What can Can-Do Campbell do? Queensland’s pint-sized superhero, Can-Do Campbell Newman, has eight weeks to prove he really can do it. The former Brisbane Lord Mayor, who quit last April to lead Queensland’s Liberal-National Party into the election, now faces a state poll on March 24 that will determine whether the LNP gets in and whether Newman can be premier.

Newman does not yet have a seat in state parliament and is contesting one of Labor’s safer seats, in Brisbane’s western suburbs, which has been in ALP hands since 1989. The sitting MP, Kate Jones, who is young, articulate and well-liked, was one of the few Labor MPs to increase her vote at the last state election, and will be no pushover. She even threw in her job as Environment Minister last June to concentrate on getting re-elected. — Paul Barry (read the full story here)

Lavarch, Eddington and Bell recognised with gongs. As per usual, sports stars, artists and scientists featured heavily on this year’s Australia Day honours list.

But lurking amongst the deserving do-gooders were some seriously powerful players … — Lucy Clark (read the full story here)

John B. Fairfax a published poet. No matter what one’s position in a company, workplace disputes can pull at the emotional strings. Former media maestro John B. Fairfax had his own way of dealing with such office issues: he turned to writing poetry.

That’s how he dealt with his rather public stoush with former Fairfax Media chairman Ron Walker. According to today’s AFR Magazine, Fairfax wrote poetry to vent his anger and frustration during the 2009 Fairfax board split. — The Power Index (read the full story here)

Power Play #14: get behind other people’s ideas. Power Players get behind other people’s good ideas. If you hear a good idea from someone, use your power to help them make it real.

There are few things that will build your influence more than lending weight to an idea whose time has come, and doing whatever is required to bring it to life. — Rose Herceg (read the full story here)