From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Roses are red, this rhyme should be dead. Today is Valentine’s Day, which, more than a commercial opportunity surrounding romantic love, is a good excuse for some cheesy PR. In the love messages in today’s Herald Sun, the Victorian Trades Hall Council has owned up to this message addressed to “Malcolm”, who sounds like he might be in an emotionally manipulative relationship with “working Victorians”:

“Rose are red, violets are blue, get rid of penalty rates and we’ll get rid of you. Love, working Victorians”.

Another message addressed to “Malcolm” asks “why don’t you call anymore? love from Donald”. 

Commercial radio teams and the Country Fire Authority also used the advertisements to get their messages across, but this one to Adani probably doesn’t fit in with the coal miner’s messaging:

An ill Wyndham. Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has picked a fight with residents in his local electorate over the state government’s plan to build a youth detention facility in the growing community of Werribee South. Daniel Andrews’ government has struggled all summer with the youth justice crisis, with repeated riots in youth detention centres, a Supreme Court battle and a concerted campaign by the local media that state Labor is soft on crime. The announcement of the new facility has not gone down well with locals, who staged a  protest outside Pallas’ office yesterday. A source told Ms Tips a rumour was swirling that Wyndham mayor Henry Barlow was so angry about the proposed prison that he would be challenging Pallas for preselection before the next Victorian election. Sounds like Pallas is safe from that corner, though, Barlow denied the rumour to Crikey, saying it was “100%” wrong, and that “whoever started that rumour should go and get themselves a life”. 

Media Watch captions watch. Media Watch had to do some watching and correcting of its own this morning, after writer Jane Howard asked what had gone wrong with the captions on last night’s episode. Viewers tuning in on iview this morning were faced with the somewhat off-putting sight of Paul Barry’s face and the line “You will be having sex with someone this afternoon on camera? I will.” 

Another frame included Barry and the comment “Erm … I feel like an asshole.” Quite.

Ms Tips understand the captions were mixed up with those that match the Louis Theroux documentary Twilight of the Porn Stars, and that it could have affected just the one user. The mix-up has now been fixed, and anyone wanting to watch Media Watch with captions will know exactly what Barry is saying about the Daily Mail and not the adult entertainment industry.

Not what you think it means … One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts has introduced a lot to Parliament, and his insult to the Prime Minister in Senate question time means a particularly Australian idiom has now made its way to Hansard. Roberts said: 

“The Prime Minister, after 10 years of demonising carbon dioxide, is now like a shag on a rock. What we need to see is a policy based on empirical data on climate.”

The comment prompted NSW Senator Sam Dastyari to taunt “how do you shag on a rock?” from the bench, and the young reporters at BuzzFeed also queried what he meant — they’ve been now told it’s a reference to the bird.

Interestingly enough, it’s not the first time an Australian Prime Minister has been labelled a “shag on a rock” in relation to climate change policy. Mark Kenny used the phrase in The Sydney Morning Herald in 2014 to describe Tony Abbott’s approach to climate change talks.

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