Jobs at risk under Westpac changes. Westpac has confirmed changes to its Enterprise Testing Services division, with about 188 positions affected. But the company denies reports of further outsourcing of its workforce and many more jobs at risk, as one tipster suggested to Crikey, promising loses would come from “natural attrition”.

The bank says the rumours stem from an internal announcement to staff that “we were changing the way we outsourced some roles for Enterprise Testing Services in one part of our technology business”. “As part of the initial consultation process, we outlined that there will be around 188 roles in scope as part of the new sourcing arrangements we are transitioning to,” a spokesperson said. They say the full impact of the changes won’t be known for months — “we will use natural attrition where possible, redeploy employees to other roles, and reduce temporary/contract staff first to minimise the overall impact on our technology workforce”. The majority of axed roles will come from Sydney HQ.

ABC broadcaster for Labor? Who’s the high-profile ABC presenter set for a Labor safe seat? We’re digging into a well-placed tip …

Fuzzy reception for Australia Network. Now the AFP are looking into the suspicious tender process to run the Australia Network. But how many people are actually watching? “In October we spent 10 days at a very nice hotel in Fuq Quoc, Vietnam,” reports a Crikey reader. “We had excellent TV reception for BBC, CNN, DW and many Vietnamese and other Asian stations. We would only get the Australia Network in black and white with no sound, so we felt this was not at all good for Australia’s relations with Vietnam.” Perhaps not.

CEO in staff harassment case? We hear another high-profile CEO could be caught up in a s-xual harassment suit. Stay tuned.

Plenty of leg room on Qantas flight. Qantas may be struggling to entice customers back on board. One passenger captured this lonely picture from a London-bound flight out of Sydney on Sunday. We’re told there were just 31 passengers in economy. Plenty of room to stretch out …

Begging bowl for IPA carbon fight. The Institute of Public Affairs can’t defeat the carbon tax on its own. It needs your help. Ian Plimer makes a “personal appeal” for funds on this website: “I’m asking you to make a donation today to the Institute of Public Affairs so the IPA can continue its research to expose the bad science and the disastrous consequences of the carbon dioxide tax.”

Our back-stabbing Aussie cricketers. Don’t for a moment think that cricketers can’t gossip with the best of them. Writes one spy: “I have it from senior cricketing sources that during Ricky Ponting’s captaincy Michael Clarke, while publicly supporting Ricky, was far less supportive behind the scenes. It also seems that Brad Haddin, who was trying to shore up his position against the rising keeper Tim Paine, assisted young Pup behind the scenes.”