Departing former treasurer Joe Hockey gave the usual legacy-serving farewell speech last week, with unsurprisingly mixed reviews about his political career. A bit like the sport sharing his surname, (is it football with a cricket ball? Is it cricket with goals?) he never quite made it as a major player, and he will be remembered mostly for a 2014 Budget that ended up being as effective (and quicker) at killing off two major political careers as climate change policy backflips had been at knocking off Rudd and Gillard.

It was a much quieter political week across the board, with PM Malcolm Turnbull’s coverage about 40% lower than last week, the government trying to focus on innovation and infrastructure, without having any major announcements, and taking a pretty mild swipe at the banks for increasing interest rates, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s coverage rose slightly on the back of some bad polls that seemed to show the Cayman Islands attack had backfired badly.

Senator Eric Abetz was widely criticised for using the word “negro” in a radio interview, which swamped his latest attack on same-sex marriage, while Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce had a fair old swipe at a somewhat alarmist WHO report linking processed meat to cancer. I don’t think Barnaby’s on the palaeo diet.

Crikey Political Index: October 22-28

Lowest social media numbers for a PM we’ve seen in a long time as his polling numbers skyrocket, reinforcing the theory that not being talked about is the best possible thing online.

Social Media Top Five

A much quieter week on talkback too, with former PM Tony Abbott rather extraordinarily snagging the number one spot after his Margaret Thatcher lecture. They did but see him passing by…

Talkback Top Five

“Richetty grub stands in our Wallabies’ way!” — I couldn’t let this week go by without standing in awe of the Tele’s effort in transforming All Blacks Captain Richie McCaw into the Richetty Grub. Surely we’ll win now, after that devastating critique.

Comparison of media mentions