Rick Morton

The attorney-general has ignored a ‘lynchpin’ recommendation of the robodebt royal commission, claiming it is not a recommendation at all.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on the murder of Lilie James, and what it tells us about our most elite institutions.

The murder of a young woman at an elite private school, and the reaction from a former principal, has highlighted a broader culture of privilege in which young boys are protected from consequence or culpability.

Now, as national cabinet considers options for strengthening the hand of those who rent, a High Court judgement has redrawn the relationship between tenants and landlords.

A High Court victory for residents of a remote community who sued the Northern Territory government over the appalling condition of their rental properties has implications for renters with negligent landlords across the country.

A leaked review document shows the National Disability Insurance Agency used ‘legalistic brinkmanship’ to force disabled people to ‘bargain away their rights’.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on why private companies have the power to put welfare recipients on a suspension.

A feature in the welfare system is allowing private businesses to suspend hundreds of thousands of welfare payments.

A decade of work for supporters of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament was struck down barely an hour after polls closed in the east of the country.

A census of staff morale provides an insight into the chaos engulfing the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, putting vulnerable people at risk.

As academics strike at multiple universities, so-called sector reforms have turned what were places of higher learning and research into corporatised money makers.

At the start of this campaign, the average ‘No’ voter was a man over 50. Since then, the ‘No’ vote has grown in almost every demographic – driven by distrust of the Voice and the belief that First Nations people don’t want it.

At the age of 92, Rupert Murdoch has finally stepped down as chair of News Corp. The ‘most dangerous man in the world’ has put his son in charge.

Services Australia staff say the agency is in chaos, blaming under-resourcing and poor decisions for ‘the worst culture, morale and treatment of employees ever seen’.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on the woman now known as the “Alan Joyce slayer”, and how she aims to stop Australian consumers from being duped.

In an interview with The Saturday Paper, the ACCC chair details her plans to aggressively litigate major companies, with a particular focus on cost of living.

Following the resignation of Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, fresh details have emerged regarding his relationship with government.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on chaos at Qantas and whether the government is too cosy with our national carrier.

As the national carrier faces increasing criticism of its conduct, a former minister likens the airline’s management to ‘terrorists’.

Briefing documents show employment providers are paying themselves more than $40 million a year to move welfare recipients through jobs and training within their own companies.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on why the aged care regulator hasn’t been doing its job properly – and how people are suffering as a result.

Staff at the aged-care regulator say complaints are being closed with copy-and-pasted findings, in some cases leading to preventable deaths.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on why Services Australia can’t get welfare right.

More than 100,000 people have been affected by a second robo-debt-like scheme, which has run for two decades and could cost $1 billion to correct.

The controversial filling of a seven-figure-salary role at UNSW Sydney has been referred to the state’s anti-corruption body.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper and host of 7am’s special Inside Robo-debt series, Rick Morton on Scott Morrison’s return to Parliament and how much longer he’s likely to have a seat there.

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has routinely shared confidential medical records with a cost-saving program.

Legal ramifications are sinking in for bureaucrats and former ministers after damning findings from the robo-debt royal commission.

One woman, Jenny Miller, never gave up on finding the truth about what happened to her son.

In the first episode of our new video series, The Saturday Paper explains, we break down why housing is one of the biggest drivers of inequality in Australia.

We speak to one of the people whose job was to create this alternate reality: Rachelle Miller, the former media adviser to human services minister Alan Tudge.

We speak to one of them, senior lecturer in administrative law at La Trobe University, Darren O'Donovan, about how people outside the system built the very first working model of how public service embraced robo-debt.

We speak to Centrelink worker-turned-whistleblower Colleen Taylor about what really happened when robo-debt was first rolled out.

We speak with the minister who will have to implement many of the recommendations and pursue many of the findings in this royal commission – Bill Shorten – about what this report means, and if the machinery of government can truly be fixed.

The robo-debt royal commission has found the scheme was sustained by ‘venality, incompetence and cowardice’.

A billion-dollar private aged-care company is set to transition to a non-profit structure, while still charging rent to the charity for use of its facilities.

Staff have revealed internal divisions stemming from tensions between the CSIRO’s board and its departing chief executive, who put industry priorities ahead of science.

As Australia plans its inquiry into the pandemic response, there is still no evidence key recommendations to deploy the National COVID-19 Health Management Plan are in place, six months after its release.

As the NDIS regulator pushes to meet targets, its staff say they are pressuring disabled people to drop complaints and are missing serious abuse and neglect.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on how the organisation that oversees the NDIS was gaslighting its own staff, and what that means for those who rely on the service.

The agency that regulates the NDIS has engaged lawyers in an attempt to prevent being served with a complaint about its own dysfunctional workplace culture.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on the systemic failures that surround the death of Clare Nowland.

The death of Clare Nowland this week underscores the failings in aged-care policy and policing.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on how robo-debt could become one of the first topics for the brand new integrity watchdog.

Commissioner Catherine Holmes has written to the attorney-general to ask that her findings be delivered after the National Anti-Corruption Commission is operational, so she can make direct referrals.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on the incredible parliamentary life of Stuart Robert and the last scandal hanging over his departure.

The end of Stuart Robert’s political career also marks the end of Bill Shorten’s campaign to push him out of parliament, leaving behind an incredible string of scandals.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on how HECS went from a promise of opportunity to threatening a generation with a debt spiral.

Students will see their debt grow by almost $5 billion on June 1, in the largest inflation-related hike since the 1990s, as the government funding pool for tertiary places shrinks.

Peter Dutton claims his position on the Voice is informed by Indigenous communities, but the communities he names say they are being misquoted or that he refused to meet with them.

Senior reporter with The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on how the commission spent its money on a lavish tour around Australia and the ongoing mental toll for its workers.

The agency responsible for advising the government on mental health is under investigation for alleged financial irregularities, dysfunction and workplace bullying.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton on what we learned from inside the commission’s hearings.

In its last week of hearings, the robo-debt royal commission has found the moment when the scheme became an expression of unchecked political desire.

Former minister Stuart Robert says he wanted to end robo-debt but he had to support it because he was a cabinet minister. The evidence from senior public servants suggests the opposite.

For the fourth hearing block of the robo-debt royal commission, follow events live with The Saturday Paper's senior reporter.

For the fourth hearing block of the robo-debt royal commission, follow events live with The Saturday Paper's senior reporter.

For the fourth hearing block of the robo-debt royal commission, follow events live with The Saturday Paper's senior reporter.

For the fourth hearing block of the robo-debt royal commission, follow events live with The Saturday Paper's senior reporter.

In the final hearings of the robo-debt royal commission, the net is tightening around the people responsible for the illegal scheme.

For the fourth hearing block of the robo-debt royal commission, follow events live with The Saturday Paper's senior reporter.

For the fourth hearing block of the robo-debt royal commission, follow events live with The Saturday Paper's senior reporter.

For the fourth hearing block of the robo-debt royal commission, follow events live with The Saturday Paper's senior reporter.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on how the robo-debt royal commission is revealing one of the most shameful chapters in the history of the Australian government.

As more terrible details emerge in the robo-debt royal commission, a case is being built of misfeasance in public office.

Fresh evidence to the royal commission shows how departments actively avoided legal precedents to keep robo-debt running for years.

We take a look back at this episode with senior reporter for The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton, on exactly what has been happening behind the scenes at The Star Casino.

Documents tendered in the robo-debt royal commission show how, as treasurer, Scott Morrison intended to use the punitive aspects of the illegal scheme to win more support from Pauline Hanson.

In the week before Scott Morrison gives evidence to the robo-debt royal commission, extraordinary details have emerged about how the public service shaped the ombudsman’s supposedly independent advice on the scheme.

Senior reporter at The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on the job ad for someone to look into human behaviour and its strange links to the origins of the Robo-debt disaster.

Philip Lowe’s future as Reserve Bank governor looks in doubt – he’s short of allies as a major review looms, just months from a decision about his reappointment.

Senior reporter at The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on the job ad for someone to look into human behaviour and its strange links to the origins of the Robo-debt disaster.

As senior staff at the National Disability Insurance Agency explain their role in establishing robo-debt, the agency is seeking to expand similar compliance programs targeting people with disability.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on the powers our intelligence agencies have been building up for years and how they plan on using them.

Insiders say hackers exploited a basic flaw in Medibank’s security. It’s part of a dramatic surge in attacks that’s forcing authorities to step up the hunt for cybercriminals offshore.

Fresh details have emerged about Scott Morrison’s first briefing on robo-debt, but notes that may reveal exactly what was said at the meeting have been destroyed.

Rick Morton on the robo-debt royal commission and how years of suffering could have been averted.

Departmental and legal advice both showed the robo-debt scheme was unlawful – but once Scott Morrison had seen the proposal, he wouldn’t give up on it.

Rick Morton joins us again, with the latest on the agency formerly known as the BoM.

South Australia is hammering out what could be a model for preschool education nationally, with a royal commission headed by former prime minister Julia Gillard.

As the Bureau of Meteorology deals with cuts and delayed upgrades, it is breaching its international obligations for weather data.

Rick Morton on the culture at the Bureau of Meteorology and how science got sidelined.

Bureau of Meteorology staff have been hospitalised because of work conditions, as a loss of senior meteorologists means junior forecasters are trying to deal with natural disasters beyond their expertise.

A consulting firm responsible for a quarter of the aged-care sector has warned its providers to avoid high-needs patients or risk reducing ‘profitability’.

In a major speech to private welfare operators, Tony Burke has warned there is ‘flexibility’ in contracts signed by the Coalition to establish the current welfare system.

Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on the testing regime for Australian teachers that was inspired by an American consultancy firm.

A standardised test for graduating teachers, informed by management consultancy firm McKinsey, is contributing to the crisis in schools.

Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton on the big shiny hospitals without enough staff to run them.

Hospital developments are being announced across NSW, but the government has refused requests from its own department to adequately fund new medical staffing.

Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton, on exactly what has been happening behind the scenes at The Star Casino.

An inquiry has found alleged triad-linked junket operators were running a de facto casino at The Star, and the casino routinely misled regulators.

Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on what’s happening to our rents.

The 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II has ended with her death at Balmoral Castle.

In 2008 Labor pledged to halve homelessness, instead it exploded in a decade of Coalition leadership. Now a new national agreement must tackle a ‘vicious spiral’ of unaffordable housing and poverty.

The latest changes to Covid-19 rules – shortening isolation periods and removing some mask mandates – were made without any written advice and no modelling was provided to national cabinet.

The national hospitals crisis is pushing patients into ever-more desperate circumstances, and healthcare workers are demanding that the federal government act.

New revelations in the John Barilaro trade saga show how firing the woman first offered the New York role prevented her from accessing state whistleblower protections.

Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on the job offer that threatens to engulf the entire NSW government.

After a week of extraordinary testimony, former deputy premier John Barilaro argues he is the ‘unluckiest’ man in New South Wales.

Today, senior reporter at The Saturday Paper Rick Morton reveals the $600 million funding shortfall for students with a disability in the public system.

Disabled students in public schools are missing out on $600 million a year, because of onerous and unfair funding arrangements.

Today, senior correspondent for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on the industry selling poor people.

The Labor government has left in place ‘mutual obligations’, as new tender documents show the punitive system channels billions of dollars into private companies.

Leaked documents show the Liberal Party cut more than half the national history curriculum to fit its ideology. Now Peter Dutton is using attacks on education to rebuild his base.

New research shows the latest Omicron strains are more able to infect people who have been vaccinated, and multiple infections can cause future serious illness.

Rick Morton on a devastating winter for our healthcare system.

Kate, 17, was taken to hospital for surgery to improve her life. It has led to a months-long battle with the hospital and the NDIS for a dramatically increased support plan.

Rick Morton on how Qantas became one of the country’s worst performing airlines and the future of the company.

As Qantas drops to become the worst performing airline in the country, staff and unions say years of outsourcing have turned it into a budget carrier.

Rick Morton on the state of the public service and the task of the new government to fix it.

As Labor ministers take up their portfolios, the party has uncovered a mess of unmade decisions and funding holes across Arts, Energy and the NDIS.

University students don’t read detailed feedback, so what’s the point in paying academics to give it? That’s the position of one of Australia’s most prestigious universities.

Threatened cuts to key support positions and research have sparked unprecedented protests at the University of Sydney and elsewhere and jeopardised the top-tier status that draws students.

Interviews with more than a dozen senior Liberals show how Scott Morrison’s belief in his own ‘genius’ and self-image as a ‘master strategist’ cost the party government.

Rick Morton on the latest evidence in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case.

The disability royal commission this week heard powerful testimony about a neglectful and mercenary approach to care at one of Australia’s longest-serving providers.

As the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case continues, his four star witnesses face their own difficulties in and out of the witness box.

Rick Morton on the ABC’s doomed bid to host an election debate and what it says about the relationship between the Morrison government and the media.

The Coalition’s relationship with News Corp and its hostility towards the national broadcaster are influencing more than just the televised leaders’ debates.

Rick Morton on the rise of Clive Palmer and what he is trying to get out of his election advertising blitz.

As speculation mounts that Clive Palmer will seek a preference deal w ith the Coalition, his advertising spending in some markets is more than 200 times that of his rivals.

Hillsong Church’s growth and success has faltered in recent years. Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton, on how the leadership of the megachurch has entered a phase of panic and recriminations.

With founder Brian Houston resigning from Hillsong amid scandal and allegations, and his wife, Bobbie, being pushed out, the global megachurch is now facing its own day of reckoning.

In the final days of a Government, before an election is called, last-minute appointments are often made. Last week, the Morrison government made 19 of those, to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

In the days before the caretaker period, the Morrison government has made 19 appointments to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, many of whom have links to the Liberal Party.

As further floods tear through southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, communities are exhausted, devastated and searching for answers.

Tender documents show the government is tweaking the National Disability Insurance Scheme to exclude thousands of children with disabilities such as autism.

As further details emerge about the federal response to the flood crisis in Northern NSW, it has become clear that the government did not send troops when it could have. Rick Morton on Morrison’s blame shifting and the consequent fallout.

As blame-shifting continues over the slow response to the floods in northern NSW, Scott Morrison has gone quiet on a support package agreed to with the state’s premier.

Almost two weeks on from the catastrophic flooding on the east coast of Australia, residents have begun the slow process of rebuilding their lives. But they’ve been left with a lingering question: where was the help?

As extraordinary stories emerge of the rescue efforts in northern New South Wales, with hundreds of people saved, residents describe being completely abandoned by the federal government.

Rick Morton on how governments and developers are exacerbating the housing crisis in Australia - and what it means for people who need a place to live.

Leaked documents show the NSW government’s plan to sell the Waterloo Estate to developers will deliver less than half the public housing stock initially deemed possible.

Secret documents show Dominic Perrottet’s office gave millions to a private project in the seat of a National Party defector, against advice and without the relevant department’s involvement.

Rick Morton on the real causes of Australia’s spiralling mental health crisis and the recent bungle that made it worse.

The crisis in mental-health care has been exacerbated by a breakdown in the college responsible for accrediting new psychiatrists, pushing waitlists to as long as a year.

Behind the numbers of elderly people who have died of Covid-19, and the glib dismissal of them by politicians, are stories of rich lives ended in often terrible loneliness.

Today, senior reporter at The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on the outsourcing of a key frontline health service and the impact of privatisation during the pandemic.

The hotline at the centre of the government’s new Covid-19 strategy is staffed by casual workers with almost no training, employed by the company behind robo-debt.

Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on the crisis in our health system, and how our government’s didn’t see it coming.

In October, the government made a new plan for hospitals – but it was never updated and one of the key drugs it was based on still hasn’t arrived.

A deal that allowed private pathology labs to claim government rebates up to 20 times for one procedure has contributed to the startling collapse of the testing system.

Covid-19 focused the world’s scientists and politicians like never before. The breakthroughs made to manage it could now lead to vaccines against HIV and even cancer.

Rick Morton on the woman who spent decades advocating for the unproven technology behind the vaccine, and how it helped save humanity.

In many ways the world was cruel to Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó, until she saved it.

For some young people, finishing school in a global pandemic was made more difficult by the compounding effects of disadvantage.

New details have emerged regarding the spread of Omicron to Europe, but it is still not clear how significant the Covid-19 strain will be.

Eight months after receiving the final report from the aged care royal commission, the Morrison government is spending millions of dollars on management consultancies rather than implementing key recommendations.

The agency tasked with oversight of Medicare billing is accused of ‘terrorising’ doctors as it recoups tens of millions in payments.

The shifting of liabilities between shell companies has left thousands of women harmed by transvaginal mesh implants with no one to sue for proper compensation.

As an honours student studying philosophy at Melbourne University, having just missed out on a Rhodes Scholarship, Warumungu man Ethan Taylor is interested in the production of knowledge and justice.

As the eastern states emerge from lockdowns, the pandemic isn’t over, it’s just changing shape.

Leaked documents show Covid-19 infections among Indigenous people are almost double the national average.

Since the Coalition came to power, outsourcing of policy work to management consultants has surged – to the point where the public service scarcely has the expertise to function.

Following the surprise resignation of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, four men are jockeying for the job.

A rush of government tenders to outsource Covid-19 responses shows who is most at risk as lockdowns end. The 20 per cent who will not be fully vaccinated when states begin to open are not anti-vaxxers but rather the most vulnerable.

As contact tracing collapses in NSW, differences are opening up in the key health modelling commissioned by government.

The ambulance service used to reach its ‘status three’ crisis band once a decade. It has hit it several times in the past few weeks alone.

As overwhelmed hospital staff prepare to triage patients based on age, a new briefing to national cabinet says the strain on the health system will last well into next year.

Victoria and NSW are at a crisis point, with Covid-19 hospitalisations being underreported and cascading impacts on ambulance services and medical staffing.

Analysis prepared for national cabinet shows that although states have built up surge capacity for ventilators during the pandemic, they do not have the medical staff to operate them.

A leaked document shows that national cabinet has shifted its focus from vaccinations to working out how well hospitals will cope with Covid-19 surges.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is cutting services without consultation, leaving those with disabilities in a continued fight for funding, while fraudulent providers face little scrutiny.

As Scott Morrison leans on ‘optimal’ vaccine modelling, the epidemiologists he commissioned say they can’t predict a return to normal.

The divisions and tensions inside national cabinet mirror the political forces that are gaining strength within the anti-lockdown movement.

Dr Kerry Chant is on the front line in the fight against Covid-19. She is described by colleagues as someone who abhors small talk and will give advice regardless of the impact on her career.

Australia’s vaccine rollout has been a series of decisions and sliding doors moments, all connected to one original failure.

A time line of the science behind the Covid-19 vaccines shows how close Australia came to its own breakthroughs, and how it backed the wrong candidates.

On Monday, chief health officers urged Scott Morrison to drop the AstraZeneca vaccine entirely. Instead, he broadened its usage.

As the government sets new ‘horizons’ for the vaccine rollout, questions are being asked about how decisions regarding supply were initially made.

The arrest of a Friendlyjordies producer on an intimidation charge is the latest strange turn in the life of the Labor-aligned YouTube star.

Looming changes to Medicare rebates have brought howls of protest and the potential for another ‘Mediscare’ campaign by Labor. But, experts say, the real problem is the rise of private health and the slow drift to a US-style system.

At the same time as the government was failing to deliver vaccines to aged-care homes, it scrapped the support payment designed to stop staff working at multiple sites – a key source of transmission.

As Covid-19 case numbers in Victoria continue to rise, attention has turned to the slow pace of the vaccine rollout, and the question of whether or not more vaccinations could have stopped this outbreak. Today, Rick Morton on where the rollout went wrong and what the consequences have been.

The federal government has taken unprecedented control of Covid-19 vaccinations, but the rollout has been mired in politics, faulty numbers and unawarded tenders.

As yet another funding fight looms for the national broadcaster, the government has appointed three new members to the ABC board.

Refugees who have waited for years to have their cases for asylum heard are now being rushed through a new system that critics say erodes due process.

While the government works to reform the disability insurance agency and restart welfare debt collections, management consultancy McKinsey has amassed significant influence.

As the pandemic rages overseas, scores of major film and TV projects are moving production to Australia. But will this gold rush bring any lasting benefits to the local industry?

The struggling university sector will get no help from the Victorian government to set up quarantine facilities for international students, while similar plans in other states have also stalled.

A comprehensive study of more than 230,000 people by Oxford University researchers has linked neurological disorders, such as stroke and dementia, to Covid-19.

A secret taskforce set up to cut costs and reduce access to the NDIS is the tip of the iceberg in a suite of plans to dramatically reshape the scheme.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is looking to limit new applicants and the amount allocated to existing users to control a cost blowout.

As the government pushes for major changes to the NDIS, The Saturday Paper can reveal key figures in the scheme’s fraud and compliance division were also involved in the robo-debt fiasco.

State and territory disability ministers have been sidelined from plans to strip back the NDIS. The legislation will hand the federal minister ‘God powers’ over the scheme.

Asylum seekers are being denied access to Covid-19 tests, Medicare and even schooling because of both deliberate and unintentional flaws in the visa system.

A win for the government in its push to deny people on the National Disability Insurance Scheme access to sex worker supports may hand the Commonwealth even greater power to control the scheme.

For years, the rise of the Bundaberg farmer’s son turned London banker seemed unstoppable. Then things started to fall apart.

Media commentators were quick to attack mention of a widely read self-help book in the dossier of Christian Porter's accuser. But the science of trauma is complicated, and we lack the nuance needed to understand it or its treatments.

After two-and-a-half years, the report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has landed. Its findings are clear: without a major overhaul and more resources, our elderly will continue to receive substandard care.

More than two years after it was first established, the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has called for systemic overhaul of an underfunded and under-regulated sector.

The AFP is investigating a report referred by Justice Patricia Bergin in the wake of her explosive inquiry into Crown Casino, as ASIC begins looking into the company’s current and former board appointees.

Afterpay produced Australia’s youngest self-made billionaire. The company is yet to report a profit, but has ambitious plans to grow overseas and outrun regulators here.

The government claims it thought debts raised by its robo-debt scheme were legal. But experts now point to two cases that went before the High Court and clearly highlighted the program’s risks.

The Family Court system has been struggling for years, yet a decision to merge it with the Federal Circuit Court has provoked both concern and support from stakeholders across the spectrum.

James Packer’s Crown Casino has been found unfit to hold a licence in NSW, following an 18-month inquiry. The findings call into question Crown casinos around Australia and have other state governments scrambling.

The NDIS minister is pushing for states and territories to agree on a ban on sex therapy under the insurance scheme. Disability advocates fear Stuart Robert’s plans to increase federal control are a cost-cutting exercise at heart.

As the face of the Coalition’s push to reshape super, Tim Wilson sees the early access to accounts offered during the pandemic as a blueprint for a more fundamental change to the system.

As the prime minister tries to calm concerns about tensions with China, Kevin Rudd says the idea Morrison is taking a consultative approach is ‘nonsense’.

As the realities of Australia’s vaccine choices set in, tensions are rising with the states and territories over the program’s rollout.

As a senate inquiry launches a scathing critique of the legislative failures that led to the destruction of the Juukan Gorge caves, traditional owners in the Northern Territory are fighting a fracking project that threatens water sources and sacred sites.

With the NDIA appearing intent on downgrading funding for supported independent living, the lives of those relying on the scheme are being put at risk.

After years of careful manoeuvring, the Coalition government is readying to make radical changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The revised system will force new assessments and tighten eligibility.

After Victoria was ravaged by a second wave of Covid-19, Premier Daniel Andrews has targeted his state’s budget to address the crisis’s key drivers: insecure work and aged care.

A landmark Productivity Commission report into mental illness provides a road map to reduce harm, but it chafes against deep-seated government ideology.

This week, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced it had produced an effective vaccine for Covid-19. It is one of four vaccines to which Australia has now secured access.

As the NSW parliament debates amendments to family violence legislation, new research shows that some victim-survivors are being charged as offenders instead, while children are not being protected by apprehended violence orders.

As the US election looms, a shadow campaign is running to suppress votes, with Trump Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh using a disgraced argument he first tried as an adviser to George W. Bush.

Among all the hardships of Melbourne’s lengthy Covid-19 lockdown, not being able to get a haircut has been rated by many as one of the most psychologically taxing. With salons now reopened, a palpable sense of purpose and identity is returning to the city.

The mail carrier’s chief executive has been asked to stand aside after revelations of luxury watches gifted to executives, but the company is facing much deeper crises.

Without warning, the government has removed all support from hundreds of refugees in community detention – denying them housing and income support.

This year’s budget provides little support for those in greatest need, including the aged-care sector and people who are unemployed – with women over 40 bearing the heaviest burden.

Jacqui Lambie has made clear she will vote against the Coalition’s controversial higher education reforms, but the government appears to be angling for Centre Alliance’s vote.

New analysis reveals the government intends to cut billions of dollars from university research, while reannouncing funds from elsewhere in the budget.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted two decades of aged-care mismanagement, but at the heart of the sector is a pyramid scheme that exposes the taxpayer to billions in liability.

As the royal commission prepares findings that will likely recommend a return to an earlier system of aged care, the crisis in the sector can be linked to Howard-era reforms that stoked greed and lowered care standards, and have been worsened by successive governments.

Government policies have seen the ‘unemployment industry’ paid millions during the pandemic, while jobless rates soar.

As the coronavirus crisis in aged care worsens, the federal government is withholding key information and denying it is responsible for surge staff in nursing homes.

As the world doubts Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine announcement, there have been promising developments in trials from China and Britain.

Two months ago the government set its response for Covid-19 outbreaks in aged care – controversially, it was ‘about keeping the hospitals for the young’.

The Andrews government cannot identify any legislation it needed to override, but experts say that is the point.

New research shows coronavirus may have lasting impacts on cognitive ability.

A third of Covid-19 deaths in Australia so far have occurred in aged-care homes. An investigation finds an underfunded and underprepared sector.

Australia almost beat the first strain of coronavirus. New research shows that later strains, which had spread through Europe and America, slipped out through hotel quarantine.

A scan might have found the cancer now killing Daniel van Roo. Instead his doctor gave him 50 STI tests, which van Roo believes was because he is gay.

Of the thousands of young people with disabilities living in aged-care facilities, only a few hundred have been moved into the community since the NDIS rollout began in 2013.

Last week’s shock departure of the editor of The Age was sparked by discontent among staff over editorial direction and leadership. But it seems the warning shots claimed an unintended victim.

As the ABC announces massive job cuts, the Morrison government has commissioned a report that mirrors Murdoch concerns about the broadcaster.

As the National Disability Insurance Agency awaits the findings of research it has commissioned into autism support and treatment, members of the autism community are concerned the report may never be made public.

While Josh Frydenberg personally consulted the Merivale CEO about JobKeeper’s design, court documents detail the huge underpayment suit his pub empire is facing.

Victoria’s participation in China’s $US1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative has attracted widespread criticism and created conflict between the state and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

A Queensland town’s decades-long legal fight against being subsumed by a coalmine could end next week as the case reaches the High Court of Australia. But not before a final turn of the screws.

An Uber-like app that matches aged-care facilities with casual workers has won a government contract despite questions over what it provides.

Coronavirus has invigorated conspiracy theorists and brought together disparate groups, many of them flourishing as social media platforms stand down moderators.

With the aged-care watchdog looking into the Covid-19 cluster that has claimed 16 lives at Newmarch House in Sydney’s west, systemic flaws are being exposed. But what comfort is that to the distressed families of residents?

Many are still waiting to rebuild their homes that were destroyed during the Black Summer, but experts have told the bushfire royal commission and parliamentary inquiry that the climate crisis will leave more people vulnerable to disaster.

Covid-19 has opened up new disparities between students, as some states consider narrowing the scope of final-year exams in response.

While rumours swirl over how the North West Regional and Private hospitals became the epicentre of Tasmania’s Covid-19 battle, evidence has emerged of a severe shortage of personal protective equipment and encouragement of dubious practices throughout the state.

While the High Court this week quashed the cardinal’s conviction for child sexual abuse, there remain several fronts on which the legal battle may continue.

With the nation in near lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, family violence is on the rise, with many victims now unable to access the help and services they need.

While one Queensland laboratory readies a Covid-19 vaccine for human trials, Howard-era public servant Jane Halton is co-ordinating the global response.

In a world currently also contaminated with false information surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, the experts are here to unravel the truth.

The High Court decision on the fate of convicted cardinal George Pell may be delivered as early as next week.

“The truth, in Scott Morrison’s world, is like light. With the right forces, it can be fractured or bent out of shape. Sometimes it changes of its own accord, as the sun charts a course across the sky. As Immigration minister, he invented the notion …”

As Julian Assange’s fight against extradition to the United States finally came to court this week, allegations arose that he was bugged at the Ecuadorian embassy.

Experts in the aged-care sector warn that the government may reduce waiting lists for home-care programs by restricting their eligibility requirements, leaving thousands of older Australians in need.

For nearly a decade, Payam Saadat has fought for compensation over the trauma he endured in immigration detention. More than 60 other cases rely on the result of his trial.

Liberal insiders say Isaac Wakil was never present in high-end donor circles. So what prompted the reclusive 92-year-old to donate $4.1 million to the Liberal Party?

As the impact of the deadly coronavirus grows exponentially, health authorities are scrambling to contain the number of infections, while University of Queensland researchers are working day and night on a potential vaccine.

As the Australian Red Cross faces criticisms over its bushfire efforts, current and former employees question the broad scope of its fundraising appeal.

Australia is on fire and the volunteers on the front line are sounding an alarm. Lacking vital resources, they are exhausted and quickly draining their annual leave. And the season has no end in sight.

While Brian Houston celebrates Hillsong’s new multimillion-dollar church in New York, a victim of his father’s sexual abuse crowdfunds to pay for cancer treatment.

As the ACCC inquires into the data use of digital platforms, the government is caught in a faceoff between News Corp and the tech giants.

As Andrew Bolt attempts to start a culture war over Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu, a search of primary documents affirms the book’s accuracy.

A band of strange political bedfellows have united for a common cause – to fight for the return of Julian Assange to Australia.

Despite an early promise by the Morrison government to deliver better outcomes for Indigenous Australians, they remain no closer to being recognised in the constitution.

A wide-ranging review of Australian mental health has pointed to the welfare system, particularly the troubled jobactive program, as a key driver in the crisis.

While the aged-care royal commission’s interim report highlights the need for reform, experts warn the government’s plans to outsource health assessments may only add to the crisis.

A report that recommends turning forested areas of central west Victoria into national parks has been met with silence by the Andrews government, prompting fears of a return to logging.

While aiming to reduce sedative use in aged-care facilities, new government regulations may have the opposite effect, putting elderly residents at risk of dangerous – and potentially fatal – side effects.

New figures reveal the human toll of a five-year NDIS funding fight, with hundreds of families pushed to relinquish their children into state care.

Funding cuts made when Scott Morrison was treasurer have left parts of the aged-care sector on the brink of insolvency, propped up by a government bailout.

While Scott Morrison toured Trump’s America, the world’s top climate scientists fought it out over their latest warning of the coming disaster.

As a royal commission begins on the disability sector, correspondence reveals NDIA chair Helen Nugent has used an email account owned by Macquarie Bank to direct the $22 billion agency.

With an expansion of the welfare crackdown signalled this week in parliament, experts warn the government’s measures will lead to collateral damage.

In a major speech this week, the prime minister warned the public service that it is losing the trust of middle Australia. But data suggests the ‘quiet Australians’ are losing faith with their politicians.

A world-first study by Victorian academics shows inflammatory media reports – on race and Safe Schools – acted as a dog whistle to extremists seeking ‘permission’.