The Queensland government has committed another $15 million to the Cairns Hospital, while the opposition is spruiking its Bruce Highway plan in Townsville, as both campaigns hone in on the state's north.
The state election is just over four weeks away and both leaders hit the hustings in the two northern cities set to be critical to the outcome on October 31.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has allocated $15 million to acquire land to build a medical research, education and innovation precinct in collaboration with James Cook University near the Cairns Hospital.
A $1.5 million business case for the precinct is yet to be completed, but the premier insists she had to act quickly to get the land.
"We can't get the site unless you've got the money on the table," Ms Palasczuk said.
"So we've made available that money because we want this work to progress quickly, and it's going to be done in unison with the business case."
Labor have already committed $51.4 million to projects involved in upgrading the Cairns hospital, which serves some of the government's most marginal electorates.
The promised hospital projects include an expanded Emergency Department, a new multidisciplinary pre-admission clinic, an endoscopy room, an operating theatre and utility upgrades.
The region is shaping as a key battleground ahead of the October 31 state election with Labor sandbagging marginal seats.
Labor's Craig Crawford holds Barron River by 1.9 per cent, Michael Healy has a 3.4 per cent margin in Cairns and Cynthia Lui has a 5.8 per cent lead in Cook.
Ms Palaszczuk attacked the Liberal National Party over their election commitment funding, alleging that they would sell public power asset sales.
"I will not put it past the LNP to put our power assets for sale," she said.
An LNP spokesman denied the premier's claim, saying the party instead had plans to build public assets like the new Bradfield irrigation scheme and a space rocket launch site.
"Labor is the only state government that had sold assets," he told AAP.
LNP Leader Deb Frecklington was spruiking her plan to upgrade 1450km of the Bruce Hwy and also promised $5 million for a robotic surgery arm in Townsville on Thursday.
"We need to fix the Bruce, we need to keep people safe, we need to keep our communities connected, and like I say, most importantly ... we need to get people into work," she said.
The party is trying to dislodge Labor from three marginal seats the city - Thuringowa, Mundingburra and Townville. Labor's closet challenger in those seats on a two-party preferred basis is One Nation.
Ms Frecklington refused to elaborate on how she will fund the road project, which would cost the state $440 million annually for the next 15 years.
She appeared frustrated when asked if the LNP planned to borrow money.
"All of our commitments will be fully funded and fully costed," Ms Frecklington said.
Queenslanders go to the polls on October 31.
Australian Associated Press
