New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell was shocked into action this week over claims of child sex abuse cover-ups in the Catholic Church, which led to Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s announcement of a full royal commission (brace yourselves — the Irish one lasted nine years). Our weekly measurement shows O’Farrell has rarely made the top three in media coverage despite presiding over the biggest state in the nation.

North of his border, things went south between Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney, Treasurer Tim Nicholls and Clive Palmer. The state MPs made headlines by suspending the mining magnate’s Liberal-National Party membership following his “strongly worded” criticism of the pair.

Also in the press was Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, who released the federal government’s energy white paper, reported by Alan Kohler as lacking long-term vision for the states in household power pricing and the domestic energy reform process.

Others up in the rankings include independent Tony Windsor, one of many MPs calling for a royal commission into chuch abuse, and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith over US concerns about cuts to defence funding. Meanwhile, news that Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s web filter had been replaced by a deal with telcos to block sites on the Interpol blacklist drew the ire of Malcolm Turnbull, who weighed in saying the original plan would never have worked.

Crikey Political Index: November 7-13

The Catholic Church scandal puts the NSW Premier on the talkback radar. Kevin Rudd is here as always, driven this week by his fireside chat with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell, one of a series of media outings staged as the PM took to foreign pastures.

Talkback top five

For the first time in forever K-Rudd has been pushed out of our social media five — providing a perfect example of how media commentators push the backbencher’s boat out without him lifting a finger.

Social media top five

From Flemington to Bondi Beach, social media was abuzz with tweets from Charlie-spotters, as the future king spent last week “coming to a motorcade near you”.

Comparison on media mentions