Could Turnbull challenge the Bishop? In the aftermath of Tuesday’s events our national press has yet to pick up on the next big story: the shakeup in the Liberal Party on Thursday morning. Don’t be surprised if Malcolm Turnbull makes a play for Julie Bishop’s position. She has outlived her usefulness as the standing, politically correct adornment to whoever happens to be the Liberal leader at the time. Seeing her standing to the side of every camera angle is not a good look for a party that has a big task ahead.

Electric fence at Curtin centre. An update on the Afghan asylum seekers who protested outside the fence of the detention centre out of Darwin last Wednesday. On Thursday they were flown to the  Curtin Detention Centre in the WA Desert. Upon their arrival Immigration turned on the electric fences at Curtin. Nice touch. Darwin Detention Centre has electric fences — until now the electric fences in Curtin had not been activated.

These men, as yet, have not received their medications or few personal effects. They were transported from the side of the road outside the Darwin detention centre to the watchhouse on Wednesday, then in a convoy of ten caged vans to the RAAF base and then flown to Derby then trucked to Curtin.

Charity doesn’t start at home. There is expected to be a showdown at a high-profile charity with close Labor links tonight when trustees seek to remove one trustee who is considered to be destabilising the organisation. There has been pressure building for many months to bring the situation to a head following media leaks and damaging accusations about the role of ministers, other trustees and staff. The organisation has a new chairman and board members but is trying to rid itself of forces that are set on winding up the outfit, if not destroying its reputation.

The cost of Christmas. The $40 million per month figure for Christmas Island (quoted in Tips yesterday) sounds high. When GSL were running the DIAC detention contract up to 2009, the total paid by the federal government to GSL was about $100 million per year, to run the six mainland IDCs, Christmas Island and transport/security. Their renewal bid, which lost out to Serco, was lower still.

Do journalists tap Aussie phones? With a possible inquiry into what Rupert Murdoch did, or didn’t know about phone tapping of senior British ministers, should Australians be asking the same questions?

Newspaper free-for-all (cont): It is getting beyond a joke. I had a Daily Telegraph thrust at me at my local Franklins supermarket yesterday as a ‘reward’ for spending $5 or more. I would rather have received a punch in the mouth to be frank. And Taronga Zoo (Tele) and Sydney Aquarium (Sydney Morning Herald) both give papers away with entry.