Queensland Opposition decries lax sentence for MP

Queensland's Opposition wants the State Government to appeal the sentence of former government minister Merri Rose.

The 52-year-old former Tourism Minister and Gold Coast MP was sentenced to an 18-month jail term, suspended after three months, for trying to blackmail Premier Peter Beattie into giving her a lucrative public service job.

But Opposition Justice spokesman Mark McArdle said three months in jail did not reflect the severity of the crime and that Rose would "end up spending less time in jail than previous Queensland politicians jailed for travel expense claims".