Rick Morton

Ha ha ha fuck. That’s insanely accurate though. Only thing I could think of was that it was like being shot in the big toe (where I was stung once) but I honestly think that would be less painful.

The entire piece is, in some sense, a vehicle for that paragraph and I am glad it worked. Thank you!

Mid life crisis but make it fun!

I have been hit by these bad boys more than once (child of the outback) and can confirm it’s awful

Down the Barrel of a Vin Despite appearances, I am not much given to writing about my personal life. Acres of print about my family, my moods, my eternal and meandering self-reflections have been produced. There is also the ...

On my newsletter: it’s harder to steal My heart than jewels from the Louvre but people have tried during my weakest moments, such as during a John Farnham song at karaoke. rick-morton.ghost.io/down-the-bar...

I am happy to help. But from France.

Her report refutes it.

For some people it is

Screenshot of the linked article, the text of which reads: None of these instances were about providing advice to government. In any event, as the APSC noted in its code of conduct report: the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability (PGPA) Act already imposes a legal obligation on all public servants to keep appropriate records. That they don’t, at apparently strategic moments in time, invites a novel conclusion that, inconveniently for the government, would not allow it to keep more secrets, more tightly. Officials should be compelled to write down their advice and that advice should be reasonably available to the public. This is how accountability works. The robodebt disgrace is a near consequence-free zone, even where there are, at least in theory, legal directives that oblige officials to act with honour and integrity. Any real concern – as there must be – about record keeping in the public service would manifest in a complete overhaul of the PGPA Act. That is not what we are getting. It is a sick joke to leverage the horror of that debt recovery scheme to remove the precious few protections, already so abused, available to the public, and for this reason alone the proposed FOI amendments should be treated with the contempt they deserve.

Subs that went to Expenditure Review Committee and cabinet about robodebt proposal – which were then and are still now completely protected from disclosure under freedom of information – never contained the original frank and fearless advice. It wasn’t fear of FOI that kept that advice from cabinet.

‘Absurdist leaps of logic’: Robodebt misused in FOI reforms I am furious. Angry, certainly, about the federal government’s proposed freedom of information laws, which mock the very idea of transparency, but seething especially about the justification for them,...

The dishonesty around the use of Robodebt in prosecuting the government’s Freedom of Information secrecy drive is galling in the extreme. I set out some facts that deflate the specious claims being used as cover. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topi...

I woke up one morning when I was visiting years ago and smelled smoke and went downstairs and found her in her dressing gown hovering over a pan like it was a cauldron. This was how I learned of the behaviour.

Mum used to burn her bills and personal documents in a saucepan under the house because she didn’t have a paper shredder. I think we ended up getting her one.

They’re all 180 degrees now

I mean, they’re right. It’s a grim state of affairs but I’ve always been able to pull back if I can, or at least try to. Not enough distance in the world I’m afraid.

Or true

scarcely any better, it turns out

My mum and her friend both texted to assure they knew it wasn’t me that robbed the Louvre because I don’t know how to use an angle grinder.

I remember getting this game with a box of Coco Pops and it awakened something in me: turning my enemies into sheep.

“And while I would love to continue splitting hairs about whether a country starving kids is better or worse if the kids are already sick let’s just table that discussion for when I see you in hell.” 🔥

Ah this is so cool!! Glad someone got something out of my publicity drive lol

That's easy! Just shoot me your email you use to subscribe and I can refund it. rickjamesmorton@gmail.com

Federal agents aren’t trying to keep the peace. They want violence to escalate so that Trump can declare martial law.

They shot a reverend in the head with pepper balls while he was praying in front of an ICE facility. If that doesn’t tell you where we are as a country, nothing will.

Ha, I cannot agree with you. Some of my best friends have done PhDs and would murder me!

Thank you! I do find with this story more than anything else it’s the details that really make you see it for the conspiracy it was. And so I did not pull back from those details.

Thankfully it actually has nothing to do with the prime minister’s taste anymore

A New Three Laws of Motion I night not tell you if I win the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-Fiction, but there will be signs. Ha ha, I'm fully kidding. I did win it. The news was everywhere anyway. I was a push notifi...

The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.
They said, "You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are."
The man replied, "Things as they are,
Are changed upon the blue guitar."

Plus ça change! My newsletter: rick-morton.ghost.io/a-new-three-...

Thanks for this Kate.

to be fair to him, he was far from alone in this

De Brouwer made the exact same argument two years ago after the Robodebt Royal Commission report was delivered. This is how I treated it in Mean Streak: "Grow up."