Shows / Background Briefing

Background Briefing

ABC Australia · en · 1012 episodes

Background Briefing is the ABC's flagship investigative journalism podcast. Its award-winning investigations and documentaries expose cover-ups, corruption, real-life mysteries, whistleblowing, crime, fraud and miscarriages of justice — often before these stories receive mainstream attention. The Background Briefing podcast brings you true stories not everyone will want you to hear, told by trusted reporters across Australia. This Australian podcast makes investigative journalism bingeable…

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Episodes

Background Briefing
Australia's ocean territory
Our ocean territory is greater than our landmass, and one of the biggest in the world. Yet our capacity to explore the deep ocean is smaller than landlocked…
Jun 27, 2009·48m
Background Briefing
Synthetic life and gene mining
Not only can we create new life forms, but our own genes are starting to show us all the diseases we're likely to get during our lives. Do we want to know and…
Jun 20, 2009·48m
Background Briefing
The great disruption
Paul Gilding has been an activist for sustainability for 35 years, working for NGOs, business and government. He explains why physics and biology have…
Jun 13, 2009·48m
Background Briefing
Lord Patten of Barnes
The Chancellor of Oxford, Lord Patten of Barnes, draws on his experience as a public official – including his time as the last governor of Hong Kong – to talk…
Jun 6, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
Landmark Education
Landmark Education is a global, for-profit personal training and development company with thousands of supporters. But it has its critics as well. Reporter…
May 30, 2009·1m
Background Briefing
The enemy in the net
We know there are criminals using the net, and also that hackers can infiltrate anyone's computer. At the government level it's not only a murky worry, but has…
May 23, 2009·48m
Background Briefing
Inventing the third sector
There is a charity for every 437 people in Australia, all under the umbrella of the 700,000 not-for-profit organisations. The whole sector, which includes…
May 16, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
Remote boom and gloom
Many country towns are dying, but mining districts can still have a GDP that makes them the richest place on earth. One town has smoked hams that haven't sold…
May 9, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
New short history of progress
Prizewinning historian, writer, essayist, and Massey lecturer, Ronald Wright, gives his latest analysis of where mankind is heading. His next book puts America…
Apr 25, 2009·1m
Background Briefing
What made the Romans laugh
The oldest collection of jokes in the world, Philogelos: The Laughter Lover, is examined for the light it throws on humour today. Professor in classics at…
Apr 18, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
Zombie banks
They look like banks, they walk like banks and they quack like banks, but they're really the undead. Shells filled with toxic assets. Killing these living dead…
Apr 11, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
The new politics
In the UK, conservative policies are like the nanny manifesto, in the USA Obama sounds like a modern Roosevelt. Here, Kevin Rudd is pragmatic and super…
Apr 4, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
MBA: Mostly bloody awful
Something happened to management culture decades ago and now being a Master of Business Administration, especially from Harvard, is rather on the nose. MBA…
Mar 28, 2009·48m
Background Briefing
Graffiti, art and fear
As old as mankind, graffiti can be seen as a cultural expression and a tourist attraction, or as vandalism inducing fear. It can morph into high art, political…
Mar 21, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
Conroy's clean feed
In the name of protecting children, the government will decree we'll be forbidden to see 'unwanted' and 'inappropriate' things on the web. But exactly what…
Mar 14, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
The other climate debate
Wall to wall coverage of carbon trading has eclipsed another scheme aimed at overhauling Australia's dirty power industry. How to find tens of billions of…
Mar 7, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
Robotic surgery
Robotic technology is forging ahead, and there are benefits. But the costs are huge, and there's not yet evidence that (in prostate cancer surgery for…
Feb 28, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
The media in boom and doom
Are business media watchdogs acting in the public interest, or are they merely messengers? To whom does the media owe allegiance when global economic meltdown…
Feb 21, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
Food for the future
Free trade and globalisation have changed the sources of food. Regulations are being weakened or disregarded in the pursuit of low prices and more choice. Poor…
Feb 14, 2009·48m
Background Briefing
Assisted death
The law in Australia may not have caught up with modern medicine, and doctors and the authorities are caught between a rock and a hard place. So argues Dr…
Feb 7, 2009·1h 26m
Background Briefing
Cairo, a divided city
The rich are deserting the old city of Cairo and moving to luxurious, Hollywood style, gated communities in the desert, with lush golf courses and artificial…
Jan 31, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
Hendra and the bats
Bats carry many of the nasty viruses, even SARS, Ebola, Nipah and Hendra. Scientists think bats may be using these deadly viruses in a war with other species…
Jan 24, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
The climate engineers
For years it's been one of the science community's great taboos but the idea of global climate control is starting to be openly discussed. Ideas like placing…
Jan 10, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
Future of noise
Most people rate noise as a bigger problem than rats, drugs, or dog poo. It's highest on the list of citizen complaints, but it's listed low by councils and…
Jan 3, 2009·49m
Background Briefing
Bury, burn or compost?
There's a boom in funerals around the corner as the Boomers face mortality, but neither cemeteries nor crematoria are eco-friendly. The business of burials is…
Dec 27, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Nature's numbers
Our economy may fall over, but it's not just about the financial meltdown. Nature is seizing up, and it's costing big bucks. Putting a dollar value on nature…
Dec 20, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
NSW off the rails
Western Sydney is set to have two more cities and, yet again, the state has canned its railway projects. Why will Canberra bail them out? Reporter Wendy…
Dec 13, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
What killed Adam Gray?
Abuse and torture of prisoners was much more widely spread than just Abu Ghraib. The guilt and shame of soldiers who took part continues to haunt Americans…
Dec 6, 2008·1m
Background Briefing
Generation Y and the financial crisis
As the financial downturn unfolds, is Generation Y ready? Raised on optimism and generous lines of credit, they're economically exposed in terms of assets and…
Nov 29, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Italian job
We get the inside story of how the Italian diaspora was harvested for political votes, and how the little Italies found a way to make - and break - governments…
Nov 22, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Intervention: unintended consequences
While remote Aboriginal communities are safer, everyday living is more complicated. There's a 600 dollar cab fare to town, and then Centrelink has to approve…
Nov 15, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Crisis for children
There's an epidemic of child abuse and it's worst in Queensland. Poverty's fuelling it, but it's sparked by something deeper. To stop it, we need to turn our…
Nov 8, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Metals, money and madness
The global economic collapse is now seen to be caused by greed and theft. There's a parallel in the looting of metals, especially copper, around the world…
Nov 1, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Nature's numbers
Our economy may fall over, but it's not just about the financial meltdown. Nature is seizing up, and it's costing big bucks. Putting a dollar value on nature…
Oct 18, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Myanmar now
After the terrible storms and floods, the tragedy of Myanmar unfolded before the world. The situation now is still grim. New Zealand journalist Joy Reid…
Oct 12, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Politics of water - Maude Barlow
Maude Barlow is a water activist from Canada. In a recent talk at Sydney University she explains the virtual water trade and the critical state of water in the…
Oct 12, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Remittances - flying money
About $500 billion flows around the world as migrant workers send money home. It's largely by-passing banks and corporations, even governments, but they all…
Oct 4, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Future of noise
Most people rate noise as a bigger problem than rats, drugs, or dog poo. It's highest on the list of citizen complaints, but it's listed low by councils and…
Sep 27, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Population control
Are you worried about the future of the environment, or war, or hordes of refugees? The solution is not to manipulate population growth. Past results have been…
Sep 20, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Cloud computing
Google's Chrome, and others, offer easier, smoother, faster servers into their gated internet gardens, where all things are known. It's the Petabyte Age, and…
Sep 13, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Hoons and young troublemakers
NSW is creating more space in jails for a growing number of young people. But many of them are only there waiting to go to trial. They may be there for…
Sep 6, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Hendra and the bats
Bats carry many of the nasty viruses, even SARS, Ebola, Nipah and Hendra. Scientists think bats may be using these deadly viruses in a war with other species…
Aug 30, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Defence and discrimination
American security laws based on where a person was born mean some Australians can't work in defence industries in Australia. It's against our laws - but it's…
Aug 23, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Paying to be permanent
A high number of people who get Australian permanent resident visas don't get the skilled jobs they are trained for. And there are scams aplenty in the world…
Aug 16, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Managing the media
Three spin doctors—or political strategists—talk about media cynicism, handling their politicians, and getting the public to understand things their way…
Aug 9, 2008·1m
Background Briefing
Food futures
Prices at the shops may be rising because billions of Indians and Chinese are eating more, and using cars - and it could be that some well funded gamers are…
Aug 2, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Privatising nature
An astonishing six million hectares of Australia—something like the size of Tasmania—is now being privately protected for plants and animals. Hundreds of…
Jul 26, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Bury, burn or compost?
There's a boom in funerals around the corner as the Boomers face mortality, but neither cemeteries nor crematoria are eco-friendly. The business of burials is…
Jul 19, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Free trade vs fair trade
It's an ideological battle between those who want a fairer, better deal for the poor farmers in the developing world - and those who say the best way to get…
Jul 13, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
The climate engineers
For years it's been one of the science community's great taboos but the idea of global climate control is starting to be openly discussed. Ideas like placing…
Jul 5, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Shareholder activism
As corporations collapse while executives are paid huge salary packages, shareholders are taking a greater interest in just how companies are run. But they…
Jun 28, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
The My Lai massacre
It's forty years since the massacre of an entire village in Vietnam and only now has the full story come out. The Peers Inquiry of l970 exposed it as one of…
Jun 21, 2008·1m
Background Briefing
Slavery in Australia
Is it slavery to keep someone working for nothing till they pay off their debt? There are women here kept in sex slavery, and there are also domestic servants…
Jun 14, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Banking on gas
Australia's sitting on some of the biggest natural gas fields in the world - and other energy-starved, ravenous nations are starting to bid for it. Australia…
Jun 7, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Private spooks
The use of private military companies is now widespread, but now there are also private intelligence organisations working closely with government. Business is…
May 31, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
The Khan network
Uranium is now a hot energy property, and there's big business in the nuclear trade. An investigation of the business of the bomb - from South Africa in the…
May 25, 2008·1m
Background Briefing
Peddling influence and money
A new register of some of the biggest "third party" lobbyists and their clients will go some way to making public who has access to government in Canberra. But…
May 17, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
Organised crime around the world
Organised crime is said to be the biggest and most influential business in the world, and it got bigger and richer when the cold war ended. In some countries…
May 11, 2008·1m
Background Briefing
One family farm
Today's generation of farmers is experiencing unrelenting change - climate change, drought, globalisation and plummeting incomes. Many families are finding the…
May 3, 2008·49m
Background Briefing
The allergy generation and the EpiPen epidemic
Allergies to everything from dust, to cats, to peanuts are hitting young children hard, and doctors don't really understand why or what to do. Long held…
Apr 26, 2008·49m