From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Our land abounds in nature’s gifts … A rushed campaign from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to encourage us to enrol for the marriage equality postal survey seems to be bending over backwards to avoid any obvious links to, ya know, same-sex people in love.

Images of rolling waves, red dirt and suburban lots adorn the ABS’ newly set up Facebook page, television commercial and newspaper advertisements. No mention of weddings, rings, the phrase “same sex” or even cake toppers. Ironically, some of these spots look like an idyllic spot to get hitched.

A quick reverse Google search reveals at least one of these images to be Getty stock of a cattle ranch in Queensland, which prompts the question: who is paying for this ad campaign if the High Court says no go?

No peace in sight for Victorian Liberals. The announcement yesterday that Victorian Liberal state director Simon Frost is jumping ship to work with the federal branch of the party means a new fissure could open up within the already beleaguered party. It’s been reported that one of the names already thrown around to replace Frost is that of Nick Demiris, who recently found himself in the position of deputy campaign director. Demiris is a former staffer to conservative federal backbencher Kevin Andrews, and is still close with the man who wants all his cycling buddies to know that he likes them (just not enough to get married, soz bros). Demiris is also close to party president Michael Kroger (and Rear Window reported at the time that Frost wasn’t too pleased about Demiris getting the job) — and as we reported when he got the deputy campaign director gig in May, it was thought that meant someone close to the party’s parliamentary leader Matthew Guy was next in line for a plum gig.

What would members make of him getting Frost’s gig just months after feathers were ruffled over his last promotion?

This comes as Kroger met with the board of the Cormack Foundation yesterday to make the case that the $70 million in the foundation’s coffers should not be held back from the Liberals or given to any other party. And we haven’t even mentioned lobsters or mobsters yet.

Goodbye and good riddance. Fairfax is in the middle of redesigning its homepages, with the Brisbane Times the first website to get the new-look treatment, which promises readers “a faster, cleaner and more immersive Brisbane Times across all of your devices”. The other mastheads will follow, with previews looking pretty swish. More exciting than new fonts and faster load times is that one of the most annoying elements of many commercial news websites will be put on the scrapheap — autoplay video is not part of the new look, Ms Tips has been told by a few sources. We often have a go at Fairfax for subediting issues, but today we toast them. Good riddance, autoplay.

Looking after No. 1. The Vodafone National Small Business Summit in Melbourne this week asks the big question: is Telstra’s regional monopoly holding back small business growth? And unsurprisingly, the conference sponsored by a Telstra rival finds the answer is yes. Vodafone wants domestic mobile roaming, which the conference press release says is “Australia’s best opportunity to drive mobile coverage expansion in regional areas”. 

“Currently, Telstra holds a taxpayer-funded mobile monopoly in vast areas of regional Australia. The Summit hosted by the Council of Small Business Australia (COSBOA) will support the right for regional businesses to have the same coverage enjoyed by their metropolitan counterparts.”

“The introduction of domestic mobile roaming would allow all Australians to use their mobile wherever coverage exists, regardless of their provider. This removes the need for multiple carriers to duplicate infrastructure in regional areas, so that carriers, governments and communities could co-invest in one expanded, shared set of infrastructure which delivers new coverage.”

So the Vodafone-sponsored summit wants Vodafone customers to be able to jump onto Telstra networks for free. You don’t say.

Right royal pay rise? What is going on at the Royal Automotive Association of South Australia? Ms Tips has heard the RAA is asking member to vote on a reduction of board members (from 12 to nine) at the upcoming AGM, but that the level of remuneration for the board will not be reduced. In effect, members are voting on whether to give the remaining board members a pay rise. 
As for which board members go —  “the plan is carefully designed to ensure it is not the president or vice president,” our tipster tells us.

We asked the RAA whether this was true, but they didn’t get back to us before deadline.

*Heard anything that might interest Crikey? Send your tips to boss@crikey.com.au, use our guaranteed anonymous form or other ways to leak to us securely