From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Gina v the kids: negotiations continue. Crikey‘s Margot Saville — along with the rest of Sydney’s media — headed to the New South Wales Supreme Court this morning to get to the bottom of that nasty family dispute between Gina Rinehart and her kids. But there was nothing happening — representatives immediately went behind closed doors to negotiate and won’t be back before the judge until 2pm. Rinehart has proposed a new trustee — but we’re yet to hear who. And it seems unlikely they’ll agree by this afternoon. Stay tuned …

Hockey ‘not getting a grip on Treasury’. What’s the Kouk banging on about? The former Labor numbers man turned media commentator reports on Twitter:

But then, I guess he would say that, wouldn’t he?

La Trobe faculty changes ahead? Is the education faculty facing a shake-up at La Trobe University? Crikey keeps hearing the rumour, even if the university won’t comment. It seems the plan is to merge education into the humanities faculty — designed to cut administrative costs in a difficult financial environment. Campuses at Melbourne, Bendigo, Albury-Wodonga, Mildura and Shepparton could be affected. It follows controversial cuts to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2012 in which subjects were “streamlined” and 37 staff were made redundant. We put in a call into La Trobe but have not yet received a response.

Meanwhile, we hear a high-profile executive at La Trobe is also in the gun. Two tipsters put the name forward yesterday — we’ll investigate.

Who’s checking the watchers of the checkers? Gnarled Sydney Institute pedant Gerard Henderson writes in his Sydney Morning Herald column today that the ABC received “$10 million” to set up its fact-checking unit. Not so, say ABC sources who were quickly on the blower to explain the broader context. The money was spread around to create the National Reporting Team, recruit a freedom of information editor and fund some other, yet-to-be-finalised initiatives. The “first wave” went to the fact-checkers but also to Aunty’s new regional offices, including Ipswich, Geelong and Parramatta. In any case, Russell Skelton and his crack fact-checking team benefited by far less than the headline amount.

Crowning our most sexist men. It’s that time of year again … No, not that. Or that. It’s the Ernies! The “night of nights” for, well, sexism. A crowd of 330 women will converge on NSW Parliament tomorrow night where Australia’s most misogynist males will be crowned. We like the chances of Peter “they look like a mussel removed from its shell” Slipper for the top gong. Though Tony “Fiona Scott has sex appeal” Abbott, David “nursing mothers need to be more modest” Koch and David “why does The Sydney Morning Herald get a girl to write about rugby” Campese are all strong contenders.

We’re told Anna Bligh, Margaret Fink, Patti Amphlett, Carmel Tebbutt, Jane Singleton, Linda Burney and Liz Jackson will be in attendance, where the dress code is “what you wore to your own 21st”. Hot tip to the fellas attending: keep your comments on the frocks to yourselves.

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