From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Was Hockey revolting? You’ve already read in Crikey today about Joe Hockey’s 1980s crusade against fees for university students. But how far did he go? A tipster told Crikey: 

“When Joe Hockey was prez of the student union at Sydney Uni back in the late 80s he got an anti-fees protest to go down and occupy the Dept of Education. He didn’t go with them though, just incited it.”

We’re not sure if that’s correct. A Crikey story in 2010 said Hockey “took credit (totally unwarranted) for anti-fees protest/occupation of the Department of Education offices in Goulburn Street”. Hockey copped some flak for not going far enough on the protests; critics reckoned he was worried about his Solicitors’ and Barristers’ Admission Board record. If you were a contemporary of Hockey’s, fill us in on what happened.

Abbott’s pals land plum diplomatic gigs. This from a very well-informed mole:

“Abbott’s envoys prefer our history to our geography. With the appointment last week of Tony Abbott’s senior international adviser Mark Higgie as ambassador in Brussels, we see an interesting pattern emerging. Despite Abbott’s rhetoric that his foreign policy would be ‘more Jakarta’ — i.e. more Asia-focused — the five trusted Liberal loyalists he’s so far posted as diplomatic heads of mission have gone to the four most important posts in Europe plus New York. Alexander Downer to London, former Howard staffers Stephen Brady and David Ritchie to Paris and Berlin respectively, and Nick Minchin to New York. Previous governments’s political appointments have also tended to be to the plum European and North American posts. But at the moment there’s a gap between Abbott’s rhetoric and failure to send at least one of his own warriors to Beijing, Jakarta or Tokyo.”

This tip checks out — but remember it’s a tough gig being Abbott’s Indonesian ambassador, what with the boss sending those boats back, etc. And of course all these plum gigs are going to blokes. We wouldn’t expect anything different from Tony Abbott and his 95% male cabinet.

If the suit fits … How good is this? (It’s via @ClimateCollege.)

Crikey is keen to mock up some suits for our pollies. Perhaps we should start with Hockey and those big donors from his fundraising events (don’t sue us, Mr Hockey!). If you’ve got an idea for which pollie needs such a suit, and who’s donated to them, please fill us in.

Gov’t secrecy list. The list of things officially secret under Operation Sovereign Borders, or at least secret as determined by the bureaucrats engaged in covering up the on-water activities of naval and Customs personnel in relation to asylum seekers, grows ever longer. To keep track, we’ve put together a running list of what’s secret, which will doubtless be expanded next week at budget estimates. The latest additions relate to information about the orange life boats the navy and Customs are packing full of asylum seekers and dispatching back into Indonesian waters. Check out the list here and suggest additions here.

Fees for old folks’ homes. Nursing home accommodation fees went live this week on the government’s www.myagedcare.gov.au website, and Tips has been sent an analysis of the bonds being charged by listed aged-care provider Japara Healthcare. Curiously, bonds at 21 of Japara’s 35 aged-care facilities are set at $548,331 — just below the $550,000 threshold above which the newly established Aged Care Pricing Commissioner must vet prices. Maybe they’re all worth it — Tips has not done inspections — but it seems like a coincidence that most are set just under the price-vetting threshold, ensuring Japara can charge wealthier residents as much as possible without scrutiny.

Aged-care providers argue the market will sort things out, but aged care is far from a perfect market, and with most places operating at 90-95% occupancy, there’s not a lot of “consumers voting with their feet” going on. Japara shares have surged since the float a month ago and held up despite a post-budget wobble, when the company went on a trading halt, revealing earnings would drop $4 million from the removal of a payroll tax supplement paid to aged-care providers. Japara said it would make up the difference elsewhere and stuck to its prospectus earnings forecasts. Phew!

How Gloria’s cover was blown. Judith Power, who as “Gloria” was the woman behind Abbott’s wink scandal, has called into ABC host Jon Faine’s show upset that her identity has been revealed, saying she’s now fearful for her own safety. Her identity was first leaked on Twitter, where those who leaked it attempted to link her to the ALP. Her first name was then read aloud on 2GB by Chris Smith, who also read aloud her birth date, employment history, political leanings and the name of her partner. Fairfax reporter Henrietta Cook then called Power and received permission to repeat her name, which had already been revealed, in an interview published yesterday.

Playing the woman, not the ball. After stories of Frances Abbott’s scholarship were broken by The Guardian and New Matilda on Wednesday, the Oz sent reporters on Thursday to sniff around the University of Technology Sydney about Wendy Bacon’s kids. Bacon, a lecturer at the university who was a contributing journalist to New Matilda‘s scoop, has been a frequent target of the Murdoch organ in the past. A journalist from the Oz called UTS’ media office to ask whether either of her two kids had received scholarships to study journalism at the university. We don’t know if the Oz got a tip-off or was just going fishing, but we can reveal neither of Bacon’s children studied journalism at UTS (or anywhere else). Bacon’s son did study at UTS, but not as a journalism student. He studied media arts and production, which is a different discipline in the same school. While there, he did get a $1000 prize for his work, but this was awarded by an external panel.

Crikey would never blame a journalist for merely asking questions, but is it kosher to go after a journalist’s family after that journalist reports on allegations of favouritism regarding the Prime Minister’s children? Bacon is hardly a figure whose influence makes her equally worthy of scrutiny.

No good. There were claims on 3AW that Melbourne’s unusual warm spell means there will be a salami shortage. We’re not sure how that works, but maybe stock up …

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