Two days back at work was enough to push the PM back up to double the coverage of his nearest political rival for attention in this week’s Media Monitors’ Top 20 list, but the bulk of coverage remained at state level, with NSW Premiership speculation providing a delightful wedding present for Nathan Rees even before he was back from New York.

Wayne Swan was also back on deck and starting the year with dire warnings of the sharper than expected slowdown in China and what that will mean for the economy and the soon to be large budget deficit.

Malcolm Turnbull and Joe Hockey were also right back into it over the week, commencing with the sure-to-be-oft-repeated line that “Labor = deficit”, while not opposing spending. 2009 may be one of those very rare years when opposition is more enjoyable than government.

TW

Move

Position

Politician

Press Index

Radio Index

TV Index

Internet Index

Raw total

INDEX

1

0

PM

Kevin Rudd

1,000

1,000

1,000

1,000

8,882

1,000

2

1

Premier

Nathan Rees

509

838

267

430

4,761

511

3

-1

Cabinet

Julia Gillard

514

351

222

669

4,144

439

4

15

Cabinet

Wayne Swan

418

535

441

283

3,595

419

5

3

Opp Leader

Malcolm Turnbull

388

469

261

320

3,204

360

6

12

Cabinet

Stephen Smith

351

135

161

265

1,823

228

7

-3

Cabinet

Peter Garrett

393

76

32

384

1,877

221

8

43

State Minister

John Della Bosca

246

389

128

97

1,837

215

9

*

State Minister

Tony Kelly

135

295

161

134

1,711

181

10

6

State Minister

David Campbell

152

264

16

271

1,883

176

11

*

Backbench

Frank Sartor

143

444

57

49

1,650

173

12

1

Backbench

Barnaby Joyce

233

315

46

37

1,244

158

13

22

Shadow

Joe Hockey

115

366

104

18

1,379

151

14

1

Premier

Anna Bligh

351

26

11

159

834

137

15

*

State Minister

Rob Hulls

162

139

84

65

868

112

16

-4

NSW Opp Ld

Barry O’Farrell

17

142

30

236

1,364

106

17

0

Party leader

Bob Brown

86

84

17

204

1,074

98

18

-4

Premier

Mike Rann

206

62

31

72

593

93

19

15

Cabinet

Nicola Roxon

140

102

70

44

647

89

20

-10

Premier

John Brumby

172

20

5

106

534

76

Still not much happening in talkback land; NSW Labor shenanigans gets them high on a short list.

Rank

Politician

Talkback

1

Kevin Rudd

115

2

Nathan Rees

111

3

John Della Bosca

88

4

Frank Sartor

63

5

Joe Hockey

57

And the most talked about American in the Australian media so far this year? Well, that one’s too easy…

Press

Radio

TV

Internet

Total

INDEX

Lance Armstrong

993

762

1,947

266

7,121

992

There’s more on the Media Monitors website.