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.

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.

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.

This week was a week of number twos on a variety of fronts. In the US, Joe Biden became Barack Obama’s new sidekick, while in Australia, the minor parties in the Senate geared up to take on their new roles as second fiddles. Meanwhile, in the entertainment world, ‘Stargate Atlantis’ was cancelled and replaced by ‘Stargate Universe’.

It is hardly surprising that the Coalition is divided on what should be its response to the complicated issue of climate change. This is particularly so when the Rudd Government has yet to provide full details of its planned approach - they will not be available until the publication of the white paper scheduled for October.

While fighting to delay the Liberal-National merger in Queensland, Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson was busy readying for another fight - with Malcolm Turnbull and other frontbenchers, as well as a good proportion of the party room - to move to the right on climate change.

Amalgamation between the Liberal and National parties is not on the agenda outside Queensland, where the two parties either work closely but separately in coalition or can’t stand each other.

The Liberal National Party, which was created over the weekend, will now become a division of the Liberal Party, affiliated with the Nationals, and the existing state organisations will be disbanded. State MPs will unite, while federal MPs will sit in their existing partyrooms for the time being.

The leader of the newly founded Liberal National Party, Lawrence Springborg, says the new party will focus on four key areas in the lead up to next year’s state election; fixing roads, hospitals, education and water.