Labor’s hegemony was an aberration matched only once in Australian history by a similarly brief period of conservative rule in 1969 and 1970. Projecting recent trends forward would see the defeat of the Bligh Government in Queensland next year, the Rann Government in early 2010 and the Rees Government in NSW in early 2011.

Peter Beattie as a politician was sly, manipulative and cunning, but he also had the brilliant knack of being able to lead public opinion. He had the capacity to quickly change the terms of a public debate. His legendary ability to apologise for problems of the day was might have enraged the political class, but it went down a treat with the voters.

Labor’s longest-serving premier, Mike Rann, is in deep trouble in South Australia, where the ALP’s primary vote has been overtaken by the state Liberals, leaving tied after preferences. Labor’s primary vote in Queensland dropped five percentage points to 38 per cent, against 41 per cent for the newly merged Liberal National Party.

Knowing that Lawrence Springborg’s attempts to merge the warring state Liberal and Nationals had failed twice before, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh claimed that a merger would be a test of Springborg’s leadership. The problem for Bligh is that Springborg has pulled off what many had thought was politically impossible.

Belgian Gardens State School in Townsville has banned all gymnastics activities during lunch breaks, declaring it dangerous because it has the potential to cause back and neck injuries.

While the exact shape and strength of the new Freedom of Information laws will not be known until later this year when the Government releases draft legislation, Ms Bligh said a new regime would be in place by the middle of next year. Until then, the cabinet agenda and non-sensitive documents are likely to be proactively released.

During the 12 years of the Howard government, these voters were capable of voting for John Howard federally, then turning to throw their support behind Labor at the state level. The question was always what these voters would do once the government changed in Canberra, and now we are starting to get an answer.

Queensland Nationals leader Lawrence Springborg has been working on a strategy to take back power from the ALP for the past seven years. But how can Springborg - already a two-time loser to the ALP machine - position himself for a third pitch against the ALP, with a new, and popular, Premier?