From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Melbourne newsroom in legal gun. Crikey hears a rip-snorting court case set to fascinate hacks around the country is on the way in January. The head honchos of a Melbourne newsroom, however, would rather it all be kept hush hush. The case allegedly involves a reporter, a cameraman and 11 charges including stalking. Our informant says the female reporter involved has not been impressed with the assistance she’s received from the company’s HR department. We’re on the story and hope to bring you more details soon.

Long, costly shifts to print at Fairfax. A Fairfax insider tells us the company has cut so many jobs from its Melbourne print site at Tullamarine that the staff who are left are all working overtime. That includes so-called “sixers”, sixth shifts usually at a premium hourly rate. “You save with your left hand, you spend with the other,” they say. Perhaps the situation will improve if News Limited gets its hands on the shiny near-new facility — reports this week suggested News could take it off Fairfax’s hands to replace its ageing print facility in Port Melbourne.

Joyce wedded to AWU gate man. Last December at the wedding of Mike Smith (the AWU gate fanatic), Barnaby Joyce read the poem Fair Dinkum Love— “Fair dinkum love isn’t about bringing in a dozen red roses/ It’s about bringing in the washing … It’s not about standing next to your partner because they look good on your arm/It’s about standing by them even when they look foolish”. We wonder how close the pair have been recently as the AWU non-scandal dominates the press?

Graceful exit. Parliament House will be a much less hairy place with the departure of Christine Milne’s communications director Tim Hollo (famous for his very long ponytail). The Greens have advertised today for a replacement for what will be a busy election year.

“I have two daughters who have spent six years with me frequently absent, and a brilliant partner who deserves my active support to really push her career,” Hollo told Tips. “I’m hugely looking forward to focussing on them while developing a new project that combines my two passions of environmentalism and music.”

We’ll look for Tim at the next ARIAs.

*Do you know more? Send your tips to boss@crikey.com.au or use our guaranteed anonymous form.