Is the 7:30 Report in line for a revamp? When the ABC News chiefs have got their 24-hour news channel up and running, they’ll be turning to take a long hard look at the 7.30 Report. The feeling at the ABC’s Ultimo fortress is that the show is tired and predictable, way past its use-by date. Kerry O’Brien’s much touted interview with Barack Obama was seen as dull and pedestrian. Chris Uhlmann’s departure from 7.30 to the new ABC News 24 came just in time for all concerned. He was being driven nuts by O’Brien’s controlling iron fist.

Is The Fin pushing up luxury house prices? An interesting occurrence in the Financial Review‘s Life & Leisure section on the weekend. An ad on page 14 offered a prestige property for sale at 27 Wunulla Road, Point Piper, NSW with “a price guide of over $4,500,000”. On page 15 — the facing page — was an identical photo of the same house, this time in an editorial/pictorial story. The names of the owners were published in the story, along with a summary about the property, which is for sale by EOI. The last sentence in the story on page 15 was the clincher — “more than $10 million is expected”. Offers, anyone?

A foreign raid on Balwyn? A colleague just advised me that a foreign investor recently bought up to 100 houses in Melbourne’s Balwyn area — in cash, too. As a local resident, I’m seriously concerned.

The waters at the Health Services Union are getting very murky. There may be some legal action around the corner against the disgraced organisation…