Rick Morton
@squigglyrick.bsky.social
I write. Author of Mean Streak and other things. Day job: senior reporter The Saturday Paper. I write a decent newsletter: https://rick-morton.ghost.io
Pinned
Rick Morton
@squigglyrick.bsky.social
· Sep 29
Writing the book on Robodebt drove Rick Morton mad. Now it's won him $80k
Journalist Rick Morton didn't want to write a book about Robodebt. Now that book, Mean Streak, has won the Prime Minister's Literary Award for non-fiction.
www.abc.net.au
What a ride. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
Trying to arrange a plumber in French over the phone is testing all my powers of concentration and linguistic analysis
January 23, 2026 at 11:13 AM
Trying to arrange a plumber in French over the phone is testing all my powers of concentration and linguistic analysis
Reposted by Rick Morton
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will skip the signing of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” in Davos after Switzerland confirmed it would enforce the ICC arrest warrant over war crimes in Gaza.
January 22, 2026 at 7:55 AM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will skip the signing of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” in Davos after Switzerland confirmed it would enforce the ICC arrest warrant over war crimes in Gaza.
this is the university equivalent of the town that tried full blown libertarianism and got overrun with bears
They Wanted a University Without Cancel Culture. Then Dissenters Were Ousted. www.politico.com/news/magazin...
They Wanted a University Without Cancel Culture. Then Dissenters Were Ousted.
Inside the civil war at the anti-woke university backed by Bari Weiss.
www.politico.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:56 PM
this is the university equivalent of the town that tried full blown libertarianism and got overrun with bears
Reposted by Rick Morton
Look for the helpers
Alaska Art Student Arrested for Eating Another Student’s AI-Generated Art in Protest
A University of Alaska student was charged with a misdemeanor for eating another student's AI-generated art in protest.
www.artnews.com
January 18, 2026 at 3:50 PM
Look for the helpers
Some thoughts on Adelaide Writers' Week and the moment we find ourselves in. It's all just so grinding. rick-morton.ghost.io/the-great-si...
The Great Silencing
Last week it snowed heavily twice in Paris, turning the city into a frigid, monochrome fantasy land over three days, and at the weekend I popped into the Musée Marmottan Monet for a spot of impression...
rick-morton.ghost.io
January 14, 2026 at 9:25 PM
Some thoughts on Adelaide Writers' Week and the moment we find ourselves in. It's all just so grinding. rick-morton.ghost.io/the-great-si...
Louise is fierce and I support her entirely
“We need writers now more than ever, as our media closes up, as our politicians grow daily more cowed by real power, as Australia grows more unjust and unequal.”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I cannot be party to silencing writers, which is why I am resigning as director of Adelaide Writers’ Week | Louise Adler
Cancelling the Australian Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation
www.theguardian.com
January 12, 2026 at 9:47 PM
Louise is fierce and I support her entirely
Reposted by Rick Morton
If you were part of the Robodebt class action settlement, you may be eligible for compensation. Registration for compensation ends in early March 2026. Make sure you’re registered. Contact Gordon Legal if you haven’t received a information document package from Services Australia
It is 2016. I am in an apartment in Balaclava, Melbourne, working on the issue of Robodebt
It is 2026. I am in Tungamah, assisting a client to register for compensation in the Robodebt class settlement
It is 2026. I am in Tungamah, assisting a client to register for compensation in the Robodebt class settlement
January 12, 2026 at 8:27 AM
If you were part of the Robodebt class action settlement, you may be eligible for compensation. Registration for compensation ends in early March 2026. Make sure you’re registered. Contact Gordon Legal if you haven’t received a information document package from Services Australia
Adelaide Festival / Writers’ Week now the biggest collapse in South Australia since the state bank (probably)
January 11, 2026 at 9:13 AM
Adelaide Festival / Writers’ Week now the biggest collapse in South Australia since the state bank (probably)
From May last year, when NDIS execs backflipped and introduced default 3-month funding "periods" more than 20,000 plans -- one third -- were cut by an average of 22.5 per cent. Rest increased but this includes across the board indexation. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/2026/01...
Exclusive: One third of reassessed NDIS plans see cuts to funding
As parliament considers another bill to boost the NDIA’s power to cut costs, tens of thousands of participants are now on reduced plans and many more have lost flexibility due to restructured payments...
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au
January 9, 2026 at 9:18 PM
From May last year, when NDIS execs backflipped and introduced default 3-month funding "periods" more than 20,000 plans -- one third -- were cut by an average of 22.5 per cent. Rest increased but this includes across the board indexation. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/2026/01...
It’s going to be an interesting few weeks when the royal commission examines, as I suspect it will, the defraying of social cohesion caused by the organised censorship of writers, artists and employees across the country for daring to speak against an unfolding genocide
January 8, 2026 at 10:32 AM
It’s going to be an interesting few weeks when the royal commission examines, as I suspect it will, the defraying of social cohesion caused by the organised censorship of writers, artists and employees across the country for daring to speak against an unfolding genocide
Reposted by Rick Morton
Following the decision from the Board of the Adelaide Festival, The Australia Institute is withdrawing its support from this year’s literary festival. Here is our statement, and a personal one from me.
January 8, 2026 at 5:57 AM
Following the decision from the Board of the Adelaide Festival, The Australia Institute is withdrawing its support from this year’s literary festival. Here is our statement, and a personal one from me.
I love this city even more in the snow
January 7, 2026 at 7:58 PM
I love this city even more in the snow
It snowed in Paris today and I’ve never been happier
January 5, 2026 at 7:41 PM
It snowed in Paris today and I’ve never been happier
The Secret of Mana (SNES), Heroes of Might and Magic II and Dino Crisis (PlayStation, just, 1999)
What’s your favorite video game that’s at least 27 years old (so 1999 or earlier)? Let’s get a list of classics going.
January 5, 2026 at 7:15 PM
The Secret of Mana (SNES), Heroes of Might and Magic II and Dino Crisis (PlayStation, just, 1999)
see, the thing is, I need to read the whole document otherwise I am not doing my job properly you freaks
January 5, 2026 at 9:25 AM
see, the thing is, I need to read the whole document otherwise I am not doing my job properly you freaks
Another way too long post about the season of surprises during my very quick trip back to Australia. I'm exhausted. Keeping secrets is hard work! rick-morton.ghost.io/surprise-so-...
Surprise So Nice We Did It Twice
The Morton family has never really been good at surprises.
To be surprised meant being the recipient of unscheduled bad news. To wit: a part on the car that none of us previously knew existed is brok...
rick-morton.ghost.io
January 4, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Another way too long post about the season of surprises during my very quick trip back to Australia. I'm exhausted. Keeping secrets is hard work! rick-morton.ghost.io/surprise-so-...
what the fuck (copy and paste)
January 3, 2026 at 9:10 AM
what the fuck (copy and paste)
Unfortunate headline construction.
January 2, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Unfortunate headline construction.
Sky News when they realise they don’t need the doves anymore
December 30, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Sky News when they realise they don’t need the doves anymore
Bari Weiss is not only a bumbling clown but also a loathsome piece of shit, so I guess she has that going for her
December 23, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Bari Weiss is not only a bumbling clown but also a loathsome piece of shit, so I guess she has that going for her
Have spent the day resolutely focused on all the people who helped, who risked their own safety to ensure the safety of others. It’s no small thing in all that horror. Hate is a sickness.
December 14, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Have spent the day resolutely focused on all the people who helped, who risked their own safety to ensure the safety of others. It’s no small thing in all that horror. Hate is a sickness.
'Pig-headed' is the way Terry Carney, of Robodebt fame, describes the response of the Department of Employment to the second Commonwealth Ombudsman report into their error-riddled privatised jobseeker compliance program. You can see why for yourself here. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politic...
‘Particularly strange’: Ombudsman damns welfare compliance
In an interview with The Saturday Paper, the Commonwealth ombudsman says government departments still need to ‘unlearn’ the culture that produced robodebt.
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au
December 12, 2025 at 7:44 PM
'Pig-headed' is the way Terry Carney, of Robodebt fame, describes the response of the Department of Employment to the second Commonwealth Ombudsman report into their error-riddled privatised jobseeker compliance program. You can see why for yourself here. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politic...
Reposted by Rick Morton
You'd normally have to go to the coincidence factory to see a coincidence that perfect.
Scoop: the pro-teen social media ban lobby group 36 Months was funded & co-staffed by its co-founder's ad production firm that was simultaneously making gambling ads
The federal government has ignored calls for a gambling ad ban while pursuing the social media ban.
www.crikey.com.au/20...
The federal government has ignored calls for a gambling ad ban while pursuing the social media ban.
www.crikey.com.au/20...
December 12, 2025 at 7:53 AM
You'd normally have to go to the coincidence factory to see a coincidence that perfect.