Use the Have Your Say bit at the bottom, even if it's very brief. You have 26 minutes! #Auspol #NDIS consultations.health.gov.au/ndis/nfp-pub...

My New Framework Planning submission. You still have 27 minutes, even if just to say: "Hit the brakes. Consult us on legislation, not the vibe of the thing." #Auspol #NDIS

Of course, the only people who will suffer (apart from the bureaucrats and ministers if they miss their budget savings targets) will be the people who use the NDIS having the biggest reform since it began thrust on them in this way. www.crikey.com.au/2026/03/05/r...

I've been shown NDIS agency documents that warn the introduction of a support needs assessment and 'robo-planning' is a mess with every element of the tech listed as off track and now at 'critical risk'. Agency booked savings, but they're figuring it out as they go. www.crikey.com.au/2026/03/05/r...

Owned! Labor has dumped its dreadful FOI Bill, because "it does not have the support of the Senate"

I wish Labor would just own the reality of their policy choices. Cutting social protection is a fast track to social murder. Letting algorithms or prescriptive lists do the dirty work of denying genuine needs does not change that. They're relying on the public accepting this new normal. #Auspol

I tried to FOI this app, which the Department said it built to track job provider punishments. It turns out it doesn't exist, and they've lied to the Commonwealth Ombudsman www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/27/r...

I'm at it again: great ontological debate about welfare 'compliance' app govt told Ombudsman it built to monitor dodgy job service providers but which doesn't exist. No documents point to it. Instead they use 'existing processes'. And haven't they been so effective. www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/27/r...

The hiring and training process shouldn’t be seen as the main issue here. The problem is the contractor is Serco and their hires are being employed to run a neoliberal outsourced approach to the NDIS. Of course they’re demoralised and traumatised www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

The simplest ethical question from Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service: How many deaths of disabled Australians is an acceptable number to achieve scheme sustainability? Actuary advice on increased mortality? ✅ Without asking whether #NDIS reforms “are causing people to die.” #Auspol

I do wonder if Scott Britton has to put Scott Britton on the risk registers he maintains for the federal prosecutor’s office

Also, note how easy it is to correctly report the role of Renée Leon 'whom the royal commission found misled the Commonwealth Ombudsman and oversaw an “excessive” delay in securing legal advice from the Solicitor-General'.

In his new gig Britton was hiring contact for an assistant manager of audit and risk position seeking a “detail-oriented” person to provide “operational support and specialist advice... in accordance with relevant legislation, policy and procedures”. Just as well! www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/20/r...

From me: The architect of the Robodebt scheme, who was told it was unlawful even as he delivered it for the government, is still employed in the public service, now at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. And in a senior governance and risk role. www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/20/r...

“If [HCA] affirms the majority’s approach, it will confirm our politicians have allowed the bluntest forms of conditionality to leach into core aspects of the social security law. Debts may contain elements of administrative fiction, shaped by incomplete evidence and the confusion of recipients.”

Everything is f*cked. But on return from a rare medical outing, I was welcomed home by a sleepy new Guardian of the Front Gate 🐨 First I've seen here in over 2yrs and 25° cooler than recent heatwaves, but hope it makes its way to one of our more sheltered spots... #Koala #WildOz #Australia

“The National Anti-Corruption Commission has circulated draft findings to individuals referred to it by the robodebt royal commission, signalling that the investigative phase is effectively complete and a final determination into whether those individuals engaged in corrupt conduct is imminent”

For now, I will refer back to this comprehensive summary of Leon's role a the end of my newsletter. rick-morton.ghost.io/a-rick-by-th...

The same way she helped write the Targeted Compliance Framework after she bravely lost her job for exposing Robodebt as illegal?

Oh, so now NDIA ‘assessors’ will also be prescribing therapy need and dosage based on a ‘conversation’? Assessors who may be acting out of their scope of practice IF qualified, and more likely unqualified? And can ignore our reports entirely? What could go wrong?!! #Auspol #NDIS #Therapy

Ms Rickson says she did not understand at the time that the carer was about to place her in a live-in home in the town. She said the carer did not facilitate any trips outside, making her feel like she was being treated like a "slave" or a "hostage". www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

Bsky needs an accessibility specialist

Ashleigh Rae has a video up (@feministradical on TikTok) about just suddenly discovering a disability - and all related core funding - has been removed from her NDIS plan with zero communication beforehand and gods, I hope she goes after the NDIA

Surprise, surprise (not): In the absence of review rights to dispute cancellation of #NDIS claims or validity of debts, the NDIA now claims it is up to 10%. This is exactly what we said would happen in 2024 if we could not formally challenge correctness of those decisions. 🧵👇 #Auspol #Estimates

Centrelink recipients who had Robodebts have just weeks to sign up to receive part of a massive payout. The federal government last year agreed to pay $475 million in additional compensation to about 450,000 victims of the calamitous robodebt scandal au.finance.yahoo.com/news/centrel...

Over a month ago I warned people didn’t realise they needed to sign up to receive compensation over Robodebt. So many people will miss out and their anger will point straight back at the government and the system bsky.app/profile/ashe...

See also: #Auspol #Estimates 🧵👇

📢New resource release! The Suicide Prevention for Autism Neuroaffirming (span.toolkit) is an evidence-based, co-produced resource portal designed to support mental health professionals working with autistic adults. www.latrobe.edu.au/news/article...

Review rights for NDIA assertions of non-compliant claims by participants would not in ANY way prevent the Agency from pursuing genuine misuse. So why are they still denying us independent scrutiny of s45 & s46 decisions? Would the 5% - sorry, 10% 🙄 - hold up? I doubt it. #Estimates #Auspol 🧵👇

Surprise, surprise (not): In the absence of review rights to dispute cancellation of #NDIS claims or validity of debts, the NDIA now claims it is up to 10%. This is exactly what we said would happen in 2024 if we could not formally challenge correctness of those decisions. 🧵👇 #Auspol #Estimates

Moral clarity in a time of cowardice + complicity. Thank you, Grace Tame.

The NDIS changes have forced some people to be hospitalised, and led to regression of capacity for others; some fear being forced out of independent living into a group home. Others have said the changes have led to considering suicide or assisted dying www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Watchdog launches investigation into head of Australia’s anti-corruption commission over defence work www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

We also asked for s45 review rights for cancelled claims. Just this week, I heard of prescribed, disability-specific equipment being cancelled by the NDIA as an 'everyday' out-list item. It was the most Disability Shop item on the market. The participant is out of pocket. #Auspol #NDIS #Estimates

Got my #NDIS Bill 2025 submission in with six minutes to spare on Friday night. Reckon they'll listen this time? Why deny review rights for the origin of a debt (s46) or cancelled claim (s45) if the NDIA has nothing to fear from scrutiny? #Auspol

How can DSS say “no current impact on customers” when historical remediation is still required? If people have had money incorrectly gaken from their FTB and it isn’t yet repaid, of course there’s an impact

We also asked for s45 review rights for cancelled claims. Just this week, I heard of prescribed, disability-specific equipment being cancelled by the NDIA as an 'everyday' out-list item. It was the most Disability Shop item on the market. The participant is out of pocket. #Auspol #NDIS #Estimates

Services Australia 'knowingly breached' child support laws for six years, Ombudsman report finds www.sbs.com.au/language/hin...

“The committee therefore considers that when considering all the measures together, the operation of the bill as a whole may not be a proportionate limit on the right to freedom of expression.” In the bin with the Secrecy Bill now, #Auspol. 🧵 5/5 #FOI #FreedomOfInformation

“...and the least rights restrictive approach... [The] cumulative impact of the multiple measures in the bill may have a chilling effect on applicants seeking access to information, and may amount to a disproportionate limit on the right to freedom of expression.” 4/🧵 #Auspol #FOI

“the public services which are not being delivered because of the increased time and cost spent on processing #FOI requests has been provided. The committee therefore considers that it is not possible to conclude that the measures pursue a legitimate objective...” 2/🧵 #Auspol

Concluding human rights scrutiny comments on the #FOI bill 🧵 Based on info provided by the AG, it “remains unclear whether the increasing volume of FOI requests ... correlates with the decline in timeliness... The committee further notes that no information regarding...” Cont'd #Auspol 1/🧵

Over the past few years, mounting evidence of illegality has been met with secrecy, internal fallout, and an escalating effort to defend the system at all costs. But just how far are the Minister and Department prepared to go to keep the punitive MOs regime alive? new from @jeremypoxon.bsky.social

The third pillar of Thriving Kids is insulting because it puts the onus for responding to childhood disabilities onto parents. Not coping? Maybe you need another parenting coaching session?

Brand New ABA, 2026. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1... Content warning for effective force feeding of tiny autistic / disabled children. Short thread. I don't know where to start. Goodness me. OK...First, yes, v important that children failing to thrive can access the right food & drink/

Teach your kids to swim

Two disabled autistic boys were murdered by their parents in Australia I’m begging everyone to pay close attention to how the media frames this. There’s a tendency to let the “better off dead” narrative creep in whenever disabled lives are lost. Eugenics is everywhere & we must always call it out

"The fact that the children may have been autistic and required supports should not be the basis for any justification of their murder" - #Disability Discrimination Commissioner Rosemary Kayess

In which I encounter the privilege of trying to order a plumber in French, go to the opera and reckon with the USA's quickening descent into fascism. I contain multitudes. rick-morton.ghost.io/plumb-and-pl...