From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Who’ll save the books in Queensland? Campbell Newman’s war on government libraries continues. We’ve reported on the impending closure of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry library and the concerns over lost records (1600 people have signed an online petition to keep them open). Today we hear another two are on the chopping block: the Queensland Emergency Services library and the Queensland Corrective Services library.

Where the cuts run deep in Queensland Health. Still on the Sunshine State cuts, on top of the TB clinic due to close we’re told Queensland Health staff in the microbiology labs at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital have already packed and vacated. “Infectious disease teams face reduced access to lab results on antimicrobial resistance, multiresistant organisms and hospital infections,” says our source.

More cuts to come in Housing. The great purge isn’t over yet, of course. One George Street Brisbane mole told us today the Housing Department is preparing for further job losses in six months.

Queensland austerity: the plants have to go. Our account from one sacked Queensland public servant — practical jokes, long hours on Facebook — riled some still in the building. Here’s more from inside bureaucratic ranks, including a promise some may get hired back:

“One public servant we know — who has just lost her job — doesn’t disagree strongly with the view presented, but argues it applied to a minority of the people in her area. Facebook access was not possible during work hours, apart from two people responsible for social media issues. Many sensible measures appear to have been introduced to reduce waste in photocopying — printing double sided, no colour except when absolutely necessary, etc.

“Interestingly, while she has departed already, she has been told by her immediate superiors that her work was invaluable to an annual project she worked on for years and has a total overall knowledge of, and that within months they will HAVE to find a way to re-employ her and others in her team. In the meantime, she/they can use her/their healthy five-figure redundancy payout to do some travelling, buy a new car, etc.

“But her greatest sorrow is that as part of the new austerity measures, all the potted plants used as area dividers in the building have been removed. The plant service was provided to several government departments by a company that employed disabled people who, by and large, could not find work elsewhere. The loss of government business will most likely close down the business and put them all out of work and onto welfare payments.”

Fire death sparks certification questions. There were reports over the weekend that the board that polices private building certifiers has launched an investigation into the certification of the Bankstown unit block where a woman died jumping from a blaze. According to one source, it’s about time:

“The necessary aftermath of that tragic unit fire in Bankstown should include intense focus and investigation on the dodgy certification practices that afflict those unit buildings built or approved during the former NSW state Labor government’s ‘anything goes’ (when it comes to developers) regime. We have just been told that the fire dampeners in every unit in our (less than 10-year-old) building in Sydney’s south are substandard; when the fire alarm goes off in our building (as it often does), we cannot hear it inside our unit; our lift routinely breaks down, trapping residents inside and necessitating the fire brigade to rescue those hapless people; and the electrical wiring throughout the building is faulty. Do we all wait for a major disaster in this or one of the hundreds of unit buildings like it, before urgent, remedial action is taken?”

*Do you know more? Send your tips to boss@crikey.com.au or use our guaranteed anonymous form.