A fresh nappy (diaper)

I don't blog about politics much. I'm not that passionate about the subject but mostly I can't be bothered. But last night a rather extraordinary thing happened. An almost certain change of Government in the state of Queensland. It is not the fact of the change that is extraordinary but the circumstances.

In 2011 the Liberal National Party won power in Queensland with Campbell Newman as its leader. The margin of victory, 78 of the 89 seats, was simply unprecedented. Generally huge majorities are thought to be bad for democracy. Governments with sizeable majorities tend to take advantage of that power and lose touch with the electorate through decisions of electoral benefit rather than electorate benefit. Generally the bigger the majority the more elections it takes for the electorate to eventually rid themselves of that Government.

With the size of that 2011 win it was assumed without exception it would take more than two elections for the ousted Labor Party - reduced to just 9 seats out of the 89 - to return to power. Well, Mr Newman and his party made themselves so unpopular it seems that their rule lasted just one term of Government. The party has almost certainly lost power to the Labor Party and Mr Newman has definitely lost his seat.

All of which supports the following theory.