I was watching the TV news tonight and, about halfway down the bulletin, there were some stories about the new leader of the (Queensland State) Liberal Party, Bruce Flegg. Apparently he rolled Bob Quinn yesterday, but, even though I read the papers pretty carefully (OK, I read the websites of the national dailes pretty carefully and scan the Courier-Mail pretty fast) I hadn’t heard anything about this.Technorati suggests no-one else noticed either.* Somehow, I don’t think this is a good sign as regards the electability of the local Libs.
* I realise that my search omitted some blogs with few incoming links. A broader search picks up a couple of new bloggers more alert than me.
John Quiggin 
I think there’s a bit of a lag on Technorati sometimes, John, and that may account for it. But it’s hardly an earth shattering event, I’d agree, and it’s quite amusing to think that hardly anyone noticed.
However, I blogged on it:
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2006/08/08/crikey-story-queensland-libs-ructions/
Crikey story: Queensland Libs’ ructions…
Below the fold is some commentary from me published in today’s Crikey email about the coup against Queensland Liberal leader Bob Quinn and early state election speculation.
Elsewhere: John Quiggin has noticed that nobody much noticed the Liberal …
You did too, but it must have been after my visit to LP yesterday. I should check my RSS reader before posting stuff like this.
Crikey mentioned it in passing, and as a news addict, that was the only reference I found – there was a bit about Beattie becoming water Minister and declaring a state of emergency on the ABC…
ABC covered it.
TV news is about pretty pictures. If you want information, go radio.
Or http://www.abc.net.au/news
Hmm, it seems there are people who don’t listen to the news. It was on the afternoon ABC news bulletins.
At least in the version that’s now on the site, ABC News has this as a subitem in a piece headed
‘Party changes renew Qld election speculation’
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1708778.htm
The Qld Liberal Leadership spill is in the running for the least covered story of the year.
A reflection of the significance of the Liberal party in Queensland?
Yep!
Perhaps its more a reflection on either the fact that the liberals are better at massaging the media, drawing little attention to their weakenesses. Or perhaps media bias?
One things for sure – if this had been labor it would have been a soap opera.
Well, I only noticed because that night I had an (ALP) branch meeting and my local member mentioned it in his report!