Political coverage in the first couple of weeks of the year has largely been dominated by state issues, with Queensland Premier Campbell Newman announcing an election for January 31, while the NSW opposition caucus, or according to some media reports, the NSW Labor Party administration, selected Luke Foley as leader with just three months to go before that state’s poll.

Queensland’s second campaign week was dominated by whether Prime Minister Tony Abbott was being deliberately kept away from the campaign, with Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss on hand to bar all non-Queensland politicians from crossing the border, while both sides started to hand out the pork with infrastructure and other spending announcements.

Meanwhile brand new Health Minister Sussan Ley has been dropped right in it, with cuts to GP rebates announced last year in place of the co-payment about to take effect, which is drawing strong criticism from most Senate crossbenchers. Trade Minister Andrew Robb mentioned those three little letters G, S and T, although the chances of a sensible wide-ranging debate on the issue still seem mighty thin.

Crikey Political Index – January 8-14

The Queensland election was the main political issue on talkback as you would expect, but Treasurer Joe Hockey still managed to get a few brickbats even during beach season.

Talkback Top Five

Campbell Newman was not that far behind the PM on social media, while the Acting PM is somewhat less visible to the Twitterati, racking up about 1/50th the coverage of the resting Tony Abbott.

Social Media Top Five

Golden Globes hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler got the appropriate laughter when they pointed out the career achievements of Amal Clooney just before her husband was given a Lifetime Achievement Award. All those celebrities know they’re not really very important in the grand scheme of things, don’t they?

Comparison of media mentions