Prime Minister Tony Abbott is yet to appear on the Queensland campaign trail and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten won’t let anyone forget it.

Theories abound about the vastly-differing movements of the federal political leaders in the Sunshine State.

The widely-seen Mr Shorten claims Mr Abbott, partly blamed for the coalition’s recent loss in Victoria, is avoiding the Liberal National Party campaign because he’s electoral poison.

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But he says the LNP’s moves to distance Premier Campbell Newman from Mr Abbott won’t work.

“Even if Campbell Newman can’t do live acts with Tony Abbott anymore, they’re still a double-act, they are still working together,” Mr Shorten said at Labor’s campaign launch on Tuesday.

Federal Greens leader Christine Milne said the prime minister wasn’t only unpopular in Queensland.

“Tony Abbott is not wanted in Queensland, in fact he’s not wanted anywhere in the country and you will see that he won’t be very welcome in NSW either,” she said in Hobart.

But Mr Abbott defended his absence by saying Mr Newman didn’t need any help.

“He wants to run his own race, and who could blame him for wanting to run his own race,” he said in Sydney.

“He doesn’t need Tony Abbott or Julie Bishop or Joe Hockey to hold his hand.”

The premier attacked Mr Shorten’s prominence in the campaign, calling him a crutch for state Labor.

“We don’t need to be propped up by people from interstate,” Mr Newman said.

“Sadly, there’s a lack of leadership in Labor, there’s weakness in Labor … and that’s why they need fly-in, fly-out politicians to help them at this time.”

State opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk presented her own theory about the prime minister’s absence at Labor’s campaign launch.

“Is it Campbell Newman who doesn’t want to be seen with Tony Abbott, or is it the other way around?” she asked.

Despite all the theories, Queenslanders can expect to see a lot more of Mr Shorten and not so much of Mr Abbott before they go to the polls on January 31.

-AAP