The period saw some economic optimism with the release of the thirty-year Queensland Plan and a burgeoning LNG industry, but also much pessimism amid growing unemployment and a shift in the Newman government’s plans for asset privatisation. After suffering a massive anti-government swing at the Stafford byelection early in the period, the Liberal-National Party faced more public opinion challenges as allegations of cronyism and conflicts of interest coalesced with messy pre-selection brawls.