Rural Qld shortchanged by failed bill: KAP

Rural Queensland's political representation is "almost laughable" after the failure of a redistribution bill, Katter's Australian Party MP Rob Katter says.

An opposition bill to create an independent body to consider the electoral changes was introduced to state parliament on Wednesday.

But it fell over after Speaker Peter Wellington and controversial Cook MP Billy Gordon sided with the government to vote against it.

The thwarted reforms mean an electoral "sinkhole" towards the state's southeastern corner could open up, further reducing the political power of rural areas, says Mr Katter.

"There's hardly any representation for the rural areas now ... it's almost laughable," the Mount Isa MP told ABC radio.

"We're losing the battle."

Mr Katter said he was sometimes forced to sleep in his car as he travelled across an electorate comparable in size to France.

He rejected the suggestion the bill was a disguised power-grab.

"We're just talking about surviving, not expanding or taking over the world," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Gordon has flagged the idea of putting more staff and resources at existing regional electorates, instead of making more seats.

Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath on Wednesday said there was already an electoral redistribution due in 2016 and the proposal would unravel bipartisan reforms implemented after the fall of the Joh Bjelke-Petersen government in 1987.

His National Party government was kept in power for almost 20 years thanks to a gerrymander, which gave it an electoral advantage in its regional and rural heartland.