Background Briefing
255 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsBackground Briefing is daring narrative journalism: Australian investigations with impact. Our award-winning reporters forensically uncover the hidden stories at the heart of the country’s biggest issues.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Will any koalas be left in Australia's east by 2050?
July 02, 2022 22:05 - 37 minutes - 51.4 MBBeing one of Australia’s cutest animals hasn’t prevented its slide towards extinction. Reporter Rachael Brown investigates what is being done to try to curb the koala's declining population.
What goes on inside Australia's first long COVID clinic?
June 25, 2022 22:05 - 38 minutes - 52.8 MBThousands of Australians are finding they still feel ill several months after contracting coronavirus. They're experiencing a new and little understood condition called long COVID. As Geoff Thompson discovered, the demand for medical treatment is now overwhelming.
Kidnapping the Gods | Part 2
June 18, 2022 22:05 - 45 minutes - 62.3 MBPrecious artefacts looted from Cambodia and Thailand made their way into prominent collections here in Australia, and around the world. In the second and final episode of his investigation, Mario Christodoulou investigates why it’s taking so long for these precious works to be returned to their rightful home.
Kidnapping the Gods
June 11, 2022 22:05 - 45 minutes - 62.8 MBMany ancient Cambodian artifacts arrived in Australia during the 1960s and 1970s, when the south east Asian country was in turmoil. Mario Christodoulou investigates how some had come from looted historic sites or passed through the hands of suspected smugglers, and now feature in major galleries around the world.
The teachers are not alright
June 04, 2022 22:05 - 42 minutes - 57.9 MBThe COVID-19 pandemic has challenged schools across the country like never before, but it's also shone a light on existing issues within the profession such as a chronic shortage of specialised teachers and growing workload stress. Reporter Mayeta Clark follows teachers in public schools in NSW as they struggle to cover classes and keep their students engaged.
Why Queensland's sex workers say the law puts their lives at risk
May 28, 2022 22:05 - 37 minutes - 51.3 MBMany states have repealed tough laws that put sex workers at risk of prosecution. But so far, Queensland hasn't followed suit. Now, the state government is looking at introducing new safeguards to protect those in the industry. Reporter Mahmood Fazal investigates.
INTRODUCING – Face Value
April 30, 2022 22:05 - 3 minutes - 4.54 MBBackground Briefing will be on a break for a few weeks, but we will be back late May with fresh investigations. In the meantime why not check out a new podcast made by our colleagues called Face Value. It takes a closer look at the booming cosmetic enhancement industry in Australia and explores why so many people choose to alter their appearance with injectables or surgical procedures.
The 'holy grail' of IVF that went wrong
April 23, 2022 22:05 - 41 minutes - 57.2 MBIVF has grown into a huge industry, with companies competing to provide fertility services. But in the quest to innovate and gain an edge, one Australian company may have taken things too far. Now hundreds of those who used a controversial new genetic test are taking legal action Reporter Rachael Brown investigates.
The 'holy grail' of IVF that went wrong
April 23, 2022 22:05 - 41 minutes - 57.2 MBIVF has grown into a huge industry, with companies competing to provide fertility services. But in the quest to innovate and gain an edge, one Australian company may have taken things too far. Now hundreds of those who used a controversial new genetic test are taking legal action. Reporter Rachael Brown investigates.
When the floodwater goes, what's next?
April 16, 2022 22:05 - 40 minutes - 55.2 MBReporter Geoff Thompson followed several residents of Lismore as they tried to recover from February's monster flood in Northern NSW. But before they'd finished the clean-up, the waters started to rise again.
The mums accused of poisoning their kids
April 09, 2022 22:05 - 54 minutes - 74.9 MBAn almost unimaginable crime: two women accused of poisoning their own children at the same Sydney hospital. Both were charged and spent years separated from their families, but both say they were falsely accused. Reporter Hannah Ryan investigates whether the system has failed these families.
The end of Australia's biggest coal fired power plant
April 02, 2022 22:05 - 40 minutes - 55 MBJim works in the control room at Eraring Power Station, where one quarter of NSW's power is produced. But Jim and his 450 colleagues have recently found out that his workplace will be closing down, 7 years ahead of schedule. Reporter Mayeta Clark investigates what plans are in place to transition communities away from coal jobs.
The quiet drug crisis you haven't heard about
March 26, 2022 21:05 - 39 minutes - 54.1 MBPrison authorities know that drugs are constantly finding their way into our prisons. But the most commonly detected drug is one you might never have heard of. And health experts are warning there’s a disaster looming for addicted inmates when they get out. Mahmood Fazal reports. This episode contains explicit language.
The scientists questioning a serial murder case
March 19, 2022 21:05 - 42 minutes - 57.9 MBShe was convicted of killing her four children nearly two decades ago. But new scientific evidence has come to light, leading some of Australia’s most respected scientists to argue that Kathleen Folbigg was actually the victim of a terrible miscarriage of justice. Some of those scientists now say Australia needs to establish a whole new body to review potentially wrongful convictions. Rachael Brown reports. Special thanks to Flinders University Ad...
Inside aged care's Omicron chaos
March 12, 2022 21:05 - 35 minutes - 49.3 MBThis wave of coronavirus caused more Australians to die in aged care homes than any variant before it. This time we had vaccines and we had time to prepare. Reporter Geoff Thompson investigates how it went so wrong during Omicron.
Catching a Fugitive | Part 2
March 05, 2022 21:05 - 39 minutes - 54.9 MBCharles Batham has been in hiding for years, and after two narrow escapes the trail goes cold. Then, reporter Erin Parke gets a tip-off that that brings the global investigation back from the brink – but will the truth ever come out about Batham’s dark past?
Catching a fugitive | part 1
February 26, 2022 21:05 - 36 minutes - 50 MBA tall, eccentric Englishman with a secret double life flees Australia. For nine years he remains on the run. What he doesn't know is that two Australian women are tracking his movements from afar. Reporter Erin Parke was one of them.
Catching a fugitive | Part 1
February 26, 2022 21:05 - 36 minutes - 50 MBA tall, eccentric Englishman with a secret double life flees Australia. For nine years he remains on the run. What he doesn't know is that two Australian women are tracking his movements from afar. Reporter Erin Parke was one of them.
The boss you can't escape from
February 19, 2022 21:05 - 39 minutes - 54.1 MBWhy a part of our workforce is afraid to speak up, even if their lodgings have bedbugs, it's hard to get a shower, or their pay is getting docked by random amounts. Reporter Mario Christodoulou investigates.
How COVID chokes a hospital
February 12, 2022 21:05 - 40 minutes - 55.6 MBFor months the NSW government assured the public that its hospitals were coping through the pandemic. But frontline staff are now speaking out about the barely controlled chaos behind the scenes. Reporter Mayeta Clark investigates what really happened during Omicron's peak.
The kids who broke out of detention
February 05, 2022 21:05 - 42 minutes - 58.6 MBWhat children experienced inside Tasmania's youth detention centre for a long time remained out of sight, out of mind. But as Mahmood Fazal discovered, the centre's secrets are coming out now, as more former detainees come forward to tell their stories for the first time.
Summer Season: Her name was Mhelody Bruno
January 29, 2022 21:05 - 45 minutes - 62 MBShe died in tragic circumstances, but it seems that the public, her family, even the court may not have been given the full story. Elise Kinsella investigates why. This is a repeat of a program that aired in July 2021.
Summer Season: A far-right troll's journey from an Ipswich bedroom to global infamy
January 15, 2022 21:05 - 38 minutes - 52.4 MBA young Australian far-right troll was known to his online fans as 'Catboy Kami'. Thousands followed his 'edgy' videos where he targeted children online with a mix of racial stereotypes and hardcore shock tactics. With that fame and notoriety, he's become a useful recruitment tool in the expansion of one of the globe's most extreme social movements. Alex Mann reveals Catboy Kami's true identity and how this young live streamer from south east Queen...
Summer Season: The hidden park of last resort
January 08, 2022 21:05 - 44 minutes - 61.5 MBIt’s one of the last affordable caravan parks near Sydney's CBD where people can actually make a home. Many of the residents were driven here in one of life's desperate moments, but as Mridula Amin discovers, not everyone wants to leave. This is a repeat of a program that aired in April 2021.
Summer Season: 'The ghosts are not silent'
January 01, 2022 21:05 - 43 minutes - 59.6 MBAn awkward Christmas lunch conversation sends reporter Sam Carmody on a search for answers about his family history. The stories he finds out about are so disturbing, they have implications not just for his family but for the entire region, where his ancestors have a statue in their honour, a highway and even a town named after them. This is a repeat of a program that aired in September 2021.
Summer Season: The death Uber Eats disowned
December 25, 2021 21:05 - 41 minutes - 56.9 MBRelatives of a dead food delivery rider say he was at work when a truck hit him. Uber Eats says he wasn’t. Patrick Begley investigates. This is a repeat of a program that aired in June 2021.
Summer Season: The place where people mysteriously disappear
December 18, 2021 21:05 - 43 minutes - 60 MBWarren Meyer was a keen bushwalker who always came prepared for a hike. When he vanished in the wild terrain of the Yarra Ranges, police were baffled. Ashlynne McGhee investigates whether his disappearance could be linked to the other unsolved mysteries of Victoria's high country. This is a repeat of a program that aired in March 2021.
The giant wind farms clearing Queensland bush
December 11, 2021 21:05 - 42 minutes - 58.4 MBThere’s growing community backlash over the locations chosen for a number of massive new windfarm projects in Northern Queensland. And as Mayeta Clark discovered, its coming from unlikely quarters.
The infiltrator who helped hatch a terror plot
December 04, 2021 21:05 - 41 minutes - 57 MBA young Melbourne man got ten years' jail after attempting to buy a gun in preparation for a possible terrorist attack. Now his family is speaking publicly for the first time, raising questions about who escalated the plot. Mahmood Fazal investigates.
The biggest financial scandal you've never heard of
November 27, 2021 21:05 - 39 minutes - 54.9 MBIt's been celebrated as Australia's "millionaires' factory". But Macquarie Bank is now caught up in the mother of all tax investigations. Reporter Mario Christodoulou has seen internal company files that show which executives knew what and when. This is a joint investigation made together with German investigative journalism outlet Correctiv.
Boom time in carbon farming country
November 20, 2021 21:05 - 41 minutes - 56.5 MBGraziers are discovering there's millions to be made from their flat red earth. Taxpayers are funding billions to reduce the nation's carbon footprint. Reporter Geoff Thompson investigates whether carbon farming will really undo the damage we're doing from burning fossil fuels.
The hidden terror that's splitting people's identities
November 13, 2021 21:05 - 41 minutes - 56.5 MBReporter Tracey Shelton spent years as a correspondent giving a voice to people in war zones who'd experienced trauma. When she returned to Australia, she was surprised to find people here suffering similar symptoms, so she set out to investigate the cause.
Vulnerable, unvaxxed, and running out of time
November 06, 2021 21:05 - 37 minutes - 50.8 MBThese people were supposed to be near the front of the queue for Covid vaccines. But in Yarrabah, an Aboriginal community near Cairns, local doctors are still scrambling to get the vaccination rate above 50% With only six weeks until the Queensland borders open, reporter Mayeta Clark went to find out why.
How a conspiracy and a question led to 18 years jail
October 30, 2021 21:05 - 44 minutes - 61.2 MBHe was sentenced for a crime that shocked Australia: the terrorist plot to attack Sydney's Holsworthy barracks. But Nayef el Sayed's family are still confused about why he's doing so much jail time, and they're not the only ones with questions about the law used to convict him. Mahmood Fazal investigates.
Untouchable Assets | Part 3
October 05, 2021 21:05 - 29 minutes - 39.9 MBAs government investigators close in, Asiaciti realises it hasn't been keeping a close watch on some of its risky clients. In this series finale, Mario Christodoulou traverses from Swiss mountaintop chateaux to a Nigerian coup d'etat, to find out exactly what money was secretly flowing through Asiaciti's products. Then, he takes everything he's found to the man who built up the Asiaciti empire from nothing: Graeme Briggs. The ABC reached out to eve...
Untouchable Assets | Part 2
October 04, 2021 21:05 - 37 minutes - 51.6 MBA rock concert ticket scalper and a controversial entrepreneur turn to Asiaciti for assistance. Using products from Graeme Briggs' company, they lock away their riches on a small Pacific island nation, out of the reach of authorities. But soon, Asiaciti learns it's got its own crisis to deal with: a global media scandal that threatens the company's very existence. Mario Christodoulou reports.
Untouchable Assets | Part 1
October 03, 2021 21:05 - 42 minutes - 58.3 MBGraeme Briggs enjoys rugby, collecting Japanese fountain pens, and looking after other people's money. The problem for Graeme and his company Asiaciti is that among the many legitimate clients, some of them turn out to be corrupt politicians, fraudsters, and criminals. If that isn't bad enough, nearly two million files from his company's server have been leaked to journalists. So what's Graeme Briggs going to do now? Mario Christodoulou investig...
The scientists and shamans of psychedelic retreats
October 02, 2021 21:05 - 40 minutes - 55.6 MBThere's a landmark project underway in Melbourne to find out whether psilocybin - the hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms - can be used to improve end-of-life experiences. But many Australians have already turned to the underground because they're convinced psychedelics improve their mental health. Geoff Thompson investigates whether it's worth all the risks. This is a repeat of a program that aired in February 2021. ...
The Sydney security expert helping Afghan journalists escape
September 25, 2021 22:05 - 35 minutes - 48.2 MBGeoff Thompson follows the dangerous journeys of three Afghan journalists as they attempt to flee the Taliban. Two of them succeed with the help of an Australian man who engineers an escape route for them from his house in Sydney.
'The ghosts are not silent'
September 18, 2021 22:05 - 43 minutes - 59.6 MBAn awkward Christmas lunch conversation sends reporter Sam Carmody on a search for answers about his family history. The stories he finds out about are so disturbing, they have implications not just for his family but for the entire region, where his ancestors have a statue in their honour, a highway and even a town named after them.
What it's like to face terrorism charges
August 14, 2021 22:05 - 44 minutes - 60.7 MBSince the September 11 attacks, Australia has enacted a staggering number of laws to counter the threat of terrorism. Over one hundred people have been charged with terror-related offences here, but very few have spoken to the media. One Australian man who was charged with offences that can carry up to 25 years in jail, shares his story with Mahmood Fazal for the first time.
Inside the epicentre of Australia's Delta outbreak
August 07, 2021 22:05 - 37 minutes - 51.5 MBAs COVID-19 cases surged in Sydney's south-west City of Fairfield, the government enforced tougher restrictions on residents there. But as Geoff Thompson discovers, these constraints have had some devastating repercussions on one of Sydney's poorest areas and where more than half its workers are in industries which can't work from home.
Reality TV's reckoning
July 31, 2021 22:05 - 42 minutes - 57.8 MBReality shows are a central pillar of the television industry, but for the people who appear on them, the productions can be a gateway to years of mental anguish. As Naomi Selvaratnam found out, for some reality TV stars their moment in the spotlight nearly cost them their life.
A far-right troll's journey from an Ipswich bedroom to global infamy
July 24, 2021 22:05 - 37 minutes - 52.1 MBA young Australian far-right troll was known to his online fans as 'Catboy Kami'. Thousands followed his 'edgy' videos where he targeted children online with a mix of racial stereotypes and hardcore shock tactics. With that fame and notoriety, he's become a useful recruitment tool in the expansion of one of the globe's most extreme social movements. Alex Mann reveals Catboy Kami's true identity and how this young live streamer from south east Queen...
Myanmar: The Spring Revolution
July 17, 2021 22:05 - 5 minutes - 7.75 MBIn Myanmar, after a military coup in February this year, mass protests were met with brutal force. Borders were shut, the internet was blocked and it is estimated that around 900 people have been killed by the military. But some brave, young activists have filmed their acts of resistance. As their options close, what hope do they have to win back democracy? Due to copyright restrictions there will be no Background Briefing podcast or transcript for t...
Unmasking Monsters
July 10, 2021 22:05 - 44 minutes - 61.7 MBBob Montgomery was one of Australia's most famous psychologists. But he was hiding a dark secret. Josh Robertson has the story of how he got away with it for so long.
Her name was Mhelody Bruno
July 03, 2021 22:05 - 44 minutes - 61.6 MBShe died in tragic circumstances, but it seems that the public, her family, even the court may not have been given the full story. Elise Kinsella investigates why.
The death Uber Eats disowned
June 26, 2021 22:05 - 41 minutes - 57 MBRelatives of a dead food delivery rider say he was at work when a truck hit him. Uber Eats says he wasn’t. Patrick Begley investigates
The killer we've invited into the lounge room
June 19, 2021 22:05 - 35 minutes - 49 MBWhen winter arrives there's nothing like curling up in front of a fire heater with a glass of wine. But there's something disturbing in this cosy picture. As Alison Branley discovers, there's a huge risk to our health that we seem determined to ignore, even though it's estimated to kill hundreds of Australians every year
How Australians are escaping India's Covid catastrophe
June 12, 2021 22:05 - 40 minutes - 55.8 MBThousands of Australians went to India back when it seemed like coronavirus was under control. Some went to care for elderly parents. But, as Alex Mann discovers, their noble intentions counted for nothing when they were locked out of Australia and found themselves in a fight to survive and find a way home.