Rick Morton

SafeWork NSW’s first prohibition notice on the grounds of psychological safety, made against staff cuts at University of Technology Sydney, is emblematic of a higher education sector in meltdown.

Despite being warned in 2018 that jobseekers were being exposed to unfair and excessive decisions, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations ‘chose to continue with the status quo’.

The lessons Rick Morton was taught by his Year 11 and 12 modern history teacher stood him in good stead as a journalist seeking justice amid the intricacies of social policy and government bureaucracy. More than two decades later, he had a chance to return the favour.

The Saturday Paper. Edition April 20 – 26, 2024

A catastrophic Centrelink failure to lawfully calculate a generation of welfare payments may never be resolved and the work to “remediate” the 100,000-odd current social security debts known to be affected will likely take several years and vast resources, the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman says.

The Saturday Paper. Edition December 9 – 15, 2023

A senior employee of the National Disability Insurance Scheme regulator who was suspended following an explosive Four Corners investigation has been temporarily reinstated after the Federal Court heard the body’s commissioner knew about allegations of abuse almost a year ago.

Residents of a tiny remote community south-east of Alice Springs have won a significant High Court appeal against their landlord, the Northern Territory government, giving tenants across the country the right to sue for distress and disappointment caused by neglectful property owners.

Nothing changes. There will be no amendment to the constitution. More than half a century after Australia recorded its highest ever “Yes” vote in any referendum – the 1967 vote to grant powers to the Commonwealth to make laws for First Nations people – the nation has delivered one of the lowest. The final accounting will take more time but the outcome is clear. It was called by ABC election analyst Antony Green at 7.24pm AEDT. Australians have rejected the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

The underperforming regulator of the National Disability Insurance Scheme has fallen further into disarray as its leadership team receives the agency’s worst public service employee census results on record, draws the ire of Government Services Minister Bill Shorten and spills frustrations onto overworked staff.