State and federal talk tough over local Queensland has called on the federal government to change the wording of the local government referendum question or the state government will... Local government minister David Crisafulli won't say, stopping just short of claiming Queensland would throw its support behind the "no" vote. Instead, he has issued a "final plea" to the federal government to alter the question to include a caveat to ensure any grants issued to a local council were subject to the laws of the state. But the federal local government minister, Anthony Albanese, says the state government is overreacting. He says the constitutional recognition of local government, which would be achieved by a "yes" vote at the upcoming election, was "simply about providing financial certainty" and that local governments would "continue to be the responsibility of state governments." "The proposed amendment is based on the wording suggested by the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Local Government, led by the Hon James Spigelman AC QC and subsequently endorsed by the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee," Mr Albanese said. But Queensland has not been appeased. "We are not asking the federal government to do something that goes against what they want to achieve so surely this is a simple case of them saying "yeah, let's make that amendment and we have a state that wants to back us,"" Mr Crisafulli said. There will be no greater supporter of the yes case than me if that doubt is removed. But I will not be party to something that allows Canberra to control our councils. Canberra struggles to control itself. Mr Crisafulli said the state government was hoping for a "discussion" about the issue, but would not say if a "no" answer from the federal government would result in a "no" vote from the Queensland government. "If they are genuinely pure in their intention to just be able to direct fund local government they should be falling over themselves to make the change, remove any doubt and have a state that champions the cause," Mr Crisafulli said. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has previously publicly thrown his support behind the referendum, standing next to prime minister Julia Gillard and Mr Albanese during the federal government announcement at Brisbane's City Hall last month.