It’s a cosmic irony that a book deeply critical of the Australian government should be among the winners of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, author Rick Morton says.
His book about the robodebt scandal, Mean Streak, has won the non-fiction category, making Morton one of six winners to receive the prestigious $80,000 prize.
Currently in Paris writing a novel, Morton has mixed feelings about the win, and says he’s wondered why he has the opportunity to write books, when others never did.
“I have a very complicated relationship with acknowledgement and also with money … don’t get me wrong I’m excited about it, but it also just felt so weird,” he said.
The robodebt scheme chased more than half a million people on Centrelink payment for debts that had been created using an illegal method of “income averaging”.
Morton has already won two Walkley awards for his coverage of the royal commission into the scandal.
“It wasn’t just a bad mistake or bad policy, it was literally a conspiracy … this thing was illegal and yet they did it anyway, and it ruined people’s lives,” he said.
The winners of Australia’s richest literary prize were announced at the National Library of Australia in Canberra Monday night, and will share in a $600,000 prize pool.
Geraldine Fela has won the history category with Critical Care: Nurses on the frontline of Australia’s AIDS crisis, while the poetry award has gone to David Brooks for The Other Side of Daylight: New and Selected Poems.
Michelle de Kretser has added to her Stella Prize win, taking out the fiction category with Theory & Practice.
Leo and Ralph by Peter Carnavas won the children’s book award, and The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland won the award for young adult book.
For the first time the awards have been held under the aegis of Writing Australia, which was established in July as part of government funding body Creative Australia.
“Each of these works brings a unique perspective, whether it is giving voice to critical moments in our history, sparking imagination in young readers, or offering new ways to think about the world around us,” said Writing Australia director Wenona Byrne.
The awards have at times been controversial since they were launched in 2008, with both Labor and Liberal prime ministers intervening in the judging process.
The 2025 winners were selected by an independent panel of judges with shortlisted entries receiving $5000.
2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Winners
* Australian History – Critical Care: Nurses on the frontline of Australia’s AIDS crisis by Geraldine Fela
* Children’s Literature – Leo and Ralph by Peter Carnavas
* Fiction – Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser
* Non-fiction – Mean Streak by Rick Morton
* Young adult literature – The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland
* Poetry – The Other Side of Daylight: New and Selected Poems by David Brooks
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