Immigration Minister Scott Morrison moved all the way up to second place this week after a deal was struck with the Cambodian government to resettle asylum seekers, claims of sexual abuse on Manus Island were aired and a deal with PUP leader Clive Palmer to bring back Temporary Protection Visas was finalised last week. Morrison also received coverage relating to the still ubiquitous issue of counter-terrorism as the rumours of a “Homeland Security” super-ministry were publicly scotched by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop. This renewed focus on asylum seeker issues pushed Greens Immigration Spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young into the top ten as well.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine was up to fifth as he rushed through East-West Link paperwork ahead of the imminent state election. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann was the biggest mover though, leaping 23 places up the list as the government moved to sell Medibank Private, hoping to raise around $7.5 billion, while fending off claims from the opposition and unions that the sale will increase private health insurance premiums.

The other big mover was Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, who fell down to 13th onthe list and was mentioned a grand total of zero times on talkback as he remained in furious agreement with the government on responses to ISIL, both here and abroad, and seemed not overly keen to talk about asylum seekers.

Crikey Political Index: September 25 – October 1

Talkback callers moved on swiftly this week from Senator Jacqui Lambie to another senate crossbencher, David Leyonhjelm. It seems there weren’t all that many libertarians ringing up radio stations to defend him, and that some people even may have voted for the Liberal Democrat Party by mistake. Well, I never!

Talkback Top Five

He may have been nowhere in the news media or talkback over the past seven days, but Bill Shorten only dropped one spot on social media, with much of it criticising his stance on military involvement in Iraq.

Social Media Top Five

Unshaven middle-aged Peter Pans everywhere were crying into their breakfast beers as the last great bachelor hope got married to British human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in a spectacularly less than private wedding in Venice.

Comparison of media mentions