Bligh gets the printers rolling again. Many Queensland local government candidates have already had their election material printed up, we’re told — before Anna Bligh went and changed the date to account for recalling the flood inquiry. So it’s back to the printers they go. Who will pick up the tab for that? God bothers v deniers: propaganda […]

The long gold handshake for Ian Ross. How paranoid are TV networks about poaching stars? Paranoid enough for Seven to extend news doyen Ian Ross’ non-compete clause to ensure he isn’t snapped up by a rival network. Ross — who was recruited by Seven to read its Sydney news, going on to thump his old network Channel Nine […]

Jobs to go in Vodafone restructure. The corporate “restructures” are continue apace. Cost pressures at Vodafone have seen the CEO flag coming redundancies to staff this morning. Vodafone Hutchison Australia CEO Nigel Dews dispatched an email to staff — which we obtained soon after — detailing a restructure of the sales and marketing units at the company, with “flow-on effects” to include […]

Abbott couldn’t wait for a massage. Did Tony Abbott jump the queue after a ride in Adelaide? A perturbed Crikey correspondent reports: “I wasn’t surprised to learn that Action-Man-Abbott had invited himself along to last Friday’s BUPA Challenge segment of the Tour Down Under — the 140km ride for the dinky-di Aussie MAMIL (Middle-Aged Man in Lycra). After the ride, I […]

Did a fellow indy kill Wilkie’s reforms? Why was Andrew Wilkie so confident he could get his pokie reforms through Parliament, only to back away this week without the necessary numbers? One anonymous source reckons it’s because one of the key independents changed their mind. “And did so,” they say, “without giving a single reason why.” […]

Where Westpac will cut more IT staff. Disgruntled Westpac staff are still whispering about what led to the sacking — as Crikey revealed yesterday  — of some 30 IT staff under a management restructure. Decades of engineering and technical experience has been let go, our source says, and some of the issues retrenched staff had with management were personal. But it’s what’s […]

Jobs go in Westpac restructure. We speculated yesterday on a reorganisation of staff at Westpac, and that was delivered that afternoon by CIO Clive Whincup. We’re told about 30 IT staff — a spokesperson for the bank thought about 28 — were made redundant. Westpac tells us the changes were in line with its restructure announced last year around the […]

Which bank is shaking things up? What’s up at Westpac? We’d heard major organisational structure changes were due to be announced today. Investors weren’t aware of anything as we hit deadline and the bank’s corporate spinner wasn’t returning our calls. But our source insists the announcement could be big. Stay tuned … West Wing-style departmental meetings. ”Which […]

Government deal for media coverage? Did a Victorian government department really do a deal with a newspaper group to curry favour? That’s the word from one Spring Street mole. We’re investigating, but if you know more … Labor minister a ‘mining lackey’. Labor’s Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson had some cleaning up to do at his […]

Gerry Harvey’s online adventures. We’d heard on our grapevine that Gerry Harvey — he of the notion online retailing is slowly strangling Australian businesses such as his — may have logged on himself to purchase a couple of tractors for the farm. Well before we could even suggest any whiff of hypocrisy, Harvey set us straight on the phone this […]

Who’s the hack eyeing an LNP job? Rumours apparently persist in Queensland media circles that a senior political reporter is making moves to secure a lucrative position with Campbell Newman’s Liberal-National Party should it win government at the looming election. “Some gallery elders are muttering about the conflict of interest given the said journo will be […]

Calombaris’ food comes at a penalty. On Monday we reported George Calombaris hitting out at the federal government’s workplace relations policy and the drain of penalty rates for staff — a story that has created quite a bit of fuss in the media since. Calombaris copped plenty of heat among readers, and one hospitality mole offered this perspective-keeping insight: […]

Hacks tapped to join Newman government. Queensland’s premier-in-waiting Campbell Newman is apparently already making plans to take office. Apparently several media types around Brisbane have been sounded out by Liberal-National hacks to take on advisory roles with new ministers. Our George Street spy reports: “It appears at least on the media side that Newman may be […]

Victorian insurers gouge on floods. We’re told RACV and CGU are increasing house and contents insurance in the Victorian regions of Shepparton and Mooroopna by “obscene amounts” by including compulsory flood insurance. Says one worried Crikey reader: “Some families I know of and know personally have had their premiums go up from $650 to $6900 and $1000 to […]

Fairfax chats to Kohler about a return. There are rumours this morning that Fairfax Media has made an approach to talk to Australian Independent Business Media about potential commercial synergies. AIBM — which publishes the websites Business Spectator and Eureka Report and is said to valued at about $50 million — has been the subject of takeover speculation for […]

The Russian revolt among ABC staff. There are far more volunteers than the number of redundancies on offer in the latest round of ABC staff cuts, we’ve been told. The jobs to go are from the production resources areas of post-production and studio operations that service the internally and co-produced programs of the TV division. As one […]