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 Briefing03 Stop and Search | 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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02 Stop and Search | 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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01 Stop and Search | 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 BriefingWhat's the price of a freebirth?
There are women choosing to “freebirth” completely outside the medical system.
Background BriefingMeet the AI insiders who say it’s time to ‘accelerate or die’
They have anonymous leaders, manifestos, and even a flag with a snake on it.
Background Briefing'They use us': The Balinese villagers taking on Russian-backed developers
‘Cities’ are popping up across Bali’s spiritual heartland. Can villagers from Ubud hold back a tsunami of foreign money and preserve the island's culture?
Background BriefingSummer Season: Prisoner of the State
In a nursing home lives an elderly man who is being held against his will. We can’t tell you his name. We can’t tell you his age. We can’t even use his real…
Background BriefingSummer Season: Remy was 12 when she became a drug dealer
As a teenager, Remy learnt to survive by hustling on the streets of Parramatta. Then she hit the bigtime. Reporter Mahmood Fazal investigates what life is like…
Background BriefingSummer Season: False Witness
Reporter Heidi Davoren provides an extraordinary insight into a parenting dispute, where a mother and father come together after a Family Court psychologist…
Background BriefingSummer Season: Darcey and Chloe Part 01 - How the system failed to save two baby girls
Queensland authorities failed to heed multiple serious warnings that a young pair of sisters were in danger, before it was too late. Their grieving family is…
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Summer Season: Darcey and Chloe Part 02 - How the system failed to save two baby girls
When two infants die after being left inside a hot car, their family seek answers to how this could have happened. Reporter Alexandra Blucher tracks down a…
Background BriefingSummer Season: The Whistleblower who helped catch a paedophile politican
After an electoral officer helped police arrest a popular state minister, her life began to unravel.
Background BriefingSummer Season: The 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 BriefingSummer Season: An aspiring doctor from the 'burbs takes on medical schools for elitism
From humble beginnings, Fahad faced hurdles entering medical school. Now, he fights for equal access to medical education. Marty Smiley reports.
Background BriefingA one-man consulate and a mysterious list: How to get out of Gaza
Father-of-three Ayman Dhlan started a WhatsApp group to help Australians and their families get out of war-torn Gaza. Now he can barely put his phone down.
Background BriefingHitler, Stalin and Shirley Temple lived in the Australian outback
It might surprise you to learn that the names of pop stars and fascist dictators have been passed down to generations of Indigenous Australians. Reporter Erin…
Background BriefingAn aspiring doctor from the 'burbs takes on medical schools for elitism
From humble beginnings, Fahad faced hurdles entering medical school. Now, he fights for equal access to medical education.
Background BriefingHow an ADHD diagnosis was the start of Natalia’s life unravelling
Natalia had a job at a prestigious university, $120,000 in the bank, a loving partner, and shared custody of her two sons. Then one day, a little over a year…
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.
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 politican
After an electoral officer helped police arrest a popular state minister, her life began to unravel.
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INTRODUCING — 'The Whistleblowers', a new series from Background Briefing
In this 6-part series presented by Adele Ferguson, the Background Briefing team brings you the untold stories of ordinary Australians who helped bring some of…
Background BriefingCan a rape trial be a positive experience?
Two years ago, Meagan complained to the ABC that our coverage of sexual assault cases was too negative, and it didn't reflect her personal experience.
Background Briefing03 | The outland or the cage
Just after midnight, Marty woke to find three young intruders in his bedroom. Then they started talking to him. He'd now become one of the hundreds of victims…
Background Briefing02 | The outland or the cage
"Locked down for hours and hours": Jaxon explains what life is like inside a juvenile detention centre.
Background Briefing01 | The outland or the cage
Jaxon stole a car at age 10. Six years later, the Mount Isa teen has a decision to make.
Background Briefing'What's your p(doom)?' Why AI experts are calculating our doomsday odds
A growing number of AI industry insiders are guessing at the probability that Artificial Intelligence will lead to a catastrophic scenario for humanity, and…
Background BriefingThe little-known religious code ruling many major public hospitals
Did you know that some of Australia’s largest public hospitals are run according to a religious code of ethics?
Background BriefingFashion victims
Kym Ellery, the founder of collapsed Australian fashion label Ellery Land, tells reporter Rachael Brown that business collapses are sometimes the price of…
Background BriefingInside the battle to keep cocaine out of Australia
Reporters Ty King and Mayeta Clark are granted a behind-the-scenes look at the dangerous game of cat and mouse played by cops and cartels.
Background BriefingFalse Witness
Reporter Heidi Davoren provides an extraordinary insight into a parenting dispute, where a mother and father come together after a Family Court psychologist…
Background BriefingGrim Prospects | 02
In part two of the investigation into the deaths of Ray and Jennie Kehlet, reporters Rebecca Trigger and Ash Davis examine the story of the last man to see the…
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Grim Prospects | 01
Two campers go missing while prospecting for gold in the Western Australian outback.
Background BriefingThe woman who offers one last chance for an Australian visa
Australia's migrant workers can wait for years to find out whether they can stay here, and while they do they can become targets for opportunistic operators…
Background BriefingRemy was 12 when she became a drug dealer
As a teenager, Remy learnt to survive by hustling on the streets of Parramatta.
Background BriefingPrisoner of the State
In a nursing home lives an elderly man who is being held against his will.
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The Psychedelic Rush
Reporters Geoff Thompson and Annika Blau investigate how Australia became the first country to give scripts for trips.
Background BriefingDead Man's Secrets | 02
In the second and final episode of Dead Man's Secrets, reporter Josh Robertson investigates the grisly murder of the powerful Papuan executive who negotiated…
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Dead Man's Secrets | 01
A shocking murder takes place in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Background BriefingHow the system failed to save Darcey and Chloe | 02
When two infants die after being left inside a hot car, their family seek answers to how this could have happened.
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How the system failed to save Darcey and Chloe | 01
Queensland authorities failed to heed multiple serious warnings that a young pair of sisters were in danger, before it was too late.
Background BriefingThe psychiatrist and his star patient
Kate thought she'd finally found a psychiatrist who cared about her.
Background BriefingUnder the Eye of Iran | 02
Massoud was heading to a protest outside Tehran's embassy in Canberra when a phone call confirmed his worst fears had come true.
Background BriefingUnder the Eye of Iran | 01
Protesters say they're being ordered to read false confessions and their activities are under surveillance.
Background BriefingThe tiny device that can cause huge pain
It's one of the most effective forms of contraception available.
Background BriefingSummer Season | Meet the teens at the frontline of organised crime
There's a violent territorial dispute between rival gangs in Sydney’s west.
Background BriefingSummer Season | Catching a Fugitive | 02
Charles 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…
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Catching a fugitive | part 1
A 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…
Background BriefingSummer Season | Is getting quality care at medicinal cannabis clinics just pot luck?
When Jordan wanted to treat his insomnia, he turned to an experimental therapy: medicinal cannabis.
Background BriefingSummer Season | Kidnapping the Gods | 02
Precious artefacts looted from Cambodia and Thailand made their way into prominent collections here in Australia, and around the world. In the second and final…
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Summer Season | Kidnapping the Gods | 01
Many ancient Cambodian artifacts arrived in Australia during the 1960s and 1970s, when the south east Asian country was in turmoil. Mario Christodoulou…
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The little-known religious code ruling many major public hospitals
Did you know that some of Australia’s largest public hospitals are run according to a religious code of ethics?
Background BriefingHas the age of AI already begun?
There’s new mind-bending technology that creates immersive media from scratch.
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Pain in Paradise 02 | Byron's Thin Blue Line
Five years ago, a confronting video of a violent police encounter shocked the Byron Bay community.
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Pain in Paradise 01 | What happened in Lateen Lane?
In one dark Byron Bay back alley, a series of baton strikes changes a teenager's life.
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Under the Eye of Iran
Protesters say they're being ordered to read false confessions and their activities are under surveillance.