In her quest to make Queensland the most COVID-19 free state in the nation and block traffic from New South Wales and Victoria, Palaszczuk may have created an economic catastrophe that can only be averted with a healthy coal mining industry.
Queensland's tourism industry relies on holiday makers from the southern states spending their money in the tourist hotspots of the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Cairns.
Hosting the AFL grand final in Brisbane was a great promotion for Queensland but it does not mean anything if the hard lockdown blocks traffic into the state.
There are a lot of tourism industry operators who are going to go broke or are will need to be bailed out by the government.
How is the government expected to pay for this assistance and the forgone tax revenue?
Coal mining royalties and tax collections of course.
With no tourism dollars coming in, education on the canvas because there are no high fee-paying foreign students anymore, and stamp duty revenue down because of a depressed property market, it once again falls on coal's broad shoulders to carry the state.
Palaszczuk knows she can rely on Queensland's world class metallurgical coal sector in the Bowen Basin to provide the state with copious amounts of money to fund the extended lockdowns.
However, she dare not admit to this publicly or give assurances that the royalties will not be raised in her next term.
To do so would upset the swinging voters in marginal city electorate in inner city Brisbane.
So she prefers to keep mum on the issue and divert attention away from it by engaging in a cross border spat with NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.
Queensland's resources companies already pay Australia's highest royalty rates. They contributed $82.6 billion to the Queensland economy in the last financial year, an increase of $5 billion on the year before.
Queensland Labor previously committed to a three-year freeze for coal and metals but was not willing to extend this.
Coal mining companies need royalty stability to keep their operations competitive and attract investors to new projects.
The LNP understands this and has provided a guarantee for a 10-year hold at current levels on royalty rates.
Hogsback reckons the Queensland premier needs to look beyond sectarian politics in the state and ensure a healthy coal mining industry continues to develop in a climate of royalty rate stability.
