The appointment of a new Queensland premier marks an end to the remarkable rise and fall of Campbell Newman.

He parachuted into the top job from outside state parliament to rescue the Liberal National Party (LNP) from 14 long years of opposition.

Politics was in his blood: both his parents had served as ministers in federal governments.

In 2012, he faced a tough contest against a seasoned politician in the seat of Ashgrove.

It was a bruising battle, with Labor attempting to smear his reputation. A senior colleague said the contest changed Mr Newman.

He won and so did the LNP, taking power in the greatest political victory Australia's ever seen.

It looked like Mr Newman would be premier for many terms but not even three years later it was done.

Not only did the LNP lose power, the premier was unceremoniously booted from his seat.

"My political career is over," he said on election night.

A small number of Mr Newman's billboards were defaced in the election campaign. ( ABC News: Jacqueline Maddock )

How and why it all came to such an abrupt end will be studied by an internal review, led by former premier Rob Borbidge and former treasurer Joan Sheldon.

Looking back there seemed to be a number of bellwether moments for his government.

There was the decision to make 14,000 public servants redundant in his first budget.

Then came the disputes with doctors, unpopular changes to the state's corruption watchdog, and a controversial appointment of the state's chief justice.

Mr Newman seemed to recognise things were going wrong after two crushing by-election defeats.

He offered an apology in July last year and retracted a couple of contentious policies, but it was not enough to regain the public's trust.

The final clincher was the LNP's decision to privatise $34 billion worth of assets if it regained government in the January 31 election.

Mr Newman's election campaign slogan was strength - a strong team with a strong plan.

But it was the electorate that showed power - voting out the government, and Mr Newman.