Lots of new entrants this week as state matters drifted away from the spotlight and federal issues become the main game. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison bursts back into the top ten with his declaration that the boats may not have stopped, but they ain’t getting through, after confirmation that no boat had reached Australian territory in the past 100 days. The Government still won’t say how many have tried.

Speaker Bronwyn Bishop was the other big mover as the opposition got stuck in, claiming that she was too partisan to be an effective Speaker. Some media called for the British practice of the speaker leaving their party and others noted that former speaker Peter Slipper was an even-handed and effective occupant of the chair, despite whatever other failings he may have had as a parliamentarian.

Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer seems to be having a lot of fun with electoral advertising rules over in the WA Senate election campaign, while the decision by the ICJ to ban Japanese whaling only moved Environment Minister Greg Hunt one spot up, while former environment minister and current Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull had his two cents on that issue, as well as poking fun at knights and dames and more relevantly ramping up the rhetoric on media reforms, claiming there needs to be changes this year.

 Crikey Political Index: March 27 – April 2

Bronwyn Bishop got plenty of support from talkback callers too this week, while for Campbell Newman a $70,000 pay rise was surprisingly unpopular — who’d have thought?

Talkback top five

A much broader spread of issues this week, although the royal honours decision kept Prime MinisterTony Abbott a mile ahead in online chatter, most of it derisory.

Social media top five

And ok, it hasn’t received much coverage, but the April Fool’s Day non-joke that Heston Blumenthal is bringing his The Fat Duck restaurant to Melbourne for six months was pretty exciting news for those of us who like to spend far too much money on mandarins made out of foie gras, anchovy ice cream and the like.

Comparison of media mentions