Tips and rumours

Rudd the leaker? Is Kevin Rudd again leaking to promote himself and destabilise others in his own party — as Mark Latham accused him of doing for years in his Diaries? On Saturday in the Sydney Morning Herald, Phillip Coorey and Damien Murphy quote “senior diplomatic sources” as saying — regarding using East Timor as an asylum seeker processing centre — that “Rudd was advised against broaching the subject with Ramos-Horta because it was a bad idea …Rudd himself was aware of this, the source said.”

Today, also in the SMH, Peter Hartcher describes in detail a phone conversation between Rudd and US president Barack Obama the day Rudd lost the prime ministership: “Obama said he appreciated everything they had done together and he hoped they could continue their friendship and their partnership in working on international challenges … Rudd replied that he had decided to stay in parliament, and fully intended to remain active on the international issues he had been involved in. It was possible he would be in a future Gillard cabinet.” There he goes again?

Snap-happy opposition leader. Among the assembled dignitaries in attendance for the funeral of the commando killed in Afghanistan in Darwin on Saturday was NT opposition leader Terry Mills. He was looking very statesmanlike, until he reached for his iPhone and started taking happy snaps — not only of the soldiers, who all were told were still serving and could not be photographed, but also of the back of Tony Abbott’s head while walking.

Rank and file silenced? The website www.rankandfile.com.au has been hijacked by persons unknown and when attempting to enter that site one is redirected to Crikey. The question is why? It was set up by disenfranchised ALP members in Greenway and Chifley, fed up with being ignored and being foisted with unknowns like Michelle Rowland and outsiders like Ed Husic in those seats. Both are head office apparatchiks who previously voiced total support for rank and file pre-selection but happily toe the line when given the nod by the ALP national executive. In the case of Rowland in particular she has lost support of all but one (her own) branches in Greenway. But why the pathetic attempt to silence the voice of local branch members, and why the redirect to Crikey? (Ed: We don’t know either. Anyone?)

The numbers on sub-acute beds. Crikey‘s tip on July 2 doesn’t seem to have prompted the government to come clean on its cost estimates for the increased sub-acute health care agreed at the April COAG meeting, when the Commonwealth agreed to pay the states about $1.62 billion to build and operate new sub-acute public hospital beds. In its 2010 report on government services (Table 12A.53) the Productivity Commission says that the annual operating cost of a public hospital bed was $729 per day in 2007-08. That’s just over $266,000 per year, which would inflate to about $297,000 per year by 2010-11.

Yet the government told the Senate committee on finance and public administration that it was “fully funding” the new beds, including $220,000 per bed per year in operating costs for 2010-11. That means the government expects sub-acute care (including expensive mental health and palliative care) will only cost about three-quarters as much per day as hospital care on average. Really? Otherwise, it must expect the new beds to be used only about three-quarters of the time, to keep down costs. Really?

Belinda Neal wants a new media officer. Naturally, a “probationary period period of 3 months will apply”. If you’re lucky enough to last that long…

SA police cutbacks. In Adelaide over the last week the SA Police have halved the number of motorcycle cops — “but they can still perform the needed duties”. Yet the police have asked the Bay to Birdwood Committee to change the route of the largest most continually held motoring event for veteran, vintage and early classic vehicles held anywhere in the world to go via the freeway or start at Hahndorf next year. (Note that they’ve already cut back the one-way component of the Classic run through the hills).

Colless does News’ bidding. Interesting “commentary” by Malcolm Colless in today’s Australian media section on the Australia Network, the federal government’s TV service into Asia. “Surely the diplomatic goal here should be to display the best and most up to date in Australian news, business and current affairs services,” writes Colless. “ABC managing director Mark Scott has whipped himself into a lather at the prospect of Rupert Murdoch’s partly owned Sky News winning this contract, protesting that this could undermine Australia’s diplomatic relationships in the region … This is a load of politically correct rubbish designed to throw a protective screen around the imperfections in the ABC’s news coverage — an issue of increasing sensitivity as it prepares to launch its 24-hour TV news service in the run-up to the federal election.” Is this the same Malcolm Colless who has spent the past year lobbying ministers and others in government to give the contract to Sky News?

Resignation bitter taste for Hun. Long-time Herald Sun food critic Bob Hart walked a few weeks back. He was recently overheard telling a fellow foodie that most people can accommodate one ars-hole in their working life but he had to deal with “several of them all at once”.

The Gillard drinking game. Listening to Julia Gillard on ABC Radio last week I was struck by her persistent use of the word ‘obviously’. So I thought it might be an interesting drinking game at a barbecue I am hosting this weekend to have a drink every time she says it. To calibrate the danger meter, I checked her interview transcripts on the pm.gov.au website. In 20 interview transcripts posted since she took office, the word comes up 166 times — an average of more than eight times per interview, or in rough terms more than once per minute. The record was 24 times in her interview before her first cabinet meeting on June 25, but there are six other interviews where it was said at least 10 times. Obviously far too dangerous for a drinking game.