Qld parliament to consider more MPs

Queensland's parliament will consider whether to add more politicians to its ranks after the opposition was able to force a vote on the issue.

The Liberal National Party (LNP) opposition earlier this week teamed up with crossbenchers, including Labor defector Rob Pyne, to hijack part of this week's parliamentary sittings.

A debate and vote will now be held on Thursday on whether to increase the number of state MPs from 89 to 93, which is likely to come at the expense of government bills already scheduled.

It'll be the third push in a year to increase the number of politicians after previous LNP and Katter's Australian Party (KAP) bills failed.

But this attempt could finally prove successful, with Mr Pyne indicating he's likely to back the changes.

Both KAP and LNP argue increasing MP numbers will ensure political representation in Queensland won't suffer when electoral boundaries are redistributed to create more seats in the state's highly-populated southeast corner.

The unexpected debate will likely mean the government's proposed chain of responsibility laws won't have a chance to be passed this sitting week, despite Environment Minister Steven Miles earlier this week stressing the urgent need for them.

The laws aim to stop taxpayers footing the bill if businesses - like Linc Energy or Clive Palmer-owned Queensland Nickel - close, but leave environmental clean-up to the government.