Not even K-Tel could package up the Labor Party this week

The coming week is going
to be a stinker for the ALP, the first week back in Canberra since the
election loss – and don’t the charts reflect it.

If someone had issued a compilation of Lawrence Welk polka favourites –
played on the piano accordion, natch – it would have done better in
this week’s Canberra Top 40.

The PM is in his usual number one place – the true Australian
Idol. Other members of his frontbench – Brendan Nelson, Peter
Costello, Alexander Downer and John Anderson – make up the rest of the
Top Five.

Labor doesn’t get a look in until Mark Latham appears at Number Six – and he’s the only person on the Labor label in the Top 10.

Talking about Australian Idol, look who’s climbed to Number 14 this
week. The Paradise Assemblies of God in South Australia produced
both Guy Sebastian and the Family First Party – and Family First’s
Steve Fielding has jumped six places in the charts, even though he
won’t formally be a Senator for seven and a half months.

We all know Chuck Berry’s lyric “I’m gonna write a little letter/Gonna
mail it to my local DJ”. Well, Rehame, the compilers of the
Canberra Top 40, keep track of the issues talkback callers raise with
the shockjocks.

The only really tricky thing they wanted to talk about concerning the
Prime Minister was how his views on abortion would affect the debate
that’s currently going on. Clearly the punters are beginning to
detect dog-whistles and waking up to the “I didn’t raise this issue,
but…” modus operandi the PM has deployed in every ugly debate since
Pauline Hanson’s maiden speech.

With Latham, though, it’s a different matter. “Callers discussed
what they liked and disliked about Mark Latham’s general personality,”
Rehame said. “Callers wondered if the defeat of the Federal ALP
at the election would prompt them to look for a new leader.”

They also wanted to talk about the “troops home by Christmas” pledge – if that still holds.

Everyone knows that that line on Iraq was a slip of the tongue – but
one that the Labor leader felt he couldn’t withdraw without admitting
he’d stuffed up. It also seems to be about the only thing he’s
said or done that’s lodged in people’s minds.

It seems like just about every decent idea that Labor might have had
through the election campaign has been buried under the weight of
Latham’s poisonous leadership.

Hmmm. The bruvvers will be hoping no one slips out a yodelling CD
over the next week – ‘cos that would probably chart better than them,
too.

Who’s hot, who’s not: The Rehame Top 40 Pols

Rank Name Mentions Mentions
Last Report		 Rank
Last Report
1 John Howard 1973 2082 1
2 Brendan Nelson 705 740 4
3 Peter Costello 675 512 5
4 Alexander Downer 673 468 8
5 Tony Abbott 548 756 3
6 Mark Latham 563 1614 2
7 John Anderson 358 364 9
8 Philip Ruddock 305 70 28
9 Amanda Vanstone 277 38 45
10 Helen Coonan 257 146 21
11 Kevin Rudd 243 263 12
12 Lyn Allison 121 325 10
13 Jenny Macklin 117 119 23
14 Steve Fielding 116 153 20
15 Warren Truss 109 157 19
16 Peter Garrett 94 10 87
17 Julia Gillard 90 38 45
18 Andrew Bartlett 83 479 6
19 Chris Pyne 81 232 14
19 Malcolm Turnbull 81 5 108
21 Mark Vaile 61 182 17
22 Bronwyn Bishop 56 69 29
22 Ian Macdonald 56 45 39
22 Sharman Stone 56 200 16
25 Eric Abetz 54 49 35
26 Jim Lloyd 53 6 101
27 Bob Brown 50 106 24
27 De Anne Kelly 50 16 68
29 Kevin Andrews 49 180 18
29 Robert Hill 49 319 11
31 Peter Lindsay 48 23 57
32 Kim Carr 47 2 139
33 Rod Kemp 45 17 66
34 Bruce Baird 43 45 39
35 Barnaby Joyce 41 479 6
36 Andrew Robb 38 2 139
37 Stephen Conroy 36 6 101
38 David Hawker 35 10 87
38 Ian Campbell 35 100 25
40 Kelvin Thomson 34 4 119
40 Penny Wong 34 2 139