He admitted he was a media tart years ago, so it should come as not surprise that Peter Beattie continues to hang round the top of the Crikey/Media Monitors Top Twenty for the week of 26 June-2 July.

The Northern Territory intervention continues to dominate the media, with John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Mal Brough all in the Top 4. But the Queensland angles – and the start of his Dame Nellie Melba long goodbye – has put Peter Beattie in the Number 3 slot.

They have also propelled his deputy and likely successor, Anna Bligh, 18 places up the charts to slide in to the Number 20 slot.

In comparison, Treasurer Peter Costello is sliding down the charts. (And has he actually offered a view on the Aboriginal issue?)

TW
(Move)

Politician

Press

Radio

TV

Internet

Total

1
(0)

John Howard

881

9,819

5,285

6,115

22,100

2
(0)

Kevin Rudd

419

5,072

1,268

3,047

9,806

3
(0)

Peter Beattie

211

2,779

1,897

1,306

6,193

4
(3)

Mal Brough

234

3,141

1,165

956

5,496

5
(0)

Steve Bracks

137

1,500

1,336

1,363

4,336

6
(-2)

Morris Iemma

140

1,807

306

1,535

3,788

7
(-1)

Peter Costello

162

1,256

659

1,301

3,378

8
(0)

Tony Abbott

104

1,418

332

555

2,409

9
(6)

Alexander Downer

63

926

600

804

2,393

10
(0)

Julia Gillard

53

596

140

888

1,677

11
(0)

Alan Carpenter

97

679

258

517

1,551

12
(1)

Malcolm Turnbull

53

505

57

665

1,280

13
(6)

Mike Rann

66

635

346

229

1,276

14
(4)

Philip Ruddock

46

522

113

243

924

15
(-3)

Helen Coonan

40

93

18

748

899

16
(-7)

Joe Hockey

62

227

1

532

822

17
(5)

Julie Bishop

58

374

8

301

741

18
(12)

Kevin Andrews

17

391

2

232

642

19
(2)

Mark Vaile

18

121

55

384

578

20
(18)

Anna Bligh

24

273

109

4

410

John Howard remained the most frequently mentioned politician on talkback discussion this past week as discussion of the government’s plans for indigenous communities ran hot. Western Australia Premier Alan Carpenter however also crashed the debate, with his dog in the manger contributions.

Rank

Politician

Talkback

1

John Howard

808

2

Kevin Rudd

194

3

Alan Carpenter

172

4

Peter Beattie

170

5

Mal Brough

163

And talking of hot issues, there’s a special Media Monitors report on the water debate available free of charge for Crikey subscribers.