Premier Beattie plays the 'will he or won't he' political game ...

You have to admire the political skills of 'Teflon Pete'.

How do you keep your opponents in Toowoomba off balance and take yet more focus away from your own political troubles?

Leave Toowoomba hanging.

Don't let them know for a month or so whether you'll include them in the recycled sewage referendum for SEQ next year.

That will keep them off balance.

See - Toowoomba may be forced to repeat water vote.

'Teflon Pete' will have to do some tap dancing around the format of the referendum if he wants to include Toowoomba.

He'll also be faced with an angry Toowoomba population forced to the polls to answer substantially the same question yet again.

See if you can spot the difference:

A. Do you agree with putting 'purified recycled water' into Cooby Dam?

B. Do you agree with putting 'purified recycled water' into Wivenhoe Dam (and then pumping it to one of Toowoomba's dams)?

Same result - recycled sewage water flowing through your household taps and into the shops and restaurants of Toowoomba.

You can fool some of the people some of the time - but Toowoomba's voters have been around the block a couple of times over the past 15 months or so. We have Mayor Thorley to thank for that experience.

But it's all about politics. "Teflon Pete' knows how the recycled sewage debate divided Toowoomba and must hope to have the same effect throughout SEQ. With so much division and accompanying media coverage, the criminal trial(s) of his ex-Minister(s) and Dr Death will hardly rate a mention. Politics at its finest.

It will be interesting to play in the same weight division for a change. As entertaining as Round 1 was against Mayor Thorley, there was always the feeling of fighting down a weight class, such was the comedy of errors from Mayor Thorley and her Yes campaign team.

'Teflon Pete' is a much more worthy adversary - the wily veteran politician.

If he chooses to include Toowoomba in his referendum, it should be a good game. Same result - or actually a higher No vote is predicted - but it will be a good game ...