Rick Morton

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

‘It’s as if the women were cattle’: Fayed survivors look ... Victims of a sex trafficking network said to rival that of Jeffrey Epstein tell The Observer why Ritz Paris and Fayed organisations beyond Harrods must now be scrutinised, and why they are pinning the...

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.

The government claimed it was monitoring dodgy job service providers using an app. It doesn't exist 'What this exposes is just how little the department is prepared to do, even after two bootings from the Ombudsman.'

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!'

Say hi to my mum for me!

Don’t tempt me!

Honestly so am I. A lesson there somewhere. I was so terribly hungover.

Bless your cotton socks

Meow Father Who Art in Heaven No one made me go to the pet cemetery. I stumbled across it while idly zooming around on a map of Paris, the better to acquaint myself with its features outside of the famous centre. On the Seine, jus...

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-...

Risk: resolved

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'.

So irony Rinehart wants to claim it

Exclusive: Robodebt architect remains employed in a senior governance role in the public service Scott Britton was a national manager of the customer compliance branch in the Department of Human Services and signed a June 2014 minute that first detailed how robodebt would work.

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...

Screenshot of part of the article that reads: While Britton was never directly copied into legal advice that the Department of Social Services possessed that stated unequivocally that robodebt’s use of wholesale income averaging to raise debts was unlawful, the royal commission found he was sent a key list of DSS dot points that said as much. “The proposal fundamentally changes the assessment of income within the social security system and is not supported by current policy or legislation,” the dot points said. Royal commissioner into the robodebt scheme Catherine Holmes said that, during their oral evidence, Mark Withnell, Scott Britton and Jason Ryman all accepted that “Mr Ryman and Mr Britton’s response to the DSS Dot Points did not provide any sensible response to the legal advice in the DSS Dot Points”. “There is no doubt that Mr Britton received and read the DSS Dot Points which Mr Withnell emailed to him; he sought Mr Ryman’s assistance with a response to them, and provided that response to Mr Withnell.”

The Royal Commission was "unable to conclude" that Britton intended to mislead Cabinet when he and colleagues, at the instruction of others, removed critical information from the New Policy Proposal that declared it needed legislation. But the findings are nevertheless far from flattering.

Exclusive: Robodebt architect remains employed in a senior governance role in the public service Scott Britton was a national manager of the customer compliance branch in the Department of Human Services and signed a June 2014 minute that first detailed how robodebt would work.

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

Oh I remember. Doesn’t seem to have stopped, either.

The one and only

Worth noting also that Leon was a LAWYER. Who previously served as deputy secretary in the Attorney-General’s department

The matter gets worse from here. On 27 March, the AGS provided the draft advice for the Masterton case (as advanced from the prospects advice being 'not hopeless'). This was devastating to the whole of the Robodebt scheme: 'There is no statutory basis in the SSA, or related legislation, for deeming apportioned fortnightly income to be accurate or provide a sufficient basis on which to raise and pursue a debt'. That is game over. On 29 March the advice made it to Leon. The same day a final draft of the new Ombudsman's report was received in the department and neither that day nor any other did Leon or anyone in her department go back to the Ombudsman's Office and update their previous firm position of utter certainty on Robodebt by informing them of this seismic and fundamental shift. Commissioner Holmes found: "Having adopted the position consistent with the representation to the Ombudsman that the legal position of the Scheme was "not uncertain," it was incumbent on Ms Leon to correct the record when that position changed." She did not do so.

Or this.

Screenshot of the newsletter which reads: On 5 March, the Australian Government Solicitor provided draft prospects advice to DHS about the Masterton matter which was passed to Leon as Secretary. Two things are important here. The AGS had been briefed that the department did not want to have the Federal Court rule on the legality of the Online Compliance Initiative (Robodebt) and, secondly, that according to the AGS advice Masterton's case was 'not hopeless. Not. Hopeless. To quote the Royal Commissioner Catherine Holmes: This aspect of the advice was significant. What was, in effect, a legal challenge to a fundamental feature of the Scheme - that is, the use of averaging to determine social security entitlement - had been described by AGS as not appearing to be hopeless; a roundabout way of saying that it had prospects of success. While the 5 March 2019 advice did not descend into any analysis of those prospects, it should have been clear at this time to Ms Leon and other readers of the advice that the legality of the Scheme was far from certain. Despite this, on 8 March, Leon wrote to the Commonwealth Ombudsman to formalise her opposition to his investigation discussing the legal footing of the compliance regime. She wrote: "Our position is and remains that the legal position in relation to the program is not uncertain. Accordingly it would be premature for your report to suggest the legislation needs amending. I am concerned that your comments clearly imply that there is doubt as to the legality of the... system."

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...

I have receipts

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

The ultimate gambit

Speed chess makes me terrifically stressed even hearing the name

I had to delete it in 2019 because I found myself spending REAL LIFE money on in-game gems and when my friend, appalled, asked me what the gems were for I replied quite seriously: “The birds’ hats!” As soon as I said it I knew.