Opinion polls have shown the Clark Government trailing the main opposition National Party for several months, although the gap narrowed to 6.5 percentage points at the start of September. The announcement came amidst a scandal involving political donations to Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ New Zealand First Party.

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’.

For Government ministers, the Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson, is something of a political coconut shy at the moment. It’s always worth lobbing something at him: even if the odds are long, you might surprise yourself and win a prize.

Making his first speech as leader-elect of the amalgamated Liberal National Party (LNP), Lawrence Springborg heralded a “new model of government” in Queensland - a model “more resilient and more rewarding”.

The new merged entity will be named the Liberal National Party. The vote proceeded as originally planned after legal action yesterday overturned a Thursday evening decision by the Liberal’s state council to postpone the merger poll indefinitely. The decision must now be ratified by the federal Liberal Party.