Shocked, shocked I’m telling you

One of these politicians reportedly said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘Gas them’ and the other believes Palestinians are human beings. Guess who the Board of Deputies invited to join a rally against antisemitism

how the fuck do sick leave entitlements count as income support

The article should be pulled entirely, it's basically an ad for the life insurance industry. It took them over five hours to edit the article to reflect the interests of CALI's members, and it still does not quote an independent source on their claims. bsky.app/profile/maxi...

neither here nor there but i keep hearing this dude’s name to the tune of 🎶Jason Derulo🎶 and that’s about the best to be said of his contributions, of which I have more to say here rick-morton.ghost.io/immoral-rear...

I've covered NDIS since it began, more than any other subject in my career. There are indeed original flaws in the way it was introduced but to punish disabled people for failures of successive governments is not good policy. Policy weaklings, indeed. www.crikey.com.au/2026/04/28/j...

I experienced something very similar (at a much smaller scale) when I shifted from Substack to Ghost. Substack is a parasite and I am still glad to be gone. Don't start anything there if you can avoid it!

This is a truly eye opening read. And I’ve been following this stuff pretty closely, so I mean that!

Best* part about doing your very overdue tax return is taking a stroll down memory lane, for instance the emergency vet bill from the time your dog was bitten by a paralysis tick and almost died (this is half the total bill lol)

Working on a piece about the NDIS announcement. Taking my time to get my thoughts in order but the one thing I know for sure is that all the realpolitik of 'financial management' now means sweet FA to people who watched existing services disappear in favour of a promise made to them. Now what?

Just saw one of those painted human statue dudes, made out to look like a coal miner, off on his way to work up the stairs to the Sacre Cœur, just walking normally before clocking on with his bucket of fake spray painted coal

A run of sun and warm days sent everyone mad, myself included. It was a collective psychosis the likes of which I've never experienced. Plus my advice on making friends in Paris: just stay still. rick-morton.ghost.io/thirst-du-so...

Judgment of the NSW Court of Appeal declaring that anti-protest laws introduced by the NSW Government in the wake of the Bondi Massacre impermissibly burden the implied freedom of political communication #auslaw #nswpol www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19d...

I wrote about Orbán's hideous global legacy. www.crikey.com.au/2026/04/14/v...

what a cluster, in other words

why did I think this photo was of philomena cunk

even if I somehow figured out I was very, very good at rowing (perhaps by trying it once?) or even the world’s BEST rower, I would never do it on account of the men’s uniforms

albo yelling that there is NO fire in a crowded theatre, chuckling to himself at his ingenuity

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