I had genuinely forgotten this precise moment and it brings me JOY now

That last line 👏

Not only is it sustainable anything else is a non-starter. Jo Tarnawsky is not a journalist and clearly doesn't get that using AI 'to check and refine' her work IS A HUGE PROBLEM. The work IS the work ffs

Queensland cops are investigating an artist

👀👀👀

In which I continue to have thoughts (a lot, as it turns out) about the NACC and that porridge-brain robodebt report. The NACC is an expensive exercise in lickspittle. Also: assorted goings on. Sign up to my newsletter, if you dare! rick-morton.ghost.io/nacc-for-mis...

Whoa

So, @pennyallmanpayne.com & @antipovertycentre.org wrote to the government, urging them to stop forcing welfare recipients into these stupid activities during a fuel crisis. Government response? "Just contact your job provider" Story here: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

funniest thumbnail art

You can hear the fear in him. Rare.

This dude is pretty much the sole reason I moved my newsletter off Substack. He’s a ghoul.

another fucked up kennedy

Saw a guy who looked and dressed disturbingly like Sean Penn in One Battle After Another almost running through a nest of medieval churches in Bologna and quickly filming each relic / painting before running to the next one and then leaving.

I really do encourage everyone to read this if they can. It’s worse than I thought it would be. The decision, not my piece. Although come to think of it everything I write is worse than I thought it would be.

The NACC report is astonishing for just how many non-sequiturs, excuses and naive assumptions can be packed into 455 pages. The deputy commissioner who authored it is not a judge, unlike Catherine Holmes. And it shows. www.crikey.com.au/2026/03/13/n...

It’s 1am. I’m in Milan. Have been up since 5am yesterday. Waiting on lawyers. Been out to dinner. Climbed the Duomo. Wrote 3000 words. On a train for 7 hours and still managed 18,000 steps. These are my stats.

hey look !

Senate inquiry into CSIRO funding, including climate and weather research, on now at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWPb...

CSIRO have now lost more jobs under the Albanese Governmet than under the Abbott Government. We have to do better on research funding and backing our scientists. www.smh.com.au/environment/...

The NACC continues to be a joke

I'm a free agent now, I suppose. Bit daunting. Subscribe to my silly newsletter? rick-morton.ghost.io/i-quit-my-job/

I reckon I've received about 30 of those AI-generated author scams in the last month or so and I am so sick of them. Why they gotta target writers? We're writers! We've already been scammed by life.

📣 Reportedly only 140,000 out of the 480,000 Robodebt class action members have registered to receive additional compensation in the proposed settlement. If you're eligible, you have until 4pm tomorrow to register with Gordon Legal: robodebtsettlement.com.au

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...

Thanks guys!

Please please please get on this

probably should have waited a bit at least before being an absolute moron

Survivors of Mohamed Al Fayed's abuse are fighting to have their cases recognised as trafficking similar to the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein. Requests to the Met have gone unheeded so they are pinning their hopes on a French investigation. My piece for The Observer: observer.co.uk/news/interna...

Ah man. That last line should be on the book blurb. Truth.

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...

this is sick shit

The guy announcing this, Jeremy Hirschhorn, gave some pretty underwhelming evidence at the royal commission about the ATO’s checks and balances too. Must be all better now lol

'To counteract Malice, as we are wont to do, one must then visit the grave of Champion Gay George. Alas, poor Gay George, I knew him well!'

In which I visit the world's first pet cemetery, attend the wake of a clown master with a bunch of clowns and immediately after try riding a bike for the first time in Paris. rick-morton.ghost.io/meow-father-...

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

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...

he left his prince all over the scene of the crime

One day there will be a fascinating study done into the Renée Leon lobby. One day I suspect I will write it.

After a six year hiatus brought about by an inability to be trusted, I re-downloaded Angry Birds 2 on my phone and less than 24 hours later I have again deleted the app because I cannot be trusted

get bent, starmer

Angus Taylor resigns from nothing to be nothing

Had the privilege of working with Jon Kudelka for most of my journalism career at two different papers. He was the best. An even better person than his cartoons were brilliant. Much love to his family and friends.

If you subscribe to my newsletter Nervous Laughter you, too, can enjoy me Clever Hans-ing my way through to a French plumber. And also occasionally my more serious thoughts on the world being properly cooked. It's free for all, paid if you want. rick-morton.ghost.io/plumb-and-pl...

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...

👀👀👀

went to the opera (saw Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut of Eugene Onegin which was note perfect) and went completely bug-eyed

New misfeasance in public office decision dropped. A cracker: Judge awarded $2m in damages, including v. rare punitive exemplary damages, against former head of Medicare watchdog. Matters are RARE. Wins rarer. A boon to potential Robodebt + other cases. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/health/...

Essential reading from @katyinparis.bsky.social. El Hacen Diarra died in police custody this month, after video shows officers beating him on the street and screaming that he was being strangled. Very few people are talking about it. millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/a-man-just...

yeah cos the one thing space needs is more child sexual abuse material

one has to wonder why Andrew Podger keeps defending Renée Leon against the findings of the APSC code of conduct which found she breached the code due to her handling of robodebt, which is also what royal commission found. He keeps arguing for ‘context’ but leaves a lot out in his repeated attempts