understood that in Queensland it was also to do with the honesty and integrity issue, which is our real position on privatisation, not the principle of privatisation itself," Mr Langbroek said.
Mr Langbroek said the party would not budge on its position on the asset sales in the lead-up to the next election.
"We oppose them, we have opposed them, we will oppose them. For us, Queensland is not for sale," he said.
Mr Langbroek said the government's plan was "not a genuine privatisation", but rather a "fire sale of assets to fix a debt situation" and that was why the LNP opposed the sales.
brisbanetimes.com.au asked Mr Langbroek whether the LNP would support a "genuine privatisation" of Queensland assets.
"That's a speculative question because we can only deal with the models that the government are presenting for us," Mr Langbroek said.
"We'll have our own policy platform and at the last election, we didn't have any privatisation as part of our manifesto and we'll make sure that we're up-front with the people of Queensland before the next election.
"Even if we were to propose something, we'll make sure people have the chance to vote for it."
It has been a turbulent week for Mr Langbroek, who faced internal revolt yesterday when Aidan McLindon and Rob Messenger deserted the party to sit in parliament as independents.
Mr Langbroek said he was confident rumours of an impending third desertion would not come to fruition.
"The opportunity was there [on Wednesday] for anyone else to join the other two and that was not taken up," he said.
"Whilst I don't want to divulge the contents of the meeting specifically, it was made pretty clear that those two had made their decision and [it was asked] were we all happy to proceed with the day and the answer was yes."
He also remained confident of his viability as LNP leader and said he did not expect to be challenged before the next election.
"I'm trying to do something that opposition leaders don't do much anymore and that's serve a full term in opposition," he said.
