a ok

The NACC robodebt report: A heartbreaking work of staggering incompetence Rick Morton wrote the book on robodebt. He delivers a damning verdict on the NACC's long-awaited robodebt report, which exonerated Scott Morrison and Kathryn Campbell.

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...

tough look for a man with a line of antiperspirant deodorant

They truly want you to believe this shit is inevitable and actually better than human endeavor but the one surefire thing that can stop it is not agreeing to the first two things. That’s all! That also means not willingly feeding it. It’s not difficult to avoid using it!

NEW: I got my hands on a Palantir-Department of Defence contract that outlines how the Trump-aligned tech company has embedded staff in Defence, leaves a carve-out for training on Australian data, and has a number of quite generous contract conditions.

www.crikey.com.au/20...

The thing is it's good for human beings to be teachers and artists and bad for human beings to destroy their bodies with grueling labor. A humanist politics should aim for automation to replace the latter as much as possible but not the former. Good things are good. Bad things are bad.

The network of Liberals behind two 'grassroots' childcare campaigns The childcare groups say they are the voices for everyday parents. What they don't mention is that they are supported by a network of current and former Liberals.

“A network of current and former Liberals is quietly behind two childcare groups who call themselves ordinary parents campaigning for the cost of au pairs, nannies and other in-home care to be subsidised by the federal government.”

The reviews used to justify this excluded nearly 97% of all studies from inclusion in their analysis. This is an absolutely obscene hatchet job by the NHS specifically created to eliminate access to hormones for trans youth.

Why now is the time to be loudly anti-war We don't need the clarity of hindsight to know war in Iran—or anywhere—will end in physical, moral and financial ruin.

New — My case for why it’s not enough to call this “Trump’s war” when violence abroad implicates us all, and how we don’t need hindsight to know that unequivocally opposing this war will be the correct (and only morally defensible) choice:

Outsourced call centre sweeps Centrelink customer privacy breaches ‘under the rug’, staff allege Workers accuse government-contracted Telco Services Australia of fabricating performance statistics, denying adequate breaks and penalising staff for taking leave

The welfare system is not safe for welfare recipients and not safe for the workers employed in it.

New NDIS reform is in chaos, insiders say Documents seen by Crikey show that senior staff at the National Disability Insurance Agency have warned that the policy design of the so-called New Framework Planning is in disarray.

Exclusive: Senior NDIA staff have warned that the policy design aimed at overhauling the scheme by relinquishing human involvement to an algorithmic “engine” is in chaos, writes Rick Morton.

www.crikey.com.au/2026/03/05/r...

Exclusive: NDIS algorithm designed to put scheme back on track at 'critical risk' Documents seen by Crikey show that senior staff at the National Disability Insurance Agency have warned that the policy design of the so-called New Framework Planning is in disarray.

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...

📣 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

The Howard Effect: In the Shadows of the Australian Dream It’s just over two years into his first term and John Howard is taking the country to another election. In that short time he has seized the mantle of economic credibility away from Labor and rewritte...

Th final part of our three part series featuring @amyremeikis.bsky.social on John Howard’s legacy is out today. Today’s focus: the culture wars, asylum seekers and racial division. 7ampodcast.com.au/episodes/the...

Energy Analysis Environment Technology Australia’s data centre lobby stumbles in its dance to avoid real regulation Google’s new data centre is entirely self-sufficient when it comes to power. Sounds like a good thing, right? Think again. Ketan Joshi Ketan Joshi Mar 4, 2026 7 min read

Hey!!! Got a new piece up at @crikey.com.au for you, about how Australia's data centre lobby is trying the subtle dance of avoiding regulation by suggesting weak voluntary actions

But something new has thrown them off balance.........

www.crikey.com.au/2026/03/04/a...

never, ever, ever, ever accept "how will you pay for it?" as an argument against social programs.

Ok I'll center Iranians cheering Khamenei's (alleged) death if you center Palestinians cheering Iranian missile impacts in Tel Aviv

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...

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.'

In response to an inquiry into the unlawful cancellation of 964 welfare payments, the government said it was using a new app to check on abusive or non-compliant job service providers. As Rick Morton exclusively reveals for Crikey, that app doesn’t exist.

www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/27/r...

Weak

Here's a fun game.

What's your one word description of Anthony Albanese?

Sydney morning herald article by Paul Sakkal, headlined, "‘No nice-to-haves’: Albanese demands ministers find billions in savings for May budget"

ah yes, the rise of the populist right marks the perfect time to make services worse, and families poorer archive.is/M1LCu

It’s no surprise Albanese called Grace Tame “difficult”. He has turned strong women in his party into enforcers (Wong) or silent subjugates (Pliberseck). He ridiculed women’s marchers.

Contrasted against the buffoonery of Dutton and Scomo he appeared progressive. But he’s just like them.

It's impossible to take the government's talk of spending restraint seriously while it insists on handing tens of billions of dollars to the US for submarines we'll never see.

FYI there’s no extra charge for shipping to Australia — $99 USD for a year!! Can’t beat it

Experts say Australian company Appen’s use of gig workers to unknowingly train AI for the US military reveals how tech companies are enthusiastically profiting off war and surveillance.

"Foolish to think they aren’t doing the same in Sydney"

www.crikey.com.au/20...

How an Australian company's gig workers unknowingly trained AI for US spy planes Sydney-based Appen sold language training data to secretive US military units. Its workers provided data for spy plane tech without knowing it could help target their home country.

Sydney-based company Appen helped power Siri and Google Translate. It also quietly worked for secretive US military units upgrading spy plane technology for 15 years. @cameronwilson.bsky.social reports in collaboration with @tbij.bsky.social

Writers Victoria's funding has been cut to $0. It's part of a broader arts funding crisis in Australia I taught a course at Writers Victoria to roughly 12 aspiring writers. One has since published five novels, and another has published two books that have won or been shortlisted for major literary…

Opinion |  "Australian literary culture needs funding that will enable organisations to make truly long-term plans, rather than going through bouts of feast and famine," @emmettstinson.bsky.social writes.

If you feel like directly supporting things that are made by real humans with love & care—with no ads, hot takes, or AI—a reminder that we're still dealing with the effects of this, and that literally every subscription gets us that much closer to ensuring we can keep doing this for awhile!

Crazy how the programming of Aussie TV is encompassed by an MOU between Hamish, Andy and the gambling lobby

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...