She's in form. It was the second time in a week that Kate made us laugh out loud.

She posted this image of herself wearing a koala-themed mask with the caption: "Do you think @JohnBarilaroMP [NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro] would like one too?"

Topics wonders whether John will bear a grudge. When we saw the mask, we thought, "Yep, the eyes have it".

For those who live under a rock or choose to ignore politics as a rule, John threatened to take his National Party team to the crossbench last week over the NSW government's koala protection policy.

The survival of the Liberal-National Coalition that runs the NSW government was in doubt, kind of like the state's koalas.

Kate's koala mask followed her opinion piece in Saturday's Newcastle Herald, titled "Hysterical stand is a National disgrace".

The article was about the National Party's "hysterical style of politics".

She said the party's version of "looking out for the bush" tended to focus on looking out for "large corporate agribusiness and multimillionaire owners of land and water".

She said the party pushed an "anti-science rhetoric that weakens and divides communities, damages the environment and does little to create new jobs".

And then, in the quote of the week [arguably of the year], she wrote: "If you ever mention these facts to a National Party MP, just watch their face go red and explode. Anger is their answer to everything."

We got another laugh from a Tweet by comic genius Steve Martin.

The star of Three Amigos and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, wrote: "I always wear a mask when I go outside. But something about it was leaving me anxious and unsettled. I thought about the problem, addressed it, and here is the solution."

The photo was a take on Martin's old arrow-through-the-head gag that he used to do in his early stand-up comedy days. We do enjoy his self-mocking, offbeat humour.

The comments about Martin's tweet took on a life of their own.

One response included a photo of a seabird with its feet tied in mask strings: "Please make sure to cut the strings when you throw your mask away. Animals are getting tangled in them and cannot free themselves."

Another said: "Hey, if we can move generations of people to cut the plastic of six-pack holders, we can get the word out about this!"

And then: "Hey humans, dispose of masks properly. In the bin."

Also: "Putting it in a trash can is half of it. Animals still get into the cans, also the landfill is where birds get into a lot of trash."

The trash talk went on and on.

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night."

"Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke."

While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here

IN THE NEWS: