From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Palmer’s deep pockets. Interesting enquiry from a reader about Clive Palmer …

“As it takes hours to get through to the Australian Taxation Office, I was wondering if one of your journalists could do a bit of homework and enquire if Clive’s spending at the federal election is a tax deduction? Surely there are limits as to how much a company can donate for election purposes, or how much an individual can claim to win a seat.”

We put this to Crikey’s resident tax expert Chris Seage, who said tax deductibility for businesses making donations to political parties or candidates was abolished in 2010. But individuals can claim a tax deduction for a gift over $2 to parties or candidates. And an income tax ruling found politicians can claim election expenses as a deduction, without a limit, so long as it’s allowable.

This is all very interesting, because the assumption is that Clive Palmer sank a fair bit of his own dough into PUP candidates’ well-funded campaigns. Crikey asked Clive about this last year; he claimed he hadn’t decided whether to fund the PUP and “elections are not fought on donations. It’s a battle of ideas, not money.”

All donations over $12,100 must be disclosed via the Australian Electoral Commission, but there’s a ridiculous lag — we still don’t know who paid what for the September federal election, and we won’t for ages. All very convenient if you want to keep your donations quiet. Crikey has long campaigned for faster disclosure of political donations.

By the way, Palmer is in today’s BRW Rich List at number 28 — his wealth is down from $2.2 billion last year to $1.22 billion now, so he’s lost a billion dollars somewhere. We’re really hoping it didn’t go on election spending.

Bank fail. If you have less money than Clive and need to count your pennies, you might want to double-check your credit card statement this month. We’ve heard that tens of thousands of cardholders have had charges from December 2012 re-processed. People are asking if there was a glitch at First Data International (a company that works with banks to facilitate credit and debit card payments). We’ve put a call into the company and will keep you posted.

Anyhow, we’re hearing the glitch is causing angst for banks, who are copping angry calls from punters. If this has happened to you, let us know.

Hold it. A stringer was recently put out when a Melbourne bus did not stop for her and wrote to bus operator Transdev Australasia to express her displeasure. But we’re thinking Transdev might have misunderstood the nature of the urgency in getting on the bus …

Just our two cents: if there was in fact an incontinence issue, we’re pretty glad she did not get on the bus.

Q&A delight. Ms Tips is beside herself with anticipation for Q&A on Monday — why, it features three federal politicians and two representatives of Geelong! What could be more riveting?

Is this a cunning ploy by Mal Turnbull to get people to switch off the ABC, making it easier to cut Aunty’s budget?

Crisis management debate. Opera Australia copped plenty of flak when it was perceived to be slow to respond to homophobic remarks by one of its singers (the singer was axed, but it took a bit of time). An anonymous tipster told us this:

“It was only on Friday [June 20] that Opera Australia artistic director Lyndon Terracini was briefing staff and arguing it would be impossible to sack a singer for political views. As the issue grew Sue Cato was brought in. Her ‘no comment’ advice was like fuel to the flame. Perhaps Opera Australia need to reconsider who they go to for serious advice.”

We’ve asked around, and there’s two sides to the story. The other side is that Opera Australia wanted to stick with due process and give the singer, Tamar Iveri from Georgia, the right of reply before making a decision. We hear it wasn’t easy getting in touch with her and her English is not great; plus there was the risk of legal action if OA sacked her without observing due process. But pretty much everyone Crikey talked to agreed that OA was too slow in its response.

We put the tip to Cato, who would only say: “Your tipster could not be less accurate.”

Subeditor goes here. This from The Age today. Bring back the subs!

Q Society a professional bunch. Those anti-Islamists at the Q Society are a force to be reckoned with — slick and professional. Right?

We spent too long puzzling over what a “purle t-shirt” (something to do with knitting?) until we worked out that yes, they do mean purple. Anyway, please do be careful of those purle shirts.

*Heard anything that might interest Crikey? Send your tips to boss@crikey.com.au or use our guaranteed anonymous form