Christmas Island detention amps up. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship have told Christmas Island locals at community meetings that the Aqua and Lilac compounds in the North West Point Detention Centre would not be used again. Yet one local reports they are now electrifying the fence around them …

Kamikaze Haigh on his Australian adventure. Last week we reminded readers that The Australia‘s new hire, cricket writer extraordinaire Gideon Haigh, didn’t have a high opinion of his “tongue in bum” new workplace as published in at least one article. The man himself responds by insisting his tongue is … well, just read:

“It’s nice of Crikey to take such an interest in my career but in their excitable reporting that I have “joined” News Ltd — as a contributor rather than a staff member, by the way, and my cricket columns won’t start until the end of October — they neglect that I was already there. I’ve worked for The Times for the last two years, and very happily indeed. And in that time, I’ve felt quite unconstrained in criticising News Ltd when I’ve felt it merited — for example, on Offsiders during the Melbourne Storm salary cap saga. Perhaps News Ltd have overlooked that; perhaps they don’t care. Whatever the case, I’m looking forward to contributing to The Australian.

“In comparison, twice in the last decade on radio I have been critical of The Age. I was banished from its pages for 18 months then for three years. Which was fine — no biggie. But just rest assured: I say what I please, not what may or may not please anybody else. Sometimes suicidally so.”

Fair enough. Haigh reckons there’s only two jobs as a cricket writer worth having: Peter Roebuck’s as Fairfax commentator, and the one at The Oz recently vacated by Mike Coward. “I got to thinking that maybe there wouldn’t be newspapers in five years’ time, and I might regret having forgone the opportunity to write for them again,” he told us.

Hicks’ Australian Story delay. The ABC was to air its Australian Story on David Hicks this month but we’re told it’s taken the program longer to interview all its sources than was initially anticipated. No word from Aunty on when it will be broadcast — ABC News current affairs head Denise Eriksen tells us it’s “a complex story to tell” and producers are still working on it.

Newspaper free-for-all (cont). You could have got a copy of The Australian free today on street corners in Brisbane’s CBD, two locals report. No idea why. As one Brisbane office worker spied: “One Big Issue vendor could see what a cynical exercise this was: when he was handed a free paper, I overheard him say ‘thanks, I can check my finances and see how my stock portfolio is travelling’.” Our complimentary service to inform readers where you can find a complimentary newspaper continues. Let us know if you spot a bundle.

Vic spin on carbon tax power. Yesterday, Victoria’s deputy premier Peter Ryan warned Victorians that if the pollution centric Hazelwood went the way of the Dodo Victorians could be struggling to keep the lights on. On the hottest days of the year, Victorians were apparently toast. But what happened during Melbourne’s heatwave this year, on January 30, when the temperature topped 38.1 degrees? A quick check of the publicly available mid-afternoon data turns out we did just fine. Hazelwood produced just 1305 megawatts, with two of its 8 200 megawatt units shut down.

Market duel on pharmaceuticals. Was Australian Pharmaceutical Industries skirting close to ASX disclosure rules with its ping pong between Sigma in market statements last week claiming victory in a battle for $400 million worth of business from Pharmacy Alliance? Industry insiders report it’s desperation stuff, as Priceline totters on the brink of profitability and analysts push for the break-up of API.

Ex-Ansett boys running Qantas. At least one Crikey reader points to Qantas’ financial troubles and the fact many of the inner sanctum are ex-Ansett leaders. But we’re not naming names …

Age discrimination the next frontier? Several high-profile cases have put workplace s-xual harassment in the spotlight, but what about age discrimination? An accounting spy points to the policy at one of the big four firms that sets a mandatory retirement age of 55 in its partnership agreements. Other law firms have similar restrictions, we’re told. They write:

“In corporates the go is to hire a consultant who will hold focus groups with customers. Turns out these unidentified customers want to deal with people their own age. The baby boomers are starting to hit ages which require them to step down regardless of revenue generation capacity or merit, so unless governments want to deal with burgeoning social security payouts it’s time to formulate policy on the issue of forced retirement of those over the big 50 and enforce that policy rigorously. Of course it’s always possible that governments, corporates and professional firms will wait until the first big claim to clean up their act. Meanwhile many of us are quietly accumulating our supporting paperwork and witness statements.”

Are you accumulating evidence of service? Does your firm mandate retirement? We’d love to hear your thoughts — via email or tip us anonymously.

Spotted: Ron at the races. One late-night F1 fan reports a Ron Walker sighting during coverage of the British GP: Resplendent in blazer (with the rest in flameproof overalls), Ron was shown taking in the latter stages of the British GP from inside the Ferrari garage. Could there be a more privileged spot in all of F1?”

‘I’m delighted to host blahblah.’ Liberal Party MP Bruce Atkinson is delighted to host the Ramadan Iftat dinner for members of the Victorian parliament in August. But Rob Hulls seems less sincere …