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.

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.

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.

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?

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”.