From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Cracking the (citizenship) code. With Melbourne’s Yarra Council officially losing its citizenship ceremony powers — and being the subject of a rare prime ministerial parliamentary rebuke — we thought we’d check exactly what part of the government’s own Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code the council, which declared it would not be holding citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, had breached. Alas, we had a problem. Nowhere in the code  does it say you have to do anything on Australia Day. “Community organisations may also conduct citizenship ceremonies, usually on or near significant days such as Australia Day, Australian Citizenship Day and significant national anniversaries,” the code says.

Elsewhere:

“Ceremonies may be hosted by community organisations, schools and local government councils at special events such as community meetings, functions, festivals and school assemblies. They can also be part of celebrations for special occasions such as Australia Day (26 January) and Australian Citizenship Day (17 September).”

So Yarra Council hasn’t breached the code in any way — although we’re loath to suggest the government is beating up the issue as a distraction from an utterly disastrous week in Canberra. We are however pleased that the code spells out that “Australia Day” is January 26, given we’ve only been “celebrating” it on that date since the 1930s.

B1 and B2 v Pauline Hanson. The ABC’s annual showcase in Canberra ran up against some awkward timing this year. ABC celebs descend on the capital for photos and schmoozing with MPs once a year — and yesterday was the day. It was also the day media reforms were high on the agenda, as were One Nation’s conditions for supporting the government’s changes. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation wants the ABC’s charter to be changed to include the words “fair and balanced” for news reporting, and also wants staff earning over $200,000 (some of whom would have been there yesterday) to have their salaries published.

It doesn’t look like Hanson or fellow senator Malcolm Roberts were up for a picture with B1 and B2, or Humpty Dumpty, or even Michael Rowland. Their Senate colleague Penny Wong was among many others to brag about their celebrity encounters on social media, posting a whole video of her meet-and-greet with the bananas on Twitter:

Hey Presto, no more streaming. Foxtel effectively paid Seven West Media more than $16 million almost a year ago to agree to close the Presto streaming video joint venture the two had been operating for two and a half years. The News Corp 10K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that Foxtel paid Seven the princely sum of $1 and forgave $16.3 million in liabilities to take back control of the streaming business, which it had started back in 2014 before Seven bought in. 

Seven’s annual report, released on Wednesday, merely notes that the Presto stake was sold on October 4 last year. Seeing as Foxtel has written down the value of its Ten Network stake ($77 million), 2016-17 has proved to be a bit of a loss maker for the pay TV network 50% owned by News and 50% owned by Telstra.

Money for nothing. Far-right conservative Senator Andrew “Tasty” Hastie is a well-known opponent of marriage equality, but he’s decided the postal survey might be good for something else: making a buck. Hastie sent an email to his constituents in Canning last week, directly after the Liberal party room that voted for the postal survey, saying that the Liberals had stuck with their election promise to hold a plebiscite, unlike that nasty Labor Party, which has promised to legislate marriage equality within 100 days and would … um, legislate marriage equality within 100 days. Sayeth Tasty:  

“My views on this subject are well-known. I’m a strong supporter of the current legal definition. But this is an issue that is so important that my personal views are no more or less important than yours — we should let the Australian people decide. So on Monday afternoon I proudly stood in our Party Room to defend the right of every citizen in Canning to voice their opinion on this issue at the ballot box. I’m pleased to say the government has overwhelmingly voted to keep our policy and to honour our election commitment. Australians now have a clear choice… The Turnbull Government will respect the will of the Australian people. Meanwhile Bill Shorten will ignore the result of a people’s vote and legislate to change the Marriage Act within 100 days if he is elected.”

NB: Tasty does not say whether he would vote for marriage equality if the postal survey returns a Yes result. But then we get to the meat and potatoes of the email:

“But before Bill Shorten has a chance to ram his changes through parliament, he needs to win seats like Canning. 

“So I’m asking for your financial support today to help ensure that the people of Canning can have their say, and that their wishes are respected by the government of the day.”

The member for Cannning helpfully linked the entire line about financial support to his online donations system. When Ms Tips clicked on it, though, we got this:

We apoligise too, Andrew. 

Mitchell prank to be (tin)foiled? The expanding plume of the citizenship debate and the Coalition’s response to it has been a gift that keeps on giving to the opposition. Following Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s assertion that Labor had colluded with a foreign power to undermine confidence in the Australian government (a claim that, once made, is very hard to row back from) has brought about a number of zingers from those opposite — peaking with Tony Burke’s question to Julie Bishop that if she would have trouble working with the New Zealanders after a breach of trust like this, how could she work with Barnaby Joyce?

Member for McEwen Rob Mitchell has joined the fun this morning,bringing in a tinfoil hat for Julie Bishop to wear.

But how is he to deliver to her? Ms Tips is reminded that props are generally not allowed in question time — whether it’s coal, or a map or a placard or a pipe bomb, props have caused all manner of bother for various speakers. But of course, the tinfoil hat is an article of clothing. So could Mitchell wear it himself make his point? The sixth edition of the House of Representative Practice tells us that acceptable standards of dress in the chamber is ultimately up to the discretion of the Speaker. In the Senate, Ian Macdonald was ruled “disorderly” for his fashion faus-pas of wearing a high vis “Australians for Coal” shirt back in 2014.

As for hats, Mitchell might just get away with it. A ruling from 1950 found members are permitted to wear hats in the chamber, but not while entering or leaving, or while speaking. Noted hat aficionados Bob Katter and Pat Dodson do not wear their trademark headgear inside their respective chambers. 

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