The Method

01 / What qualifies as a rort

02 / Evidence grade

1. E1Primary document read directly: filing, court record, legislation, regulator publication, official register
2. E2Primary document reported by an independent masthead, the document itself identified and citable
3. E3Subject- or operator-reported figure, with the underlying data published
4. E4Subject or operator claim only, no underlying data available
5. HARD RULEE4 findings may be published, but are flagged and excluded from every comparison, aggregate and ranking
6. HARD RULEA case takes the grade of its WEAKEST headline finding; the exhibit register flags each exhibit individually
7. HARD RULEAbsence of evidence is a finding, not a gap. One project and zero certificates is a result. A blank cell is never left blank and never estimated

03 / Shared with change4planet, on purpose

04 / Source tiers

1. TIER 1The primary document: legislation, court record, filing, regulator publication, ministry release
2. TIER 2The organisation's own statement about itself
3. TIER 3A masthead with a corrections policy, reporting the primary document
4. TIER 4Specialist or trade press
5. TIER 5Aggregator or republisher: a last resort, and the reference must name the original publisher
6. TIER XUnusable: no byline, no date, or sourcing that cannot be established
7. HARD RULETier is DECLARED by the desk, never inferred from a domain name. Inferring quality from a hostname is a judgement a program pretends to make and cannot defend

05 / The three verification states

1. MACHINERESOLVES: does the address load? A machine can answer this, and does, on a schedule
2. HUMANEXISTS: was the named document ever real? Only a person can answer this
3. HUMANSUPPORTS: does the document carry THIS claim, not merely cover the topic?
4. HARD RULEThe three are independent and are never blended into a single trust score. A source can resolve, exist, and still not support the claim attached to it, and a single score would show that as sound
5. HARD RULEUnknown is the honest default. A reference nobody has checked is not fine, it is unchecked, and the ledger records it that way

06 / Provenance, on every numbered exhibit

1. READ-DIRECTLYRead directly: taken from the primary document by the desk
2. HAND-CURATEDHand-curated: assembled by the desk from multiple documents
3. AUTO-ASSEMBLEDAuto-assembled: built by the model from the archive itself
4. HARD RULEWhere the data does not declare its provenance, the column is omitted and the instrument makes no claim
5. WHYThere is deliberately no Verified tick on this site. Nothing in the content carries a verification field, so such a chip would assert the same thing whether or not anything had been checked. An attestation that is always true is decoration, and then a lie

07 / Case status

1. ONGOINGRunning. The mechanism is still operating
2. WIDENEDStill running, and its scope or cost has grown since first documented
3. NARROWEDStill running, but constrained: a threshold restored, a loophole partly closed
4. CLOSED · REFORMEnded by legislation, regulation or a binding ruling
5. CLOSED · ABANDONEDEnded without reform: the actor stopped, the scheme lapsed, the company exited
6. CONTESTEDBefore a court, tribunal or inquiry. The record is live and may change
7. DORMANTNo activity on the record for twelve months. Not closed
8. NUMBERSA case number is fixed by the order in which cases were opened and is never reused
9. HARD RULEStatus is a statement about the world, not about the record. It moves when the world moves, and every change is dated on the case

08 / Contested and dormant cases

09 / Right of reply

1. 01Any case or article naming a person or organisation adversely offers right of reply BEFORE publication or promotion
2. 02An on-the-record response is published in full alongside the record, never summarised; a response given on background is recorded as such, without its content
3. 03Every such record states its right-of-reply status: offered, declined, no response, response published, or could not be delivered. Silence is a state that is shown, not an absence that is hidden
4. 04Exposure is managed by documenting only. State what the document says and what the actor did. Do not characterise motive, and do not assert a conclusion the record does not carry

10 / Corrections

1. 01A correction is applied everywhere the claim appears: body, key facts, fact tiles, quote attributions, sidebars, case files, and any generated index
2. 02A correction to a generated file is also made in the source the generator reads, or it has an expiry date
3. 03Every published correction is recorded, dated and visible on the article
4. HARD RULEA claim that cannot be sourced is CUT, not hedged. Reportedly keeps the claim and removes the accountability

11 / The audit that produced this document

12 / Standards of practice

13 / The code

1. ACCURACYEvery published fact is checked to be accurate, sourced and not misleading, and fact is kept distinct from comment
2. FAIRNESSFacts are presented with reasonable fairness and balance, and no conclusion depends on leaving a key fact out
3. REPLYAnyone named adversely is offered a reply before publication or promotion, as set out above
4. NO FABRICATIONNo quote, document, figure or source is invented, composited or altered
5. FAIR MEANSMaterial is not gathered by deception, by misrepresenting who is asking, or by other unfair means, unless the public interest requires it and the article says how it was obtained
6. OPINIONArgument is written as argument, in the desk's own voice, and is never built on a fact the record does not carry
7. PRIVACYNobody's reasonable expectation of privacy, a public figure's included, is intruded on unless it bears on the mechanism the record documents and the public interest requires it. Home addresses and personal details beyond what identifies a person are not published
8. HARMCausing or contributing to substantial offence, distress or prejudice, or a substantial risk to anyone's health or safety, is avoided unless the public interest requires it
9. CONFLICTSA conflict of interest is avoided where it can be, declared where it cannot, and never allowed to shape what is published, as set out below
10. CORRECTIONAn error, or anything misleading, is corrected promptly and visibly, as set out above

14 / Complaints

1. ADDRESSA complaint about anything this station publishes goes to desk@therort.com.au. A factual error can also be reported to corrections@therort.com.au
2. FIVE DAYSEvery complaint or correction request, to either address, is acknowledged in writing within five business days and either answered in that time or given a date for the answer
3. WHO DECIDESComplaints are decided by the desk itself. There is no external adjudicator, and a complainant keeps every right they have at law
4. UPHELDA complaint that is upheld is published as a dated correction or update on the article, applied everywhere the claim appears. Anything removed is recorded as removed
5. NOT UPHELDA complaint that is not upheld is answered with the reasons and the published sources relied on. Nothing that could identify a source is ever disclosed

15 / Ownership and funding

1. OWNERTHE RORT is independent and self-funded: its publisher owns it and pays for it, and no one else does
2. NO OTHER INCOMEIt has no other income of any kind: no advertising, sponsorship, donations, grants or subscriptions, and no payment from anyone
3. HARD RULENo subject of coverage, and nobody acting for one, approves, edits or vetoes copy. Right of reply puts each adverse claim to them in writing; it does not hand them the text
4. HARD RULEIf any of this changes, this page changes first, under a new version dated in the changelog below

16 / Conflicts of interest

1. DECLAREDAnyone who works on a case declares any direct financial interest in its subject (shares held directly, employment, a contract or a payment), any family or close personal connection to anyone it names, and any personal stake in it, such as living or paying rates where its subject governs
2. DISCLOSEDA declared interest that bears on a case is printed on the case and on every article in it. Where nothing is printed, nothing has been declared

17 / Sources and anonymity

1. PROTECTEDA person who brings information to the desk, through the tip line or any other channel, is never named and never identified, unless they ask in writing to be named
2. NAMEDA person quoted on the record is named. Where a person is quoted without a name, the article says so and says why
3. TIPSAn anonymous tip is a lead, never a finding
4. HARD RULENo adverse claim about a named person or organisation rests on an anonymous source alone, this desk's or another outlet's. Such a claim is published only alongside a primary document that carries it, or it is cut
5. UNNAMEDAnything else drawn from an unnamed source is attributed to the outlet that reported it, and the article says the source was unnamed

18 / What this station does not do

1. 01No advertising, no sponsors, no commercial relationships of any kind
2. 02No re-hosting or reproducing another outlet's work. We link, and the clicks go to them
3. 03No partisan alignment. The rort is the target, not a party
4. RS-3Every figure is REPORTED (a source states it), an ESTIMATE (attributed by name to whoever made it, with its range) or MODELLED (THE RORT's arithmetic on sourced inputs, labelled with inputs, rate, start date and a link to this rule). None is presented as fact, used to fill a gap, totalled, ranked or drawn on the Drain. Where the desk does not have the number, the surface says so

19 / The Drain

1. TIEDA flow is drawn on the Drain only when its figure is a sentence in a published article of ours, quoted exactly, and the build re-reads that article every time to check the sentence is still there
2. REFERENCE, YEAR, A$The sentence must carry a numbered reference to a source with an address, name a year, and give the amount in Australian dollars. Another currency is not converted, because the conversion would be a figure the article never printed
3. COMPUTEDThe width is the quoted amount for the year named. A figure that covers several years is divided by the number of years the sentence itself names. Nobody types the width
4. MEASUREThe measures differ (EBITDA, profit, contract value) and each row says which one it is. Widths compare the size of each sourced figure, not a like-for-like take
5. TAXTax returned is shown only when a sentence in an article gives it with a year. Otherwise the row reads No sourced figure, which is not the same as nothing coming back
6. HELD OFFA flow that cannot be tied is held off the map and counted on the page. It is not estimated and it is not rounded into place
7. CORRECTIONSA correction that withdraws a quoted figure takes the flow off the map at the next build
8. COUNTERSA live counter or a depletion gauge appears on the Drain only when an article carries the figure and the rate. None does today, so none is shown

20 / Changelog

1. V1.0 · 2026-08-16First published. Evidence grade, source tiers, the three verification states, provenance, case status, right of reply and corrections
2. V1.1 · 2026-10-07Adds the standards of practice: the code, complaints, ownership and funding, conflicts of interest, sources and anonymity, and this changelog. Two counts first stated in version 1.0 are now dated to it. No earlier rule changes
3. V1.2 · 2026-10-08Adds the rules for the Drain: every flow on the map is tied to a sentence in a published article, by reference number, with a named year and an amount in Australian dollars, or it is held off the map and counted. No earlier rule changes
4. V1.3 · 2026-10-08The page now describes THE RORT as an independent Australian public-interest news site and watchdog in the first line of the standards of practice, and the ownership rule names the role of editor and publisher. No rule changes
5. V1.4 · 2026-10-08Points the standards of practice to THE RORT STANDARD at /standard. The rule "No estimated figures" becomes RS-3: an estimate is allowed only when it is attributed by name, and a modelled figure only when it is labelled as THE RORT's own arithmetic with its inputs, rate and start date; neither is presented as fact. One earlier line is relaxed, by the publisher's decision of 8 October 2026. A second is clarified in the same decision: an on-the-record response is published in full, and a response given on background is recorded as such, without its content. The right-of-reply statuses gain "could not be delivered". The dashes are removed from the page. Case status is clarified: a case before a court, tribunal or inquiry is marked contested with the date it became so, each case page lists its dated status history, dormant means no activity on the record for twelve months, and a case number is fixed by the order in which cases were opened and is never reused. The line "Every case is currently ongoing" is replaced by "Contested and dormant cases". No other rule changes
6. V1.5 · 2026-10-09The ownership and funding rule is reworded: THE RORT is described as independent and self-funded, owned and paid for by its publisher and no one else. No rule changes