Nonetheless, a year after the NSW election and the published opinion polls show federal Labor still struggling in that state, although the situation is not hopeless.

For some time, the federal government has sought to firewall itself from what was coming its way in Queensland.

Party officials pointed out, quite correctly, that Bligh's government was headed for the chop before Gillard announced the carbon tax and her government's poll ratings fell off a cliff.

In February 2010, a week or two before the carbon tax was announced, Queensland's Courier-Mail published an opinion poll with the headline ''Anna Bligh and Labor facing electoral annihilation''.

And the government was never ahead in the polls again - not even during the floods, which momentarily boosted Bligh's personal ratings.