Rick Morton
@squigglyrick.bsky.social
I write. Author of Mean Streak and other things. Day job: senior reporter The Saturday Paper. I write a decent newsletter: https://rick-morton.ghost.io
Pinned
Rick Morton
@squigglyrick.bsky.social
· Sep 29
Writing the book on Robodebt drove Rick Morton mad. Now it's won him $80k
Journalist Rick Morton didn't want to write a book about Robodebt. Now that book, Mean Streak, has won the Prime Minister's Literary Award for non-fiction.
www.abc.net.au
What a ride. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
I am getting so many of these awful things but at least the last one tried to be specific (by praising the wrong Rick Morton, a Christian pastor who writes about the beauty of 'transnational' orphan adoption 😱) and this one is just 'really impressive content and insight'.
November 25, 2025 at 9:23 AM
I am getting so many of these awful things but at least the last one tried to be specific (by praising the wrong Rick Morton, a Christian pastor who writes about the beauty of 'transnational' orphan adoption 😱) and this one is just 'really impressive content and insight'.
Reposted by Rick Morton
This from @squigglyrick.bsky.social is an absolute treat. French history, French rural life, French knee injuries.
Go on, spoil yourself. It’s Sunday.
rick-morton.ghost.io/no-genou-is-...
Go on, spoil yourself. It’s Sunday.
rick-morton.ghost.io/no-genou-is-...
No Genou is Bad News
This horror story begins with a wandering brass band; my sirens.
I will follow a brass band anywhere. There is just something about the way a tuba cuts a shape on the horizon – so brash, so untoward ...
rick-morton.ghost.io
November 22, 2025 at 10:49 PM
This from @squigglyrick.bsky.social is an absolute treat. French history, French rural life, French knee injuries.
Go on, spoil yourself. It’s Sunday.
rick-morton.ghost.io/no-genou-is-...
Go on, spoil yourself. It’s Sunday.
rick-morton.ghost.io/no-genou-is-...
Reposted by Rick Morton
The last time I wrote about this I copped the biggest whinge fest from the then (Labor) minister’s office about how they weren’t cutting the budget lol
That's more than 1,100 jobs lost at the CSIRO over the last two years.
"Combined, the staff association estimates that equates to cutting the agency’s size by a third."
This is more cuts to the CSIRO than was attempted by the Abbott government.
www.smh.com.au/national/csi...
"Combined, the staff association estimates that equates to cutting the agency’s size by a third."
This is more cuts to the CSIRO than was attempted by the Abbott government.
www.smh.com.au/national/csi...
CSIRO to slash hundreds of jobs in cost-saving drive
The staff association at the nation’s leading scientific research organisation says the latest round of cuts marks “a sad day for publicly funded science”.
www.smh.com.au
November 18, 2025 at 3:14 PM
The last time I wrote about this I copped the biggest whinge fest from the then (Labor) minister’s office about how they weren’t cutting the budget lol
Update on this one: it's a torn meniscus! Thank God for travel insurance (assuming they will pay)
Taken out by the mean streets of Montmartre, a weekend away in the French countryside becomes a spiritual and physical battle for survival. My newsletter update: rick-morton.ghost.io/no-genou-is-...
No Genou is Bad News
This horror story begins with a wandering brass band; my sirens.
I will follow a brass band anywhere. There is just something about the way a tuba cuts a shape on the horizon – so brash, so untoward ...
rick-morton.ghost.io
November 17, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Update on this one: it's a torn meniscus! Thank God for travel insurance (assuming they will pay)
Reposted by Rick Morton
Every state apart from Tas is pulling their weight with hospital expenditure. The Feds not wanting to pay for the additional demand on hospitals that the FEDS CREATE from underfunding their primary health, NDIS and aged care system responsibilities is pathetic bullshit www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
'Beyond belief': PM tells states to spend less on hospitals
Health ministers are furious with a letter from the prime minister demanding they rein in spending if they want a public hospital funding deal honoured.
www.abc.net.au
November 17, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Every state apart from Tas is pulling their weight with hospital expenditure. The Feds not wanting to pay for the additional demand on hospitals that the FEDS CREATE from underfunding their primary health, NDIS and aged care system responsibilities is pathetic bullshit www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Taken out by the mean streets of Montmartre, a weekend away in the French countryside becomes a spiritual and physical battle for survival. My newsletter update: rick-morton.ghost.io/no-genou-is-...
No Genou is Bad News
This horror story begins with a wandering brass band; my sirens.
I will follow a brass band anywhere. There is just something about the way a tuba cuts a shape on the horizon – so brash, so untoward ...
rick-morton.ghost.io
November 17, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Taken out by the mean streets of Montmartre, a weekend away in the French countryside becomes a spiritual and physical battle for survival. My newsletter update: rick-morton.ghost.io/no-genou-is-...
I have been writing my latest newsletter update for a week and trying to get it finished. It is sprawling, perhaps even unreadable, but I will have it ready by tomorrow morning AEDT. If you want to subscribe, it's free! rick-morton.ghost.io
Nervous Laughter
Life, writing and other tragedies
rick-morton.ghost.io
November 16, 2025 at 9:50 AM
I have been writing my latest newsletter update for a week and trying to get it finished. It is sprawling, perhaps even unreadable, but I will have it ready by tomorrow morning AEDT. If you want to subscribe, it's free! rick-morton.ghost.io
Reposted by Rick Morton
BENDIGO WRITERS FESTIVAL EXCLUSIVE: La Trobe Uni pressured #Bendigo Council to send the infamous code of conduct to participants, according to those at a council-run roundtable.
Council confirmed to us it sent the code with specific additions at La Trobe Uni’s request.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Council confirmed to us it sent the code with specific additions at La Trobe Uni’s request.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
FOI documents reveal lead-up to failed Bendigo Writers Festival
A founding director of the widely boycotted Bendigo Writers Festival says major sponsor La Trobe University pressured organisers into sending a controversial code of conduct.
www.abc.net.au
November 5, 2025 at 6:14 AM
BENDIGO WRITERS FESTIVAL EXCLUSIVE: La Trobe Uni pressured #Bendigo Council to send the infamous code of conduct to participants, according to those at a council-run roundtable.
Council confirmed to us it sent the code with specific additions at La Trobe Uni’s request.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Council confirmed to us it sent the code with specific additions at La Trobe Uni’s request.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Wish they’d stop pushing the misleading claim that it was only (lol) a $4.1m upgrade.
We asked to sPeAk To tHe MaNaGeR and ........ it actually worked?!?
November 3, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Wish they’d stop pushing the misleading claim that it was only (lol) a $4.1m upgrade.
what total depravity from the perpetrators of the abuse right up to Netanyahu who blames the “reputational damage” on the woman who leaked the video
The government of Israel going after its own citizens who reveal horrific abuses it carries out.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
A leaked video showed an alleged abuse. It's sparked a political fight in Israel
Israel's top military lawyer is behind bars after leaking a video of shocking alleged abuse of a Palestinian man in a military jail. This is why the case has shaken politics and the military to the co...
www.abc.net.au
November 3, 2025 at 8:52 PM
what total depravity from the perpetrators of the abuse right up to Netanyahu who blames the “reputational damage” on the woman who leaked the video
👀👀👀
The Bureau of Meteorology’s new website was rushed out – years overdue and almost $47 million over budget – despite testing scores falling below the standard for release. Read more: satpa.pe/GSlS9rm
November 1, 2025 at 1:17 AM
👀👀👀
Well fuck
Announcing the shortlisted finalists for the Walkley Book Award, supported by Bookoccino: Joe Aston, (Simon & Schuster); Rick Morton, (HarperCollins Publishers); Clare Wright, (Text Publishing)
October 30, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Well fuck
Reposted by Rick Morton
Congratulations @squigglyrick.bsky.social on being shortlisted for the 2025 Walkley Book award for Mean Streak. I'm sure you'd prefer not to have had to write it, but your forensic examination of Robodebt hell means a lot to many. #booksky
Announcing the shortlisted finalists for the Walkley Book Award, supported by Bookoccino: Joe Aston, (Simon & Schuster); Rick Morton, (HarperCollins Publishers); Clare Wright, (Text Publishing)
October 30, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Congratulations @squigglyrick.bsky.social on being shortlisted for the 2025 Walkley Book award for Mean Streak. I'm sure you'd prefer not to have had to write it, but your forensic examination of Robodebt hell means a lot to many. #booksky
Reposted by Rick Morton
New literature review from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet says the government is "manifesting" stigma via the mutual obligations system 🤷
www.pmc.gov.au/news/stigma-...
www.pmc.gov.au/news/stigma-...
October 29, 2025 at 3:40 AM
New literature review from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet says the government is "manifesting" stigma via the mutual obligations system 🤷
www.pmc.gov.au/news/stigma-...
www.pmc.gov.au/news/stigma-...
Feel like I've been writing about new BoM website for 3 years now (because I have, and it is even later than that) but covering the go-live of the new site for this weekend's paper. I've learned some stuff. If you know more, internally or as a user I'm: [email protected]
October 28, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Feel like I've been writing about new BoM website for 3 years now (because I have, and it is even later than that) but covering the go-live of the new site for this weekend's paper. I've learned some stuff. If you know more, internally or as a user I'm: [email protected]
Genuinely what the FUCK is wrong with these people. The publishing people, the two Australian directors, everyone else. Between this and the (related) fascism capitulations one learns a lot about the fragility of the human brain.
“Newton, who founded Bloomsbury in 1986,… said there could be a “problem” if AI is used to write entire books. However, he said that readers ultimately look for books written by famous authors.”
I wonder how he imagines that writers become “famous authors”?
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
I wonder how he imagines that writers become “famous authors”?
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
AI can help authors beat writer’s block, says Bloomsbury chief
Publisher last week reported jump in revenue in academic and professional arm thanks to AI licensing deal
www.theguardian.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Genuinely what the FUCK is wrong with these people. The publishing people, the two Australian directors, everyone else. Between this and the (related) fascism capitulations one learns a lot about the fragility of the human brain.
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...
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 ...
rick-morton.ghost.io
October 26, 2025 at 9:23 AM
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...
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...
‘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,...
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au
October 25, 2025 at 8:18 AM
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...
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.
October 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
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.
October 14, 2025 at 11:14 AM
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.” 🔥
In which John Oliver methodically unpacks how thin it is to claim you’re all about “the truth” when you’re only running essays don’t get properly fact-checked — and don’t hold up to even basic reporting scrutiny www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieT...
Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
October 13, 2025 at 6:47 PM
“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.” 🔥
Reposted by Rick Morton
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.
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.
October 10, 2025 at 4:53 PM
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.
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.
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.
Finished Mean Streak by @squigglyrick.bsky.social It was a great read, harrowing at times, and insanely well researched. The details! 5 stars. Recommended.
October 10, 2025 at 7:30 AM
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.