It could only happen Queensland and not just under a LNP government. The ALP is quite capable of doing likewise only they did not think of it first.

David

This Qld legislation was written up in an SMH opinion piece as follows: "In an extraordinary move, Newman, with Labor's support, rammed a bill through Queensland's one-house Parliament on Friday stripping the KAP (Katter's party) of party status. With three MPs, it was entitled to party status and $40,000 a year of extra funding that would have come out of the funding Labor received as the hitherto sole opposition party.
The legislation stipulated a party could not achieve party status by building its numbers with defectors. All members had to be elected under the party banner.
It was an extraordinarily undemocratic piece of law and Katter was rightly aggrieved."
From: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/big-dreams-not-just-the-hat-talking-20121202-2aosw.html#ixzz2E4KGYtqF

So it's clear Labor only had self-interest at heart ($40,000 per annum to be precise) in supporting the legislation. But the LNP as the ones putting up this legislation, are more of a worry.

This is a disturbing story on a number of levels. It shows, for example, how far the modern Labor Party has sunk that it collaborated in this tawdry denial of Katter's Party. As the author shows, the Labor Party under Beattie was more mindful of democracy.

Secondly, it reveals more of the true colours of the LNP and its leader. Cronyism, corruption and anti-democracy traits are in full flower and this crowd have been at it less than a year.

Thirdly, it highlights the fundamental inequity of an electoral system that awards 88% of the seats to a party with less than 50% of the vote, thereby destroying any possibility of parliamentary scrutiny and accountability upon which a democratic state depends.

We in Queensland are seemingly doomed to watch the playing out of Lord Acton's dictum about power corrupting and absolute power (which is what we now have here) corrupting absolutely.

As usual the supine media are happy to enjoy the ride.