Three state and territory Labor governments are at the heart of the storms buffeting Australian politics. New South Wales’ economy is shrinking and last week its government imploded spectacularly. The Northern Territory Government mismanaged the crisis of child protection in indigenous communities that led to the federal intervention last year. And the West Australian Government is on the verge of losing office after an opportunistic and cynical election campaign.

When historians look back on what has been a week of unprecedented political havoc across the country, perhaps one of the most significant developments will have gone contemporaneously unremarked: the final morphing of Brendan Nelson into Simon Crean. Crean paid the ultimate price. It’s odds-on Nelson will as well.

After the resignation of popular local member and former foreign minister Alexander Downer, the Liberals suffered a 10 per cent swing on the primary vote. Family First candidate Bob Day, who stood as a Liberal in last year’s general election, picked up most of the Liberal vote while the Greens vote was up by more than 11 per cent.

Since Jamie Briggs won preselection, so-called anonymous Liberal “dirt sheets” on the 31-year-old former Howard government staffer have been raining in Canberra like confetti.