It is not widely known, nor has it been publicly reported that while the Commonwealth Bank raised its standard variable interest rate last week by 0.10 per cent it somehow managed to sneak through a 0.20 per cent increase for its wholly owned subsidiary Homepath customers. No disclosure was made by CBA that this was going to happen to its more than 100,000 Homepath customers.

Kevin Rudd is already sending out his feelers to see if Cate Blanchett will stand as high-profile celebrity ALP candidate against Malcolm Turnbull in the federal seat of Wentworth at the next election!

You recently ran a story on CBA and ABC Learning. FYI the $600 million hybrid note that CBA underwrote was very unsuccesful. They sold $120 million and were left with $480 million. This holding is split between many custodians so as to not look suspicous. If you consider Allco’s note is trading at 75 cents in the dollar then they are sitting on a $100 million loss. Also as there were not enough holders to list the note on the ASX so they asked staff to take $500 each.

Why don’t you ask The Australian why its long-time LA correspondent Robert Lusetich hasn’t written any articles about Tom Cruise and Scientology?

The Macquarie Media/Southern Cross Ten merger is already creating a negative backlash in the bush. It looks like Macquarie are enforcing their style of management by sacking senior TV execs to save dollars and moving TV staff into inadequate radio buildings. In one Victorian regional market a Senior Rep writing $1 million per year was sacked for asking questions. The radio manager, who happens to be engaged to Macquarie MD Rhys Hollaran, ordered the sacking with local TV manager not even informed. Concerns included TV reps plonked in middle of radio reps, no privacy or confidentiality. This has started a landslide of resignations. Replacement staff will be employed on lesser $ contracts making the bottom line look good. Local business are scratching their heads and are dissolusioned as they are the losers. So much for regional diversity!

Greenpeace puts its inflatable boats between whales and the harpoons. Then as the whale tries desperately to keep under the inflatables or push its calf under the boats- Greenpeace move away, so the whalers can make a “Clean Kill”. Excellent stuff for making those whale snuff movies Greenpeace favor so much. W-nkers. At least Sea Shepherd protect any and every whale, dolphin and marine animal. Greenpeace do nothing but create hype with no bite.

My parents were on a direct Melbourne-Los Angeles flight on Sunday. Apparently there was an oxygen leak into the cockpit that required them to make an unscheduled landing in Hawaii and then they had to sit on the tarmac for three hours while repairs were made. Eventually they were able to take off and finish the flight but because there were still problems – they couldn’t fly at 25,000 when another oxygen system could have kicked in so the slow flight ran even later.

Re. Qantas’s problems with the leaking drip tray and $600 compensation: I was a passenger on QF2 out of Sydney to London on 2 November last year that was delayed 17 hours during a scheduled late-evening stopover in Bangkok. In our case, “something” punctured a wing flap on arrival. Qantas had to make a replacement part but couldn’t do so without consulting the aircraft manufacturer in the USA, something they claimed was impossible out-of-hours. It was 9am before we were bussed to a hotel in an industrial area an hour’s ride from the airport. We were also given rooms and one phone call. We were given two meals and two false alarms about revised departure times. After more long delays in the hotel lobby (no going back to your room after you’d checked out as per the Qantas instructions) and at the airport, we took off in the early evening. On arrival at Heathrow (after curfew) we had to fork out $A200 for a cab as the trains had ceased operating. At least we managed to have that reimbursed a month later. Our two-day stopover in London however was halved and thus ruined. Qantas sent us a $500 air ticket credit ($250 each.) So why were we short-changed when the latest victims got $600 bills? Can Qantas up the ante?

A small concern when on holidays over Christmas regarding Merimbula/Pambula beach in NSW, where council has seen fit to dump “treated” effluent directly onto the beach, not out to sea, on the beach. Newspaper clippings of the beach in October/November show a disastrous algal outbreak, destroying local fishing, swimming, even beach worming! I saw algal clumps right up the Pambula River. Council experts have blamed the algal bloom on a number of causes, including Whale urine, which with the Japanese whalers in our midst I find hard to believe… and treated effluent from Sydney… But not locally, their effluent doesn’t cause it. Only Sydney effluent. They shut down dumping during the peak tourist season, presumably to allow the ocean time to clean (didn’t work), but this shouldn’t be seen as them owning the problem, and they only dump at night, different times each night. This seems like the perfect Garrett/Kelly opportunity for the new member for Eden-Monaro and the new environmental minister.