Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s coverage leapt by more than 50% this week, grabbing four times more coverage than anyone in the chasing pack as he attempted to keep the focus on international issues — the disintegration of Iraq and the threat of terrorism at home — while some of his ministers got tangled up in the details and some unrelated foot-in-mouth adventures. The Iraq focus and US joint meetings also pushed Defence Minister David Johnston into the list and seemed to help the government in one poll out this week, hard not to think the PM is comfortable to have some of the focus taken away from the still seemingly dire budget negotiations.

We’re not sure whether the Attorney-General spent much of the week pondering the metaphysics of metadata, but the media definitely decided it was a tough week for George Brandis, as he struggled to convince them why the government needs to have access to everyone’s browsing data. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull was pulled into the debate as well. Brandis also had to cop the axing of his planned changes to the Racial Discrimination Act. Workplace Relations Minister Eric Abetz leapt up the rankings, almost entirely thanks to his comments linking breast cancer to abortion in an interview on Channel 10’s The Project, which he belatedly tried to step away from following widespread condemnation, including from some of his Liberal parliamentary colleagues.

The NSW Liberal Government’s problems at ICAC stepped up another notch this week, with Newcastle MP Tim Owen admitting to receiving a cash donation from property developer and now Newcastle Mayor Jeff McCloy, with Charlestown MP Andrew Cornwell joining Owen in resigning from parliament today over allegations of illegal funding of their campaigns. The byelections in the two formerly safe Labor seats just six months from the state election probably won’t be a comfortable time for Premier Mike Baird.

Crikey Political Index: August 7-13

He may have slipped well out of the top ten across all media coverage, but PUP leader Clive Palmer remains a favourite topic among talkback callers, although numbers generally remained subdued. The Eric Abetz gaffe and George Brandis difficulties garnered little interest.

Talkback Top Five

While the talkback community wasn’t very interested, the online social space was more than happy to revel in Brandis and Abetz’s problems this week, although it was still the PM with the lion’s share of comments.

Social Media Top Five

And If you grew up anytime from the 70s to the 90s, you would have had to be a very cold fish not to have been touched by Robin Williams’s comic brilliance. Na-Nu Na-Nu, we will miss you.

Comparison of media mentions