Shows / Background Briefing
Background Briefing
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…
Episodes
Background BriefingLong Read | Australia: burnout capital, or how to get a career break right
This week, Annie Louey discovers what happens when your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing means your career is no longer worth the money.
Background Briefing05 Agents of Influence | The letters journalists fear
There’s something shaping what appears in your newsfeed that you might not be aware of. Reporter Gina McKeon investigates.
Background Briefing04 Agents of Influence | The powerbroker unseated by ‘traitors’
This week, reporter Annika Blau gets the inside story of a union powerbroker’s rise, and the people who risked it all to stop her
Background Briefing03 Agents of Influence | The man whose name is all over Sydney
Take a stroll around Sydney and you'll find his name on many venerated buildings. But this man, a 101-year-old billionaire, has also created machines that risk…
Background Briefing02 Agents of Influence | The Billionaire's New Sport
A former oil tycoon has just bought the streaming rights to Australia’s great homegrown sports, the AFL and NRL. This week, reporter Marty Smiley investigates…
Background Briefing01 Agents of Influence | The PM's secret strategists
Millennial content makers can influence election outcomes from their home studios. After witnessing the power of podcasts in the US election, our political…
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Introducing... Agents of Influence
They're not household names. But they wield serious power under the radar.
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Long Read | How deepfakes, nudes and teen misogyny have changed growing up
This week, Bri Lee investigates tech-assisted gendered abuse by schoolboys against their peers and teachers.
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Long Read | The church’s disappearing women
Three decades after the first ordinations of women to the Anglican priesthood, women are still struggling to reach leadership — and now the congregation is…
Background Briefing05 The Invisible Killer | Did police miss a murder?
A court found that Garry Davis injected three victims with lethal doses of insulin during a 48 hour period. But what if there was another victim? Is it…
Background Briefing04 The Invisible Killer | Under the bed
When reporter Anne Connolly discovers that Garry Davis had a collection of strange items under his bed, it changes the course of her investigation, and raises…
Background Briefing03 The Invisible Killer | Reasonable Doubt
Garry Davis has now been convicted of murdering two residents at SummitCare and attempting to murder a third. But all the evidence against him is…
Background Briefing02 The Invisible Killer | 'Who did this?'
Someone injected three residents with lethal doses of insulin at an aged care facility in Newcastle. Now, the race is on to catch the killer. Will the police…
Background Briefing01 The Invisible Killer | Doctor’s discovery
When residents start falling ill at a nursing home in Newcastle, the workers don't think much of it. After all, people die in aged care all the time. But then…
Background BriefingMore to the story... Kathy Jackson’s missing millions
It looked like the Health Services Union might finally be returned millions of dollars owed by the whistleblower turned convicted fraudster, Kathy Jackson…
Background BriefingMore to the story... Who controls the Murdoch empire?
Lachlan Murdoch is caught in an ongoing court battle with his siblings to maintain control of the family empire when Rupert Murdoch dies. Now there’s been a…
Background BriefingMore to the story... Meeting your mum as an adult
After Background Briefing's investigation, Anna was flooded with messages from Korean adoptees all over the world. The overwhelming response prompted her to…
Background BriefingMore to the story... Sex, lies and 'big coconut balls'
When Background Briefing last investigated testosterone salesman Michael Farrelly, he was nowhere to be found. Then, a few weeks ago, came a surprising phone…
Background BriefingMore to the Story... My friend, the cop killer
Police and politicians labelled the Wieambilla killers evil terrorists. But what really went on inside their heads?
Background BriefingMore to the story... Inside a scam factory
Scam baiter Jim Browning recently helped bring down a multinational scam syndicate in Dubai. His next target is a scam with potential links to the Russian…
Background Briefing03 Births, Deaths, and Marriages | ‘Horror stories’ from inside the funeral industry
Ani Valatava went to see her sister’s body at a funeral home in suburban Sydney. She could never have prepared for what she saw next. Reporter Gina McKeon…
Background Briefing02 Births, Deaths and Marriages | Facebook's sperm marketplace
When a couple are quoted $13,000 to access a sperm donor through a clinic, they decide to take matters into their own hands. On Facebook, they find a thriving…
Background Briefing01 Births, Deaths and Marriages | The Wedding Celebrant
When Becc and Nathan decided to get married, they wanted something intimate — a small ceremony at home with just their closest friends and family. There was…
Background BriefingThe inconvenient patients
Michelle went to hospital on three occasions, complaining of searing chest pains. She was told to go home and seek therapy for her "anxiety issues". It would…
Background BriefingThe cop accused of sharing a suspect's explicit video
After a police squad stages a tense siege against a dangerous fugitive, a phone is recovered from the crime scene, carrying vital information. But the…
Background Briefing03 | Murdoch's Endgame
Will Lachlan Murdoch succeed in brushing his rival siblings aside to command control over the future of his family’s media empire? Or could we be looking at…
Background Briefing02 | Murdoch's Endgame
For much of his youth, Lachlan Murdoch seemed ambivalent about being next in line to control the family’s global media empire. So why is his father Rupert now…
Background Briefing01 | Murdoch's Endgame
Are we looking at the end of the Murdoch family's global media empire? That's the question journalists Paddy Manning and Alex Mann investigate in this special…
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Introducing... Murdoch's Endgame
The Murdoch family is locked in a secret court battle.
Background BriefingHas dot art spread too far?
Dots are so strongly associated with traditional Aboriginal visual language that Shane gets asked why he doesn’t paint them.
Background Briefing'This must be a joke': the homes for sale without owners' knowledge
In a caravan park in central NSW, a group of grey nomads were sold a Utopia - a “home base” to hang up the keys and enjoy “real estate security”. They sunk…
Background BriefingStop and Search | 04 The Botched Backyard Operation
There are only two witnesses to Brad Balzan's final moments: the two officers who chased him into his backyard. But their accounts of what happened don't match…
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Stop and Search | 03 The Numbers Game
As the investigation into Bradley Balzan's death continues, serious questions are raised about how the country’s largest police force uses its search powers.
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Stop and Search | 02 Last Moments Before Gunshots
Brad Balzan is shot dead in his own backyard after a police encounter goes wrong. In episode two of Stop and Search, a new mini-series by Background Briefing…
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Stop and Search | 01 Where's Brad?
A 20-year-old is chased by four plain-clothes police officers into his western Sydney backyard. But he hasn't committed a crime. He hasn't even done anything…
Background BriefingDancing with Bulls
Ruby's barely a teenager, and already she's become a champion bull rider. She's also had eight concussions and multiple brain bleeds. Reporter Tynan King…
Background BriefingFinding Jean Nassif
He left a trail of defect-riddled apartment buildings across Sydney and debts exceeding $600m to his creditors. Police have issued a warrant for his arrest…
Background BriefingSex, lies & 'big coconut balls' — the clinic that sold a fix to getting old
Testosterone is often marketed as a silver bullet that can help you build muscle mass, improve your energy levels and fix your sex life. But as reporters Tynan…
Background BriefingThe agency accused of paying bribes for babies
Anna grew up believing she was an orphan. But she later discovered she’d been lied to. And that she's one of many Australian adoptees who has been misled.
Background BriefingNotorious 08 | My friend, the cop killer pt 2
Nathaniel Train was renowned as a distinguished principal who could deliver impressive results for disadvantaged schools. His childhood friend, reporter Josh…
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Notorious 07 | My friend, the cop killer Pt 1
One morning reporter Josh Robertson woke up, read the headlines, and made a terrible realisation.
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Notorious 06 | From Sydney to a Syrian prison
He is shut off from the outside world. Locked inside a makeshift jail in north Syria for the past five years, Hamza doesn’t even know who the Prime Minister…
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Notorious 05 | Killers in the suburbs
Sometimes they’re armed with a chainsaw, sometimes a bottle of poison, and often they’re operating in broad daylight. So why is it so hard to catch Sydney’s…
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Notorious 04 | From top gun to wanted man
Daniel Duggan’s career was spent pushing warplanes to their limits. Now the United States wants him extradited from Australia and prosecuted for conspiracy…
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Notorious 03 - Crafting a Villain
Olivia went on Australia’s biggest show to find love. She came out as Australia's "most hated" reality TV star and lost almost everything. Reporter Annika Blau…
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Notorious 02 | The Prankster
It was the infamous Royal prank call that shattered lives. One woman took her own life; another is haunted to this day. Reporter Rachael Cusick investigates -…
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Notorious 01 | Inside the scam factory
On the outskirts of Dubai there is a secret scam factory, where hundreds of employees smoke, eat, and pretend to be glamorous women — but one has a secret plan…
Background BriefingThe whistleblowers who stared down threats from Australia's biggest bank
How the Commonwealth Bank tried to stop a royal commission by using dirt files, intimidation, threats and surveillance against whistleblowers and journalists…
Background BriefingThe whistleblower who believed his employer was covering up an oil spill
Three dead dolphins turn up in an oil spill.
Background BriefingThe whistleblower who exposed Australia’s secretive offshore detention system
"Simone" arrived on a remote island to help asylum seekers. But she witnessed something there that convinced her to leak over 2000 documents. Reporters Paul…
Background BriefingThe Whistleblower who brought down Australia's Dr Death
When patients start unexpectedly dying at a regional hospital, nurse Toni Hoffman takes a big risk to blow the whistle on a negligent surgeon. But years later…
Background BriefingThe whistleblower who captured the nation — and the man who unmasked her as a fraud
Kathy Jackson was once heralded as a revolutionary who shone a bright spotlight on union corruption but she too was later found to be a fraudster who had…
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The whistleblower who helped catch a paedophile politician
When an electoral officer helps police arrest a popular politician, her life begins to unravel. Her boss would spend more than a decade in prison, but she…
Background BriefingA mother's message and the hospital that didn't want to hear it
A woman has lost the ability to speak and is forced to communicate by blinking. From her hospital bed she tries to blink out a request, but hospital staff…
Background BriefingTears, tea and bloodshed — can violent men ever change?
This week reporter and Dharawal woman Brooke Fryer goes inside a program that's helping violent men turn their lives around.
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Finding Jean Nassif
He left a trail of defect-riddled apartment buildings across Sydney and debts exceeding $600m to his creditors. Police have issued a warrant for his arrest…
- Background Briefing
Dancing with Bulls
Ruby's barely a teenager, and already she's become a champion bull rider. She's also had eight concussions and multiple brain bleeds. Reporter Tynan King…
- Background Briefing
04 Stop and Search | The Botched Backyard Operation
There are only two witnesses to Brad Balzan's final moments: the two officers who chased him into his backyard. But their accounts of what happened don't match…