#Australian Political Book 2025 Rick Morton
by Rick Morton (no photo)
Finish date: 06.10.2025
Genre: Australian non-ficti0n
Rating: A+++
#NonFicNov25
Good News: Cosmic irony: Mean Streak is deeply critical of The Australian government…yet it wins Prime Minister’s Literary Award 2025 for nonfiction! It felt I was reading an absurdist play…
…how inaccurate the debts could be (pure fiction created by the Robodebt software) and how many people would never realise or be able to find their records …because they don’t exist!
Bad News: Technical info you need to understand in the book: Centrelink (delivers social security payments and services to various groups of people in Australia)…informed people they owed payments on monies created using an illegal method of income averaging. Complicated? Yes… Illegal ? …Yes, but the Australian government saw it as a “money grab”.
Personal: The Robodebt debt scheme was a government conspiracy. It was illegal, they knew it yet they did it. It ruined people’s lives. Professor David Schmidtchen from public sector management at UNSW Canberra sums it up perfectly: “Robodebt has become more than just a failed welfare program…it now represents what happens when governments automate processes without proper oversight.”
Here is another excellent example of Australian NF. Mean Streak has a VERY good chance of winning #AusPolBook 2025. But I still have 2 books on the shortlist that I must be read. I would be surprised if Rick Morton did not win!
Morton’s writing expressed deep and sincere feelings (empathy) about the Robodebt debacle. Morton also has a great sense of humour. He made me laugh describing a lawyer trying desperately to come up with a reasonable explanation “…Pulford (lawyer) reached deep into the scrabble bag…” (pg 250)
Another gem:
“It’s turtles all the way down”. (pg 416)
“Turtles all the way down” is often invoked whenever explanations seem to rely on a never-ending chain of further explanations or causes. It is a whimsical metaphor for suggesting there may never be a “bottom turtle” or ultimate reason for things.
NancyElin.blog 
Mean Streak sounds fascinating. It’s indeed ironic that it speaks out against the government and was also awarded the Prime Minister’s Literary Award—but, to me, that says something good about the health of the government.
I must say the first pages (50%) were the description of the birth of the scheme. It could be a bit boring….but the last half of the book is really worth the reader’s time. I’ve discovered a wonderful writer, Rick Morton, and want to read his autobiography “100 Years of Dirt” …about his upbringing on a remote cattle station in the Queensland Australia outback. Thanks for you comment!
Sounds interesting in a sort of “misery loves company” way. Come see my week! Happy reading!
Thanks for your comment.
Wow! For illogical reasons, I thought only our American government did this kind of thing. I’m sorry this happened to the people of Australia.
I know, it is so sad to read how a government deliberately harmed its population. That is good to read more non-fiction …from around the world! Thanks for you comment and I hope you find some interesting books in my “Monthly Planning” link….it goes back for years!