The ALP national executive’s decision yesterday to include Macquarie in its regime of central preselection impositions has sparked a wave of dissent from waring factions in the premier state.
Articles by Andrew Crook 
Mike Kaiser sails away with $450k as Bligh’s office implodes
Anna Bligh remains keen to recruit an outsider to replace Mike Kaiser as her chief-of-staff, in an effort to halt the destabilisation campaign that has seen nearly every member of her inner circle linked to a mutiny attempt.
Schools left off bushfire Code Red register
Victorian schools in the potential path of a new wave of bushfires have been left off an emergency register designed to shut them down in the event of another Black Saturday.
Victorian ALP facing fresh dissent on branch stacking
The Victorian Branch of the ALP’s branch-stacking inquiry has been branded a failure by a leading party member who helped set it up, because the same people who benefit from branch stacking wrote the report.
Glyn Davis’s modelling debut
Melbourne University Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis appears to have launched a modelling career spruiking the buttoned-up business section of The Age.
Robertson locals turn on Belinda Neal
ALP members in the NSW Central Coast seat of Robertson have dealt a blow to sitting member Belinda Neal’s political future, passing a motion last night rejecting central intervention to pick a candidate for next year’s federal poll.
Late-night missive fuels fight over faculty finances at Melbourne
The former dean of arts at The University of Melbourne, Professor Stuart Macintyre, has launched an extraordinary attack on his predecessor, Professor Mark Considine, accusing him of deliberately misrepresenting the state of the faculty’s finances, writes Andrew Crook.
The Newspoll numbers The Australian won’t print
The Australian appears to have decided to not publish the results of an opinion poll on voting intention in the wake of last week’s outlier that had Malcolm Turnbull gaining ground on Kevin Rudd.
Pot boils over at the Financial Review
Crikey’s story on The Australian Financial Review’s internal culture of bans and back scratching has stroke a note with many disgruntled insiders. The favouritism and cushy cliques continue…
Melbourne Uni Arts faculty anger at Dean’s re-appointment
Arts faculty staff at The University of Melbourne are in active revolt this morning after the man blamed for implementing widespread sackings and cost-cutting was re-appointed for a five year term as Dean.
Interest rate horse puns: their cups runneth over
The priceless coincidence of two major news events occurring within an hour of each other yesterday had the nation’s top journalists jockeying relentlessly in their favourite pursuit: tenuously-linked punnage.
Ill will across Melbourne uni claims another victim
The stoush between staff and senior management at the University of Melbourne has claimed its second victim after the chief architect of the university’s controversial internal restructuring process announced her decision to stand aside.
leaked Was Melbourne Model stoush behind the Law dean’s departure?
A damning series of internal documents obtained by Crikey reveals widespread anger from within Melbourne Uni’s law faculty over changes that would have seen professional staff sacked and replaced with senior bureaucrats.
Will Timor Sea oil slick be curtains for bluefin tuna?
The already-devastated Southern bluefin tuna population could be sunk for good by the recent Montara oil spill.
How to become a federal MP: the minor parties
Just what does it take to ascend to the lofty heights of federal parliament in a minor party? It seems that compared to the factionally obsessed Libs and Labor, the preselection process is a reasonably democratic one.
This emergency response is brought to you by … Telstra
Last week, Crikey received a curious query from a Victorian reader peeved at a recent call to Telstra’s triple-0 emergency service. It seems that emergency service call centres must say “thank you Telstra!” to every single call.
Lady Mayoress ruffles feathers among Melbourne’s old money set
It appears Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle’s braggadocio may have rubbed off on his fiancée Emma Page Campbell, who’s ruffling the feathers of ladies who lunch down at the Lady Mayoress’ Committee.
Kate Ellis and the youth roundtable that wasn’t
On Wednesday, leading youngsters were flown to Canberra for a “roundtable” discussion with youth minister Kate Ellis. But the Minister failed to show, nothing was launched and the delegates were shuffled around the corridors of power before being banished from the premises.
Bligh faces fresh dissent over abortion law
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh is facing fresh dissent in internal party ranks over the future of abortion law reform, despite at least 60% of the Queensland public supporting a woman’s right to choose.
Health Services election stoops to leather-clad rape slur
The three-way battle for control of the Health Services Union in Victoria has descended into acrimony after a vicious shit sheet depicting a candidate as a sexual predator was sent to thousands of union members.
When Fairfax moves, will Andrew Bolt be an outside broadcast?
Could management at Fairfax Media be so precious about rivals accessing its sparkling new Collins Street headquarters they are already hatching plans to bar News Limited employees from the premises?
Dunkley dust up: ALP destabilised by Shorten-Conroy split
A fresh factional war has broken out inside the Victorian ALP after Federal MP Bill Shorten and Senator Stephen Conroy came close to backing rival preselection candidates at a fiery meeting last night.
The AFR’s internal culture of favouritism and cushy cliques
The world’s most expensive financial tabloid, The Australian Financial Review, has been accused of many things in its 58-year history, but its internal culture of ruthless favouritism and cushy cliques has for the most part escaped scrutiny, writes Andrew Crook.
Australia Post stamps out raunchy Penguins
The retail arm of Australia Post has banned the sale of three literature classics amid concern over racy passages and graphic sex scenes.
