Tony is the one grinding his teeth

CAMPBELL Newman won't like this Newspoll, but he won't lose any sleep over it either as he rests up during the holidays.

From his point of view, the state government is pretty much on track in Queensland despite a somewhat patchy start.

The public sector cuts Newman unveiled soon after taking office, on the advice of an audit led by former federal treasurer Peter Costello, were never going to be popular and there is political logic to the decision to chop hard, fast and early in his first term.

Tony Abbott will be the one grinding his teeth - or maybe his toes in the sand - because his single-minded colleague from Queensland is acting with a decisiveness the federal Coalition is yet to display policy-wise under his leadership.

In the process, Newman has gifted Labor another frightener to put on the electorate over what an Abbott government would do, and you can bet Julia Gillard, Wayne Swan and co will run with it all the way to the federal election next year.

Their best chance - only chance, really - is to convince voters that the federal Opposition Leader's persona makes him unelectable as PM, as opposed to the government's record making it electoral roadkill.

Newman could probably ease up a little to help Abbott, with whom he gets on, probably more so than others in the conservative premiers' club.

But that's not his way.

Time is on the Premier's side, not Abbott's, and the danger for the federal Coalition is that the perception that Newman is governing Queensland with a degree of reckless indifference will harden before the gain from the pain becomes evident to voters and tars Abbott, however unfairly.