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.

Malcolm Turnbull has always known what he wants, and why. He eased into the leader’s chair on Tuesday with an authority that immediately put the Government on notice that things were now going to be very, very different for it. On Turnbull’s team things will be very, very different, too. And not just because he’s leader.

With the stench of the Wollongong Council corruption scandal, developer donations and the New South Wales State Government’s radical planning reforms believed to be the main reasons for the Labor Party’s fall from favour, the Premier, Nathan Rees, said voters had sent a clear message to his Government.

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.

The problem for the voters of Lyne is that the high profile of newly elected independent MP Rob Oakeshott will not necessarily translate into real political achievement. Not unless the government of the day becomes dependent on one or more independents to sustain its majority in the House of Representatives.

With the outcome of the Western Australian election in doubt and upheavals in New South Wales, the aftershocks of the weekend’s ruptures in the Labor Party will be felt in Canberra. But other parties also have their problems. From coast-to-coast Labor governments to coast-to-coast confusion has taken a mere 10 months.

Rob Oakeshott’s crushing victory in Lyne is a clear example of how, if they are offered the choice of an independent candidate with a strong track record, electors in regional and rural areas who feel their local interests aren’t being addressed or are being sacrificed to other interests, will ignore their traditional party allegiances.

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.

This week saw big problems emerge for the Labor Party in New South Wales and Western Australia, while federally the Nationals shrank even further with the loss of Lyne. In the Senate, Steve Fielding voted down the luxury car tax increase, while in the United States, Sarah Palin has garnered an immediate and positive reaction.

Rob Oakeshott, a former member of the Nationals, was widely tipped to win the Lyne by-election, which was triggered by former deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile’s resignation from politics earlier this year. Mr Oakeshott stepped down from his state seat of Port Macquarie, which he held for 12 years, to contest the election.