But the record 73 seats the LNP holds to Labor’s 9 is enough of a buffer to make it difficult for them to be kicked out of office at the next state election due in March 2015.

Of serious concern for the Government is that the Stafford result is worse than in Redcliffe where there was the disgraced Scott Driscoll factor.

The Opposition, in maximising the Government’s discomfort, has alleged that in Stafford there was a Campbell Newman factor – a claim reinforced by the absence of the Premier’s photo on the LNP’s How To Vote Card.

The Government cannot shrug its shoulders and continue a business as usual approach as it did after Redcliffe.

The result, even allowing for a moderation of the by-election swing at a general election, would depose many LNP members in southeast Queensland including the Premier in Ashgrove.

The Opposition is hoping there will be jitters and leadership rumblings from some first time LNP members whose careers are now in doubt.

This follows a desire expressed by some LNP members to bring the “old Campbell back.”

However, even if this desire is not fulfilled, most LNP members are too new and too inexperienced in politics to mount any successful leadership coup especially so close to a general election.

And the task of rebuilding is not straightforward.

A recent Essential Poll found that Queensland has the least trusted government in Australia.

Premier Campbell Newman has been given this message at two by-elections this year and is attempting to turn around the image problem his Government has.

His speeches now express the understanding that people are unhappy but his statements are also optimistic about Queensland’s future.

This corresponds with polls showing the government is arrogant thereby giving voters a reason to square things up electorally.

The arrogance was highlighted late last year when the government used its huge majority to sack a parliamentary committee headed by Independent member, Mrs. Liz Cunningham.

Its ham fisted process in the appointment of the new Chief Justice added to its woes within the judiciary and legal circles.

The recently concluded parliamentary scrutiny of the Government’s budget spending, the estimates committees, was a too clever by half tactic where many committee hearings were held simultaneously.

These meant the Opposition and the media had barely enough members to adequately cover all of the proceedings.

A confident Government with an acute ear to accusations of lack of accountability and to charges of arrogance would have avoided adding to that impression by adopting this tactic.

The State LNP Government has not been helped either by the inept performance of the Abbott Government whose actions pour electoral poison over the LNP brand.

Smart governments act and take the initiative in the face of pending electoral adversity.

Watch for a distancing of the Queensland Government from the Federal Government.

A cabinet shake out which brings into Cabinet talented women such as Deb Frecklington (Nanango), Lisa France (Pumicestone) or Saxon Rice (Mt. Coot-tha) would also help.

Giving an energetic media savvy Minister such as David Crisafulli wider responsibilities and including Robert Cavalucci (Brisbane Central) would add greater profile to the Cabinet in South East Queensland.

Sensing a possible Cabinet reshuffle, the Opposition has upped the ante by calling for the head of Attorney-General, Jarrod Bleijie – a call the Premier will ignore.

Nevertheless, there is a need to change the Ministry to give the Government a new image.

Stafford shows Labor’s vote recovering - its best result since 2006 - making it Labor’s safest seat now.

Comforting as this is for Labor, it is a long hard electoral road back.

It is a massive task to climb from its now 9 seats to the 45 it needs to form Government in the remaining eight months of this term of Parliament.

Labor’s problem is that its voice, sometimes softened by a lack of numbers, has been muffled in the media by Clive Palmer and his insurgent Palmer United Party.

In the optional preferential voting system operating in Queensland, a multi-party opposition disperses the protest vote between Labor, Palmer and the Greens.

The tactic of urging people to “just vote one” electorally stops the Opposition vote in its tracks.

It could enable the LNP to claw back to victory in seats that it would otherwise have lost.

Lawrence Springborg experienced this as Opposition Leader which is why today we have the LNP – a merger of the Liberal and National Party – a deft political action and one that gave them victory.

The Stafford by–election was a text book protest vote and realignment in the Labor vote after the lopsided 2012 state election result.

The Government has a significant electoral repair job to do in South East Queensland within the public service.

Public servants, nurses, doctors, and professionals who live in Stafford have had their political restiveness translated into a massive anti-Government swing.

The two party swing of 31.6 % at the small Prince Charles Hospital booth must be sobering for a government that tried to make Labor’s surgeon candidate an electoral issue.

If the old dictum still holds that Governments lose elections rather than Oppositions win them then Stafford shows that the 2015 state election is one for the Newman LNP Government to lose rather than Labor to win.

The Government’s actions over the next few months will tell how much progress they can make towards winning second term in office.

* John Mickel is a sessional academic at the Queensland University of Technology and former Speaker and former State Labor MP for Logan.