Which pollie was accessing p-rn? Rumour has it that the NSW politician caught with internet p-rn is not a Labor politician but a member of the state opposition. Strange that it has been kept quiet. Had it been Labor, it would have been front-page news.

Bureaucracy shuffles under Baillieu. So far DIIRD is the biggest loser under the new Baillieu government, with Regional Development Victoria quite sensibly going across to DPCD and Skills Victoria also sensibly migrating back to the Education Department. While DPCD has gained RDV it has lost Office of Women, Youth, Seniors and Disability to the Department of Human Services. Apparently Aboriginal Affairs and Local Government are staying in DPCD. Interestingly their is no new Minister for Community Development so the CD part of DPCD is looking decidedly thin. So like The Place to Be, the other big set piece reform of the Bracks/Brumby area — A Fairer Victoria — may also be On The Move.

Pay dispute at Macquarie Uni. I am a staff member at Macquarie University. A number of staff have now been stood down for taking industrial action. We are trying to win the conditions that over 30 other university administrations have already given to their staff — a decent payrise, and a cap on the use of casual and contract staff. Our chief operating officer, Peter Dodd, today “explained” why they were offering a lousy 4% and not a cent more. Our pay levels are way behind other universities, such as Sydney University and University of Western Sydney.

Peter Dodd is a board member of the free market think tank, the Centre for Independent Studies. On our University council we have the founder and executive director of this thinktank for free-marketeers. Our previous chancellor, who apparently “handpicked” our vice chancellor, was former CIS board member Maurice Newman. What is it with Macquarie University and the Centre for Independent Studies? Aren’t these the guys that would say “if you pay peanuts you get monkeys”? I guess our VC just thinks were all monkeys.

Gardner keen to know if Guthrie bites. Did you hear about how Herald Sun editor-in-chief Phil Gardner snatched the only copy of Bruce Guthrie’s Man Bites Murdoch, which was sent to the paper for a review? No doubt he wanted to check how many times he had appeared in it…

Where’s my interest, NAB? On December 2 a sizeable five-figure sum was deposited in my NAB account. It was not credited until December 7. If I am one day late in paying my MasterCard I’m docked 19.4% back-dated. How much will NAB pay me for lost interest over the five days?