Background Briefing - podcast cover

Background Briefing

ABC listenwww.abc.net.au
Background Briefing brings you true stories not everyone will want you to hear.

Episodes

Summer Season: 'The ghosts are not silent'

An 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.

Jan 01, 202243 min

Summer Season: The death Uber Eats disowned

Relatives 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.

Dec 25, 202141 min

Summer Season: The place where people mysteriously disappear

Warren 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.

Dec 18, 202144 min

The giant wind farms clearing Queensland bush

There’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.

Dec 11, 202143 min

The infiltrator who helped hatch a terror plot

A 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.

Dec 04, 202142 min

The biggest financial scandal you've never heard of

It'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.

Nov 27, 202140 min

Boom time in carbon farming country

Graziers 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.

Nov 20, 202141 min

The hidden terror that's splitting people's identities

Reporter 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.

Nov 13, 202141 min

Vulnerable, unvaxxed, and running out of time

These 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.

Nov 06, 202137 min

How a conspiracy and a question led to 18 years jail

He 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.

Oct 30, 202145 min

Untouchable Assets | Part 3

As 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 every person named in this story, we received no re...

Oct 05, 202129 min

Untouchable Assets | Part 2

A 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.

Oct 04, 202138 min

Untouchable Assets | Part 1

Graeme 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 investigates....

Oct 03, 202142 min

The scientists and shamans of psychedelic retreats

There'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.

Oct 02, 202140 min

The Sydney security expert helping Afghan journalists escape

Geoff 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.

Sep 25, 202135 min

'The ghosts are not silent'

An 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.

Sep 18, 202143 min

What it's like to face terrorism charges

Since 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.

Aug 14, 202144 min

Inside the epicentre of Australia's Delta outbreak

As 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.

Aug 07, 202138 min

Reality TV's reckoning

Reality 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.

Jul 31, 202142 min

A far-right troll's journey from an Ipswich bedroom to global infamy

A 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 Queensland ended up in the United States mixing with ...

Jul 24, 202138 min

Myanmar: The Spring Revolution

In 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 this program. You can listen to the full episod...

Jul 17, 20216 min

Unmasking Monsters

Bob 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.

Jul 10, 202145 min

Her name was Mhelody Bruno

She 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.

Jul 03, 202145 min

The death Uber Eats disowned

Relatives 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

Jun 26, 202141 min

The death Uber Eats disowned

Relatives 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

Jun 26, 202141 min

The killer we've invited into the lounge room

When 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

Jun 19, 202136 min

How Australians are escaping India's Covid catastrophe

Thousands 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.

Jun 12, 202141 min

The rural stoush fuelled by our chicken meat obsession

As Australians eat more and more chicken, we need to find places to raise the animals. But as broiler sheds pop up across rural Victoria, the neighbours are learning that there are more downsides than the smell. A chicken shed next door can stop you building on your own land. Rachael Brown heads to Gippsland to investigate why Rosedale locals are worried that their area will soon be nicknamed 'Chickendale'.

Jun 05, 202139 min

The memo that erased a scandal

Ballarat orphanage superintendent Hylton Sedgman was due to face nine child abuse charges. Buried in a 1964 file is the reason he never stood trial. Charlotte King investigates why.

Apr 24, 202142 min