Tips and rumours, Jul 11, 2014

Backstabbing at Fairfax HQ? ... Where's Joe Hockey's staff? ... Tassie top job ...

From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Backstabbing at Fairfax HQ. Glenn Burge, a former Fin Review editor appointed as executive editor of Fairfax Metro in 2012, has taken a redundancy from Fairfax after 29 years — and made quite an impression on the way out. He presented news and business media publisher Sean Aylmer and Sydney Morning Herald editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir with a board game called “Backstabbing: Bring a little evil into your office”.

Crikey hears there was a retractable knife involved in the staff sendoff, but as Burge assured us this morning, it was all meant in jest. Burge’s children gave him the board game a few years ago, and while looking for a gift for the company he’s spent decades in, he decided it was appropriate. “It was just a bit of fun — everyone laughed,” he told us, adding that while it wasn’t relevant to his current situation, he wanted Fairfax’s head honchos to have the tools of the game. “That said, they did look a little nervous,” he says.

We don’t doubt it. Here’s former SMH ed Amanda Wilson’s take on the board game incident. Ouch!

What’s happening in Joe Hockey’s office? Last week Joe Hockey’s chief economic adviser Tony Pearson finished up — only a few weeks after deputy chief of staff and one-time News Corp spinner and Abbott staffer Creina Chapman left to head to Woolworths. Not the best timing given the government’s budget appears dead on arrival in the Senate. When you add to that Martin Parkinson’s end-of-year departure from Treasury and David Gruen moving to the ABS, it’s quite a reshuffle of senior Treasury portfolio figures so early in a government’s term.

McClure’s own workplace. Here’s something that got us wondering about what informs the views of Patrick McClure as he finalises the welfare reform report for Social Security Minister Kevin Andrews — especially when it comes to workplaces. McClure’s glittering CV includes a stint as CEO of Aged & Community Services Australia, the peak body representing not-for-profit and faith-based aged-care providers. He was appointed to that role in 2011 … and left in 2011, having been there barely six months. A tipster claimed that McClure’s period as CEO was marked by high turnover of staff, so we checked. ACSA’s only a small body, with around a dozen staff, and there appeared to be four departures while McClure was there, including of some long-standing senior staff. Why was there such turnover and why did McClure leave so soon? We repeatedly put those questions to the media unit for McClure’s review, but there was no response.

The wrong tangled web. The Senate has at times felt like a Shakespearean comedy (or a tragedy?) this week, with alleged double-crossing and mixed messages, but it seems that Senator John Madigan has been seeing the Bard where he doesn’t quite belong. In the Senate on Wednesday night, the Victorian Senator started a speech berating the Greens with:

“These well-known words have been attributed to Shakespeare: ‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave/When first we practise to deceive!'”

Although the lines are good, they are not Shakespeare. As a tipster pointed out, it’s from Walter Scott’s epic poem Marmion. Madigan was on the right track, though — the poem covers deception, accusations of treason and the main character missing out on his heart’s desire — so perhaps it’s an apt reference for the past week in politics.

Next Tassie governor. Yesterday we brought you some of the names being talked about as the next governor of Tasmania, after popular governor Peter Underwood died earlier this week. We’ve also heard the name of Damian Bugg, a well-regarded lawyer who is a former Commonwealth DPP and has been heavily involved in the University of Tasmania. Bugg is seen as not politically aligned, which helps. And appointing him would fit the trend of lawyers filling this role.

We’ve also heard whispers of Jocelyn Newman’s name. Newman is a former minister in the Howard government, and the former senator has been out of politics for 12 years. She’s seen as being fairly moderate — and of course, the new Tasmanian government is Liberal. (And yes, she’s also the mother of a certain Campbell Newman, who was brought up in the apple isle.)

For he’s a jolly good fellow. Crikey wishes former prime minister Gough Whitlam many happy returns for his 98th birthday today. It got us wondering if he is Australia’s most long-lived former prime minister, and it turns out he’s ahead of the pack. The second longest-living PM was Frank Forde, who died in 1983 aged 92. Never heard of him? He was in the top job for just a week after John Curtin died in office in 1945. Happy birthday, Gough!

Who wore it better? It can be awkward when someone turns up to an event in the same outfit as you. Clive Palmer’s checked shirt got a lot of air-time yesterday, from the launch of The Australia Institute’s report on the RET to the abrupt end to his 7:30 interview.

Turns out he’s not the only fan of the blue and red check, as Joko Widodo, the man generally deemed to have won this week’s Indonesian presidential election (counting is still going on), wore a similar garment yesterday. It’s possible the two shirts were different sizes, but otherwise they’re a match.

Here at Tips we think Jokowi looks pretty good, while the red is perhaps a little bold for Palmer. So who do you think wore it better? Add your fashion analysis in the online comments stream.