From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

It’s just not cricket, Ms Kelly. Oh I say, there’s a spot of bother at Sydney’s fancy Pymble Ladies College (“situated on 20 hectares of beautiful park-like grounds on Sydney’s upper North Shore”):

“There are many parents who will not be attending the annual speech day at Pymble Ladies College this year since the announcement last week that the special guest speaker will be Gail Kelly. Given the number of families at the school left financially crippled following retrenchments from Westpac under her questionable leadership — her selection as speaker appears in poor taste to many.”

Here at Crikey we rather like Gail Kelly and think she’s doing a good job in the bloke fest that is Australian banking. But then, we’re not parents at Pymble — to be honest, we’re not posh ladies either.

University challenge. Seems there are some unhappy campers at Victoria University. This from an insider:

“A lot of staff at Victoria Uni are very unhappy after management released the organisation chart for the proposed restructure at lunchtime today. It is due to be in place at the end of the year. Many affected people whose jobs are being moved to new areas or being made redundant first learned about the planned changes by a university email with a link to a website. No consultation with affected staff beforehand, and no detail to know whether a position not appearing on the new structure has been moved to another area or determined to be surplus to future requirements.”

Geelong ‘NoAdvertiser‘ mocked by agents. It’s D-Day in Geelong for News Limited real estate ads as advertising executives scramble to fill pages for Saturday’s edition of the Advertiser. Unfortunately for News, as Crikey has reported in recent weeks, 90% of its house revenue has been stolen overnight by Antony Catalano’s Metro Media group as it prepares to launch the local edition of its giant-killing Weekly Review title. G-town sources report the Addy— which in a desperate move has halved the cost of its ads for some clients by offering them double-sized splashes and claimed on Saturday’s front page to be “your No.1 property guide” — is now  cruelly referred to as the Geelong NoAdvertiser among the industry. The first edition of The Weekly Review Greater Geelong, boasting over 100 pages, hits letterboxes tomorrow.

Gordon still holds Glitter Strip whip hand. This frontline report from a Gold Coast Bulletin employee says the paper’s former editor Bob Gordon is still a force to be reckoned with:

“I very much enjoyed Crikey‘s report a few months back on Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate’s trip to Florida, Hawaii and Las Vegas and the cheerleading role played by the Bully. You may be interested to know that in another instalment, the Bulletin‘s chief reporter Shannon Willoughby is again playing stenographer, this time on a trip to China on a city council delegation. Also on the delegation is lobbyist and Crikey favourite Graham Staerk — who is cheerleading for a Chinese-owned Gold Coast soccer team.

“The Bulletin went to the US with its mind already made up about a casino and terminal for the GC, now it goes to China to help the council wave the flag. The Bulletin‘s trip to the US was not journalism, it was a chummy junket with Tom and the council. I’ve never worked at a paper with more agendas than the Bulletin — it has a strange approach to journalism, one based on agendas. In the days of former editor Bob Gordon those agendas were generally those of the so-called ‘MoBs’ — mates of Bob’s. Today it’s not much different because Gordon still leans heavily on Gleeson, whose career Gordon likes to take credit for.

“There is a real sense here that the Bulletin is overly cosy with the council and with Tate in particular. The paper has stifled much of the debate and protest over the council’s proposal for a cruise ship terminal. Why? Look no further than Gordon. Gordon, who managed Tate’s mayoral campaign (see the Sunday Mail’s front page picture of Gordon and Tate on election night as an example of how unashamed Gordon was about his role). Gordon is very close to Gleeson and is pulling his strings on many issues and agendas right now. I believe he is pushing Tate’s agenda hard with Gleeson, particularly the terminal.”

Circulation gold? Meanwhile, a Coast tipster reckons recent claims that the Bulletin has increased its circulation are a little optimistic:

“I was told it equates to six papers a week, please be advised that the GCB is being given away to mostly reluctant recipients at Coles and newsagents across the city (I most recently was offered one at Gold Coast airport on the weekend) … could that be the secret to the increase?”

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