I’ve heard the entire NSW Health portfolio’s ministerial staff were given the flick without warning this morning. Some were led to believe they were to stay on during the acting arrangements. It seems a bunch turned up this morning only to not have access to the building. Rumour has it this order to fire them came direct from the Premier. So now there’s an Attorney-General acting Health minister with no Health policy advisers. Nice.

Comings and goings in the Nine Melbourne newsroom? For some reason GTV9 news director Michael Venus has told Brett McLeod he won’t be doing any fill-in reading anymore. James Talia and Tim McMillan will be used in Brett’s place. Venus has told McLeod he is more valuable in an on-the-road reporting role. Yeah, right. Seems one other senior newsroom member has been doing quite a bit of white-anting to eliminate competition in his attempt to get Peter Hitchener out of the Monday to Friday presenter’s chair, even telling camera crews out on jobs that “Hitch has had his day and has to go”. The chap in question is out of control at the moment.

Does the Victorian Government know of, or is it complicit in, the project that is currently outsourcing Victoria’s 000 service to India? Apparently the call centre is the only thing that’s staying local.

When Fairfax cancelled their traineeships last year, they said it was only a one year suspension. The traineeships website still says that they are “suspended” but will be back in 2010. But applications are supposed to open in July or August. Are they trying to kill the cadetship by stealth? Here’s a tip for you, Fairfax management: how about you only pay David Kirk half of his $4 million golden handshake and use the rest to invest in the future of your organisation? $2 million will buy you half a golden handshake or 50 cadets…

I wonder how Woolies will explain its job ads over the weekend (for home improvement buyer roles in Sydney) to its new employees at Danks when their takeover succeeds. If Woolies builds its own hardware buying team, does that mean everyone in the Danks office will be out of a job? It’s pretty obvious what Woolies really want to do to Australia’s independent hardware operators.