A big loser in Julia Gillard’s shake-up. Speculation is in overdrive around Parliament House as Julia Gillard prepares to name her new-look front bench this afternoon. A Crikey mole who just flew out of Canberra reports:

“If the rumour mill is anything to go by, then a certain young Labor MP — with a very high opinion of himself — may not get the spot in the ministry that he so craves. Links with a certain union that has provided his campaigns with money, staff, resources and strong political backing may be just too risky for a PM already on the skids and accident-prone.”

Foxtel, Austar to tie the knot today. No news yet, but we hear the competition watchdog could give the all-clear to a merger of pay-TV operators Foxtel and Austar today. The parties gave further undertakings on sharing content with internet providers, The Australian reported on Monday, which it seems the ACCC has accepted.

News Limited goes bush for job cuts? Look to regional centres for the rolling heads at News Limited, according to our company spies. We’re told the next round of staff rationalisation will hit non-metropolitan papers. We’re investigating the tips for a story next week; if you know more drop us a line. Confidentiality is, of course, guaranteed.

Balmain’s Fed watch — the latest installment: And we’re entering day three of AFP watch — hello to the very nice man if he’s reading. Another of Crikey‘s reliable Sydney spies relates their brush with their friendly neighbourhood AFP:

“I walk up Darling Street in Balmain every Sunday arvo with my 2-year-old son to have a beer and watch the fantastic old-school swing dancing at the Union Hall Hotel (I drink, he watches). We walk past the red Federal cop car and say hello to the very nice man, who has a shiny badge clearly saying he is protective service, and when I asked, he said that is what he is doing, protecting someone important. He even gave my boy a few Federal Police stickers, which he proudly stuck on his Fireman Sam helmet (my son, not the copper).”

Still no word on who the VIP is.

No job — and we’re broadcasting your address. Confidentiality is a hallmark of recruitment agencies. So it was some surprise that Melbourne agency Randstad sent out an email to all unsuccessful applicants — but failed to BCC their names. After being told of this privacy breach, each applicant received the following email: “XXXX would like to recall the message, ‘Application unsuccessful’.” We won’t publish the targets, just the commiserative email:

Hello,

Thanks you for taking the time to apply for a role with Randstad Sales, Marketing & Communications team.

Unfortunately at this stage we will not be progressing with your application for the role. We would like to keep your application on file so we can let you know about other job opportunities that come up that will match your experience — the information in your application will give us an idea of the roles you might be interested in.

We wish you every luck in your search for employment, and thank you again for applying for a role through Randstad.

Kind regards,

Dale Casement
principal consultant
sales, marketing & communications