The real value of school halls. Joe Hockey just announced that they’d change the BER to get better things built than school halls. Having worked in many schools over the years, I know that school halls provide each school thousands in income per year as halls are rented (cheaply, relative to commercial premises) to community groups and sporting organisations. Poorer schools depend on this income to survive. Any school would relish the possibility for this extra income — but Joe just said the reason Labor didn’t build classrooms was that he’d have to put teachers in them.

Sydney FC unfriendly to families? After having lured unsuspecting families into renewing their memberships via a hard sell e-mail campaign a month ago, Sydney FC have now dropped the bomb by telling all via the 2010/11 A-League draw that the vast majority of games will be played at night — hardly a time convenient for the under-age “Junior Blues’ they pitched the memberships to. Last year saw 10 out of 14 games played at 3pm or 5pm, drawing a predominantly family crowd, while this year eight games will finish at 9pm or later, something that must have been known to the club when starting their campaign. Families who have forked out up to $860 for a new family membership will now have to tell their sons and daughters it’ll be TV instead of a day out. That cheaper option might help them manage the loss of their fee, as Sydney FC is conveniently ignoring any demands for reimbursement.

Newspaper free-for-all #733: Stacks of free Sydney Morning Heralds are on offer on the weekend at Newtown Gym, too. (I was annoyed that I bought mine on the way there.)

Newspaper free-for-all #734: Secure Carparking provide a free Herald Sun to “early bird” parkers at certain parking buildings in Melbourne.

Newspaper free-for-all #735: The Home Living Expo is one of Adelaide’s largest exhibitions. The celebrations attract total crowds upwards of 15,000. And the free Saturday Advertiser or Sunday Mail for every visitor will surely help circulation numbers. No one could make it through the door without a copy of the paper being thrown into their arms. The number of bins overflowing with unread papers by the end of the day was astounding.

Newspaper free-for-all #736: Adelaide University Union gives away free Advertisers weekdays to students.