Bomb scare on Qantas flight from Bris this morning? My partner was meant to be flying back from Bris this morning when her entire flight was ordered off the plane due to a security breach…

Financial issues biting at the Sydney Opera House? News is that there are to be lay-offs across the board.

Immigration Department staff posing as “media” at the torch relay. Hiding behind a pole taking photos of the lone Tibetan protester on the block. When I asked which news agency they represented they said “the government… we’re from the Department of Immigration.” Why then the large laminated cards around their necks saying “MEDIA”?

The Inside Film Awards which are held annually and broadcast by SBS and Foxtel have decided to give the AFI’s a run for their money. I’ve heard that they have secured the services or Bruce Ramos who is the staging and lighting guru for REM and U2. He designed the Zoo TV and PopMart tours.

Regarding the front page article in yesterday’s Australian on the 2020 Summit: Father Chris Riley was concerned that his ideas were not given the status they deserved at the 2020 Summit. He also questions Rev Tim Costello for including issues such as alcohol abuse and gambling on the agenda when they apparently weren’t discussed at the main event. Perhaps Riley’s views are partly informed by his backers. The organisation that provides his platform is directly supported by major alcohol producers (including Lion Nathan and Foster’s) and major gambling interests (including Clubs NSW).

Kersplat! Another Movie Show hits the cutting room floor at SBS and with it any likelihood of the television station making television. Matt Campbell and Jane Roscoe have moved from running programming and scheduling to running SBSI, internal production, programming and scheduling. SBSI is in tatters, internal production has now ended, and audience numbers have not improved. Kerry Stokes works on his own media empire and Carla Zampatti her fashion interests while SBS goes down in flames. Sending the logo skew-wif is a bitter recognition of the truth: SBS is leaning and about to fall over. In New Zealand Helen Clark stepped in to rescue Sean Brown’s Kiwi station. Will Kevin Rudd do the same here in Australia? Running SBS out of the ABC as one of the new ABC multi-channels offers the government the opportunity to cut the top layer of SBS management and rescue the few skilled workers still battling on at SBS. Mark Scott made good use of the 2020 Summit to lift the ABC’s national profile while Sean Brown was silent. Scott is rumoured to be in meetings with Senator Stephen Conroy about taking over SBS. SBS staff wait in hope.

Did Dr Bronte Adams of Dandolo Partners disqualify herself when the board of Melbourne University Publishing decided to spend a huge sum on Peter Costello’s memoirs?

Chinese students from Monash were contacted by the Chinese Students Association and asked to do their “patriotic duty”. The association has organised and paid for busloads of students to travel overnight to Canberra for the torch run and then come straight home.