Bob Raymond and Michael Charlton take Four Corners' cameras to an area that few white Australians have ever seen Box Ridge Aboriginal reserve near Casino in northern NSW.
The story causes much controversy and RSL deputy president Sir Raymond Huish and other senior officers accuse Ashbolt of entrapment, giving false information and censoring them by unfair editing. Prime Minister Menzies calls for a transcript and Liberal Party backbenchers are given a private screening. The ABC is accused of being a communist outlet and Ashbolt is suspended from Four Corners. Gerald Lyons is appointed as his replacement.
John Penlington reports on Australia's surf culture, its impact on surf-lifesaving clubs and life in general.
The 'Australian Reich' is a firm defender of their belief in Adolf Hitler as the patron saint of the white race. The party consists of over 250 members, however only a dozen were prepared to take part in filming for the program.
John Penlington goes to Western Australia to report on the hanging of Eric Edgar Cooke. After questions were raised by Labor politician Harry May, ABC management decide that this story on capital punishment cannot be shown, and issues a statement saying that the ABC has "no intention whatsoever of running a story on capital punishment". Penlington and Allan Ashbolt publicly confirm their intention to do a story on Cooke with the intention to broadcast on October 24. John Penlington is suspended and Executive Producer Allan Ashbolt never returns to Four Corners. Watch the unseen segment and read about the controversies surrounding this story.
A comprehensive report on the history of the war in Vietnam, with an emphasis on Australia's role in the conflict.
John Penlington presents this report on smoking marijuana, colloquially referred to as 'the good religion'. Penlington interviews a group of 18 to 28 year olds who describe the effects of the drug as they get high.
Frank Bennett examines the action of the Gurindji stockmen who had gone on strike over the right to equal pay at Wave Hill station in the Northern Territory.
John Penlington reports on Australia's White Australia Policy, both on the home front and from the point of view of the Asian people who are affected by it.
A look at teenage culture in Melbourne in 1966. Features Normie Rowe, teenage attitudes to their parents and sex and Go-Set Magazine which had just begun publication. They interview Go Set editor Tony Shauble, fashion editor Honey Lee and photographer Colin Beard at the Go-Set offices in St Kilda. Go Set wanted teenagers to write in about the problems that faced the world today and the teenage view of the world. Shows a sixteen year old Lynne Randell in the recording studio recording "Going out of my Head", with Carole West in the control room. Shows an interview with Carole West who manages several singers and groups. She talks about how she manages artists and the publicity they get. Says Melbourne is the pop capital of Australia "Melbourne is where the action is". Features several discotheques of the day and teenagers dancing there to live bands. A men's hairdresser is shown giving a long hair haircut of the day. Teenage boys discuss what hair styles they want. Myers of Melbourne is featured with their own Mod teenage fashion shop called "In Gear". Paddy McCartney of the Twilights signs autographs at the shop. The interview the manager of the shop who says they are trying to copy Carnaby Street in London in terms of teenage fashions. The Twilights perform "Bad Boy" at the shop whilst Denise Drysdale is shown go-go dancing to the music. Denise is then shown giving Go go dancing lessons to teenge girls at a school in Melbourne. The school fee is $1.20 an hour. Girls can expect to earn $10 a night as a go go dancer, although not all can get work. Discotheques need to employ bouncers because of brawls that happen between the Sharpies and the Mods. A teenage mod is interviewed about the fights between the Sharpies and the Mods. Sharpies are kept out of teenage discotheques and dances. Sharpies usually wait outside the dances in the dark to pick fights with the mods. A Sharpie is interviewed about how they feel towards the mods and their fights with the
John Penlington interviews a group of teenage boys in Bankstown, Sydney, about having taken part in gang bangs.
A report on gender equality, in particular the matter of equal pay between men and women. The program presents case studies of a female taxi driver, female pilots, army cadets, real estate agents and others who broke the mould.
Peter Reid reports on the case of Aboriginal woman Nancy Young, who is jailed for manslaughter after the death of her baby, supposedly of neglect.
Peter Reid presents this controversial story on bastardisation at the Royal Military College, Duntroon. The use of re-enactments to illustrate acts of bastardisation led army minister Andrew Peacock to claim the show was 'partly faked'. The fact that the Queen was visiting at the time of filming was seen as an added embarrassment to the government of the day.
A two-part report by John Penlington and Gordon Bick on the role Australia has played in Vietnam, both in combat and civil aid. The film captures haunting footage of a young Vietnamese girl receiving an artificial limb, after her leg was shattered by a stray bullet.
Jim Downes presents this report about a five-day course run by the medical department of the 7th Day Adventist Church which aims to 'cure' smokers. Downes, a self-confessed nicotine addict, undertakes the course and is amazed to discover that after five days he is 'cured'. In 2008, Jim Downes died from emphysema.
In this two-part report, Four Corners uncovers shocking evidence of toxic chemical dumping in the oceans surrounding Australia. The program makes surprising revelations concerning the quantities of industrial waste dumped over the years 1968 to 1970, creating a legacy of pollution and contamination.
Throughout the 1970s, Four Corners charted the course of the feminist movement. In this report Caroline Jones reports on the arduous role of a housewife and mother, and puts a price on the work of the housewife.
In 1974 when there was little public understanding of transgender, Four Corners profiled trans life and gender confirmation surgery via Carlotta, a trans woman who later become an icon of transgender recognition in Australia.
Allan Hogan reports on the attack on Xuân Lc, the last battleground before Saigon.
In 1974, at least 1,000 women were raped in Australia and defending women against rape was becoming a political cause for feminists.
Four Corners advertises for volunteers for an experiment to survive in the bush for two weeks with minimal equipment. Reporter Jeff Watson takes five people out to live off the land while a crew records the event. It is a rare look at human nature in the face of adversity and precedes the wave of survivor-reality TV programs by more than 20 years.
Allan Hogan reports from the Fraser camp in the lead-up to the controversial 1975 Federal election campaign.
Kerry O'Brien reports from the Whitlam camp in the lead-up to the controversial 1975 Federal election campaign following Whitlam's dismissal by the Governor General, Sir John Kerr.
Queensland Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen faces pointed questions from reporter Paul Lyneham about his ownership of coal shares. Lyneham also provokes a fierce response from the mining company, Utah Development Corporation, by questioning its relationship with the Queensland government.
In 1971 Four Corners travelled to Tuscany to interview Germaine Greer about the publication of The Female Eunuch. Reporter John Temple returns to Tuscany nine years later to speak with the author: "I wrote a book. If women are leaving their husbands right left and centre as appears to be happening, then it's not my fault."
A report by Maryanne Smith on the grim plight of child prostitutes in Australia. Her report opens up a brutal world that has never been seen by the vast majority of middle class Australians. In 1980, Maryanne Smith was awarded the first Logie in a new category, Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report.
In 1982 a government report stated 1 in 10 Australians were 'probably' gay. Sydney was being dubbed the San Francisco of the Southern Hemisphere yet homosexuality was still illegal. Delve in to Sydney's '80s gay scene.
Chris Masters' investigation into Queensland police corruption reaches all the way up to the Police Commissioner, Terry Lewis. A judicial inquiry is announced the day after broadcast. Over 100 convictions result from the Fitzgerald Inquiry and the Commissioner is eventually jailed. The Inquiry saw the end of the long reign of Queensland Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Masters' story became subject to twelve subsequent years of litigation.
Chris Masters' documentary report on the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign in 1915. The story includes interviews with ANZAC and Turkish veterans, archival footage and reconstructions.
Paul Barry’s report exposes the scandalous impact of blue asbestos mining at Wittenoom in WA. Mining had stopped in the 1960s, but locals were now dying of mesothelioma and asbestosis. The program increases pressure on the mine operator, CSR, to adequately compensate those whose lives have been affected by exposure to this deadly substance.
Paul Barry's investigation into Alan Bond's balance sheet destroyed the Bond corporate image by revealing the company was lying to its shareholders and bankers, and was on the point of collapse.
Mark Colvin reports on how the political instability in Ethiopia was creating difficulties with the distribution of food relief to famine-stricken areas, such as Tigray Province. As a result, millions of people were threatened with death and starvation. Winner of 1990 Walkley Awards for Best Camera Work, for Wayne Harley.
Deborah Snow's report focuses on the uprising in Bougainville and features an interview with Papua New Guinea's Bougainville commander, Colonel Leo Nuia, admitting that helicopters provided by Australia had been used to dump rebels' bodies at sea. Nuia was sacked after the program aired. The program won a Walkley Award for Best Investigative Report.
A moving portrait of the conductor Stuart Challender, who at the time of filming in 1991 was the chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. What the public didn’t know was that he was dying from AIDS. But Stuart Challender was not defeated by his illness. Despite being progressively weakened, he continued to perform, using the short time he had left as a spur to his musical achievement. The program won the 1991 Walkley Award for Best Application of TV Medium to Journalism.
In 1991 Neil Mercer made 'Police Story', profiling Kings Cross crime boss Louis Bayeh. The program introduced the public to organised crime's unromantic underbelly, and was one of Four Corners' first reports investigating crime and corruption in NSW.
"So, do you remember me?" The 1994 confrontation between failed business tycoon Alan Bond and reporter Paul Barry is an iconic moment in Australian television.
Chris Masters' powerful report on the 1994 mass murder of tens of thousands of people in the African nation of Rwanda. The report took us to the refugee camps where, as a result of the civil unrest between Hutu and Tutsi tribes, blood flowed in what was to become an horrific genocide. The program took its name from Masters' personal reaction to what he encountered there: countless bodies, inexplicable cruelty and senseless waste. Winner of the 1995 Logie for Most Outstanding Achievement in Public Affairs.
By Chris Masters. How does our child fostering system deal with the people who make the system work - foster parents?
By Mick O'Donnell. A two-item report. Infected salami hospitalised 20 children and killed one young girl. Our health authorities quickly tracked down the source, but Four Corners revealed the flaws in our inspection system that allowed this tragedy to happen. The second item, Germ Genie was a BBC-produced report examining the threat of germ warfare
By Norman Swan. Attention Deficit Disorder - an epidemic in our kids or a psychosomatic disorder in our doctors. Is giving kids amphetamines the answer?
By Murray Hogarth. As the major media telecommunication and software producers move and shake, who will control the multimedia of the future?
By Murray McLaughlin. Laurie Brereton has been Paul Keating's mate since they were Young Labor larrikins. As Minister for Transport and Industrial Relations, Laurie tackles the dirty jobs that no-one else wants.
y . Ex BBC: The inside story of how money trader Nick Leeson brought Barings Bank undone
By Mick O'Donnell. Melbourne University's Ormond College - sexual harrassment or feminist plot? The story that was the basis of Helen Garner's controversial book The First Stone reveals the inability of our institutions to deal with sexual harrassment.
By Liz Jackson. An analysis of the changing role of the High Court of Australia. In the first ever interview by a sitting Chief Justice, Sir Anthony Mason defended the increasing involvement of the court in making law on social and political issues
By Murray Hogarth. A senior public servant reveals for the first time how Victorian Attorney General Jan Wade tried to undermine the power and independence of the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions
Ex BBC: A British view of the monarchy's future. Will Charlie make it to the throne?
By David Millikan. Jeremy Griffith believes he's a great prophet of God and Everest mountaineer Tim McCartney-Snape agrees, but should they be spreading the message through our schools?
By Murray McLaughlin. A heist story with a difference - these diamonds are pink and the police don't want to know who-dunnit.
On the eve of Paul Keating's 13th Budget as Treasurer or Prime Minister we tried to balance his books.
Ex BBC: For nine years America's most notorious double agent sold his country's secrets to the Soviet Union. At least 10 Soviet spies were executed before the million dollar spy was uncovered.
By Chris Masters. In 1995 the greatest game of all was in the backrooms not on the field as Packer and Murdoch packed down for the right to broadcast football. Whatever your code - League, Union, soccer or AFL - the gamekeepers are changing the rules.
Ex BBC: America's worst terrorist attack wasn't the the work of foreign fanatics, it was home grown. A look at America's broken heartland.
By Chris Masters. When Royal Commissioner Justice Woods released damning video evidence of corruption in the NSW Police Force, Four Corners was there with the most comprehensive coverage of the corruption culture that flourished in Sydney's Kings Cross.
Ex NBC: A fascinating look at the man running your computer - Bill Gates. Where does he want to go today?
By Liz Jackson. Four women became infected with HIV after minor operations in a Sydney doctor's surgery. It shouldn't have happened and we would never have known except for the determination of one of those patients. For the first time she tells her story.
By Sally Neighbour. Who will run China after the death of Deng Xiaoping? A look at how Deng's children are doing business in new China.
By Murray Hogarth. The site for Sydney's 'green' Olympics is a toxic waste zone. Can anyone clean it up before the games begin?
By David Hardaker. As we increase our dosage of electro-magnetic radiation through cellular phones and other devices, are we creating an epidemic of cancer?
Ex BBC: The aviation industry tries to maintain the highest standards of safety, but in the UK and the US there's growing concern about the proliferation of bogus parts.
By Murray McLaughlin. For most people Vinnies is a charity running a network of second hand stores, but the Society of St Vincent de Paul is also a political battleground where church factions struggle for control.
y Andrew Fowler. When do householders have the right to shoot intruders? In Australia going gun crazy or are honest citizens simply defending themselves against the bad guys?
Ex BBC: Women speak frankly about the impact of post-natal depression.
By Chris Masters. When the Japanese were on Australia's doorstep we didn't send our frontline troops, we sent our chocolate soldiers. Ill-trained and ill-equipped, they held the Kokoda Trail and defeated the enemy. 50 years after the war, Four Corners talks to the men who saved Australia.
By Mick O'Donnell. Twenty years after the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, the 27th Province remains 'the stone in the shoe' of Australian-Indonesian relations. Four Corners examines the troubled relationship and speaks to General Herman Mantiri, the Indonesian Ambassador that Australia rejected.
By Ali Cromie. Rupert Murdoch has built up one of the world's most powerful media conglomerates, but who will succeed him?
By David Hardaker. The Nomad was Australia's own aviation marvel - a plane we would market to the world. But the plane was a 'widow maker' and after 20 years of cover up, now we can barely give them away.
By Murray McLaughlin. How did a messy divorce and a suicide become the subject of a Royal Commission that threatened the career of Federal Health Minister Carmen Lawrence and dominated national politics?
Ex BBC: While Australian attention focussed on French military testing in the Pacific, disturbing questions were being raised about the involvement of the French in the events leading up to the Rawandan genocide.
By Liz Jackson. The death of millions of pilchards throughout Australia and New Zealand was more than a scientific curiosity. It was a pointer to the failings of our quarantine service. A month later, the exotic Papaya Fruit Fly was discovered in Cairns.
Ex BBC: When Shell decided to dispose of a floating oil rig by simply sinking it at sea, Greenpeace went into action with a coordinated political, consumer and media campaign.
By Murray Hogarth. Mabo was supposed to be the dawn of a new era in land rights, but after more than two years, not a single piece of new land has been handed back.
By Mick O'Donnell. The new case mix system of hospital funding is designed to produce efficient, cost effective medicine, but are hospitals pushing patients out the door before they're ready?
By David Hardaker. Drug prohibition isn't working, but a bold plan to trial heroin on prescription for a small group of addicts in Canberra seems unlikely to go ahead in the face of local and international opposition.
By Murray McLaughlin. BHP has its reputation on the line. Villagers in Papua New Guinea have taken BHP to court over the environmental damage caused by its Ok Tedi mine, Four Corners examines the politics and the policies of the 'Big Australian' abroad.
By Paul Kelly. Twenty years on, we cast new light on Australia's greatest constitutional crisis. The dismissal of Gough Whitlam's government reshaped the ALP and renewed the Republican debate in Australia.
Chris Masters' story on the human rights atrocities used as weapons of war in former Yugoslavia. The influx of refugees from Bosnia to Australia during those years gave Australians a special stake in the Balkan crisis. The program won a Walkley Award for Best International Report.
By Andrew Fowler. This program examines the impact of the Keating style of government on the Australian political landscapes, particularly over the past three years. Keating's role as the dominant and central figure in the government during this time has become a major issue. Paul Keating is a big picture man and this program provides an insight into how he is perceived in the countdown to the election on March 2.
Liz Jackson presents a personal profile of Liberal leader John Howard. During his interview, Mr Howard uttered his famous "comfortable and relaxed" line. This small phrase would go on to define the Howard prime ministership.
By Tom Mangold. The growing resistance to antibiotics is considered to have taken over the HIV epidemic in terms of potentially disastrous consequences. This British program is about the return of hospital-acquired infections and the first signs of multi-drug resistant TB. In Sydney, Liz Jackson interviews Dr John Turnidge from Monash University in Melbourne, and assesses the Australian situation. This program ends with a tribute to Four Corners cameraman Brett Joyce
By David Hardaker. This story focuses on the battle between the Greens, the Democrats and Tasmanian Bob Brown's attempt to establish a bridgehead in the Senate and, as well as fighting for the balance of power, start the forward move for the Greens as a national political force
By Murray McLaughlin. There are signs that the rank and file code of silence within the Queensland Police force prevails, and racist issues persist. This, combined with the return of the Nationals to government, the re-emergence of the police union as a political force and the police treatment of Aborigines has prompted the chairman of the CJC to express serious misgivings about the integrity of the Queensland Police Force. Four Corners also makes a disturbing examination of the Pinkenba Six case..
By Sally Neighbour. Since its inception in l992, Victoria's Crown Casino has never been far away from controversy. This report investigates the tendering process for the casino and its operators, Hudson Conway. The recent record of Hudson Conway is also examined, and we ask if the company is fit and proper to hold a licence under the strict probity conditions governing casinos
By Gavin Hewitt (Australian component Chris Masters). Ex-BBC Panorama. BBC reporter Gavin Hewitt questions whether the increasingly separate lives of blacks and whites is leading to an American apartheid. Chris Masters interviews, in the studio via satellite, race relations author and commentator, Professor Roger Wilkins, a professor of history at Washington's George Mason University.
By Chris Masters. Chris Masters reveals that child homicide is likely to be double the official number, and discovers that there are major shortfalls and deficiencies in our system of caring. Social agencies are thinly resourced, and neighbours are uncertain about getting involved. This is one of the most under-reported but poignant tragedies in Australia today.
By Gerry Northam. Ex BBC Panorama. AZT, a drug that could prolong the life of HIV sufferers, became known in the mid-'80s when the AIDS crisis came to public attention. In this report, Gerry Northam points out that initial studies approving AZT were soon overtaken by an in-depth look at the drug which questioned whether it could do more harm than good. The situation revealed a potential conflict between the pursuit of profit and the search for truth.
By John Ware. Ex BBC Panorama. The Saudi Arabian regime is accused of despotism and inhumanity. Dr Mohammed Al-Mas'ari has claimed asylum in Britain after criticising the Saudi Royal family. The British Government is now under political pressure to deport him. The Saudi Government has threatened to cut off commercial contracts worth billions of dollars unless deportation orders are issued
By Andrew Fowler. In this program, Four Corners reveals money laundering, social security and tax fraud, and labour abuses in one of the biggest businesses in Australia - the fashion industry. Since deregulation six years ago, benefits have been cheaper clothes. However, there has been an increase in crime and a huge growth in the number of people working from home for the equivalent of third-world wages
By David Hardaker. This program is a special investigation into the problems nursing homes have in dealing with sufferers of dementia. Because of budget restraints, dementia patients are being treated with powerful, mind-altering drugs. One woman describes how her husband's condition rapidly deteriorated after entering a nursing home. It is expected that the number of dementia sufferers will double in the next 20 years.
By Liz Jackson. The Australian union movement is fighting to maintain its position as the dominant force in industrial relations. Not only is the new government determined to radically change industrial relations, but the work force increasingly regards our unions as irrelevant. This program previews the Reith reforms and asks if the union movement can survive the challenge of a new era
By Murray McLaughlin. This program is about the decline of juvenile delinquency into mayhem and the consequences of the failure to recognise and treat the symptoms - resulting in the brutal murder of a two-year-old girl. The murderer was a 16-year-old youth under the court-ordered care and protection of Queensland's Family Services Department
By David Taylor. This is a disturbing report from the BBC that alerts us to the medical risks of X-Rays. The X-Ray machine has been perceived as a great boon to medicine as a valuable diagnostic tool. However, every X-Ray we have exposes our body to radiation, and there's strong statistical correlation between radiation exposure and cancer. This program accuses British doctors of underplaying the risks.
By Sally Neighbour. This story is about the crisis within the Roman Catholic Church over sexual abuse. After decades of inaction, the Church is facing its day of reckoning as a legal and financial showdown looms. Four Corners reveals the cover up that left the victims twice betrayed.
By John Simpson. This BBC Global Report is about the civil war in Afghanistan - the war which followed the holy war the Mujahadeen fought with success against the Russians. This war is worse than the conflicts in Angola and Bosnia. The country has become a new centre for heroin cultivation and distribution. John Simpson reports on the local and global impact of the war.
By Chris Masters. This program is about Lurnea High School, which is only now getting over the crisis which started more than a year ago when principal, Robyn Cragg, clashed with six senior teachers, leading to union involvement and threats of a statewide strike. The issue has yet to be resolved. The program gives an insight into the politics, the volatility and pressures that teachers in the public school system are up against.
By Sarah Barclay. Ex BBC Panorama. This program tells the story of Thomas Creedon, who was born so badly brain damaged that his parents were prepared to fight before the courts for the right to allow their son to die. The impending court case in the United Kingdom was set to make legal history. It focused on the competing principle of a child's right to live, as proclaimed by his doctor, and a right to die.
By Andrew Fowler. This program is about the emergence and growth in Australia of an insidious organisation, and the devastating impact it has had on a number of lives. It documents the group's vendetta against prominent members of the Jewish community, its attempts to snare politicians into its conspiracy, and the alienation it has caused amongst families in its drive for young recruits.
By Virginia Moncrieff. In this program we ask if the behaviour of the alleged Port Arthur gunman, Martin Bryant, could have been predicted. The events of Port Arthur are traced and the life of Martin Bryant examined in the search for reasons for this tragedy. We also investigate scientific advances in producing a mental fingerprint of future mass murderers.
By Murray McLaughlin. This program is about the Northern Territory's new euthanasia bill; Max Bell -- who drove from Broken Hill to take advantage of the new law; and about the political manoeuvering and posturing that is holding up its implementation. Four Corners speaks to Dr Nitschke, Max's doctor, and reveals doubts about how genuinely committed the NT government is to this pioneering legislation.
By Liz Jackson. Two months ago, Rob Riley, the most prominent Aboriginal activist in Western Australia, was found dead in a motel room in Perth. This program tells his story. His death sent shockwaves through the Aboriginal community. His close friends and his family talk openly about the pain an
By Tom Mangold. Ex BBC Panorama. As the 26th Olympic Games get under way in Atlanta, this program examines the use of drugs in sport and the increasing pressure on technology to be able to identify new substances now starting to be used by some athletes. The morality of performance-enhancing drugs is also questioned.
By Gerry Northam. Ex BBC Panorama. This program reports on BSE, Mad Cows Disease, and a decade of concealed dangers. BSE has crippled the British beef industry, poisoned relations between Britain and Europe, and may have infected untold numbers of people
On the day an inquiry into the nation's premier police force is announced, Four Corners asks: Can the Australian Federal Police Force be trusted to keep itself honest? The clean image the federal police have held for so long has been a lie all along. Corruption within the force was exposed at the Royal Commission into the NSW Police.
By Bruno Sorrento. Ex Channel 4 Dispatches. In this program a British crew follows the story of Jessica, a young Filippino woman, who travels to Saudi Arabia. She wants to work there so that she can raise money for an operation for her daughter, who needs heart surgery. Hidden cameras follow her life as she moves from family to family, is raped, beaten and forced to change her religion
By Mark Maley. This program tells the story of David Wilson, the young Australian traveller who was kidnapped and murdered by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge two years ago. We follow the efforts of his family as they try to save him and we have an insight into the dilemma of Australian policy in countries like Cambodia
By Chris Masters. In this program Chris Masters investigates the crisis being faced by the intellectually disabled and their carers. By focusing on one institution the problems of institutional care are revealed and the arguments for bringing people into the community are examined.
By Daniel Schorr. Ex Frontline. This Frontline program looks at how tobacco dollars may weaken the reporting resolve of a nation's media. In 1995, despite having important, damaging accounts from inside the tobacco industry, two major American commercial networks backed away from their stories, at a time when they were subject to multi-billion dollar corporate mergers
By Andrew Fowler. This is the first of a two-part report on our health system. Andrew Fowler investigates the impact of the over-supply of doctors on Medicare, a situation estimated to waste as much as $800 million of public health care money. The payment system encourages over-servicing - last year more that 400 doctors were found to do this.
By Margot O'Neill. This programme examines the recent deaths of three people in NSW after they faced delays in receiving critical care. Margot O'Neill looks at public hospitals and the problems of too few resources and too little care. Several doctors speak about the ethical dilemmas they face daily. We question the political and economic options
By Murray McLaughlin. This program examined Australia's newest conservation battle. Scientists express concern that developer, Keith Williams' proposed resort at Oyster Point near Hinchinbrook Island will further jeopardise the already critically endangered dugong. The program also looks at the chequered history of the proposed development and examined the political intrigue behind the go-ahead given to the project
By Jane Franchi. Ex BBC Panorama. This program traces the history and background of Thomas Hamilton, the man who walked into a primary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and killed 16 children, their teacher and himself. It also tells the story of the young victims and some of their families. After the shock and mourning comes the question, why? How can people commit such horrendous crimes and what can be done to prevent them in the future?
By Liz Jackson. This program investigates the NCA's six-year investigation of John Elliott and other former directors of Elders which ended six weeks ago when they were declared innocent. Liz Jackson tells the inside story of the NCA's case against John Elliott and asks why were he and his colleagues declared innocent and asks why did one man go to jail?
By David Hardaker. This report reviews the performance and ethics of the major pay TV operators in the fight for market share. The program follows the battle for the Rugby League which saw Foxtel turn the courts around and revive Superleague. Other crucial contests are also reviewed ant eh program also interviews pay TV subscribers. The PAY TV providers are prepared to spend billions to stay in the race.
By Andrew Fowler. This program examines the crisis within Australia's beef industry. Despite massive raw resources and being the biggest exporter of beef, the industry is slipping further into recession - not just losing money, but control over the whole industry to foreign interests
By Sally Neighbour. Sally Neighbour goes behind the scandal in WA: Wanneroo Inc began as a secret police inquiry into a corrupt council. Now it's a Royal Commission. All the key players talk to 4 Corners about what went on at Wanneroo - the councillor convicted of corruption, the demoted politician and the policeman and the lawyer who've both turned to politics. It's a story of power, politician fund raising and the high price some are prepared to pay for political victory.
By Margot O'Neill. This report by Margot O'Neill examines Australia's attempt to muzzle its gun culture. After years of inaction, the Port Arthur tragedy galvanised State and Federal leaders into agreement, but there are signs that some States are losing their resolve. We look at some sensitive issues, among them the licencing laws that could put recreational shooters on the wrong side of the law.
By Chris Masters. This last program for 1996 commemorates the 35 years since Four Corners first went to air in 1961. Historian, Geoffrey Blainey, looks back at what Four Corners has found out about Australians overt the years and we illustrate the different categories of war, work, television, land and migration with segments from past programs.
By Chris Masters. Repeat: The Winners series. In December 1986 two city teenagers, Simon Amos and James Annetts, left the outback station where they were employed and never returned. This report looks at the harsh conditions the boys experienced and the even harsher work conditions enforced by an employer known for his tough work practice, and the events leading up to their mysterious deaths
By Chris Masters. Repeat: The Winners Series. This 3rd program in THE WINNERS series first went to air 8.8.94 and won a Logie Award in 1994. This report takes us to the refugee camps where, as a result of the civil unrest between Hutu and Tutsi tribes, blood has continued to flow in an horrific African genocide. The report also searches for the events and people leading to the strife.
By Paul Barry. Repeat: The Winners Series. This program first went to air 13.3.89 and won a Penguin award. This was a time when not much was going right for Alan Bond. It had been suggested that the Bond Group was as fragile as a South Sea bubble. Ultimately the Bond Corp collapsed under a mountain of debt. This report examines the corporate health of the Bond Group before the bubble burst
By Liz Jackson. Repeat: The Winners Series. This multi-award winning program (Walkley Award, UN Media Peace Award and 1996 Human Rights Award) tells the story of the life and death of one of Australia's most respected Aboriginal activists, Rob Riley. His death sent shock waves through the Aboriginal community. His family and close friends talk openly about the pain and contradictions in Rob Riley's life
By Paul Barry. Repeat: The Winners Series. This program is on Australia's greatest environmental disaster at the blue asbestos plant at Wittenoon in Western Australia. In 1988 some 300 who lived and worked in the shadow of that mining operation had succumbed to asbestos related disease. Now it's over 1000 and it is predicted that by 2020 the number will double. Since 1988 some $41 million in damages have been awarded.
Summer Series: Ex BBC The Big Picture. First in a two part series featuring the insights of British economist, Martin Jacques. He is intrigued by what he predicts to be the inevitable economic ascendancy of Asia over Europe and America, the shift in the balance of power from the west to the east.
Summer Series: Ex BBC The Big Picture. Part 2 in the series by British economist, Martin Jacques. This program focuses on two of the Asian tigers, Malaysia and Taiwan. Martin Jacques examines their approach to broad social issues such as welfare, education and the role of the family.
Summer Series: Ex BBC Assignment. BBC reporter, Ben Brown investigates the huge wealth of the children of President Suharto of Indonesia. As President Suharto nears the end of his time as President, there is increasing unrest in the country. There is growing resentment at the accumulation of wealth by the sons and daughters of the President - the family's business fortunes are estimated at more than 40 billion dollars.
Summer Series: Ex BBC & Elgin Productions. A profile of Nike, in which the BBC closely examines the corporate strategies that lie behind the brand name. The genius at the helm is Phil Knight, one of the first global entrepreneurs to exploit the low cost labour markets in SE Asia. This is the story of Nike.
Summer Series: Ex BBC & Elgin Productions. The second of a BBC series exploring the corporate strategies that lie behind the rise of global brands. This program looks at Heinz whose market share is under threat and goes into the trenches with chairman of Heinz, Tony O'Reilly as he fights off competition from cheaper baked beans.
By Murray McLaughlin. This program examines the ground-breaking reading of history which was crucial to the high court's judgement which allowed for Aboriginal title to co-exist with pastoral leasehold. Not since first settlement has there been a decision with such a major impact on land tenure in this country. This report asks if there can be a peaceful resolution and features one pastoral group who may have the answer.
By David Hardaker. The suicide of Justice David Yeldham after his secret life had been revealed scandalised the judiciary. There is evidence that the highest judicial officers in the state were made aware of his behaviour in the late 1980s but failed to take effective action. His practices, in the eyes of Sir Laurence Street, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, made him unfit to hold his office.
By Margot O'Neill. This program examines where the Labor Party is now, 12 months after its humiliating defeat. Margot O'Neill speaks with Party leaders, grass root members and voters and finds a confusion in the leadership and a Party that's been in retreat. She notes that Kim Beazley is now centre stage and asks has he got what it takes to rebuild a shattered Party? Can Labor find a way out of political limbo?
By Michael Robinson. Ex BBC Panorama. This program investigates one of the biggest financial scandals ever. One company lost 2600 million dollars. One man, Yasuo Hamanaka, is supposedly responsible. The program reveals new evidence of British involvement in Hamanaka's attempt to rig the world copper market under the noses of the British regulators. A six month investigation by the BBC tells a story of collusion, forgery and of dubious dealings worth millions of dollars.
By Andrew Fowler. This program reveals why the banking industry has lost our trust and how some banks bend the rules and break the law. We reveal a bonus system which rewards bank officials for forcing businesses to the wall. Bank malpractices are revealed and the devastating effect that these have on the lives and businesses that are affected by them.
Ex BBC Inside Story. This program examines the emotional response led by Maureen Kanka, which has lead to state and federal laws being adopted after the rape and murder of Maureen's seven-year-old daughter, Megan. The law requires that communities be notified of the name and address of any convicted sex offender - for life. The question is also raised - what of the clash between a community's right to know and the right of an offender to start a new life after paying his debt to society.
By Liz Jackson. This program pieces together the final moments leading up to the Australian Army's worst peace time disaster, the Blackhawk tragedy on June 12, 1996. We hear stories of under-training, lack of resources and extreme stress. The findings of the Army's inquiry are reviewed and questions whether the disciplining of five officers addresses all the problems. Survivors of the disaster also tell their stories.
By Sally Neighbour. This report pieces together Kerry Packer's style of doing business and reveals how key political figures have served Packer's interests. It took Packer three years and 340 million dollars to gain control of the Sydney Casino and another long-held goal, owning the Fairfax Newspaper Group, is almost within reach. The program asks whose interests are being served and how much power should one man have
By Tom Mangold. Ex BBC Panorama. This program gives an insight into the minds of dangerous men, psychopaths who have been imprisoned for committing terrible crimes. In 1991, a small number of these top security prisoners volunteered for psychotherapy with a prison psychiatrist and agreed to allow him to video-tape the actual treatment. The psychiatrist Dr Bob Johnson was convinced that he could break the mould and treat and cure these men. This program asks what is to be done with these men?
By Su Pennington. Ex BBC Panorama. This program examines the increasing numbers of women involved in violent crimes. Statistics show that within 20 years, the number of women who commit violent crimes may equal those committed by men. Su Pennington talks to women who have become involved with violent crimes and also to their victims. This program investigates why women have moved from their traditional roles of victims (and sometimes accessories to violent crime) to being active, sometimes brutal, participants.
By David Hardaker. This program investigates the privatisation by the Kennett Government of the dispatch system for Victoria's emergency services. Intergraph, a company with ambitious plans for Australia, won the contract, but as reporter David Hardaker reports due process was ignored. From the beginning, the Intergraph privatisation has been a shambles. It is the core of emergency services, but sometimes the system doesn't work.
By Murray McLaughlin. In this program, 4C's charts the last weeks of the life of Ester Wild and the dilemma faced by her doctor, Philip Nitschke, who had been treating her for cancer. Esther has chosen to die using the Northern Territory's "Right to Die" legislation, but her wish was denied when the Senate finally overturned the legislation. Esther's only option was palliative care and the program asks if this is really a form of disguised euthanasia.
By Liz Jackson. Four Corners visits the most notorious block of houses in Australia and witnesses how what was once a dream for Aboriginal self-determination turned into a ghetto. The first land grant to Aborigines has become known to the locals as The Block. Reporter Liz Jackson found an intractable problem on the city fringe, which is meeting the irrepressible force of the Olympics deadline ... and the people are under pressure to move.
By Callum MacRae. Ex BBC Dispatches: This report from Dispatches follows the last six months of Labor's election campaign in Britain which saw the rise of Tony Blair. He's campaigned to his Party's majority - the biggest seen this century. The program looks into Tony Blair's family history, interviews mentors who have helped along the way and follows him on the election trail.
By Margot O'Neill. This program examines the flood of people who are being diagnosed with PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Vietnam War Veterans were the first to be diagnosed and now the condition is being recognised in people in a wider range of conditions and circumstances. Beverley Raphael targets the rapidly developing "trauma industry" and suggests it may even be harmful. The Victorian Government has legislated against victims of crime being compensated for pain and suffering.
By Chris Masters. Chris Masters investigates the tax issue of the '90s. Some of the world's biggest companies have come under audit over transfer pricing. The issue has pitched companies and countries into combat - into a tax war that is being fought in utter secrecy. Chris Masters investigates how it works and reveals a range of companies engaged in this war. Vast amounts are at stake and the general public are not told the outcome of the battles.
By Jane Corbin. Ex BBC Panorama. Jane Corbin reports on assassination squads, who for over a decade have operated in Europe. Over 46 people have been gunned down in that time and the state of Iran stands accused of their murder. This report uncovers the Iranian terror network and reveals that, despite the fact that evidence points to Iran's connection, Western Governments are unwilling to jeopardise lucrative trade with that country.
By Murray McLaughlin. This program is about Pauline Hanson, a former seller of fish 'n' chips and a woman whose politics have divided Australia. Four Corners tests the mood of discontent that Pauline Hanson has tapped into, enabling her in one year to move from the fringes of politics to centre stage. As a voice for those who have been marginalised and alienated, Pauline Hanson is now questioning the political and social basis which has underpinned Australia for the last 20 years.
By Sally Neighbour. This is the first of a two part special made with Britain's Channel 4 and reveals the secrets and lies behind the handover of Hong Kong. When the British and Chinese Governments agreed 13 years ago on this handover, Britain promised the people of Hong Kong a parting gift, democracy and the Chines promised that Hong Kong's way of life would be kept in tact for 50 years. The history of how these promises were made and broken are the subject of this program.
By Sally Neighbour. This program is the second in a 2-part special on Hong Kong and goes to air on the eve of the handover by the British to the Chinese. The lead up to the handover ceremony has been accompanied by bullish optimism and celebratory hoopla, but there is a deep suspicion that the corporate culture of mainland China will signal a turn of fortune for Hong Kong. On the eve of the handover, the voices of protest are being shouted down.
By Andrew Fowler. PNG's Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan came to power with the promise too end the civil war in Bougainville, but his decision to use mercenaries to fight the war created a constitutional crisis in PNG, sent shock waves throughout the region and caused Australia to face one of its biggest diplomatic and security problems when 40 mercenaries entered PNG and the Australian Government knew nothing about it. This program raises serious questions about the Sandline affair
By Chris Masters. Chris Masters reports that violence from South Africa's past is now threatening its future. Since the end of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela as President, eight and a half thousand South Africans have fled, many to Australia. In this program, we make two journeys. The first to South Africa to see what freedom has delivered and the second to Australia, the most popular destination for exiles.
Ex BBC Inside Story. This report, an international co-production coordinated by the BBC's Inside Story, investigates the truth behind Switzerland's role during WWII and in particular the action of the Swiss banks. Before the war, many Jewish families deposited their money in Swiss banks. The banks, knowing that most Jewish customers had dies in the holocaust, stole the money. Now, survivors are wanting their money back and are suing the Swiss banks for $20 billion. There are also claims that Nazi death trains were allowed through Switzerland
By David Hardaker. This report on Cabramatta, known as the heroin capital of Australia, is the result of a three month investigation. The program offers an insight into the activities of the Vietnamese street gangs and how death and violence are now a way of life and the business of heroin rules the streets. Governments are struggling to cope with the heroin epidemic but it seems that the police are losing the war. Links with the 5T gang and the murder of John Newman three years ago are also investigated.
Ex BBC Inside Story: This program takes us inside the Heaven's Gate cult 39 members of which committed suicide earlier this year in the belief that they would pick up a space ship travelling in the wake of the Hale-Bopp comet and ride into "the level above human". The beliefs of the cult, their increasingly bizarre practices and their devotion to their charismatic leader are investigated. Farewell tapes of cult members are shown and there are interviews with their families and former cult members.
By Liz Jackson. This analysis of the Greenhouse Debate exposes the flaws in the argument Australia is taking to the world - that is that Australia is a special case. Criticism of Australia's position is now coming from senior levels within Australia and the Government's chief adviser on Greenhouse says that it's hard to defend the position Australia is taking. Foreign Minister Downer argues that we're asking for equitable treatment.
By Gavin Hewitt (Panorama), Murray McLaughlin (4C). Ex BBC Panorama with 4C's update. This program examines the increasing demand for a decreasing supply of human donor organs and the growing debate for using substitute animal organs. First compiled for the BBC with material gathered from Britain and the US, this report includes the Australian perspective on this so-called "Frankenscience".
By David Dimbleby. Ex BBC: The BBC's special tribute to the life of Diana, the Princess of Wales. David Dimbleby brings up questions raised by her death. He discusses her impact on the Monarchy and the Royal family and he talks to British people about her - how she touched so many people - and what made her a target for the media attention that contributed to her death.
By Andrew Fowler. This is part 1 of a two part series on superannuation and asks: 'How safe is our money?' Australians have nearly $300 billion invested in superannuation. As the Government prepares to tinker yet again with the super system, this program reveals how loopholes in the law are putting savings at risk. Many investors are now finding they were duped - and have lost their money.
By Margot O'Neill. In Bangkok last year, an Australian businessman named Tim Gatland disappeared without trace. This is the inside story of the former company director who had a hand in the collapse of the Thai economy - and of how the savings of suburban Australia were gambled in the world of global finance. Tim Gatland left behind him a trail linking him to a $4 billion international banking scandal. His story gives insight into the business world of the 1990s.
"An hour of slime." The Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, goes on radio and launches a blistering attack on Sally Neighbour as she prepares to report on the Premier's five years in office.
Ex Channel 4. This program tells the story of Markus Wolf, the former Head of the East German Intelligence Service and his methods of recruiting young women in the West to spy and betray their country. Over 80 young women were recruited by "Romeo" spies and they passed on secrets in exchange for romance. Three of these women, Gabriele Gast, Dagmar Shroler and Gerda Ostenreider are the subject of this program. All three were imprisoned, but Markus Wolf and other Romeo spies walked free.
By Chris Masters. This program is about the Australian movie business - a business which is now being studied by the ACCC. "The big players are castrating the film business", says an independent film distributor - it's the companies which own the cinemas who call the shots and who make the money. The sheer clout of Australia's cinema chains threatens to crush the independence of spirit and talent which has made our films great. This 4C follows the dollar back from the box-office to the film maker.
By David Hardaker. This report asks why Australia is still a safe haven for the war criminals of the world and reveals how an Australian citizen is implicated in crimes during the holocaust of WWII. Secret documents from British Military Intelligence reveals details of Konrad Kalajs -- and his commando unit -- and recommends prosecutions for mass murder. Kalajs' name is spelt out by a witness.
By Hans-Joachim Seppelt. Ex SFB with studio and satellite interviews: This report reveals details about the East German sports doping program. Some members of the former swimming team reveal the way the system worked - and the toll it took on their lives. However, many authorities and trainers continue to deny this program existed. In a satellite interview after the report Jorge Hoffman (swimmer) tells Chris Masters of his experience, and reporter Hans-Joachim Seppelt tells of reaction to the report and Australian coach, Don Talbot is also interviewed in studio.
By Liz Jackson. Tonight's report takes us behind the lines of the two major Republican and Monarchist camps as they battle for votes to be representatives at next year's Constitutional Convention. Liz Jackson reveals interesting players as the campaigns gear up as well as their strategies.
By Andrew Fowler. This report examines the El Niņo phenomenon, the climatic event of the century, and its affects on the weather patterns in Australia, South East Asia and in South America. On the eve of the Kyoto conference on global warming, we reveal the new science which links a warmer world to more El Niņos. The implications of this for peoples and Governments around the Pacific rim are vast.
By Margot O'Neill. This program presents the inside story of the struggle fought by Franca Arena as she pushed her crusade for victims of paedophilia to the edge. Her allegations of a conspiracy of silence protecting stories of paedophiles has seen her take on some of the most powerful figures in the country. Four Corners investigates the basis of her conviction of a high level cover-up.
By Martin Bashir. Summer Dispatches: Ex Panorama. This is the story of one newborn baby boy in Britain who has six parents claiming him as their own. It explores the confusing and conflicting dilemmas created by his birth. This little boy was conceived by a surrogate mother, the sperm provided by the male partner of a childless couple and before birth he was sold to a childless couple who wanted to adopt him. This story highlights the moral dilemmas of such a situation.
By Gavin Hewitt. Summer Dispatches: Ex BBC. This report examines the role of the British Royal Family - a role that has been under scrutiny - a scrutiny highlighted by the death of Princess Diana. For the first time since her death, Buckingham Palace speaks about reform of the monarchy ... the size, the cost and the image are all on the reform agenda.
Summer Dispatches: Ex Canadian National Cinema Centre. This report is a portrait of the terrorist who, for 20 years, was the world's most wanted man. He was known as Carlos the Jackal, but his real name is Illich Ramirez Sanchez. He has been linked to more than 80 politically motivated deaths across 6 nations since 1973. This week he finally goes on trial for the first time. Director: Patrick Rotman. Narrator: Vlasta Vrana. Presenter: Liz Jackson.
Summer Dispatches: Ex BBC. First in a two part series that traces the rise to power of Russian President, Boris Yeltsin. This report begins with Yeltsin displacing Gorbachev as the holder of power in Russia and describes the plotting and the power plays by those actually involved in the critical events that have shaped Russia's recent history. Narrator: Bridget Kendall. Producer/Director: Paul Mitchell. Presenter: Liz Jackson.
Summer Dispatches: Ex BBC. Part two of this two part series on Boris Yeltsin takes up the story in 1994, a year after Yeltsin had shelled his own parliament into submission and assumed the power of a modern Russian Tsar. Yeltsin's former bodyguard Alexander Korshakov, reveals many of Yeltsin's failings and foibles. Korshakov was sacked in 1996. Narrator: Bridget Kendall. Producer/Director: Paul Mitchell. Presenter: Liz Jackson.
Ex Tele-Images, France: This report is about the young Palestinian patriots, Shaheeds, who turn themselves into human bombs for the promise of a passport to heaven for them and their families. The program also sheds light on the motives and the psychology of these young men and interviews some who have failed as well as their families. Summer Dispatches. Writer/Director: Dan Setton. Narrator: Debbie Richards. Presenter: Liz Jackson.
It's Christmas 1996, in Melbourne. As an evening's revelry ends, all's quiet at 412 St Kilda Road -- headquarters of Victoria's elite police crime squads. But inside, an event is unfolding that will shatter the illusion that the forces of law and order are in control.
Passenger movements through Sydney's Kingsford Smith airport have grown nearly tenfold in the past 30 years. The need for a second airport is overwhelming but the future of this critical national infrastructure is locked in stalemate.
Webb Dock - in Melbourne's industrial heartland. For most of us it would have remained an unknown backwater, but now it will be remembered as a milestone in our tortured industrial relations history.
For more than 30 years President Soeharto has delivered to his country, economic growth. Now, as he begins his seventh term in office, Indonesia hovers on the brink of economic collapse. Liz Jackson visits Indonesia during the last days and hours of the reign of President Soeharto and finds a region in turmoil. Riots rocked Jakarta and students occupied the National Parliament buildings; Jackson recorded the moments leading up to the end of Soeharto's regime and the program was put to air within a week.
Australia now has one of the highest rates of jail deaths of any developed country. Four Corners looks at how a short stay in jail for two Western Australian teenagers became a death sentence
The whole $320 billion superannuation system is to be thrown wide open but just how prepared are we?
Next year the Victorian Government plans to have the old public transport monopoly, the trams, the trains and buses, in private hands. So this journey takes us from one extreme of protectionism towards another of privatisation. These are big changes with real impacts for ordinary people's work and lives
The stories of the men who saved Australia by fighting the Japanese on the Kokoda Trail should be well known, should be retold, not just because they are so utterly remarkable, but because they tell us so much about what ordinary Australians can do
As Australian Jews celebrate Israel's 50th birthday, Sasha Elterman is celebrating her own survival. Four other Australians weren't as lucky. They died last year at what should have been another celebration of Jewish unity. Four Corners examines the Maccabiah tragedy -- how one of the world's biggest sporting events ended up in Troubled Waters.
As the shock of the Asia crisis hits the Australian economy hard, and Indonesia erupts into violence, we ask if the men at the International Monetary Fund know what they're doing in Asia
The Howard Government is staking its future on tax reform. But will the voters buy a GST?
Was East Timor an unavoidable sacrifice to Australian-Indonesian big-picture politics? What is our record on this most personal test of international relations? And after the fall of Soeharto is an answer at last in sight?
Every year Australia's hospitals kill 10,000 of their patients. Doctors, health professionals and the relatives of victims are pleading for action.
Have the police become too soft on crime? Pressure is building for a tough new approach on the streets. Four Corners spent a week with the Hurstville police to get a feel for the reality of crime and policing in Australian towns and cities
Rugby league was crash-tackled recently when four of its stars tested positive for banned drugs but, as usual, only the athletes were blamed. Four Corners goes behind the positive tests to expose the key players in a thriving national black market in steroids.
This is the story of the night a massive tidal wave devastated the Papua New Guinean village of Warapu and the decisions that now confront the villagers.
On September 18 Christopher Skase turns 50. He might toast his victory over Australian regulators having shunned our courts, defeated extradition and won the right to travel as a citizen of Dominica. How did he do it, what has it cost him and what have we learned in the 10 years since his last big birthday bash?
When the Coalition Government appointed Ian Callinan to the High Court of Australia, they knew they were in for controversy.
A personal and political journey with Kim Beazley, as he fights to lead the nation.
Four Corners examines Prime Minister John Howard's two-and-a-half years in office to try to understand why he's staking everything on one major reform.
The wool industry, once Australia's biggest export earner and employer, is down and nearly out. Sloppy management, secret deals and bullying tactics are crippling this Australian icon.
Viagra has become the fastest selling pharmaceutical drug in history. Four Corners examines who's buying and selling Viagra in Australia, and who will pay the price. Is Viagra a medical or a marketing miracle?
The Anzac legend is like a cenotaph, an empty tomb in our own history. Eighty years after the end of the Great War, so much of the story of the Anzac remains unverifiable, unresolved. This program is about how the formula was found that ended the slaughter on the western front, and how much honour is due the digger.
Four Corners goes behind the scenes of the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) and finds a ruthless and secretive world of deals and power struggles that has produced a long list of casualties. The program features interviews with all the key players behind the Sydney 2000 Games - Rod McGeoch , John Coates, Michael Knight, SallyAnne Atkinson, Phil Coles and many others
Around 12 years ago Tony Jones first reported on the lives of people with schizophrenia. It was a story of lives lived in quiet desperation. He finds that in the intervening years nothing much has changed.
Four Corners tells the disturbing story behind one of our worst sporting disasters. How was it that some of the world's most experienced yachtsmen sailed into a storm they couldn't survive? And once they did, what did race organisers do to help them?
This buy-in from BBC Panorama is a story about the price to be paid when good men do nothing. A former Australian war crimes investigator blows the whistle on a United Nations coverup of the holocaust in Rwanda. In a follow up interview he claims that the cover-up continues today.
Four Corners looks at the crisis in the Catholic Church -- how the Vatican turned against the Church in Australia and why.
Video journalist Mark Davis went into East Timor and captured shocking evidence of Indonesian-backed militia groups having a 'Licence to Kill'. Davis managed to attain interviews with militia leaders, the aftermath of a killing in Dili and footage of the pro-independence guerrillas in their mountain hideout.
In the weeks leading up to Dick Smith's shock resignation as head of Australia's air safety body, CASA, award-winning reporter Liz Jackson began investigating the bitter behind-the-scenes conflict between Smith and his industry opponents. What emerges is a compelling account of how and why Smith and his plans to reinvigorate aviation safety foundered.
The Rebels is Australia's largest outlaw motorcycle club. They join a growing global tribe of bikers, described by law enforcement agencies like the FBI, as "more dangerous than the mafia". Reporter Chris Masters takes us inside a so-called outlaw gang, where we stare our fears directly in the face.
Four Corners goes inside the company called Pangea to examine a scheme that's provoked accusations of secrecy and back-door influence peddling. A scheme that forces Australia to confront its role in the nuclear world
The systematic eviction of his own people from his own state of Kosovo crowns a decade of murder and tyranny in what is left of Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia. Now what are the true goals of the NATO forces which oppose him? In this report, Chris Masters looks into a future at war with the past.
The booming business of art fraud is putting the credibility of an industry now worth more than $300 million a year on the line. Sally Neighbour reports.
In this major investigation, Andrew Fowler reveals the scandalous state of the Navy's new Collins class submarines. So far, none of the six submarines, commissioned for a cost of $5 billion, are battle ready and are fit to go nowhere. Commodore Mick Dunne, appointed by the Navy to investigate, speaks about his fears for the submarines and the men and women who crew them.
Sally Neighbour investigates the frauds and fakerys that undermine the credibility of Aboriginal art and exposes those who stand accused of exploiting Australia's most highly-acclaimed Aboriginal artist, Clifford Possum. The program reveals the affects of sharp operators and rapid commercialisation of an industry in which production lines of non-Aboriginal workers manufacture and sell "authentic" Aboriginal artefacts
This program traces the lives of four people attempting to beat heroin addiction. It's also an investigation into the politics surrounding the availability and range of treatments for Australia's heroin addicts. It questions whether the debate on heroin is obscuring the real task of finding solutions for addicts.
Liz Jackson tracks the negotiations and behind-the-scenes efforts by CARE Australia and the Government's envoy, Malcolm Fraser, to secure the release of aid workers Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace. Pratt and Wallace had been imprisoned in Belgrade and convicted of passing secret military information to foreign organisations. The program also examines the consequences their trial may have on the future of CARE and other aid organisations.
After negotiating the landmark GST deal with the Government, Democrat's leader Meg Lees and her party are under seige, accused of selling-out on important principles. Andrew Fowler reveals the decisions which is causing such dissent within the Democrat's ranks. With splits at all levels within the party, and deputy leader, Natasha Stott-Despoja, at odds with her leader, this program examines the price Meg Lees has paid for power.
Mark Davis investigates allegations about the role of the International Red Cross and the British military in a massacre in the Southern Highlands of Irian Jaya in May 1996. The story of what happened has never been told before
A recent hearing for a sexual abuse case allowed a seven-year-old boy to be subjected to hours of brutal cross-examination. The incident raises the question of how children should be handled as witnesses in court. Why is Australia's legal system failing our children at a time when they are most in need?
Papua New Guinea, our nearest neighbour, has a new prime minister, delivered to his people by a political system that includes kidnapping, bribes and thuggery. Can Sir Mekere Morauta drag the country back from the brink of political and economic chaos? Four Corners goes behind the security guards to witness Big Man politics, PNG style.
The BBC's Panorama reveals the dangers of kapton wire -- a type of wire used in over one third of the world's aircraft.
This month Australian primary school students will sit the first national reading and writing test - part of the government's efforts to improve literacy in the face of statistics released two years ago by Education Minister Dr David Kemp, which showed that about one in three eight- and nine-year-olds couldn't read and write properly. Four Corners examines the evidence that has fuelled the Government's literacy crusade, a crusade that has led to workplace programs and the implementation of a compulsory literacy scheme for young people on the dole
This BBC Correspondent Special program looks at the moral question of capital punishment. Sean Sellars was 16-years-old when he murdered his parents in their sleep. Six months previously he murdered a convenience store clerk for no apparent reason other than the thrill of killing. In this program Sellars is interviewed about his crimes, his life on death row and his imminent execution. In the case that divided American opinion like no other death row case, Dead Kid Walking highlights the issues involved in the death penalty and juvenile justice.
Australia has long feared a kind of gravitational drift from the north. And this year the fears have been brought home by the arrival of large boatloads of people, particularly from Fujian in China. But these arrivals are not new. For years now illegals have been entering Australia. This program looks at how it is done, and who gets through
As the world's fish stocks dry up, foreign fleets are targeting Australian fisheries. Four Corners tells the story of how foreign fishermen raided a fishing ground on the edge of our territorial border and how neither law nor diplomacy was able to stop them.
This program examines the failure of Australian regulators to put in place and independent regime addressing genetically modified food importation. It reveals how government, industry and science rushed headlong into the new world of genetic food whilst keeping Australian consumers in the dark -- eating unlabelled and unapproved genetically modified food.
When the East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia on 30 August it was a vote for their own punishment. On the day our troops leave to head the East Timor peace-keeping force, Chris Masters' report looks at the calculation behind the chaos that has led to this situation.
This program tells the story behind the disintegration and death of Rod Ansell, the man known as the model for Mick Dundee in the movie "Crocodile Dundee". On 3rd of August Rod Ansell ambushed and killed Sergeant Glen Huitson in a police shoot-out on the bitumen highway linking north and south Australia. Peter George investigates the killing of the two men and examines the cultures most endangered by urbansiation and identifies what was lost when Rod Ansell and Glen Huitson were caught in the corssfire of myth and reality
In this portrait of Senator Aden Ridgeway, Liz Jackson accompanies him to his political and spiritual homes. The 37-year-old Senator is Australia's only Aboriginal member of Federal Parliament. With his party, the Democrats, holding the balance of power in the Senate, Aden Ridgeway's power is considerable. Already he has exerted his influence.
In March NATO went to war. It was a war fought in the name of human rights, yet NATO's determination not to take casualties extended the war and suffering. The main players of the war tell their story for the first time - how Operation Allied Force was won.
Four weeks ago '4 Corners' produced 'Silenced Majority', the story of the referendum ballot and its immediate aftermath. 'The Vanishing' continues the story of the East Timorese people, but this time from the other side of the border. After the announcement of the referendum result, thousands of people of East Timor were killed and hundreds of thousands became refugees. By the time Interfet forces arrived on September 20, nearly half a million East Timorese had vanished - forced from their homes by the Indonesian army and their proxies in the militas. Many fled to the hills and found sanctuary with Falantil, the East Timorese armed resistance, but most were loaded at gunpoint onto planes, boats and trucks and transported across the border to West Timor.
With just days to go before the historic referendum on the republic, reporter Peter George examines the battle for the hearts and minds of Australia's voters. He finds that the republic referendum has made allies of old foes and enemies of friends; it has caused dissension within the government, and generated acres of newsprint and hours of media air time.
This program examines the big issue for the next millenium, global warming. Reporter, Ian Henschke, examines the threats that face us and the arguments about what we should do. He also examines Australia's role in climate change and asks - are we doing enough?
Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace speak for the first time about their arrest and imprisonment in Belgrade.
The story behind the East Timor crisis and how it plunged Australian-Indonesian relations to an all-time low.
This BBC program reveals the full extent of Harold Shipman's campaign of murder that made him the worst serial killer in British history.
Is Australia serious about bringing war criminals to justice?
The inside story of the battle the republicans lost and the war the monarchists know is far from over.
An insight into the previously hidden world of Australia's detention centres.
This program reveals an elaborate campaign to undermine native title in Western Australia.
This BBC special tracks the entire NATO campaign in Kosovo.
Liz Jackson explores the human impact of the Northern Territory's mandatory sentencing laws.
What happens when a foreign mining company bails out of a big project in a developing country?
This BBC Correspondent program gives a rare insight into the decision-making behind the USS Vincennes fateful missile strike on Iran Air 655 in 1988.
Behind the glitz of the gaming industry.
Is Melbourne's Riverside nursing home an isolated case or is it the face of a system which is fatally flawed?
This program examines how the censorship debate is becoming increasingly polarised as conservatives challenge liberals over moral standards.
Branko Jelen speaks with Liz Jackson after his release from prison.
The harrowing story of how a 15-year-old boy came to murder his parents and then open fire on his schoolmates.
The growth of suspect investment schemes, their human impact and some of the operators behind them.
Should Melbourne IT be in public or private hands?
This program follows four young women in their tortuous battle with anorexia nervosa.
The power battle between liberal theologians and evangelicals that threatens to break apart the Anglican Church.
A program from the BBC charting the triumphs and tragedies of the children who were rescued from Romania's orphanages in 1990.
The promise of the pioneering science of cloning and the ethical hurdles that could bring it crashing down.
Was the Fiji coup driven by self interest before national interest?
The stories of both the victims and the perpetrators of gay bashing in the north Queensland city of Townsville.
This BBC Panorama program delves into the hacker community.
Exploring accusations of police corruption in Western Australia.
This PBS Frontline program exposes the weakness of eyewitness identification as a tool of evidence.
The political battle behind new digital TV laws.
This program looks behind the service industries revolution that's sweeping workplaces.
This BBC program asks whether the IOC is really changing its ways, or whether it's just turned to spin doctoring to regain credibility.
This program tracks the never ending race between the drug-testers and the drug-takers.
Is Baby Business American-style a market of the future
Challenging some of the key agencies responsible for allowing the Erika to ply her trade.
Harrowing accounts from survivors of the attack on the last refugee boat out of West Timor, before the UN operation ceased.
Surviving cancer can be just the beginning of a process that is more difficult and more painful than the illness itself.
How hardening attitudes in Australia are compounding the existing distress of asylum seekers and are even producing new disorders.
An investigation into innocent people wrongly and systematically accused of arson in the absence of supporting evidence.
What is the future of Labor in its Australian birthplace?
A profile of Federal Minister for Forestry and Conservation Wilson Tuckey.
An investigation into deaths and injuries among newborn babies at a nationally famous teaching hospital.
Has the pharmaceutical industry broken the scheme which delivers Australians cheap medicines?
The stories of the men who lived and worked routinely with asbestos in Victoria's La Trobe Valley power industry.
Among paedophiles who made connections on the Net, the Wonderland Club was the place to be.
Unless we get smart with how we use water, and do it quickly, the nation's economic sustainability is under threat.
The story of a convicted fraudster who brought dreams of cattle empires, diamond mines and Wall Street bonds to a tiny bush community.
An investigation into the 1998 Omagh bombing by BBC Panorama reporter John Ware.
The National Party is fighting for its life.
The BBC goes inside Operation Chameleon, an audacious sting which smashed an international network of traffickers.
Sandra Jenkins speaks for the first time about her husband's death and the cloud of official suspicion that surrounded him in the last weeks of his life.
The story of a farmer who has challenged conventional thinking on mad cow disease.
This program assesses what drove the dotcom boom and subsequent - some say inevitable - bust.
A failing prison where criminals are mixed with the mentally ill, in which punishment descends to neglect and where too many lives have been lost
A story about the money laundering game played at the very highest international level.
Four Corners explores a power struggle in the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).
This BBC program examines why the US legal system appears to be getting it so wrong.
Four Corners delves into dance culture to meet a generation defined by its own music, politics, technologies and its own drugs.
Will the era of cut price air fares and cut throat competition fizzle out along with Impulse Airlines?
Greedy, gullible, or victims of the taxman's tardiness?
This BBC program probes the psychological mystery of Robert Phillip Hanssen, the man at the centre of the biggest spy scandal since Kim Philby.
The HIH crash: who knew what and when did they know it?
The working poor - an increasing class who are not earning enough to get by.
This BBC program investigates DVT and what the airlines have done to alert the travelling public to its dangers.
Uncovering a case of political espionage.
Reality TV - harmless fun or dumbing down?
Will the missile defence umbrella will fulfil its mission in stopping attacks on the US from rogue states?
The Inside Story An inside view of what is going on in detention centres.
This special program is more than a record of Four Corners surviving 40 years. It tells about inquiries, lawsuits, brickbats and bouquets," says executive producer Bruce Belsham, "but it's also like re-reading a national diary which brings back half- forgotten memories of how Australia used to be and how we've changed.
If you go missing at sea, what are your chances of being found and rescued?
Four Corners travels to outback Australia to assess the impact of violence and child sexual abuse on Aboriginal communities and how those communities, governments and key agencies are dealing with it.
A journey into Afghanistan reveals the horror of life under Taliban rule.
A profile of Osama bin Laden, the man believed to be the mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US.
How Australian investors have been conned out of millions of dollars by fast talking brokers in boiler rooms dotted around Asia.
An investigation into the battle over antibiotics fed to farm animals.
The inside story of a three year undercover investigation into NSW police corruption.
The conflicting pressures within Telstra: can it keep both its customers and its shareholders satisfied?
Questioning the administration of justice over nearly three decades.
The deadly conflict being played out as China's leaders confront the Falun Gong.
Tracking the shifts in tactics, spin and opinion polls during the 2001 election campaign.
The life of Mohammed Atta, from his beginning in Egypt to his end in New York.
The story of a toxic time bomb.
Who's winning the battle for the ear of US President George Bush?
How Bravo Two Zero patrol's mission - to sabotage Iraqi Scud missiles - turned into disaster.
The Children Overboard affair - who knew what, who told whom, and when
Chris Masters examines the issues surrounding the fall of Singapore - 60 years on.
A story on how DNA evidence cleared a man convicted of a crime he didn't commit.
This BBC program tracks the world’s first full commercial trial of medical cannabis and explores its potential as a wonder drug for the chronically ill.
The struggle over how Australia tackles the drug problem.
Why are some clubs facing extinction when the AFL's product is booming?
The inside story of Operation Relex – the defence forces’ mission to stop asylum-seekers reaching Australian shores.
A report on the threats to one of the natural wonders of the world - the Great Barrier Reef.
This program from the BBC asks if there is sufficient evidence for war crimes indictments against those accused of responsibility for the massacres at Sabra and Shatila.
Alan Jones - feared by politicians, adored by Struggle Street and reviled by liberals.
The deepening crisis over the Catholic Church's failure to act against child-molesting priests.
Solomon Islands, a one-time South Pacific idyll, is on the brink of collapse.
How Australian soccer on the field has been throttled by the performance of administrators off it.
The moral, medical and legal dilemmas of euthanasia.
The tight relationship between key law firms and big tobacco companies.
This program explores the roots of the violence in Israel and Palestine and how it touches ordinary people on both sides.
A banker's tale of big money, political manipulation and failure.
The full story of the Christmas Island casino and the powerful Indonesian figures behind it.
An investigation into how British intelligence services colluded with loyalist death squads in Northern Ireland.
The inside story of the Department of Community Services in NSW and its child protection responsibilities.
Ray Peattie and a second corrupt policeman give a rare insiders' view on what bent cops call "doing badness".
Following the illegal timber trail from one of its main sources, Indonesia, to its ultimate destination in the West.
This program looks at past US culpability in the Korean War.
A Perth entrepreneur, a billion dollar gamble and two of the world's most powerful shareholders flexing their muscles.
An insiders’ account of the Mazar-I-Sharif uprising in Afghanistan.
In tranquil Tasmania the race is on to claim Aboriginal ancestry.
Who will lead Iraq after the fall of Saddam?
A report on the human cost of a failing mental health system.
Are Lebanese Australians being demonised by mainstream media and politicians for the sins of a few?
What happens when fingerprint experts get it wrong?
An investigation into international criminal syndicates who plunder Australia's southern seas.
The jury is still out on whether Saddam Hussein poses such a danger that the only effective response is to wage immediate war on Iraq.
The mix-ups, cover-ups and sleazy practices that beset Australia’s funeral business.
Federal Labor's crisis of confidence and how Simon Crean is dealing with it.
A road map to terror in our neighbourhood.
Australians enjoy one of the world's best lifestyles - but can the good times last?
The story of Edward Russell and Australia's failure to care for its most vulnerable citizens.
Reporter Sally Neighbour retraces the mission that shook Australia's sense of security.
Should you entrust your life savings to a financial planner?
Reporter Stephen McDonell looks at the devastation that firebugs wreak on the landscape and the fear they generate in vulnerable communities.
A BBC Correspondent program that investigates how the sperm bank industry is under pressure to make disclosure on donors available to their offspring.
Reporter Jonathan Holmes looks at what's driving America... and finds it's more than weapons or oil.
With US-led forces set to flood into Iraq, what do insiders around the world really think about the impending war?
The propaganda war: how US, British and Australian military forces - and the Iraqis - employ sophisticated spin to control the flow of information and images.
How beneficial are the proteins in milk?
Will the war in Iraq make the world a safer place?
An extraordinary story of how a rogue cop rounded up 46 people in a drugs sting, on suspect evidence, in a racially charged climate.
Sharp operators exploiting the real estate obsession.
The chances are you, or someone you know, is taking Aropax. It's transformed millions of lives. But for some there's a darker side...
A special report on the end of war in Iraq - and the beginnings of a turbulent peace.
How AMP was humbled... Ticky Fullerton tells the full story behind the plummetting fortunes of an Australian icon.
Reporter Debbie Whitmont penetrates the secrecy that has shrouded the Woomera detention centre, revealing its traumatic impact on both staff and detainees.
The inside story of the frantic diplomacy that ultimately failed to stop war in Iraq.
Can the world stop North Korea selling nuclear materials to terrorists, or triggering an arms race?
Reporter Sally Neighbour reveals the full extent of the terrorist threat that exists within Australia's borders.
This program explores the fraught issue of whether, and in what circumstances, disabled people should be sterilised.
This program from Channel 4 lays bare the shocking level of violence and murderous hatred in the Gaza Strip.
An exposé of corruption at the Australian Taxation Office.
Reporter Stephen McDonell looks at the sensitive issue of coastal development through the prism of the Tweed Shire.
Ticky Fullerton looks at the winners and losers from a radical experiment in trading precious water rights.
The inside story of what really happened in the terrible days and hours during the Moscow siege.
This program investigates the crisis that is enveloping Australia's indigenous leadership.
The BBC's John Sweeney investigates when mothers, grieving the loss of a child after cot death, are wrongly accused of murder.
Is public health falling victim to private profit in the race for a biotech bonanza?
The kids society didn't want, orphaned or wrenched from broken families, then shunted off to "homes".
Imagine an organic pill that kills the appetite and attacks obesity. It has no known side effects, and contains a molecule that fools your brain into believing you have just eaten.
South-east Asia's most brutal and unrelenting conflict... the Aceh civil war.
How one of the country's most powerful lobbies has ruthlessly repelled moves to solve Australia's growing waste crisis.
Ahead of the first anniversary of the Bali bombings, a compelling personal account of the atrocity that took 202 lives and shattered countless others.
Were the Columbia and Challenger space shuttle tragedies the result of design flaws going back three decades?
Unravelling the extraordinary story of the Australian Museum heist.
The story of a scandal that could wreck an eminent scientist's reputation and cut short research aimed at saving the lives of organ recipients.
Looking at the richest and one of the most secretive private companies in Australia, the gambling giant Tattersall's.
The story behind the controversial new system of arrest, detention, interrogation and trial by military commission, a crucial weapon in America's war on terror.
How Australian intelligence was seized upon on by the CIA, spun and gilded, then presented to the world as the best evidence that Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction.
The survival - and revival - of regional terror group Jemaah Islamiah.
Allegations have swirled around Willie Brigitte ever since his discreet deportation from Australia and his much-publicised arrest in France in October 2003.
Ticky Fullerton looks at the management of Tasmania's forests and how one timber company enjoys extraordinary political support for its operations.
Fuelled by a cocktail of drugs, armed robberies are growing more violent and unpredictable.
Why has Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat - once feted at the White House but now holed up in his West Bank headquarters - become such an outcast?
How police laid a trap to catch drug dealers but instead found themselves entangled in a web of corruption allegations.
Michael Buerk returns to Ethiopia 20 years after first alerting the world to the Ethiopian famine.
Are Australia's sports bosses surrendering to the drug cheats?
What really happened that night in the tiny Redfern community .
Troubling questions arise when the legal and psychiatric worlds collide.
Are Australians hitching a ride on China's economic juggernaut?
A report on the conditions that made the violence in Rwanda possible.
A special report on the frightening trade in nuclear secrets.
Allegations of sexual violence have engulfed some of Australia's top AFL footballers and their clubs.
The fight between Australia and East Timor over billion dollar oil and gas interests.
The inside story of the family that lived and trained with Osama Bin Laden.
Where will the credit binge end for the many thousands of Australians in debt?
Under what circumstances should a child be taken from its birth parents?
The story behind what may endure as defining images of war in Iraq.
Corruption spreads from state police forces into the Australian Crime Commission.
Is the RSPCA turning a blind eye to cruelty for the benefit of commercial interests?
Bill Clinton defends his record and tells how his public and private lives clashed.
How the justice system failed star swim coach Scott Volkers and the women he was accused of sexually molesting.
How one company’s obsession with the bottom line left a trail of death and dismemberment among its workers.
Four Corners investigates the story behind Mamdouh Habib's incarceration at the notorious prison Guantanamo Bay .
Chris Masters talks to bent cops and police chiefs around Australia about the painful costs of corruption, the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures and the need for constant vigilance.
Jonathan Holmes investigates the cost to our subsidised pharmaceutical scheme since Australia signed the Free Trade Agreement.
This expose reveals the truth behind what the BNP has been telling the public in recent years, as it has tried to shed its image of a far-right, racist party.
Four Corners tells the story of the Dalton family breakdown in the context of the Government's recent initiatives to reform the Family Court system, and the rising political influence of men's groups.
"The Plea" examines the cases a jury will never get to hear and asks the question, is the plea bargain undermining an entire legal system?
What do Iraqis think about the war and its aftermath?
From outright fraud to allegations of cover up … and those who simply bend the rules.
Five Australians tell their story of beating depression; the 'black dog" affecting one in five Australians.
Four Corners presents the incredible journey of four young men .
How can one island nation lose a two billion dollar fortune in the space of twenty years?
Liz Jackson follows the leaders' trails during an election campaign that's gone from truth in government, to billion dollar give-aways and old fashioned fear tactics - as the parties battle to win over middle Australia.
Reporter Jonathan Holmes takes us on a colourful journey through the battleground state of Ohio during the US Elections.
Once we had enough water to waste.
Jamie Whitaker had been created to save the life of his brother Charlie, who suffers from Diamond-Blackfan anaemia, DBA, a form of bone marrow failure.
A story of spies, counterspies, double agents and defections as Andrew Fowler reveals the betrayal inside one of Australia’s secret intelligence agencies.
An exclusive story following a brave little boy’s fight to be cured.
In a place where they should have felt safest, the children of Beslan were targeted in an act of barbarism.
2004 will be remembered chiefly for international issues, primarily events in Iraq: including the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal; as well as the continued threat of terrorism. We also faced crucial elections both at home and in the United States.
Four Corners returns for 2005 with a provocative report on the Asian tsunami and the world's unprecedented response to it.
An Australian insider reveals the secrets behind the fruitless search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
"Thirty eight per cent of the world’s known uranium deposits … that’s like the Holy Grail." Craig Copetas, author of "Metal Men".
After a Christmas shopping spree that saw our combined credit card bill top $30 billion, the credit industry is lobbying for more access to consumers’ personal financial information.
Young cannabis users in treatment for psychosis speak openly about their experiences, while doctors and drug specialists explain what the new research means for young people’s mental health.
Through candid interviews with underworld figures, family members, investigators and corruption-fighters, Chris Masters paints a chilling picture of the criminal sub-culture that thrives beneath Melbournes respectable surface and has infected some of its police.
Scientists have discovered that the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface has been diminishing.
Four Corners takes a close-up look at what could be the toughest job in Australia – it’s hard work, low pay, few holidays, high stress...
Debbie Whitmont uncovers disturbing new evidence in the case of Cornelia Rau, who needed help but instead got ten months inside a jail and a detention centre.
Jonathan Holmes reports on the Vioxx controversy – the biggest drug recall in history.
How 18 words about the Miss World beauty contest spun a country into chaos, triggering riots that left hundreds of people dead.
The inside story of the making of the new pope, as told by a select group of people caught up in the politics, the prayer and the passion.
Who on Earth will be masters of outer space?
Four Corners pieces together the last days and minutes of Hariri's life and looks at the likely motive behind his assassination.
In this compelling report Chris Masters investigates the case of the murder of Wayne Tonks, featuring the first interview with the young man who is serving a sentence for the killing.
An exploration of the child sex offender’s psyche and prospects for rehabilitation.
"Rape in a Small Town" chronicles story of an elderly assault victim’s ordeal and her 12 year struggle for justice.
Four Corners reveals that an Australian mining company has been implicated in a massacre of at least 100 people.
Jonathan Holmes examines the flaws in Australia’s child support system and the likely winners and losers from reform.
Four Corners presents a poignant journey inside the 'new asylums' - prisons crammed with the mentally ill.
What’s a university degree worth in the 21st century?
Behind the tragedy of flight 675...
Four Corners presents a report on London's rush hour bomb attack.
The Howard Government’s workplace reforms...
Matthew Carney reveals new evidence of Japan’s secret deals to resume commercial whaling.
The scientific world may be on the cusp of discovering the origin of gender: What makes a boy?
Chris Masters asks if the country should expect to receive a helping hand.
In "A Boy's Life": the powerful story of Robert, an emotionally troubled seven-year-old, and the forces that shape him.
Quentin McDermott investigates cyber-fraud, the crime of the 21st century, revealing a new security breach involving Australians’ personal data.
Four Corners asks the contentious question: is it time Australians considered the prospect of nuclear power?
An investigation into the burgeoning – and lethal - worldwide trade in counterfeit drugs.
From Olympic glory to market gutser...
New science on one of medicine’s great controversies...
Matthew Carney journeys into the netherworld inhabited by thousands of Australia’s mentally ill - as they rough it on the streets, in doss-houses and in jails.
The clash between a giant industry that makes an essential product and a small community dogged by illness and struggling for survival.
What happens when a circle of accusing elders – not a judge – takes on the job of punishing offenders?
Who is to blame for the child overweight and obesity epidemic that is fast becoming a national health crisis?
The right to know versus the right to privacy...
What is the evidence against the accused Australian terrorist as he prepares for a US military trial?
Chris Masters presents this exclusive and compelling insight into Australia’s most feared jail – Goulburn's high risk management unit, Supermax – and considers the eternal dilemma of prison policy: how to square the primary demand for public safety against the rights and welfare of prisoners, and their possible rehabilitation.
ABC2 will be broadcasting previously unseen extended Four Corners interviews from throughout 2005.
ABC2 are screening some of the best Four Corners of the year during the summer season.
Four Corners looks back over the year.
One Sunday last December, 5000 Australians gathered at Cronulla, singing and waving the national flag as they "reclaimed" the beach. Fuelled by drink, the crowd became a mob, hunting down and beating anyone who looked Middle Eastern.
Four Corners returns with startling insiders’ revelations on power, politics and policing in one of Australia’s toughest unions.
Drinkers’ diaries… the rollercoaster journeys of three problem drinkers battling to stay sober.
Can governments reduce crime by taking a new approach to repeat offenders?
Megafires … how do we fight the bigger, hotter, fiercer bushfires that are expected from climate change?
Ticky Fullerton takes a voyage into 3D virtual worlds where citizens chase adventure, money and sex.
The politician, the chatroom and the media sting… the collision between one man’s privacy and the public’s right to know.
Why did David Hicks plead guilty?
Does money grow on trees?
A confronting report in which fit and healthy elderly Australians reveal plans to take their own lives before they lose their independence. They are among an increasingly activist minority of elderly Australians who say they will commit suicide before they are overtaken by frailty, illness or dependence. Such a radical step, they claim, is a final act of self-determination and a human right. Some doctors and ethicists are disturbed by what they see as the extremism of elderly people deciding to commit suicide. They worry that it reflects a growing view that to be old and in need of care is to lack dignity, to be a burden on society.
The second of a two part series on torture, "Ghost Prisoners" investigates the goals and hard realities of the controversial rendition program.
Quentin McDermott tallies the mounting stresses on Telstra’s vast workforce – from call centre operators to roaming repairmen - as the telco cuts costs and squeezes jobs.
Jonathan Holmes explores practical, achievable ways for Australians to cut energy consumption.
Did British counter terrorism forces miss the chance to catch the July 7 suicide bombers?
4 Corners reveals the inside story of the radical welfare reforms on the Cape York Peninsula and their links to the Federal Government’s actions in the Northern Territory.
An emotional journey with the children of drug addicts and alcoholics and the parents who risk losing them.
Liz Jackson reports on the controversial approval process for Australia’s largest ever pulp mill.
The miracle cure or the parent trap - Matthew Carney investigates a controversial drug-free treatment for ADHD and other learning difficulties.
Quentin McDermott reports on the costs to society when we no longer value sleep.
A road trip across America’s evangelical heartland.
Chris Masters investigates how the health system has failed to protect patients from unsafe doctors.
How much punishment is enough?
Profits and problem gamblers.
Paul Barry reports on the fallout from the US subprime mortgage crisis and asks what impact it will have on Australia.
Six years after the fall of the Taliban, how has life changed for the women of Afghanistan?
Mohamed Haneef’s own story… in his first in-depth interview, the "exemplary young doctor" tells why he became a terror suspect, what he knew about his radical cousins, why he lent his simcard and why he was dashing home to India.
An undercover report from Burma on the military regime's campaign of violence against its own people.
As the election approaches, an investigation into secret campaigning by the elusive, Exclusive Brethren.
On the run for 43 years, wanted for 15 murders… inside the police manhunt for a Mafia kingpin.
Missing their sting…?
How is the national intervention changing the lives of Indigenous people in the Northern Territory?
Two weeks to go… and Jonathan Holmes sees the election campaign through the eyes of the voters who’ll decide the result.
A look back on some of the 4 corners stories from 2007.
Liberal powerbrokers speak out, exposing the backroom dramas and leadership enmities that helped bury John Howard and his government.
Can abusive men stop themselves hurting women?
He famously "fed the chooks" - but did Joh Bjelke-Petersen feather his own nest?
Sally Neighbour reports on young Aussies who feel like social outcasts and asks if there's danger of a backlash.
Will climate change revolutionise Australian agriculture?
The compelling story of British reporter Alan Johnston’s 114 days in captivity, his fate at the whim of a fanatical jihadist group, the Army of Islam.
The rising sludge of debt that threatens thousands of Australian families...
Debbie Whitmont raises disturbing new questions about Australia's first political assassination.
Giving is good - but receiving is even better… Sarah Ferguson investigates the dark art of political fundraising.
Four Corners presents a shocking undercover expose of child trafficking in China.
Can Barack Obama unite America – and deliver on Martin Luther King’s dream?
What drove a young man with no criminal past to carry out the worst shooting massacre in modern American history?
Sick of being taken for granted, Australia's vast army of carers is on the march, demanding reform as the Rudd Government prepares its maiden budget.
Liz Jackson reports how China is muzzling dissidents in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.
An undercover investigation into the violent world of dogfighting gangs...
Companies plundered, investors dudded, the world's top policeman allegedly corrupted, a flamboyant businessman murdered… Andrew Fowler reports a tale of intrigue.
Is the Government’s attack on binge drinking doomed to fail?
Taking the children away… Sarah Ferguson asks if boarding schools are the answer to the crisis in indigenous education?
Chris Masters reports on a church that's tearing families apart… and asks if there should be a limit to religious freedom.
Where did the money go?
Debbie Whitmont looks inside one of Australia's most powerful and secretive crime-fighting bodies and asks: is it stretching the law too far?
Life in Tibet under Beijing's rule… a personal account from a refugee who returned to spend three months filming secretly.
Perfect pitch… how one man sold celebrities, investors and government on the dream of a revolutionary petrol pill in one of the great corporate con jobs.
What's a painting worth?
Big and dangerous?
A voyage into the Arctic to witness the vanishing of the vast sea ice… Can it be halted - or is it past tipping point?
Inside a Doomsday cult… an unprecedented insight into how cult members can be mesmerised by leaders – and why many cannot leave.
A boomtown running on empty...
A profile of Liberal leader-in-waiting, Malcolm Turnbull… his brilliance, his brashness and his baggage.
Behind one of the key conspiracy theories swirling over 9/11...
Guards from Australia's toughest detention centres speak out about the horrors behind the wire – and the pain they've carried outside.
Will a looming gas bonanza wreck the frontier splendour of the Kimberley – or help haul its people out of poverty?
A story of dignity reclaimed… an Australian-founded hospital gives African women a second chance at life.
Liz Jackson reports on the insider who stole a bank’s secrets, then sold them, sparking panic among the world’s super rich.
As chaos sweeps world markets, Four Corners returns to the scene of the crime – America’s mortgage belt.
Is the Murray-Darling doomed?
They were the glamour force... supercops smashing drug rackets, tracking terrorists and making Australians feel safe. Grateful politicians showered them with praise and hefty budget increases. Officers of the Australian Federal Police and their canny chief Mick Keelty could do no wrong. Or so it seemed. The once-lionised AFP is now ridiculed for apparent bungling, excessive secrecy and cosying up to political masters. The collapse of the terrorism case against Dr Mohammed Haneef – now the subject of an inquiry by a retired judge – has been a humiliation for the AFP, with speculation erupting about Mr Keelty’s future. But the Haneef affair may be just a symptom of deep cultural problems that beset the AFP. Four Corners charts its rise from inauspicious beginnings 29 years ago to its golden era under the Howard Government, when the AFP rightly won plaudits after the Bali bombings, to its recent plummet from grace, and asks: what went wrong?
What could stop Obama?
Was Australia’s identity forged and burnished under fire at Gallipoli and the Western Front?
Last year Australians watched in disbelief as the financial markets of Europe and America faltered and collapsed. What started as a credit crunch on Wall Street spread round the world, plunging economies into recession, destroying trillions of dollars of wealth and putting millions of people out of work. Now it's finally hit home in Australia. For months we were told it couldn't happen here, that China's hunger for our coal, iron ore and nickel would shield us from the worst of the financial storm. But now we know that China's economy is in deep trouble too — its steel industry cutting back, its factories closing. And our resources boom has gone bust. In the last six months, prices for the metals Australia exports to the world have fallen by half. Suddenly, being linked to China looks like a minus not a plus. Against this backdrop, business reporter and author, Paul Barry travels to Queensland, a state which has been growing as fast as the Asian Tiger economies, to see what's happening at the coal face.
They had been warned, and they thought they had made the necessary preparations - but nothing could prepare the people of Victoria for the fireball that swept through their state.
Talk to any major western leader and they will tell you Pakistan is a key ally in the war on terror. If that's true this week the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari had some bad news for his strategic partners. He told the world his police force and army has been unable to control Islamic extremists in his country, warning Pakistan had under-estimated the strength of the Taliban. To judge just how bad the situation really is reporter MATTHEW CARNEY has travelled to key areas of Pakistan, teaming up with a senior local journalist to investigate the Taliban's expanding reign of terror.
BBC Reporter Tom Mangold tells the remarkable story of Victor Bout, the man Western governments claim was the world’s biggest arms dealer. Not only does the program reveal the extent of Victor Bout’s allegedly murderous activities, it also details his pursuit and capture by international authorities.
Children across Australia talk about the alarming impact of bullying on their lives. Despite major efforts from governments, schools and teachers, bullying remains an intractable problem made worse by modern technology. Once it was fists, rocks and personal abuse - now bullies have the net, mobile phones and Facebook as their playgrounds for brutality. This isn't just concerning - it can be lethal, as reporter Quentin McDermott reveals.
For six years John Darwin pretended he was dead. Drowned in a canoeing accident in the North Sea off the coast of Britain. With the assistance of his wife Anne he cashed in six hundred thousand dollars of insurance and pension entitlements and lived a fantasy life, changing his name, altering his appearance and hiding from the world he had left behind. Now using police tapes, interviews with family, friends and police investigators the full extent of John Darwin's fraud is revealed. The program reveals how John tried to explain his dramatic return to Britain just when it looked as though he had pulled the scam off, and how Anne's lies to her sons were "the most difficult" deceit of all.
Reporter Quentin McDermott tells how up to ten per cent of art that's resold across Australia could be problematic. This crisis of confidence has led art lovers to demand that any fake unfairly traded should be destroyed or registered, to avoid it being traded again.
The shocking story of a respected Aboriginal leader in outback Western Australia who was locked in a metal cell in the back of a prison van and driven through the desert in the searing heat. Four hours later he was dead.
Australia may be one of the most internet-connected countries on earth, with a super-fast broadband network on the way. But now the experts are warning there's danger with cyber crooks roaming the super highway. In a story that will make you review the use of your home computer, reporter Andrew Fowler tells how foreign online crooks took down a multi-million dollar Australian business. He explains how you can have your identity stolen, your phone disconnected and your bank accounts emptied in just hours. Perhaps most alarmingly, Four Corners reveals first-hand how wireless connections are an invitation to thieves.
Reporter Matthew Carney goes inside to see first hand the conditions young offenders in juvenile detention are forced to endure. He goes with them when they're out of jail and trying to go straight and he asks why there aren't better support services to help them keep on the right side of the law.
Reporter Liz Jackson travels to China and the United States, the world's two big coal burning countries, to find out how far they've come in creating a technology that will trap and store greenhouse gases. What she found will shock you.
"Facing Dennis Ferguson", ... A district court judge late yesterday allowed well-known sex offender Denis Ferguson to walk free, ... LIZ JACKSON: Tonight on Four Corners, Dennis Ferguson pleads that he has changed - but who will believe him?
Reporter Sarah Ferguson goes inside the conservative parties to find out what the party members really think about climate change and why they're so reluctant to back their leader.
Four Corners follows four brave Australians as they come to the end of their lives, and the people determined to give them a good death.
Will Australia's flawed disability support system be reformed in time to save the families now at breaking point?
A harrowing documentary that tells how thousands of young boys in Afghanistan are now being hunted and groomed to become sex slaves.
The inside story of the battle to control Australian tennis.
Former members of the Church give a chilling portrait of life inside the organisation.
A revealing profile of the man who wants to be the next Prime Minister of Australia.
A horrifying account of the brutal war that's raging in the towns that dot the border between Mexico and the United States.
The harrowing story of the children who are forced into a life of crime on the streets in order to survive.
The harrowing story of the therapist whose work led some patients to believe they'd committed or been the victim of shocking sexual crimes.
How the people of a once picturesque valley found themselves surrounded by coalmines, dust and toxic chemicals, while the State Government ignores their pleas for help.
Four Corners looks at events surrounding the arrest of mining executive Stern Hu and the tensions now involved in doing business with China.
The story behind the Federal Government's multi-billion dollar home insulation scheme debacle.
An undercover investigation, spanning three continents, that exposes the way children are trafficked and used to produce the raw materials that drive a multi-billion dollar industry.
Quentin McDermott looks at the potential impact of the Government’s mandatory filtering system.
The story of a young woman's confronting journey back to the war-ravaged country of her birth.
In this joint investigation with The Age newspaper, Four Corners reveals how the central pillar of Australia's financial system, the Reserve Bank, became ensnared in an international bribery scandal.
South Africa has the highest incidence of rape in the world, and almost half the victims are children.
How the government's attempt to introduce a resource super profits tax began a war with mine bosses, split the business community and may yet derail Labor's attempt to win the next Federal election.
A story that reveals how a toxic cocktail of investment packages helped poison the retirement funds of hundreds of Australians.
How an attempt to negotiate a deal to create a state of the art resources development turned sour, pitting Indigenous people against each other and some of them against the State Government.
This story documents the intersecting lives of three men - a cop, a drug dealer and a preacher - as they struggle to survive on the backstreets of Rio de Janeiro.
Chris Masters delivers the first of two ground level reports giving a soldier's-eye view of the bloody war being waged against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The story of Australian troops as they head into unchartered territory, trying to win the faith and trust of a brutalised people in conflict-torn Afghanistan.
A forensic investigation of the killing of Kwementyaye Ryder by five white, local youths from Alice Springs.
The story of a young woman's search to understand the shocking conflict that has laid waste the country where she was born.
An expose of people smugglers and their networks in Indonesia.
The story of an Australian town that holds a lesson for each and every person who's been touched by mental illness.
A critical look at one of the closest fought Federal elections in two decades, assessing the parties, their policies and the two people who want to lead the country.
The story of the greatest financial crisis you will ever see...
A joint ABC Four Corners/Fairfax investigation that takes us inside major Australian organised crime networks.
The story of the high stakes battle that will decide who owns your body and the key biological building blocks that make you the person that you are.
It began with heavy rain that turned into a rolling wall of water destroying everything in its path. Now reporter Liz Jackson retraces the progress of Pakistan's devastating floods. She meets the people whose lives have been forever altered; talks to key national leaders about what this means for the country; and asks what's next for the millions of people displaced by the water.
This week on Four Corners, "Return to the Rainbow Warrior", a story that attempts to finally get to the truth of a murderous attack that New Zealanders describe as an act of state sponsored terrorism.
This week on Four Corners, Oxy: The Hidden Epidemic - a story that reveals how the misuse of powerful prescription drugs is creating a new generation of addicts.
The inside story of the historic deal that created Australia's first national minority government in seven decades.
Part one of a startling expose revealing what really happened in Iraq after the occupation of the country by Coalition troops.
The story revealing how Coalition policy took Iraq to the brink of an all-out civil war and how key players in the U.S.
An investigation into the allegations of corruption and match fixing that threaten to undermine the multi-billion dollar sport of international cricket.
Everyone knows that telecommunications is a highly competitive business. Empires have been built on cheap phone calls and businesses are always looking to get a better deal from phone companies. But now Four Corners reporter Stephen Long blows the whistle on highly questionable phone deals.
This week as Four Corners returns in its 50th year the spotlight falls on the nation's leader. Prime Minister Julia Gillard may be instantly recognisable but many Australian's say they don't really know her or what she stands for.
While WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange has been cast as a heroic champion of free speech, his ongoing expose of US foreign policy would not have been possible without the work of Private Bradley Manning. It was Manning who allegedly stole the classified documents published by WikiLeaks. It is Manning who now languishes in a US military prison.
With access to guerrilla activists and their undercover filming, Matthew Carney reports on the coalition of farmers, local townspeople and even a corporate titan who want to halt Australia's gas rush.
The story of a baby girl plucked from the rubble of the Haiti earthquake and the British doctor who made the momentous decision to evacuate her. A simple act of mercy with profound consequences for everyone involved.
Tony Hayward, BP's former Chief Executive speaks out in a wide-ranging interview, reliving every aspect of the crisis: from being under the US media spotlight and running a multinational in financial meltdown, to dealing with a US President who was making the crisis personal.
First came the massive earthquake; then the monstrous tsunami, sweeping thousands to their deaths. Disasters of such magnitude they almost defy comprehension. But there was more to come. Twenty four hours after the earthquake struck Japan, the roof blew off the Number One reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power station, triggering a nightmare nuclear scenario. As the days have passed the news from Fukushima has grown more and more worrying and the appalling human tragedy of the tsunami has almost been eclipsed as world headlines focus on the unfolding drama at the crippled nuclear plant. Quentin McDermott reports on how this nuclear emergency began, the increasingly desperate efforts employed to bring the situation under control and the worrying history of the plant's operators.
When 440 passengers boarded Qantas Flight 32 bound for Sydney last November, they had every reason to feel confident. They were flying an airline boasting a unique safety record, on the world's newest, most sophisticated civilian aircraft, powered by prestigious Rolls Royce engines, famous for their reliability. But six minutes into the flight all that would change, when an explosion sent pieces of searing hot metal shooting out of the engine faster than the speed of sound. Four Corners tells the compelling story of the frightening hours that followed.
"We haven't brought you justice... No-one's been called to account." This is the unflinching judgement of Gary Jubelin, one of the nation's leading murder investigators. He's reflecting upon the search for the killer of three Aboriginal children whose murders have haunted the small NSW town of Bowraville and left families torn apart. "Should the murders have been solved? Yes, they should have. Could the murders have been solved? Yes, they could have." Jubelin's verdict calls into question the actions of NSW police involved in the initial hunt for the killer. Reporter Debbie Whitmont takes several of the police officers involved back through the investigation to try and uncover why no-one has been convicted of the murder of 16-year-old Colleen Walker, 4-year-old Evelyn Greenup & 16-year-old Clinton Speedy in 1990 and 1991.
A grand vision or a grand folly? Four Corners sizes up the largest infrastructure project in Australian history.
How 33 miners in Chile, who dodged death, have come to terms with the horror they experienced and their second chance at life.
In the weeks before the death of Osama bin Laden senior US officials claimed that Al Qaeda in Afghanistan had been all but eliminated. Now a courageous Afghan journalist embeds himself with a unit of fighters swearing allegiance to Osama bin Laden. While spending time with them he tries to see if Al Qaeda is making a comeback to the battlefield, how many fighters there are and who is supplying them with weapons and equipment. His name is Najibullah Quraishi. He is the journalist who eighteen months ago told the world what it was like to live with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The documentary was called "Behind Enemy Lines". Back in the capital of Afghanistan, Quraishi began to hear rumours that Al Qaeda fighters were moving back into the country preparing for what might be called "the fighting season". If this is true it will be information that would be of great concern to the West. Having made inquiries Quraishi is told by a source that it might be possible to film behind enemy lines with a band of Al Qaeda fighters.
The Articular Surface Replacement hip or ASR created by DePuy and marketed by the Johnson and Johnson company was sold to doctors and patients as a giant step forward in joint replacement. Its creators boasted it would give greater mobility and help patients get back on their feet quicker. Now reporter Quentin McDermott investigates claims that the metals hips are disintegrating and making patients sick. Australians spend over $7 billion a year on medical devices that are supposed to make their lives better. In most cases they do. Pacemakers, hip and knee replacements can transform a patient's life. But who tests these devices to make sure they are safe? Now some doctors and policy makers say our regulation and testing regime is failing us and they are calling for greater scrutiny being directed to this essential industry.
An explosive expose of the cruelty inflicted on Australian cattle exported to the slaughterhouses of Indonesia.
The story of strife-torn Yemen, seen through the eyes of a young English-born Muslim returning to the place he believes is his homeland. He's in for a shock.
Australian Defence Force personnel tell how they have been brutalised and abused while the system that was supposed to protect them let them down, or in some cases chose to punish them.
An investigation exposing how Italy's most ruthless organised crime syndicate has taken over one of the country's most beautiful cities, killing its citizens and poisoning its water, making massive amounts of money and effectively operating an alternative government. Italians are no strangers to organised crime and violence. Each region of Italy has spawned its own version of the Mafia. In Sicily, it is the Cosa Nostra. In Calabria, it is the Ndrangheta. The Camorra is the Naples mafia. Over the past three decades it has been responsible for the death of 3,000 people. Anyone who opposes the Camorra's rule becomes a target. Few are brave enough to resist its demands. Despite suffering setbacks at the hands of a few committed investigators, it remains as strong as ever. The Camorra is into drug trafficking, racketeering, business, politics and even the garbage disposal industry. Naples' recent waste crisis was in part blamed on the crime syndicate. Its grip on the city is far reaching. Talking to Camorra insiders who have never spoken to the media before, and drawing on interviews with Camorra victims who are fighting back, reporter Mark Franchetti investigates Italy's most brutal crime gangs and tries to understand how they have survived so long in a country at the heart of Europe and asks what it will take to defeat them.
"Revolution in the Classroom", reported by Matthew Carney and hosted by Kerry O'Brien. For some time now there's been a bruising debate about the balance of funding handed out to public and private schools. No one doubts it's an important debate, but many educators believe it has helped obscure an even more fundamental question about where the money is spent. Over the past decade, the Federal Government has spent billions of dollars trying to lower class sizes, increase the use of computers and boost investment in school buildings. At the same time, Australia's educational performance relative to key neighbouring countries has been falling. The question is why? For some the answer is simple. Money is being spent in the wrong places. Experts point to a growing body of research that says good teachers are the major determining factor in how a child performs at school. They claim that too little money is being spent on improving teacher performance. To make matters worse, state school principals are not empowered to make decisions about how their schools are staffed and run. As a result, some good teachers go unrewarded and bad teachers cannot be sacked. As one educational researcher puts it: "Outside of the home environment and the family situation, the biggest impact on a kid's education is teacher effectiveness. The quality of the instruction the teacher provides that student... If you have a teacher, one of the top performing teachers in Australia compared to one of the least effective teachers in Australia, that can be as much as a year's difference." Four Corners looks at the impediments to better teaching. Imagine running a business where you can't choose your own staff. Where you don't have control of your own budget to invest in innovative programs to improve the product you create. That's the situation many state school principals must deal with. "If you want the school to have the best staff, you have to choose them and they have to be able
"The Comeback Kid?", reported by Andrew Fowler and presented by Kerry O'Brien. The inside story of the Federal Government in crisis; how the Labor Party went from the heights of popularity to the depths of political despair. Kevin Rudd lost his job when Party bosses saw his popularity waning. Now Julia Gillard is in even worse shape. What does Labor do next? Could it roll the dice again and return to its former leader? A Four Corners team has been unearthing the truth about Labor in power. It's an extraordinary exposé containing revelations about one of the great political dramas of our times.
"Syria Exposed", reported by Jonathan Miller for Channel 4 in the UK and presented by Kerry O'Brien. It's a program that raises many questions, not least how can any country support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad? How can the United Nations resist calls for al-Assad to be charged and prosecuted for war crimes? But if this happens, and the President leaves office, what will it mean for Syria and the balance of power in the Middle East? As unrest grows in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad continues to insist the violence is being driven by criminals and gangs of bandits, encouraged by forces outside Syria. Now reporter Jonathan Miller travels to Syria to investigate what's really going on inside the country. There, he finds a government that employs what can only be described as a "torture machine" to stop dissent. His report features devastating video evidence of men, women and children being subjected to brutal beatings, whippings and more elaborate torture. They tell how, after being detained by the police, they are passed through various levels of interrogation overseen by the secret police, or Mukhabarat. Much of this brutality has been captured on mobile phones by Syrian civilians and activists, and uploaded to the internet every week, because they are desperate to show the world what's happening. But the most confronting images come from videos that have been filmed by the torturers themselves. The report takes us to Syria and Lebanon where we hear from victims and activists who have experienced or witnessed torture at the hands of President al-Assad's forces. Their stories, and the video evidence of torture and killing, build a dossier of systematic abuse conducted by the Syrian government. Responding to the issues raised in the story, Four Corners presenter Kerry O'Brien speaks with a leading expert in the region about Syria's future and the consequences if Bashar al-Assad were to leave office either through force or his own choice.
"Given or Taken?" Reported by Geoff Thompson and presented by Kerry O'Brien. Over five decades thousands of women gave up their newborn children for adoption. While they were supposed to make their decision freely, many claim they were coerced, bullied and their children were effectively stolen. It's now a cornerstone of social welfare policy that children should, if at all possible, stay with their birth parents, in particular their mother. Not so in years gone by. Right up to the 1970s, having a child out of wedlock was frowned upon and young women who fell pregnant were actively encouraged to give up their babies for adoption. Authorities argued this was done with good intentions, but now a powerful Senate Committee has heard evidence that tells a very different story. It now seems many young, single mothers were never given the option of keeping their child. Unmarried mothers automatically had their hospital records marked ready for adoption - even before giving birth. There is evidence that some were sedated. Others were denied access to their babies as they were making crucial decisions about their future. As a result, these women have suffered terrible emotional distress throughout their lives. This week reporter Geoff Thompson talks to some of the women who lost their children. Crucially, they reveal the truth about the way they were treated in the hours after they gave birth: "(A nurse) started strapping up my right wrist. I was puzzled, I didn't know what she was doing, and then she secured me to the side of the bed... I became unconscious. And I don't know how long I was unconscious for, but when I eventually came to, my son was gone." The program hears allegations that sedatives were used to help control young mothers and push them towards relinquishing their babies. As one person who's examined a variety of evidence says: "I have no doubt that some illegal activity occurred, I have no doubt that women were subject to what nowadays..
"Closing Ranks", reported by Quentin McDermott and presented by Kerry O'Brien. Police forces across the country claim they've been hard at work training their officers to deal with people who are mentally ill, armed and posing a threat to themselves and the public. But have lessons really been learnt, and is it possible to change a police culture that doesn't admit responsibility when things go wrong? Adam Salter was a young man with much to live for, with a good job and a loving family. But Adam also had a mental illness. Late in 2009, in the middle of a psychotic episode, Adam tried to kill himself. Showing little regard for his own safety, his father Adrian managed to disarm him, dial emergency assistance and get help. Then the police arrived. In the moments that followed, police claimed Adam Salter rose from the floor, shrugged off one of the officers present and grabbed a knife they had failed to remove from the scene. Then, according to police, another officer at the house heard the disturbance and rushed through the kitchen door shouting "taser, taser, taser" before shooting Adam Salter dead. In her evidence, Sgt Bissett claimed she believed the seriously wounded man was threatening her fellow police officer. But others on the scene tell a very different story, saying Adam posed no immediate threat. Who's right? Now reporter Quentin McDermott puts together a forensic account of the events leading to the young man's death and the shooting itself. Using the testimony of family, ambulance officers and interviews with the police themselves, the program examines the mistakes made by the officers and the inconsistencies in their explanations for shooting Adam Salter. The story of Adam Salter raises many questions, including the issue of how lethal force is used by police. But perhaps the most profound question it raises is: can the police be trusted to investigate themselves?
Rreported by Marian Wilkinson and presented by Kerry O'Brien. Leading up to the global financial crisis, the entrepreneurs of Ireland were having a field day. Money was being borrowed, investment projects approved and the economy was booming. Now Marian Wilkinson tells the story of the crash, the Government bailout of the Irish banks and the brutal austerity regime the Government agreed to that's taken a harsh toll on the Irish people. With Europe heading towards recession, some in Ireland say it should demand a renegotiation of its bailout terms, a move with the potential to create another financial panic. "Basically this is extortion and that's what it is. It's extortion. It's the bullyboys of Europe, you know, the European Central Bank, the financial bullyboys of Europe forcing us to pay a debt that was never ours..." The program hears from the failed entrepreneurs about the gamble they took that shattered Ireland's economy. We see evidence of the investments that failed, visiting massive "ghost estates" where row upon row of houses stand empty, awaiting their fate beneath the blade of a bulldozer. Crucially, Four Corners details the nature of the deal that was agreed by the Irish Government to take on private sector bank debt, and the furious negotiations that resulted in the Government being liable for the 30 billion euros the failed banks owed their private bondholders. It is that deal that is now coming under scrutiny. Was it fair that Ireland agreed to pay all failed bank bondholders, while holders of Greek Government debt are being asked to take losses to protect the rest of Europe? Many experts now agree Ireland will struggle to repay its debts, and the terms must be renegotiated. If that happens it's possible the reaction will set markets staggering again, in a shockwave that will be felt beyond Europe.
In February 2011, millions of Egyptians came together to bring down their leader, Hosni Mubarak, in what many saw as a defining moment in the Arab Spring. For the past year the BBC has shadowed three young people from very different walks of life who were part of the uprising. We see them protesting, we see them rejoice as Mubarak stands down and we see their paths collide as their different visions for Egypt begin to conflict. Ahmed Hassan was unemployed and poor, but hoped the new Egypt would deliver him the chance of work and a future. Activist Gigi Ibrahim, the daughter of wealthy industrialist, hoped the changes would create an Egypt that would respect all points of view. Tahir Yassi was tortured in Mubarak's jails. He joined a new ultra-conservative party hoping that, in the wake of the old regime, he could realise his vision of a fundamentalist Islamic state in Egypt. Reported by the BBC and presented by Kerry O'Brien "Egypt: Children of the Revolution" follows these three people as they take to the streets, confront the military and campaign in the first national parliamentary elections. The film strives to understand the vision they each have for their country. Along the way, we visit the homes, the markets and the mosques, and observe the atmosphere of celebration as change begins. We also witness families at war with each other as their personal dreams for revolution begin to unravel.
Reported by Carrie Gracie and presented by Kerry O'Brien The story of modern China told through the eyes of the villagers forced to sell their homes and give up their land to make way for massive urban development. Naturally they are outraged and fearful. Some say they will not bow to the will of the Government, while others ultimately embrace the opportunity to make a fortune. This is China as you've never seen it before: the China that's behind Australia's resources boom. White Horse Village is a tiny farming community deep in rural China. A decade ago, it became part of the biggest urbanisation project in human history that will take half a billion farmers across the country and turn them into city-dwelling consumers. The plan decreed that White Horse Village would grow from several hundred people to a city of 200,000 in under a decade. There's little doubt China's urbanisation is a massive social and economic gamble but, according to the Government, there's a clear logic. At present, 150 million Chinese living in regional areas must leave their families, travel to the cities to work and send money home to help their children survive and prosper. The social tension this creates is significant. To combat this problem, and to try to spread wealth across the country, the Government's plan is to dot the landscape with thousands of new cities. These centres will have new schools, universities and industrial areas all intended to deliver China a thriving, consuming middle class. Australia is watching this urbanisation closely. If the gamble pays off, the newly created middle class will continue to drive demand for Australian raw materials and food. Filmed over the past six years, BBC reporter Carrie Gracie follows the lives of three local villagers during this upheaval. She meets Xiao Zhang, a mother and rice farmer desperate to see her children have a better life; Xie Tingming, an entrepreneur determined to make money and push the development forward
"Without Consent", reported by Sarah Ferguson and presented by Kerry O'Brien. What happens when young, educated, Australian-born girls are forced into unwanted marriages - often with relatives overseas? Samia was just seventeen when her father announced he was taking her on a holiday overseas. But this was a holiday with a difference. Back in the family's village in rural Pakistan, Samia watched in horror as the local Imam walked in ready to conduct her marriage to her first cousin - without her consent. With pressure from her extended family, she was given papers to sign and threatened. Returning to Australia, Samia sought help from local religious authorities in Sydney - but they ignored her and told her to accept the marriage. For the first time young women, the victims of forced marriages, are speaking out - without disguise and despite the risks of backlash from their communities. Are these women entitled to the same protection as other Australian girls? The Government thinks so; in fact they are so concerned they are introducing criminal legislation to ban forced marriage. However, outspoken members of Australian migrant communities say it is their responsibility to stop the practice and the men who enforce it. It's not only women who experience force or coercion to push them into marriage. It happens to men too, often with disastrous consequences. Reporter Sarah Ferguson tells the story of one young woman who agrees to marry a man chosen by her family. What she doesn't know until after the marriage is that he married her under duress. The relationship then descends into a spiral of alcohol and violence.
A story that reveals how key Australian banks dealt with the Global Financial Crisis and the shocking impact it had on their customers: loans terminated, businesses liquidated and lives in turmoil.
Can the war in Afghanistan be won and is Australia's involvement worth the price that's being paid?
The story of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.
A startling investigation into America's fastest growing religion and the former Mormon bishop who says he now wants to be President of the United States.
Twenty years after the High Court's Mabo judgement, the inside story of the court decision that threatened to divide a nation.
A confronting story that looks at the implications of cutting-edge research relating to the prevention and management of head injuries in football players.
It was a disappearance that made international headlines and raised tensions between Britain and Portugal. Now comes the story of the new police investigation that some hope might finally explain what really happened to three year old Madeleine.
Next on Four Corners, how massive mining developments are killing communities in regional Australia.
Next on Four Corners: How the biggest people smuggling networks in Indonesia have moved their operations to Australia.
Can the dream of an economically united Europe with a single currency survive the extravagance of the past decade and the mountains of debt strangling key countries in the union?
Next on Four Corners - a return to the remarkable story of 'WikiLeaks -The Forgotten Man', Bradley Manning.
She's rich, she's powerful and no one stands in her way. Not even her family...
Four Corners investigates claims that the Catholic Church has covered up allegations of sexual abuse made against priests and brothers in Australia.
Pearls - they're beautiful, luxurious and the height of fashion, but what price is being paid by the young divers who fetch pearl shells from the deep?
Reporter Najibullah Quraishi journeys deep into the Afghan countryside to reveal the personal and social devastation the Government's counter-narcotics program is causing.
Reporter Andrew Fowler goes to Sweden for a revealing look at the allegations of sexual crimes hanging over Julian Assange's head, and at the claims of American involvement.
How authorities are failing to protect women and children in mortal danger, and failing to prevent their partners' homicidal rage.
Last year the nation spent billion punting on horses. Most people put their money down believing the races are a true contest, but are they?
Exposing the international trade in human body parts and tissue.
In key parts of Australia, koalas are dying in big numbers. Are we prepared to compromise development to protect their natural habitat?
Autism spectrum disorder is the fastest rising developmental disorder in the Western world. But what is causing this dramatic rise, and why do some communities have higher rates of ASD?
In 2009, a rescue jet ditched into the stormy seas off Norfolk Island and miraculously all onboard survived. Three years on Four Corners asks, what really happened.
One suicide is a tragedy. But what happens when a community is rocked by a series of suicides, one after another, all of them young people?
African warlord Joseph Kony was targeted in a worldwide internet campaign. What impact did it have on him, and why is he still at large?
Growing up poor in modern Australia: this week Four Corners asks children what it's like being poor in the midst of plenty.
Four Corners' reporter Andrew Fowler travels to Timor-Leste to detail a no holds barred struggle that involves billions of dollars and the promise of investment and jobs from energy processing.
Four Corners goes on the frontline of the civil war raging in Syria. Clover Films' reporter Ghaith Abdul-Ahad and producer Jamie Doran tell the dramatic story of the battle for Aleppo, Syria's biggest city.
How was one of the most celebrated sporting heroes of all time condemned as a drug cheat? Did Lance Armstrong really fool us all?
Some believed the super-trawler would revolutionise the fishing industry in Australia. Now it sits silent and empty, banned from plying its trade in Australian waters. What went wrong?
The rise of the superbugs. Why our reliance on antibiotics could pose a serious threat to our health.
Next on Four Corners, we bring you a story the live export industry doesn't want told.
He's a drug cheat, a bully and a liar who abused his best friends to keep a terrible secret, but has Lance Armstrong finally told the truth? The answer - almost certainly - is no.
It may be the wealthiest country in the world but as documentary maker Philippe Levasseur shows in America's Broken Dreams, when you lose your job in the US there is very little to protect you. In 2008 the global financial crisis hit the poor first, but now America's middle class is being devastated.
It's been called the smartest fighter plane on the planet but it is way over budget and still not delivered. Can the F.35 live up to the hype, or is the project set ot crash and burn?
Australians love a drink, and some see no problem at all with drinking to excess. But now doctors, police and paramedics have called 'time', warning that alcohol-fuelled violence has reached crisis levels.
With Australia's population ageing, governments have made it very clear, you had better save and plan for your own retirement. But how can you be sure your money is in safe hands...
How did a Lebanese immigrant move from owning an ethnic newspaper business to become the most influential politician in the State...
This PBS-Frontline investigation asks why the US Department of Justice has failed to act on credible evidence that Wall Street deliberately packaged toxic loans and sold them to investors.
The plan for Afghanistan was a robust democracy overseen by a well-trained army and police. But do the new security forces really have their hearts in the job?
The coal seam gas industry promotes itself as a cleaner carbon-fuel alternative; but how do we know this is true? Until now much of the information used to back this claim has come from the industry itself. Four Corners reveals what really happened when two major companies applied to develop thousands of square kilometres of southern Queensland for coal seam gas.
This is a story Australians think they know: the gift of a donated organ that transforms the life of someone with a devastating illness. What we see here for the first time is the extraordinary journey families undergo whose loved ones are dying in hospital from a sudden, unexpected event.
How the West was duped by informants who claimed Saddam Hussein had WMD and how this phony intelligence was used to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Australians like to think their sports stars play fair but now it's alleged there's widespread drug taking and links with organised crime.
We go inside Australia's offshore refugee processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island. What you see will shock you. Protests, evidence of self-harm and testimony of suicide attempts.
The surf life saving movement is Australia's biggest volunteer organisation and it saves thousands of lives each year. But right now Surf Life Saving Australia is at a crossroads... Wendy Carlisle investigates.
An unflinching profile of the young man responsible for one of America's worst school massacres. Who was Adam Lanza - and what led him to kill 27 people at Sandy Hook Elementary school last year?
We take a revealing look at the world of sports betting and the man who's made himself the face of the industry - Tom Waterhouse.
Andrew Fowler reveals that hackers, working from locations overseas, have targeted key Federal Government departments and major corporations in Australia.
It was the police investigation that stunned Britain. Young men of Pakistani heritage grooming young girls with the intention of abusing them, gang raping them and then trading them with other groups of men. How could it happen in modern Britain?
Hunting wild animals is a growth industry and now the pressure is on to get access to national parks. Who really benefits and who is at risk?
Two North Korean defectors are smuggled across borders by a human smuggler who promises them a safe escape. Will they survive the perilous 5,000 km journey to freedom?
Australians love a bargain, but what's the real cost of cheap clothes from the sweat shops in Bangladesh? On 24th April this year more than a thousand people were killed when an eight storey building collapsed in the heart of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.
Could you live on 35 dollars a day and pay for food, clothing, transport and other bills? That's what single unemployed people are entitled to on the Newstart allowance.
Reporter Marian Wilkinson tells the turbulent story of Labor's bitter leadership struggle, the dramatic day that ended the term of Australia's first female Prime Minister and Labor's renewed ambition to win the next election.
Next on Four Corners, PBS' NOVA documentary producer, Miles O'Brien, looks at how the events unfolded on the day of the bombing and he tracks how a team of investigators used modern technology, combined with good old fashioned detective work, to break the case.
In the 1980s and 1990s governments across Australia outlawed the use of the herbicide 245T. The ban was introduced for one very good reason - 245T contains dioxin, a chemical impurity with the potential to seriously harm people who are exposed to it. But has the dioxin menace been tamed? Four Corners reveals evidence that this potentially deadly chemical compound may still be present in weed control products and that authorities do not routinely test for it.
The rise and fall of Australia's youngest billionaire, Nathan Tinkler. How did he make so much money and where did it go?
War photographer Giles Dooley lost both legs and an arm while on assignment in Afghanistan and returns to record the plight of Afghan civilians who've lost even more.
Nelson Mandela promised a South Africa based on freedom and equality. But as the country's former leader lies in hospital critically ill, the nation he fought to create is slowly disintegrating. Violence is commonplace, unemployment is out of control and the ruling ANC Government is accused of rampant corruption.
What do you do when your best friend is lost to you in a tide of violence and cruelty? Do you search across continents to find her? That is the story of filmmaker Robyn Paterson and her friend Mercy.
There is not a person in the community that is not affected by cancer in some way. We go inside the hospitals and consulting rooms with Australians who are confronting the reality that the advanced cancer they have could kill them.
Four Corners goes on the campaign trail, taking a fly-on-the-wall look at two seats that will be crucial in deciding who wins Government this time around.
Australians are among the most technically connected in the world - but do we know where our data goes and how it's being used?
The story of a young man with a serious debilitating illness trying to find a way to legally end his own life.
A look at the renewed fight against corruption in Papua New Guinea. Will Australia help or hinder the battle? Marian Wilkinson reports.
Two insiders blow the lid on a financial scandal that goes to the heart of one of Australia's most important and trusted institutions.
The harrowing story of an al Qaeda raid on a remote North African gas plant, told by the people who survived it.
The Jawoyn people were held up as the model Indigenous community. What went wrong? Matthew Carney reports.
It was an Australia Day paddock party for a group of 19-year-old school friends. But something went very wrong. By sunrise, two young people were dying. So why has no one been held to account?
We're told many bushfires are deliberately lit but close analysis suggests powerlines are the main culprits. What if many of our worst fires are in fact very much like industrial accidents which could have been prevented?
A large part of India is in danger of eating itself into an early grave. BBC This World discovers Indian families, obsessed with the glitter of the West, are indulging their children with fast, fatty foods.
Was John F. Kennedy the victim of conspiracy or a lone gunman? Can the third bullet fired at him that day in Dallas help answer that question?
In September a boat carrying 72 asylum seekers sank in stormy waters off the coast of Indonesia. Most of those onboard drowned, many of them children. Sarah Ferguson goes on the trail of the people smugglers who organised the vessel.
Clive Palmer says he's bankrolled the Palmer United Party to give voice to millions of Australians who can't afford a lobbyist, but can we take him at his word?
Long haul truckies say they're being pushed to the brink by big business and government with lethal results.
Violence is part of life in the Middle East but have children now become a new target for Israeli security forces? A special investigation by journalist John Lyons.
Follows the journeys of a small group of North Korean secret film-makers, revealing what life is really like under the new leader Kim Jong Un.
A little boy lost and a family's search for answers; how did the police get the investigation so wrong? Geoff Thompson reports.
Faced with death, would you illegally pay for a heart, lungs or kidney? Thousands do and the international black market is booming.
The inside story of an investigation to rescue an Australian child from an international paedophile ring. Caro Meldrum-Hanna reports.
An investigation of the intelligence operation that's caused friction in Australia's relationship with East Timor. Marian Wilkinson reports.
Quentin McDermott investigates the scandal that's engulfing the National Gallery. Were our finest art experts duped?
An investigation of the Chinese debt binge that's left economists holding their breath. What will be the impact on Australia?
How does a mortgage broker, whose work has prompted multiple complaints and is the subject of ongoing police investigation, continue to operate? Linton Besser reports on Australia's shadowy world of unregulated lending.
The car manufacturing industry is on the way out, so what's the real impact? Stephen Long reports.
Four Corners commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
Geoff Thompson puts together the most comprehensive account yet of what took place at The Manus Island Regional Processing Centre in February 2014.
Putting the spotlight on a top bank's financial planners. Was it bad advice or just greed? Adele Ferguson reports.
A shocking insight into the sexual exploitation of many thousands of poor and vulnerable children in Pakistan, one of the world's most important Muslim nations.
How did Malaysian authorities lose a plane, search in the wrong place and ignore significant evidence for so long? Caro Meldrum-Hanna reports on the Mystery of Flight MH370.
It was a high-tech hip replacement that failed. The company tried to cover it up. Now they're exposed. Quentin McDermott reports.
Can Pope Francis reform a Church weighed down by scandal and controversy?
With ample evidence of sex abuse in the military, why don't the top brass deal with the abusers? Michael Brissenden reports.
Brazil splurged billions to host the soccer World Cup while many live a life of poverty and crime. What price the "beautiful game?"
Democracy is a powerful concept. But it doesn't come cheap. Reporter Linton Besser delves inside the investigation that blew the lid on corruption within Australia's major political parties.
She was the queen of the British tabloids, a faithful and trusted servant of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. He was the top aide to the British Prime Minister. But for the past eight months, Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson have been the focus of one of the longest-running criminal trials in British history.
While the rest of the world moves to embrace renewable energy why is Australia drawing back? Four Corners documents the revolution in power generation taking place across the globe.
It was a crime that left Australians horrified. The tragic death of Luke Batty, killed by his father. Could his brutal murder have been prevented? Luke's mother Rosie tells her story.
Thanks to social media, today's teenagers are able to interact directly with their culture and their heroes, dispensing approval to music, videos, food and clothes, as well as each other. They say that's empowering because they can deliver a verdict instantly. But is this empowerment or a new form of slavery? And are teenagers being manipulated by big corporations and the marketing moguls who see social media as the ultimate marketing tool?(Australia, English)
He is a self-styled evangelist who told his followers he was The Anointed One, chosen by God to convert the world to his beliefs. In reality, Scott Williams was a cult leader who used his own brand of religion to warp biblical scripture in the pursuit of sex, money and power. Reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna investigates the rise of Scott Williams and his incredible path around the world and back to Australia, exposing how he created a hell on earth for many followers.(Australia, English)
They're known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and they are sweeping across Iraq with frightening speed. They brutalise anyone they perceive as an enemy and then show the results in graphic detail, through a co-ordinated campaign on social media. BBC reporter Paul Wood goes into the front lines of this shocking conflict to investigate how and why ISIS or Islamic State, as they now call themselves, are ripping Iraq apart.(Australia, English)
They were sexually abused by the clergy and then found themselves targeted by the Church's lawyers. Why did it happen and who was responsible for the strategy? Reporter Quentin McDermott reveals the systematic way the Catholic Church sought to conceal the sexual abuse of children, using lawyers to minimise the potential financial impact to the organisation.(Australia, English)
Testing claims the Reef is at risk and should be on the UNESCO World Heritage 'in danger' list. Marian Wilkinson reports.
He was a highly paid neurosurgeon, addicted to cocaine and obsessed with sex. Yet despite significant evidence he was running out of control, and the death of a call girl he'd hired, Suresh Nair continued operating in a private hospital. In a joint Four Corners/Fairfax investigation, reporter Tracy Bowden analyses what the NSW Medical Board, Nepean Public Hospital and the Nepean Private Hospital knew about the rogue doctor.
The story of the woman dubbed the White Widow, now one of the world's most wanted terror suspects.
The horror of flight MH17 and the shocking war that resulted in the plane being shot down. Stephen Long reports.
Australian casinos that target Asian VIP gamblers to boost their profits could run a serious risk of exposure to organised crime, according to a range of law enforcement and security experts. Reporter Linton Besser investigates the drive to entice foreign gamblers to Australia and the implications of that strategy.
Inside the surrogacy industry. Debbie Whitmont reports.
The tobacco industry is pouring vast amounts of money into developing electronic or e-cigarettes which are claimed to be safer than conventional cigarettes and could save millions of lives. (Part 1 of 2)
The tobacco industry is pouring vast amounts of money into developing electronic or e-cigarettes which are claimed to be safer than conventional cigarettes and could save millions of lives. (Part 2 of 2)
How governments use internet providers to spy on you.
This week, reporter Geoff Thompson goes to the Victorian town of Ararat to see if an ongoing community intervention to promote weight loss and better health can work.
This week on Four Corners, reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna travels through the regions of two states, riding with police and users, to tell the shocking story of towns and people in the grip of ice.
Investigating the Green on Blue killing of three Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. Quentin McDermott reports.
Khaled Sharrouf: jihadist or simply a criminal? Marian Wilkinson reports.
The shocking story of how young unmarried Irish mothers were forced to work in work-houses to atone for their sins while their children were taken away from them.
The story of girls and boys, born in the wrong body and their struggle to be who they are. Janine Cohen reports.
How caregivers preyed on the vulnerable, unable to defend themselves. Nick McKenzie reports.
This week a joint Four Corners/Fairfax report reveals damning evidence that the investigations of key gangland murders in Victoria were deeply flawed, undermining the criminal justice system in the state. Terry Hodson and Carl Williams were career criminals. Hodson was shot twice in the head by a killer who'd come to his home with no apparent sign of a break-in. Williams was bludgeoned to death while in jail. Two murders - six years apart, both linked by key facts. Each was a police informant; both had made serious allegations of police corruption; both were killed with police acutely aware both men were in danger. Despite the extra-ordinary circumstances of the deaths, it's still not clear who ordered their killing. To this day, no one has been convicted of the murder of Terrence Hodson and his wife Christine. Now three insiders speak to reporter Nick McKenzie, casting new light on the murders. How was former detective Paul Dale linked to the Melbourne underworld? What was his relationship with Carl Williams? And why didn't police, tapping the phones of criminals, alert other police about the information they had gathered and the potentially lethal connections they'd uncovered? This story throws new light on a shocking chapter of Australian criminal history and clearly asks questions about the administration of justice in the past decade and the crucial issue facing all police forces, how to protect key informers in cases involving the criminal underworld and allegations of police corruption.
They were caught attempting to smuggle heroin out of Bali in 2005. Now Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are on death row and time is running out. This week on Four Corners, reporter Mark Davis goes inside the campaign to save them from a brutal execution. As a reporter he's followed the case for six years. He's met and interviewed Andrew and Myuran. Now he tells the story from the family's point of view, in a week of torment, as they waited hoping their sons might win a legal reprieve. He also talks to a respected Balinese, a top official in the jail and he spends time with the legal team and others who've given their time in a desperate bid to help try and save them from execution.
Australians love their sport. Australians also love a punt. Right now, Australians love betting on greyhound racing, the sport based on pushing dogs to their limits. With more than 40,000 races and more than 300,000 dogs running at tracks across the country each year, Australians are now wagering $4 billion a year on the sport. Prize-money has skyrocketed and greyhound racing is riding a wave of renewed popularity. The message to punters is that the sport has cleaned-up and modernised; the welfare of animals is now at the forefront of the industry. But things are not as they seem. This week Four Corners reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna leads a gritty investigation into the darkest secrets of the sport, exposing the gruesome underbelly of greyhound racing. This investigation will rock the industry, and the sport, to its core. Making a Killing reveals widespread cheating and illegality across the country, and throws into question the validity of thousands of greyhound races and millions of dollars. How the cheating is actually done is so extreme it defies belief. What some trainers are prepared to do, to give their dogs the winning edge, will shock even the most hardened viewer. As someone who has looked closely at the sport tells Meldrum-Hanna: "Putting together animals, gambling and prize purses is a toxic mix. It's capable of turning men into monsters." What a small team of investigators with limited resources has managed to uncover in Making a Killing should put the regulators of the industry to shame and change the sport forever.
Unemployment in Australia is at its highest in 12 years. The Government's solution is an innovative billion-dollar scheme called Jobs Services Australia. But the initiative is failing. Now, a Four Corners investigation shows how the scheme is being manipulated and, at times, systematically exploited. Reporter Linton Besser reveals the corruption at the heart of the program aimed at helping some of this country's most vulnerable people. He travels to suburbs where unemployment is a way of life. He meets Kym, struggling to find work and pull her daughter out of a cycle of poverty. There to help are private and not-for-profit job agencies, paid by the Government to help find work for Kym and others like her. These agencies have blossomed thanks to the privatisation of the Commonwealth Employment Service in 1998, and are thriving on contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Unemployment is now big business in Australia. Each year the Government spends about $1.3 billion on its welfare to work scheme. But what happens when there are simply not enough jobs to go around?
Apple is the most valuable brand on the planet, making products that consumers love to buy. But how does this company treat its workers, when the world isn't looking? The BBC's Panorama program goes undercover inside the factory in China that makes the big-selling Apple iPhone 6. There we see the price paid by Chinese workers on the production line. Apple has made a series of promises that are supposed to protect the workers in factories that supply products for the company. Those promises are comprehensive and involve guarantees about working conditions, even detailing minimum standards of accommodation for workers who have travelled hundreds of miles to work in these factories. Under-cover cameras, though, show a very different picture. Employees are treated like they are prisoners. They are threatened and forced to sign work sheets that show them agreeing to long hours of overtime. Many fall asleep at the end of long shifts, making the work environment dangerous for themselves and others. But it isn't just the factories that turn out the products that create questionable conditions for health and safety.
The scourge of PTSD; as soldiers they fought the enemy abroad, now as civilians they battle a silent enemy within. Quentin McDermott reports.
Why the Liberal Party came so close to toppling its leader after just 18 months in Government.
An investigation into the shocking human cost felt by the survivors of an aviation crash.
The merchants of debt: how fast cash loans become a ruinous financial trap.
The crime that shamed India and divided the country.
Reporter Chris Masters revisits the Fatal Shore, the story of Gallipoli.
Australia has been gripped by a national debate over how to fund our university education. But perhaps there's a more important question: what is it worth?
On the frontline with the women taking up arms against Islamic State.
The dirty secrets behind Australia's fresh food.
An unflinching portrait of Australia's remote Indigenous communities and their struggle to survive.
This investigation from the BBC looks into the American authorities' relationship with the biggest and most powerful criminal organisation in the world, the Sinaloa Cartel.
The bullying and bastardisation of young doctors in our hospitals.
A whodunit on the high seas.
Terror on Everest: extraordinary accounts and footage from the day the Nepal earthquake struck.
With the price of coal plummeting and our biggest customers turning to renewable energy, is Australia backing a loser?
On the trail of the traffickers exploiting the most unwanted people on the planet.
In this joint Four Corners/Fairfax Media investigation, we reveal how the mafia continues to flourish in Australia despite major police operations.
Part two of this special investigation goes inside one of the most ambitious organised crime investigations in Australian history.
Stories of courage and humanity in the aftermath of the 2005 London bombings.
From BBC Three. A personal and provocative look at life in France following the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks.
Inside the power plays of the mercurial mining billionaire Andrew Twiggy Forrest, as he fights for survival. Stephen Long reports.
Inside the hidden world of transgender escorts.
How India hijacked the game of cricket, and how Australia helped.
From PBS Frontline. Secrets, Politics and Torture: The ghosts of the CIA's controversial interrogation program.
Four Corners puts Labor leader Bill Shorten under the microscope.
Adele Ferguson returns to Four Corners with an investigation into the 7-Eleven business empire with revelations of dodgy bookkeeping, blackmail and the mass underpayment of its workforce.
The war of words over the Halal certification of food. Anti-Islam groups label it a religious tax. Claims of corruption and links to terrorism light up the blogosphere. Four Corners searches out the truth.
On Monday night, Four Corners will chart the events that led to the former Prime Minister's downfall.
A special investigation by Dr Norman Swan on the unnecessary testing and treatments choking the health system and making patients ill.
From Channel 4 (UK). As asylum seekers flee from the ISIS conflict zone, Four Corners brings you this timely and powerful story of the secret network rescuing women and children held captive by ISIS.
Next week on Four Corners: the Chinese billions flooding into Australian real estate.
Next on Four Corners, we take you inside the world of Australia's most formidable power couple - former union boss Kathy Jackson and Fair Work Commission Vice President, Michael Lawler.
From WDR (DE). Next on Four Corners, a documentary on the digital dissidents blowing the whistle on government surveillance around the globe.
Next on Four Corners, we examine the sobering reality of the damage done by alcohol to unborn babies.
In this report, BBC producer Merwais Miakhail takes us on a personal journey into Afghanistan's tribal heartland, known as the 'Valley of Death'.
In frank, funny and sometimes heartbreaking conversations, Australian kids take us inside their world and tell us why they're so anxious about the present and the future.
It was the random act of violence that authorities had been warning of and it left the nation crying out for answers. How could a 15-year-old school boy become a killer?
The tragic death of Luke Batty, killed by his father. Could his brutal murder have been prevented? Geoff Thompson reports.
Four Corners returns with an investigation into the criminal networks threatening the integrity of sport.
What's behind the rise in shark attacks and is there anything we can do to stop them?
In this provocative Four Corners story, award-winning reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna goes inside Australia's dance party drug scene.
From France 5. Exploring America's gun culture, where kids learn to shoot and their classrooms are designed to be bulletproof.
In his first story for Four Corners, reporter Ben Knight travels to Brazil to investigate BHP's responsibility for the Samarco mine disaster that's destroyed lives and polluted an entire river system.
The Commonwealth Bank's unscrupulous tactics in the life insurance industry.
From Canal Plus. The big game and big bucks in Africa's trophy hunting industry.
The rookie versus the club in the Essendon supplement scandal.
Murder and Money in Malaysia. Linton Besser investigates the scandal engulfing Malaysia's Prime Minister.
Marian Wilkinson investigates the shadowy world of secret international finance and tax avoidance.
The rise and fall of a business empire and political career.
From BBC Panorama. How Islamic State operates its European terror network.
The doctors who refuse to be silenced over Australia's offshore detention centres.
Ben Knight reports on the white hot issues of housing affordability and negative gearing and the generation left wondering if they will ever own their own home.
A family fights for justice after the brutal death of a young woman.
From PBS FRONTLINE. The hidden dangers of vitamins and health supplements.
The shadowy world of political donations. Quentin McDermott reports.
Are women being sold false hope by the IVF industry?
How taxpayers money is being squandered, leaving remote communities feeling exploited and betrayed.
Liberated from a brutal occupation, residents of the Syrian town Kobani are trying to rebuild their lives in the rubble.
Barnaby Joyce vs. Tony Windsor in the contest that could bring down the Deputy Prime Minister.
With the election only days away, Gold Walkley and Logie Award-winning reporter Sarah Ferguson interviews Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten. What will she ask?
Are we preparing our children for the workplace of the future?
From Canal Plus. Going undercover with an ISIS terror cell. For six months this intrepid reporter infiltrated and secretly filmed a terrorist cell as they made plans for an attack.
From Arte France. The elite athletes blowing the whistle on how they cheated the system.
It almost defies belief but right here in Australia there is a prison system that locks up 10 year olds and places children as young as thirteen in solitary confinement.
How the system damages cops with PTSD.
How long can Malcolm Turnbull survive?
The awful price being paid by Australian dairy farmers for the milk we drink.
A film from Channel 4 (UK). One family's extraordinary story of life in the rubble of Syria and their escape to a new life, told through the eyes of four children.
How hackers are threatening everything from your bank account to the nation's secrets.
In the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union, this film from the BBC charts the tactics and spin employed by both sides of the campaign.
The high price parents pay to get their kids off ice.
An outback town's bold experiment to save its young people from a life of crime.
From BBC Two. Inside America's fraternities.
The challenges for Australia as China and the US struggle for supremacy in Asia.
How the personal has become political in the fight over same sex marriage.
The young refugees stranded on Nauru.
From BBC Three. The activists using cameras to fight back against police brutality in the US.
Four Corners investigates the business of salmon farming.
A heart stopping journey through the Taliban badlands.
On the frontline of Australia's child protection crisis.
Award winning reporter, Liz Jackson, tells the hardest story of all.
Four Corners returns for 2017 with an incisive exploration of how President Donald Trump will wield his power.
How Australians are spending billions on unproven vitamins and supplements.
A report from the frontlines in the battle against Islamic State.
What happens to the plastic we throw away...
Four Corners investigates the turmoil inside James Packer's Crown operation in China.
America's shrinking middle class are fast joining the swelling ranks of the working poor.
The Pentagon insiders with a climate change warning for the world.
The mothers and carers battling for justice and protection for their disabled children.
"We don't cheat, we don't lie, we are upfront with the people." Pauline Hanson When Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party stormed back into politics as a major force, it was done on the promise they would be nothing like the "mainstream" political parties they and their supporters loathe. Four Corners reveals the brutal backroom politics ripping into Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. Reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna investigates the party's inner workings and explores how former supporters have been left disenchanted, asking for Pauline Hanson to "please explain"
"What's on your mind?" It's the friendly Facebook question which lets you share what you're thinking and what you've been up to. It's also the question that unlocks the details of your life and helps turn your thoughts into Facebook's profits. Four Corners explores the world of Facebook and how your data is being mined to drive the huge success of the social media giant. Reporter Peter Greste examines the Facebook business model and shows why your private life is making them billions. The program investigates how Facebook has the ability to track much of your browsing history, even when you're not logged on, and even if you aren't a member of the social network at all.
From Channel 4 (UK). War crimes investigators are building a criminal case against the Syrian regime.
Elite athletes blow the whistle on the high price paid for sporting glory.
Why Australia is being left in the dark.
The gun smuggling syndicate that shocked Australian law enforcement.
Sarah Ferguson talks exclusively with families of Tori Johnson & Katrina Dawson about their experience on the day & their devastation, anger & frustrations in the aftermath.
Part Two takes you inside the Lindt Cafe & the police operation on the day, with a forensic examination of how the disaster unfolded. We expose what went wrong & ask whether Australia is prepared for another terror attack.
How's China's Communist Party is infiltrating Australia.
The brave few who blew the whistle on Australia's most corrupt police force.
The dark side of the internet.
The retirement villages ripping off retirees.
This Four Corners investigation will reveal how Donald Trump was negotiating luxury resort deals in Bali and Java, raising serious questions about Presidential conflicts of interest.
In this touching and brave program, three families have opened their lives to Four Corners to tell their stories about living with Dementia.
The hidden story of one of the worst criminal cover-ups in America's history.
Five years on from a landmark agreement to save the river system, something is wrong.
From the BBC. The international cyber arms trade giving governments the tools to spy on their citizens.
Four Corners investigates the big business of rubbish and where it ends up.
Four Corners captures the drama behind the scenes as The Greens try to operate on the federal political stage.
How Australia's real estate obsession is driving us to the brink.
The lucrative international trade in blood and plasma.
The dangerous legacy of failed regulation in the building industry.
From BBC2. How Kim Jong-un's murderous ambitions are driving North Korea's nuclear weapons program and threatening world peace.
Developers, deals and donations on the Gold Coast.
Inside the murky world of international kidnapping and hostage negotiation.
The dubious dealings of India's corporate colossus.
It’s one of the biggest environmental scandals in Australian history. Harmful chemicals, leaching into the ground and waterways, contaminating the water relied upon for drinking. These chemicals are the toxic legacy of fire-fighting foam, used for decades on Defence Force bases and other sites around Australia.
In a special edition of Four Corners, Hillary Clinton, in her only Australian television interview, talks with Sarah Ferguson. This riveting conversation, recorded in New York, takes us into the heart and mind of the woman at the centre of the most stunning election loss in modern US history. This is a very different Hillary Clinton to the managed political performer. Candid, open and at times angry, the former presidential candidate talks about what went wrong and her fears for the future.
From the start, Australia’s National Broadband Network was billed as a game changer that would future proof the nation by delivering super fast internet services. Almost a decade on from those promises, there’s a growing number of angry residential customers and small businesses who are bitterly disappointed with the NBN. On Monday night, as the NBN reaches a milestone, passing the half-way point in its rollout, Four Corners investigates the problems fuelling this dissatisfaction.
For the first time since the dark days of Hitler's Nazi Germany, a right-wing nationalist party is centre stage in German politics. Right-wing extremism in Germany has surged to its highest level since the downfall of the Third Reich, with a record number of attacks against asylum seekers and their supporters. This film, from the BBC's Panorama program, charts the rise of one notorious anti-immigrant group which stands accused of a wave of violent attacks. In an exclusive interview, one of the group's ringleaders talks for the first time about his motivations and his actions.
Four Corners will take you inside the secretive world of tax havens where corporations and the wealthy operate far from public view. In an investigation that spans the globe, Four Corners will reveal the lengths some of the world's most powerful business figures and global corporations are going to, to avoid paying tax. “We're seeing things that people never thought would see the light of day." As tax authorities in Australia and across the globe try to claw back money from the big multinationals, reporter Marian Wilkinson will show how a web of offshore operators help organise elaborate international tax avoidance schemes.
In the week the same sex marriage survey results will be announced, Four Corners will take you into the battle for control raging inside the Liberal Party. As reporter Michael Brissenden will show, whatever the results of the postal survey, the politicking will be far from over. When Malcom Turnbull took the leadership of the Liberal Party he promised to do things differently, end the slogans and act decisively. But for the last two years he's been unable to stamp his authority on his government.
Justice Lionel Murphy was one of the most senior political and legal figures in Australia. He was also at the centre of one of the most extraordinary scandals in our nation's history. Now this sensational chapter in Australia's history has been reopened with the release of documents kept secret for 30 years. Four Corners takes you into the heart of this story with powerful first hand accounts from many of the key players in this astonishing saga. Some are speaking publicly for the first time in 30 years.
He's the financial mastermind who laundered money for the world's most dangerous terrorists and criminals. His operations stretched across the globe, helping everyone from Mexican drug cartels to bikie gangs hide their criminal profits. He also operated right here in Australia. He evaded capture for decades until an unprecedented international police operation, initiated by Australia, set out to take him down. With exclusive access, Four Corners takes you inside this extraordinary undercover investigation.
They are the hidden workforce kept behind closed doors. Domestic workers, in Australia, living in slave like conditions and made to work around the clock. This powerful Four Corners reveals disturbing cases of extreme overwork and underpayment and explains why those responsible are getting away with it.
For four long years Islamic State ruled its "caliphate" from its capital, the city of Raqqa. IS propaganda painted it as a pure paradise and extremists travelled from around the globe to join the terror group. Now the city is giving up its secrets. On Four Corners Middle East correspondent Matt Brown goes on an intense journey into the city freed from the Islamic State dictatorship.
Secret parties, sly booze and slinky cocktail dresses are a long way from the conservative images usually associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran. For decades the Republic's morals police have enforced strict rules that seem to cover just about everything, from dog ownership, which is banned, to clothing. Drinking alcohol is punishable with 40 lashes. Repeat offenders can face the death penalty. Despite the rules, many young people in Iran are rebelling. They're taking their lives in their hands and defying the regime to party in secret.
Across Australia, farmers, small businesses, government planners and major corporations have stopped waiting for politicians to decide whether climate change is real. They're acting now. Mounting evidence suggests our changing climate is having an impact on everything - from what we grow, eat and drink, to house prices and the cost of insurance. Four Corners has travelled from coast to coast to chart how Australians are adapting to the new weather challenges.
The numbers tell the story. Australia's population is growing fast. Across the country, we've added almost 400,000 people in the last year alone. The populations of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth have expanded by nearly three million extra people in the last 10 years. And we're feeling the strain. It's time for the nation to have a conversation about how big Australia is going to grow.
The sex scandal that has engulfed American film producer Harvey Weinstein triggered headlines around the world and prompted a searing discussion about the treatment of women. Much of the attention has focussed on the actresses who say they were preyed upon by the movie mogul. Behind the scenes, there were other women, work colleagues and employees, who allege that Harvey Weinstein used his power to abuse them. They kept their experiences secret for decades, fearing legal action and reprisal. Now they are speaking out.
Australia's superannuation retirement savings pool is enormous. At two and a half trillion dollars, it's one of the largest in the world. But there are fears that even that huge sum of money won't be enough. Millennials are entering a very different workforce from the one that existed 30 years ago when compulsory superannuation was adopted. In the broader economy, it's estimated that between three and six billion dollars' worth of super entitlements per year are not being paid. Now there are calls to take a fresh look at super and make some major reforms.
The Australia Taxation Office is a formidable enforcer with extraordinary powers. It can raid your home or business without a warrant, it can compel you to answer questions and treat you as guilty until proven innocent. While there's strong public support for a crackdown on major multinational corporations to force them to pay their fair share, there is growing concern that the Tax Office is targeting people a long way from the big end of town. In a major joint Four Corners/Fairfax investigation, reporter Adele Ferguson puts the actions of the Tax Office under the microscope, examining how it uses its extensive powers.
"I was instrumental. I was at the heart of it." Chris Wylie, former Cambridge Analytica director of research Four Corners brings you the undercover investigation that has left social media giant Facebook reeling through the unmasking of the secretive political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. Four months in the making, this ITN investigation for Channel 4 in Britain used hidden cameras to reveal the tactics used by the UK firm Cambridge Anayltica to influence elections and undermine the democratic process in several countries.
There are millions being made in the Australian marijuana business but these entrepreneurs and investors aren't risking jail to make their fortunes. They're betting big on the home grown medicinal marijuana industry and riding the "pot stock" boom. But with patients struggling to access cannabis products, Four Corners investigates who is making money out of the marijuana boom. Four Corners charts the rise of this industry which has grown from nowhere in just a few years.
Today, 60% of Australian adults are classified as overweight or obese. By 2025 that figure is expected to rise to 80%. Many point the finger at sugar - which we're consuming in enormous amounts - and the food and drink industry that makes and sells the products fuelled by it. Despite doctors' calls for urgent action, there's been fierce resistance by the industry to measures aimed at changing what we eat and drink, like the proposed introduction of a sugar tax. On Monday night Four Corners investigates the power of Big Sugar and its influence on public policy.
On Monday night, the young woman at the centre of one of Australia's most controversial rape trials talks to Four Corners. She was a teenage virgin on her first night out in Sydney's King Cross. He was the son of a wealthy night club owner. They met on the dance floor. Minutes later, he ushered her out into a laneway. What happened next has had devastating consequences for both of them. This shocking account serves as a serious warning about the need to understand what consent is and the consequences of getting it wrong.
HSBC is one of the world’s largest and most powerful financial institutions with offices on five continents, including in Australia. It likes to spruik its financial might and global reach. Behind the corporate gloss, it has a far less attractive reputation. The bank has been at the centre of several of the biggest financial scandals uncovered this century.
Mobile phones, smartphones and tablets have revolutionised the way we communicate but the technology we are addicted to has had toxic consequences. China produces approximately 90% of the world’s consumer electronics. The factories making the components for these electronic goods are filled with young workers. Some have been exposed to poisonous chemicals, with devastating results. This investigation, filmed secretly over four years, exposed the use of harmful chemicals in the factories producing the products many of us use. Hidden cameras captured the working conditions inside the factories churning out these products.
We've put you, the patient, at the centre of this investigation. Nine weeks ago we placed a call out, across ABC programs and social media, asking you to send us your bills. Hundreds of people across the country responded. In this joint Four Corners investigation with Dr Norman Swan from RN's Health Report, the program examines what's driving these out of pocket expenses. "The results are shocking and certainly show how out of pocket expenses are undermining the Australian private health care system."
Four Corners follows the money trail from New York to Moscow, tracking the ties between Trump, his business empire and Russia.
In part two, Four Corners speaks to key protagonists at the centre of the unfolding drama over members of the Trump team accused of being compromised by Russia.
In part three, Four Corners investigates the central allegations that members of the Trump team, including possibly the President himself, actively colluded with Russia to subvert American democracy.
From PBS Frontline. Being tough on crime has become a popular mantra for political parties. Law and order debates are frequently fuelled by tabloid headlines calling for a crackdown on crime. The result is often harsher sentencing. In the United States it's led to thousands of prisoners facing mandatory life sentences for crimes they committed as teenagers.
Four Corners investigates some of the worst biosecurity breaches in Australian history, uncovering sophisticated smuggling operations, inadequate enforcement and corruption. Last year a devastating exotic disease wiped out much of Queensland's prawn industry, threatening a lucrative trade based on our "clean" reputation and undermining faith in Australia's supposedly fortress-like borders. Now a Four Corners investigation will reveal how Australia's biosecurity measures were defeated by sophisticated smugglers.
On the surface, Australia's racing industry has never been better. With a prize pool that's grown to more than $600 million it's one of the biggest industries in the country, employing more than 50,000 people. But away from the glamour all is not well in the sport of kings.
The story of a brave young soccer team gripped the world. The extraordinary international effort to find and rescue 12 boys and their coach from a remote cave in northern Thailand was watched closely by millions. On Monday Four Corners documents this wonderful and tragic tale from the day the boys first disappeared until the joyous moment the last person left the cave.
AMP was once a trusted blue chip Australian company but its reputation is now in tatters following evidence before the Financial Services Royal Commission that it charged customers fees for no service and repeatedly lied about it to the corporate regulator. On Monday Four Corners investigates how AMP ripped off its customers and details the extraordinary measures it took to conceal its actions. In a revealing interview a former financial planner gives an insider’s account of the tactics used by AMP to cheat customers out of their own money.
For more than three decades Cambodia has been ruled by one man, Prime Minister Hun Sen, who came to power in the country's first democratic elections after the horror years of the Khmer Rouge. Australia played a key role in the peace deal that ended the bloody civil war, but the once bright hopes for democracy have long since faded. On Monday, in her first story for Four Corners, reporter Sophie McNeill travels to Cambodia to confront the man whose political opponents have been imprisoned and assassinated in mysterious circumstances.
From Channel 4 (UK). Facebook says it's on a mission to be the place where people connect and "bring the world closer together". More than a billion people are on the social networking site every day, posting their thoughts, pictures, and videos. But alongside the family photos and FOMO inducing holiday videos is content that is truly disturbing. This British investigation has exposed the inner workings of the social media giant to reveal how and why content moderation decisions are made.
Welcome to the new world of enhanced "beauty" where there's nothing natural about the faces and bodies created by cosmetic procedures. Fuelled by social media influencers on Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, cosmetic surgery has entered the mainstream. From dermal fillers and Botox, to butt lifts and breast implants, women are undergoing treatments that could change their lives forever, and not in the ways they were expecting.
Having a child is supposed to be the most natural thing in the world, but knowing how to raise one can be another thing entirely. Even in the most loving families, parenthood can be incredibly daunting. On Monday, Four Corners brings you the story of three mothers determined to learn how to change the way they raise their children. With extensive access to the pioneering Safecare program for parents whose children are at risk of neglect or harm, Four Corners follows these families, and the social workers teaching them, as they learn back to basic skills.
How the Liberal Party tore itself apart. This special Four Corners investigation takes you inside a political catastrophe. We chart the rise and fall of Malcolm Turnbull and the enemies that stalked him from within.
As the Liberal Party tries to piece itself back together after the chaos of last week, Four Corners brings you an interview with the man hoping to overthrow the entire political class. Steve Bannon put Donald Trump in the White House and rewrote the rules of modern politics along the way. Described as the most dangerous political operative in America, the strategist, renegade Republican and professional provocateur channelled the anger and disappointment of those who felt left behind by globalism to install Donald Trump as president. Now, he's taking his cause to the world in a crusade to "save" western civilisation, as the leader of a global populist-nationalist movement. He calls it a revolution.
From BBC Three. They were young girls and teenagers, on a night out to see their favourite pop star. Many were attending a concert, without their parents for the first time. As the show ended, a terrorist detonated a home-made bomb packed with shrapnel. Filmed over many months, this program tells the story of several young survivors as they, and their families try to reclaim their lives.
"They're all someone's mum, someone's dad, someone's brother, someone's sister. They were all young once and they're just forgotten." On Monday Four Corners launches the first of a two-part special investigation into the treatment of the elderly in aged care homes. In the ABC's biggest crowdsourced investigation, we asked our audience to share with us their experiences of the aged care industry. More than 4,000 responded. Many of those who have come forward are professionals who have extensive experience in the industry and are concerned by what they have seen.
On Monday Four Corners will detail shocking cases of abuse and premature deaths in our nursing homes. "If this was happening to our children, we would be in there and we would be fixing it and solving it."
A portrait of a community surviving the drought. On Monday night, Four Corners brings you a story from the heart of the drought, a portrait of the land and its people, where the lack of rain is biting hard. It's pushing some to breaking point, but many in this proud country community are doing all they can to give others the strength to carry on.
On Monday, Four Corners investigates the secret tactics used by global chemical giant Monsanto, to protect its billion-dollar business and its star product, the weed killer, Roundup. When it was launched four decades ago, Roundup was hailed as a miracle product, a revolutionary herbicide that would transform farming and keep home gardeners happy too. And it came with the promise that it was safe. Now a landmark US court case has made headlines worldwide, with a jury declaring Roundup was a substantial factor in causing a school ground keeper's terminal cancer and that the company had failed to warn of the risk posed by the product.
From ITV. A prison on fire, 600 inmates on the loose from their cells, and a band of prison officers desperately trying to contain a full-blown riot, all while footage of the violence is streamed live on social media. The riot, at a major prison in Britain, highlighted problems facing governments around the world, including in Australia: how to manage soaring prison populations driven by law and order debates and public demands for tougher sentencing. Using footage filmed by prisoners themselves in correctional facilities across the UK, the program reveals a system rife with drug use, violence and squalid living conditions.
They're the new force in Australian politics - a lobby group funded and directed by major firearms sellers and manufacturers and they're taking aim at Australia's politicians. Their campaign represents a newly emboldened firearms industry set on changing Australia's gun laws. On Monday Four Corners investigates how the gun movement in Australia is reawakening and examines the new tactics they're employing to make their presence felt on the political scene.
For almost two weeks Australia has felt the full force of a royal charm offensive. The visit by the newly minted Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, has been a triumph for the Royal couple and the House of Windsor brand. It's a world away from the scandalous 1990s when the Royal family was embroiled in a rolling series of crises, indiscretions and PR disasters leaving them out of fashion and out of step with the times. Some were even talking about the end of the monarchy itself. On Monday Four Corners charts how the Royals have rebuilt their reputation and changed the way they manage "The Firm".
For more than two years, the media has been reporting that Melbourne is in the grip of a crimewave, overrun by African street gangs responsible for a wave of violence and theft. Images of brawling Sudanese teens and hooded armed robbers have spread terror and stoked a growing anger towards those "of African appearance". Amongst the claims and counter claims, Four Corners reporter Sophie McNeill has spent weeks on the ground to get to the truth about "African" crime.
On Monday, Four Corners investigates the corporate crisis that engulfed the ABC and brought down both the Managing Director and the Chair in the space of one brutal week. Reporter Sarah Ferguson, in interviews with the two key individuals at the centre of this tumultuous episode, investigates the tensions and allegations that have rocked the national broadcaster - from the appointment of a "change agent" to reinvent the corporation, to the assertion of political interference at the highest levels. Former MD, Michelle Guthrie speaks for the first time about her sacking and the breakdown of her relationship with the ABC Board. Former Chair Justin Milne gives a frank account of the power struggle behind the scenes.
It was a voice of desperation, an urgent SOS to the world. A Saudi teenager, trapped in transit, on the run from her family and the Saudi state, hoping to make it to Australia. Four Corners reporter Sophie McNeill flew to Bangkok, slipped past security and joined Rahaf Al Qunun as the young woman barricaded herself inside a hotel room. Rahaf is one of the lucky ones; not every woman gains her freedom. In this dramatic investigation, Four Corners reveals how Australia has become a hotspot for women attempting to escape the oppressive Saudi regime.
Their voices are persuasive, their emails insistent and they have proven to be remarkably successful at conning countless people into handing over their money. Internet scamming began in the early days of email with appeals from Nigerian 'princes' asking for help to regain their missing money. From those amateurish beginnings, the scammers watched, learned and refined their techniques. What started out as a simple scam from West Africa has now morphed into a global enterprise, conning people on an industrial scale.
As China has transformed itself into an economic powerhouse, billions of dollars have been illegally spirited out of the country. A large amount has made its way here to Australia. Chinese authorities want the money back, and they've sent a clear message to anyone who has broken their rules - we will find you and your money. Now China has opened up a new front in its war on those accused of financial crimes. On Monday Four Corners will reveal the new tactics being used by Chinese authorities to take back money they believe has been stashed illegally in Australia.
Across the nation, there are now more women in prison than ever before. And once they're out they're very likely to reoffend and end up back inside. On Monday Four Corners investigates why so many women are going to jail by meeting three women who know exactly what it's like. Filmed over three months, Bekki, Fran and Donna give raw and compelling accounts of their lives as they begin again on the outside.
Four Corners reveals how Australia's highest ranking Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, was brought to justice.
Most Australians had probably never heard of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum till his horse Cross Counter won the Melbourne Cup last year after a two-decade campaign. Now he's in the headlines again, for a very different reason. Last year, his daughter, the Princess Latifa, then aged 32, ran away to escape a life of regal confinement in the hyper wealthy financial hub and tourist destination of Dubai. After fleeing first by car and then jetski, Latifa was dramatically re-captured on a boat in international waters by armed men. In heart stopping interviews, those on-board recount how the events unfolded.
Uber is one of the most recognisable brands in the world. It's embedded itself in our language and revolutionised the way we think about transport. Since emerging nine years ago on the streets of San Francisco, the edgy digital disruptor has upended an entire industry business model and made ride sharing cool. But Uber's ride to success has been far from smooth. Behind the slick marketing an aggressive corporate culture has been at work. On Monday Four Corners investigates how Uber has been outfoxing regulators and outmuscling its competitors in Australia and around the world.
The terror attack in the New Zealand city of Christchurch appalled the world. The indiscriminate shooting of 50 Muslim worshippers during Friday prayers was calculated to spread fear and a message of right-wing terror. The plot was intricately planned, harnessing the tools and the power of the internet, to amplify the terror to a global audience. On Monday, Four Corners investigates how the Australian born accused killer was able to operate under the radar.
Climate change policy has been one of the most divisive issues in modern Australian political history. It has brought down governments and toppled political leaders. At times the debate has become so polarised that the average Australian could be forgiven for tuning out. With a Federal election looming, Four Corners brings the debate back to what is actually happening in the nation right now.
A joint investigation by Four Corners, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald reveals fresh and compelling evidence of covert Beijing-backed political activity taking place in Australia. The investigation has uncovered secret information gathering operations targeting sensitive Australian intelligence analysis. It also reveals how Chinese authorities are stifling dissenting voices by targeting members of the Chinese-Australian community who fail to toe the party line.
On Monday Four Corners exclusively brings you the story of the Sharrouf children and their grandmother's epic fight to find them and bring them home to Australia. If there was one family that represented the alarming tide of Australians flocking to the black flag of Islamic State, it was the Sharroufs. Reporter Dylan Welch and producer Suzanne Dredge have documented the family's experience for four years, travelling with the children's grandmother as she tries to convince the authorities in Syria and Australia to release the family into her care and allow them to return home.
The idea that anyone would willingly confess to a crime they didn't commit sounds unbelievable, particularly when the punishment may be life in prison or even the death penalty. But a series of high-profile cases across America has revealed a slew of wrongful convictions based on false confessions and placed the spotlight on a widely used police interrogation technique designed to make people confess.
Across Australia the university business is booming. Higher education institutions that only a few years ago were cash strapped are now flush with billions of dollars brought in from fee paying international students. But there are growing concerns about the consequences of the overseas student boom. On Monday, Four Corners investigates how Australia's higher education system is being undermined by a growing reliance on foreign fee-paying students.
It's almost three years since Four Corners exposed shocking revelations of mistreatment in the Northern Territory's Don Dale youth detention centre in Australia's Shame, sparking a Royal Commission. Now the program is set to reveal a new child detention crisis in another part of Australia, where children as young as 10 have been held alongside adult criminals in maximum security facilities. With exclusive access, the program goes behind the locked cell doors to reveal how young people, most of whom have not yet been convicted of a crime, are being held, sometimes for weeks at a time.
Tony Abbott has been many things; a Rhodes scholar, an MP, a brutally effective Opposition leader and a triumphant Prime Minister, only to be deposed by his colleagues. He is seen as one of the most combative figures in politics and a warrior for conservative voices. Now, after 25 years in federal parliament, the Liberal MP for Warringah says he is in the fight of his political life. Ahead of Saturday's vote, Four Corners has been documenting the unfolding campaign. On Monday the program will examine how the seat was won and lost and what that means for the future of the Liberal Party.
On the 15th of April, the world watched on in horror as one of France's most famous landmarks, Notre-Dame Cathedral caught alight. The Cathedral had stood for more than 800 years, through revolutions and world wars, but as the flames took hold, the architectural icon was in peril. What took place over the next nine hours was an epic battle by some 400 firefighters to save the building. In this dramatic film, those leading the operation explain how events unfolded.
Thirty years ago, in the centre of China's communist capital, millions of students and citizens staged weeks of protests calling for democracy. The students and their fellow protesters stared down their government in the full gaze of the world's media, demanding an end to totalitarian rule. Then, the People's Liberation Army turned its guns, and its tanks, on its own people. Three decades on, Four Corners vividly brings the story of these momentous times to life, drawing upon a trove of vision and audio captured by ABC reporters and crews in that astonishing spring of 1989.
James Gargasoulas was a 26-year-old heavy drug user with an extensive criminal record when he drove a car at high speed through central Melbourne killing six people, including a baby boy and a 10-year-old girl. He was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for the January 2017 attack. Despite a guilty verdict there are still outstanding questions about why James Gargasoulas was able to carry out such a crime. On Monday, Four Corners investigates how James Gargasoulas was out roaming the suburbs of Melbourne despite facing serious criminal charges and clear warning signs that he presented a grave danger to others.
From PBS Frontline. US President Donald Trump has ignited a massive trade war with China, slapping billions of dollars worth of tariffs on Chinese goods. In doing so, he says he's delivering on his promise to Make America Great Again. Despite the rhetoric, questions are being asked about who has the most to lose from the conflict. On Monday Four Corners examines the forces behind the conflict, on both sides.
Australia boasts a stunning array of unique wildlife. They feature on our coat of arms and they're placed front and centre in our tourism campaigns. But the reality is, many of our native animals are in danger. Australia has one of the worst extinction rates on the planet and the problem is growing. There are currently more than 500 animal species under threat. On Monday Four Corners investigates how Australia has found itself in the midst of an extinction crisis.
In increasingly alarming scenes, the United States and Iran are facing off in the Middle East. Tensions have been escalating steadily for the last two months, driven by concerns over the Islamic Republic's nuclear capabilities. There are concerns that the two nations are headed towards military conflict. The key figure in Iran's strategic manoeuvring, and one of the most powerful military figures in the Middle East, is a shadowy figure in Iran's feared Revolutionary Guard. In this timely program from the BBC, a portrait of Iran's military ambitions, and the man masterminding them emerges.
Two years on from the Four Corners investigation into water theft in the Murray-Darling Basin that sparked a royal commission, the program returns to the river system to investigate new concerns about how the plan to rescue it is being carried out. The river system is the lifeblood of Australian agriculture but right now it's in crisis. It's experiencing one of the worst droughts on record, and with mass fish deaths capturing the headlines and farmers struggling to survive, many are saying the scheme is failing to deliver. On Monday, Four Corners investigates whether the contentious Murray-Darling Basin plan has become a colossal waste of taxpayers' money.
It's a remote corner of the world, but what is taking place there is nothing short of breathtaking. Xinjiang province is a vast area of deserts and mountains where the ancient Silk Road once ran. Today its Uyghur population is being systematically rounded up with estimates of as many as a million citizens being held in detention. In this investigation by reporter Sophie McNeill, Four Corners uncovers disturbing evidence of how China is effectively operating the world's largest prison.
Julian Assange is one of the most influential figures to emerge this century. The Australian born founder of WikiLeaks has harnessed the technology of the digital age to unleash an information war against governments and corporations. Now Julian Assange is in the fight of his life. In April this year he was dragged, protesting, from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, nearly seven years after seeking diplomatic protection. On Monday Four Corners investigates the prosecution of Julian Assange in key interviews with those at the heart of WikiLeaks and those who have sought to bring him to US justice.
In the 2016 race to the White House, presidential candidate Donald Trump took a shine to the whistleblowing site WikiLeaks, led by its Australian founder Julian Assange. Now, as President, Donald Trump has performed a spectacular flip, presiding over an administration determined to imprison the publisher of the leaks. On Monday Four Corners investigates Julian Assange’s activities conducted during the nearly seven years he spent sheltering in the Ecuadorian Embassy.
From BBC Panorama. Three years ago, Britain had a new Prime Minister and a promise to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union by delivering on the people's vote for "Brexit". What had been presented as a simple proposition - for the UK to leave - has turned into a political nightmare, dividing former allies, British political parties and the people of an increasingly dis-United Kingdom. Now Britain's new PM, Boris Johnson, is making bold promises to "leave". In this revealing account, key negotiators and politicians on both sides of the Channel tell the inside story of the Brexit debacle.
The elevation of Boris Johnson to the Prime Ministership of Great Britain has been greeted with elation in some quarters, with undisguised horror in others. Elected by members of his own party, not by the people, Britain's 77th Prime Minister has ridden into office on the back of the big bold promise to deliver Brexit come hell or highwater and the stakes couldn't be higher. On Monday the ABC's chief foreign correspondent and former long-time Europe correspondent, Philip Williams, reports on the rise of Boris Johnson.
For 20 years the nation's city skylines have been changing with the building of more than 650,000 apartments across the country. Glossy advertising has wooed buyers away from the traditional Aussie dream of a house with promises of sophisticated apartment living and high-end finishes. But the shine has well and truly come off the apartment property boom. On Monday Four Corners investigates Australia's apartment building crisis, from shoddy workmanship to lax laws, leaving owners out of pocket and in some cases out of a home altogether.
In a Canberra court room one of the most controversial trials ever to be held in Australia will soon get under way. The case is highly sensitive, with key evidence central to the allegations unlikely to ever be heard by the public. A former spy and his lawyer have been charged with conspiring to reveal secret information relating to an Australian intelligence operation aimed at a friendly foreign government. On Monday Four Corners investigates the extraordinary steps the Australian government has taken to prosecute these men and to keep them silent.
For the past 12 weeks, the metropolis of Hong Kong - normally one of the world's most vibrant yet orderly cities - has been convulsed by turmoil, as its people rise up against mainland Chinese rule. Pro-democracy protestors have repeatedly seized control of key parts of the city, including its airport. These "flash mob" actions are designed to create maximum chaos and embarrassment for the city's political leadership and their masters in Beijing. It has become an epic battle of wills. On Monday Four Corners goes on the frontline of the protests, capturing the full force of the escalating violence with extraordinary footage.
Hospitals are supposed to be a place of care where patients are treated by highly trained staff well versed in dealing with emergencies and a vast range of illnesses. But not every hospital is delivering first class care. On Monday Four Corners reveals concerning evidence about the standard of hospital care many Australians are receiving. Medical staff say it's time to speak out about a series of catastrophic incidents where patients have died or been permanently disabled.
Social media has transformed the way we communicate and how we express our thoughts and emotions. Whether it's Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or any number of digital platforms, there are more ways than ever for people to make their views known. Now the concern is that social media sites have morphed into the perfect platform for orchestrated disinformation campaigns. As governments around the world grapple with calls to regulate what is published on social media, and with tech companies fiercely resisting attempts to curtail their business model, this timely program explores these key issues.
With their soothing tones and soft-focus advertising, funeral directors promise to take care of our loved ones after they have died. But few of us know what really goes on behind the closed doors of funeral parlours around the country. "Treating the person who's passed away with dignity is incredibly important. At times (I) shudder to think (what will happen) when I pass away, if nothing has changed." Mortuary driver On Monday Four Corners reveals the dubious tactics being used by some in the funeral industry, from price gouging and unethical conduct, to the questionable treatment of bodies.
In a baking hot detention camp in Syria, a large group of Australian women and children are being held indefinitely. They're the remnants of the Australian contingent who lived under Islamic State. The Australian Government has branded them a "significant security threat" and made it clear it does not want them back. There are 20 women and more than 40 children stuck in the al-Hawl camp. Who they are and how they got there has until now, remained secret. Now for the first time, their stories are being told. In this exclusive Four Corners investigation, the former brides of Islamic State reveal the extraordinary details of their lives in the IS caliphate.
From ITN (UK). "This young lady was callous, sadistic. She was attacking children after children. They were vulnerable, innocent, defenceless and yet she had no emotion whatsoever and no remorse." Former detective It was a shocking betrayal of trust - a serial killer working in a children's ward, committing acts of murder on the patients in her care. "She was quite calm, quite confident for somebody who's just been arrested for murder." Retired Detective Superintendent British nurse Beverley Allitt was convicted of killing four children in small regional hospital in 1991. Another nine children survived her attempts to kill them.
Australia's universities are embroiled in a growing geopolitical storm amid rising concerns over expanding Chinese power abroad. Is Australian technology and know-how being used to help strengthen China's repressive regime?
Informer 3838 was the secret police weapon in the fight to end Melbourne’s murderous gangland wars. For years the public only knew of her as Lawyer X until she was unmasked as the high-profile barrister, Nicola Gobbo. Her clients were a who’s who of the “underbelly” world, including infamous gangsters like Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel. As the body count in the deadly criminal war climbed, she worked hard and partied hard, playing a dangerous double game.
From the BBC. The promises are big, bold and enticing: massive salaries, cars, holidays and life as an ‘influencer’. Job advertisements inviting young women to join online selling schemes are sweeping through social media feeds and attracting millions to sign up. It's sold as a dream job where you can work flexible hours from home and earn a commission on what you sell. What’s not clear from the advertisements is the true business model.
Bill Spedding, a washing machine repair man, was accused of abducting three-year-old William Tyrrell. The little boy, dressed in a Spiderman suit, vanished without a trace in 2014 from the front yard of a family home. After initially treating his disappearance as a missing person case, the police zeroed in on Bill Spedding as their key ‘Person of Interest’, believing he had taken the child. Four Corners investigates how the police built their case against Bill Spedding.
There’s no more precious resource in Australia than our children. Equipping them with the reading and writing skills to face the future is vital, not only for their own success but for the nation's prosperity. Alarmingly, a number of test results and international benchmarks indicate some of our children are slipping behind in the key area of literacy. On Monday, Four Corners examines the way reading and writing is being taught in our schools to find out what is going wrong.
“We can’t get any help…the truck is burning.” NSW Fire crew, Nowra They are the videos that stopped the nation and stunned the world - images from the firegrounds capturing the ferocity of the bushfires that have raged around Australia this black summer. These videos have been viewed tens of millions of times, but who filmed them and how did their stories end? On Monday Four Corners brings you the people and the stories behind the heart-stopping footage seen around the world.
It should have been a day of celebration - a picnic on the White House lawn with President Trump and his inner circle. But as the TV cameras filmed the mingling guests, a Republican Congressman and prominent Trump ally was pacing up and down on his phone. Congressman Chris Collins was a long-time investor and board member of a Sydney based company engaged in therapeutic drug development. On that fateful afternoon, he received confidential information that a crucial drug trial had failed and his investment was at risk. On Monday night Four Corners investigates the insider trading scandal that went on to engulf the Congressman and the major questions it raises for Australian regulators.
Last year, St Kevin's found itself in the middle of a public relations nightmare when a video emerged of "Skevies" boys shouting out an offensive chant on a public tram. The school says it "challenges its young men to become the saints and scholars of the modern era". But a Four Corners investigation has uncovered other incidents that point to a systemic problem. Despite the school's insistence that it does not tolerate bad behaviour, Four Corners has uncovered evidence of how a desire to protect reputation at all costs has allowed a toxic culture to flourish.
It's likened to a scene from an apocalypse. Empty streets, overflowing hospitals and an overwhelming sense of fear in a city of 11 million people placed in "lock down". In China, almost two thousand people have died as a result of coronavirus with tens of thousands more infected. Authorities are resorting to extreme measures to try to halt the contagion. On Monday Four Corners charts how the outbreak occurred and investigates whether a cover up by Chinese authorities allowed the virus to spread.
From the moment expectant parents announce they're having a baby the question is asked: are you having a boy or a girl? On Monday Four Corners meets young Australians who do not identify as either male or female to gain an understanding of their lives and experiences. In their own words they explain how they negotiate the world and the judgement of others. All are acutely aware that they are often judged for being different, but in this thought-provoking Four Corners, these young Australians have a question: "I ask, what does it matter to you if I don't identify as a boy or a girl?"
Jeffrey Epstein was the wealthy financier with celebrity friends, unmasked as a serial sexual predator of underage girls. One of Epstein's famous friends was Prince Andrew, the Queen's second son, who had holidayed in Epstein's houses on numerous occasions. On Monday Four Corners examines allegations made by one of Epstein's victims who says she was trafficked to Prince Andrew for sex. The Prince has strenuously denied the allegations. Featuring interviews with key players in this scandal, including Prince Andrew, the story pieces together the sordid details of Epstein's offending and the allegations made against Prince Andrew.
Exposing killings and cover ups by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. On Monday, Four Corners will detail explosive revelations about the conduct of Australia's elite special forces during the war in Afghanistan. "They're going to look back and see that we were the guys in there murdering and invading and not there to do something that was honourable." Former Australian soldier In an investigation months in the making, drawing upon sources in Australia and Afghanistan, the program will expose a culture of impunity and cover-up among members of Australia's special forces who served in Australia's longest war.
On the frontlines of the fight to preserve the world's largest tropical rainforest. "The Amazon holds the largest biodiversity on the planet. The Amazon is the home of hundreds of thousands of plant and animal species." Nobel prize winner The Amazon is one of the most precious natural habitats in the world and plays a vital part in regulating the planet's temperature. So when alarming pictures emerged last year of the Amazon on fire, the world was shocked. These fires were so big they could be seen from space, leaving many to ask how could this have happened? Why wasn't the forest being protected? On Monday Four Corners takes you on an epic journey through the Brazilian Amazon to investigate.
"The health battle is the battle that all Australians are enlisted in as we fight this virus." Prime Minister Scott Morrison, 22 March The Prime Minister has effectively placed Australia on a war footing to fight the coronavirus pandemic. For some, the realisation of the deadly danger posed by COVID 19 is only now sinking in. Others have been sounding the alarm for weeks. On Monday, Four Corners investigates how coronavirus spread to Australia, laying the groundwork for the crisis that is now unfolding.
From BBC Panorama (UK). Amazon is a corporate colossus that dominates the global retail landscape. As a company, it has changed the way commerce operates to emerge as a corporate superpower. It’s propelled its founder, Jeff Bezos from a small-scale book seller to a tech titan. He’s now the richest man in the world. On Monday, former high-level Amazon insiders reveal how the company has achieved its success. What emerges is a portrait of a company that gathers staggering amounts of deeply personal data about its customers.
The outbreak of coronavirus in Australia has created a public health emergency like no other. It’s also unleashed a financial wrecking ball right through the Australian economy. On Monday Four Corners investigates the political scramble to contain the enormous financial damage caused by COVID-19. With access to the key players in this financial battle, Insiders host David Speers reports for Four Corners and captures history in the making. Featuring a rare interview with the Governor of the Reserve Bank, the program gives a unique insight into the planning and execution of the financial rescue attempts.
It was the height of the summer cruise season and for many on board the Ovation of the Seas it was the trip of a lifetime. But on the afternoon of December 9 the dream holiday turned into a deadly nightmare when a group of cruise ship passengers and other day trippers became trapped in the middle of a volcanic eruption. On Monday Four Corners investigates what the tourists were told, and what they understood about the dangers of visiting New Zealand’s most active volcano. The program examines whether more could have been done to prevent the tragedy, that has left so many dead and others with lifelong traumatic injuries.
Six weeks ago, Australia’s health professionals were bracing for the worst medical crisis in decades. From those tense early days to the flattening of the coronavirus curve, Four Corners has been documenting the fight against COVID-19 in hospitals and GP clinics around Australia. In this powerful Four Corners, the program brings you the deeply personal accounts of Australian medical workers filmed as the pandemic crisis has unfolded. The film captures the remarkable turnaround from catastrophic predictions to a manageable health problem, thanks to the extreme lockdown measures we are all enduring. Health workers are grateful for the respite but warn this crisis is far from over.
Right from the start President Donald Trump has sent confusing and sometimes contradictory messages about the danger posed by the deadly outbreak of COVID-19. More than a million Americans have been infected and over 60,000 people have died. And as the crisis has escalated, the President has gone to war with the leaders of many of the worst affected areas. The story, from the American Frontline program, traces the halting federal response, identifying early warnings and missed opportunities to potentially save lives as the outbreak spread.
For more than a decade the climate wars have raged in Australian politics. In Canberra’s corridors of power, the nation’s most senior public servants have been there through it all. Usually they keep their thoughts private, but now several of these former mandarins, who have worked with the highest levels of government, are speaking out. They describe cases of flawed decision making and reveal how parties on all sides of the political spectrum have squandered important opportunities in pursuit of their short-term political interests. Many of them look back upon their time working with government with regret that they could not achieve more.
On March 19, thousands of passengers disembarked from the Ruby Princess cruise ship in Sydney harbour. Their 'luxury' cruise holiday had been cut short after authorities announced cruise ships would be banned from Australian ports as part of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus. Far from protecting people, the release of the Ruby Princess’s passengers instead triggered a public health emergency with the cruise ship now named as the single largest source of Australia’s coronavirus infections. On Monday Four Corners investigates how the Ruby Princess became an incubator for infection, leaving its passengers and staff dangerously exposed.
North Korea is one of the most secretive nations on earth. Despite severe financial sanctions, the nation has defied international pressure and developed a costly nuclear weapons program. The question is, where is all that money coming from? Officially, Bureau 39 does not exist. But leading experts on the North Korean regime say it’s essentially the cash making machine for the Kim regime. In this investigation, from Germany’s ZDF, the story reveals the extensive web of operations carried out at the instruction of Bureau 39. From money laundering to arms smuggling, insurance fraud and human trafficking, the scale is extraordinary.
Coronavirus restrictions are starting to loosen and our cities and towns are showing more signs of life than they have in months. But health authorities and the federal and state governments insist that without an effective vaccine or treatment for coronavirus, life cannot fully return to normal. Australian scientists are at the forefront of this hunt for a vaccine, working around the clock on several promising contenders. The stakes are high, and the degree of difficulty is intense. On Monday Four Corners takes you into their world, where they face extraordinary scientific hurdles as well as extreme moral and ethical dilemmas.
From PBS Frontline (USA). AI, or Artificial Intelligence, will be one of the defining developments of the 21st century. The ability of machines to ‘think’ at a speed and depth far beyond the capacity of any human is unleashing incredible possibilities. China is emerging as an AI superpower, staking its reputation on catching up then overtaking America for AI supremacy within the decade. Critics say the Chinese Communist Party is using AI as an instrument of authoritarian control. Outside of China, even long-term backers of the tech industry say the rise of the global tech giants is a threat to us all.
For three months, the elderly and vulnerable residents of the Newmarch House aged care facility have effectively been locked in as coronavirus raged through their home. As the disaster unfolded, Four Corners captured the experiences of several families with loved ones effectively trapped inside. The program investigates key decisions taken by the facility and the state and federal health departments about the care of residents and the treatment of those that fell ill. Health authorities have now announced they believe the crisis has passed. But for these families, the time has come for answers.
Aviation is arguably the highest profile casualty of the coronavirus pandemic and the impact has been enormous. The aviation crisis has driven Australia's second major carrier, Virgin, to the point of collapse. On Monday, the key players explain how things went so wrong so quickly. The program details the battle to keep the airline going, examining why it was vulnerable in the first place and what was driving the refusal of the federal government to step in and directly support Virgin.
During the dark and suffocating days of our Black Summer, fires tore through vast parts of Australia. Six months on, despite all the millions in donations raised and the promises of government assistance, some are still living in terrible conditions without power or water and they fear they have been forgotten. Recovery is a deeply complex and gruelling process. Knowing how to navigate it is hard. Local volunteers have stepped in to effectively run the recovery effort. In this powerful Four Corners, a portrait of a proud community emerges and they have a message for Australia.
On Monday Four Corners brings you a searing and profoundly moving story from special guest reporter Stan Grant in the wake of the shocking killing of unarmed black man George Floyd captured on camera in the United States. In this deeply personal story, Stan Grant gives voice to the frustration and hurt that has defined the life experience of so many Indigenous Australians and explores why the death of George Floyd resonates so profoundly. In this confronting program, other Aboriginal Australians talk of their experiences with authority and government that have left them feeling like second class citizens.
From PBS Frontline (USA). On Monday night, Four Corners brings you a remarkable film that acts as a forceful reminder of how quickly coronavirus can take off and spread. Presented by the Health Report’s Dr Norman Swan, this film from PBS Frontline takes you into the heart of Italy’s fight against the virus. One hospital in the thick of the pandemic, in the city of Cremona, allowed a camera in as the crisis was unfolding. The film follows the daily struggles of an inspirational doctor and her staff, as they battle to keep their patients alive. The program is a testament to the courage and hope of medical staff on the frontlines of the pandemic.
Workers compensation is supposed to be a safety net designed to return injured employees to the workplace and provide assistance to those so badly hurt that they can no longer hold down a job. Australian workers are guaranteed these protections by law, but there is disturbing evidence the system is failing badly. On Monday, reporter Adele Ferguson reveals the scandalous state of workers compensation schemes in Australia, in a joint Four Corners, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald investigation.
Around Australia a vocal band of activists have joined a worldwide protest movement against the arrival of the next generation in wireless technology known as 5G. Activists claim 5G is an invisible and potentially deadly health hazard, blaming the radiation emitted by the technology for a range of long-term health problems. On Monday Four Corners investigates these claims, exploring how the technology works and examining the scientific studies undertaken into whether the technology is actually a threat to our health. The program investigates the rise of the anti-5G movement and the spread of wild conspiracy theories tying the COVID-19 pandemic to the 5G rollout. Piecing together the viral spread of these theories, the program uncovers a sophisticated misinformation campaign.
From PBS Frontline (USA). For decades we’ve been told that we can do our bit for the environment by recycling our waste. But as Four Corners revealed in 2017, much of Australia’s recycling operations have been effectively a sham with mountains of waste being stockpiled with nowhere to go. Now, in this revealing investigation from PBS Frontline, the actions of the American plastics industry are laid bare. The program shows how over decades clever marketing campaigns were created to persuade consumers they should carry the burden of plastic pollution, by recycling, rather than expecting industry to reduce the amount of plastic it manufactured.
For months Australia was the envy of the world, with COVID-19 largely under control. All that changed when the news broke of a breach in Melbourne’s hotel quarantine program. On Monday Four Corners investigates how COVID-19 escaped back out into the Victorian community, wreaking havoc in the state and putting the rest of the nation in peril. After the initial outbreak, the virus spread with alarming speed and took hold in the most vulnerable places imaginable, aged care homes. This investigation reveals the failures by the authorities that were supposed to keep the community safe.
Around Australia there are families carrying an immense burden of grief and loss. They live with the knowledge a loved one has committed a violent crime while suffering a severe mental health crisis. For decades health workers and families have worked together to remove the stigma around mental illness, highlighting how those most in danger are the patients themselves. But the confronting reality is that every year some acutely unwell people kill or commit other acts of violence after failing to get the treatment they need. On Monday Four Corners investigates how the mental health system is failing to protect the community and the patients themselves.
Sixty years ago, the world watched in wonder at the dawning of the space age. Humankind's first flights into space and the landing on the moon showed the seemingly impossible was achievable. Now we are on the brink of a new space revolution. Space travel has never been so accessible. The entrepreneurial vision of business tycoon Elon Musk and his Space X business teamed with more affordable and reliable technology has resulted in a space revolution that is giving rise to a whole new world of possibilities. On Monday Four Corners examines the extraordinary opportunities and challenges of the new space age, in which travel beyond our own planet is suddenly affordable.
From PBS Frontline (USA). The aggressive marketing of dangerously potent and addictive opioids by pharmaceutical companies has driven an alarming rise in global drug addiction and death. America has been at the epicentre of this epidemic. Insys Therapeutics was a multi-million-dollar pharmaceutical company which made a fortune from one such drug. Up to one hundred times stronger than morphine, the fentanyl-based painkiller promised fast and effective relief from the most acute pain. Instead of helping those in need, the drug fuelled America's devastating opioid epidemic in the shameless pursuit of profit. Now the lengths this company went to in order to increase its sales have been exposed.
In conflict zones around the world, battles are increasingly being fought, not just by armies, but by private military contractors operating as guns for hire. These mercenaries live in a shadowy world away from the public eye where the normal rules of combat don’t apply. Their work usually remains secret unless something goes very wrong. On Monday Four Corners investigates this murky world and the Australian military men at the heart of it.
From BBC Panorama (UK). Over three years, UK police tracked a family crime group who kept their victims in squalid conditions and stole wages to fund their own lifestyle. The trial that followed unmasked the family as the operators of Britain’s largest modern slavery ring. With exclusive access to both the police investigation and the court case, the BBC’s Panorama program captured the dramatic events as they unfolded. The case provides an insight into the staggering scale of modern slavery across the world.
Australia is in the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression with decades of economic growth brought to a halt as the result of the coronavirus pandemic. More than six months on from the closure of our borders and the extensive restrictions placed on how we work and play, Four Corners investigates the financial fallout for everyday Australians and what the future may hold. The program analyses why specific locations and industries were so vulnerable to the shutdown and explores what it will take for Australia to recover.
On a hot summer evening two months ago in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, a catastrophic explosion ripped through the city. It looked like a scene from a disaster movie, but it was very real. Four Corners pieces together the story of the explosion, tracking down many of the people who filmed the blast as well as those who were dramatically shown on screen. Using previously unseen footage, the program tracks the final minutes of the emergency responders who had no idea what they were walking into. In this city with so many connections to Australia, the pain and grief is immense, as is their anger.
Tinder is the dating app that has reinvented the way we meet new people. Some are looking for love, others, are after a casual fling. The app has been downloaded more than 100 million times worldwide and it's the most popular dating app in Australia. In a joint investigation, Four Corners and triple j Hack reveal that the dating app has become a playground for sex offenders. Multiple women have come forward to speak with Four Corners guest reporter and Hack presenter Avani Dias. They tell their stories of assault at the hands of those they have matched with on Tinder.
Around the world sporting codes have been engulfed in scandal with shocking revelations about the sexual abuse of young athletes by their coaches. Vulnerable young people, and their families, put their faith and trust in sporting coaches in the quest for sporting glory. Instead, many promising young athletes were betrayed by perpetrators who exploited the hold they had over their young charges. Incredibly, even after abusers have been exposed, some sporting federations have tried to minimise the compensation awarded to victims.
Donald Trump was elected to office in 2016 on the promise that he would "Make America Great Again". Four years on, he's presiding over a nation that is bitterly divided with a troubled economy and a population ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. With just over a week to go before polling day, Four Corners examines whether Donald Trump can once again defy the polls and his critics and secure a second presidential term.
For the class of 2020, their final year of school has been challenging in ways they never imagined. On Monday, students from across Australia open up about this year of uncertainty and disruption. Filmed mainly on their smartphones, these young Australians explain what the year of coronavirus has been like for them. Many found themselves questioning their future career plans as they watched the nation fall into recession, and saw the impact of the pandemic on their loved ones. Despite the mental and emotional toll, they want Australia to know that they are ready to face the future.
Parliament House in Canberra is a hotbed of political intrigue and high tension. Leadership challenges and tightly fought votes are covered exhaustively by the media, but what happens after hours has long been governed by the idea that what happens in Canberra stays in Canberra. On Monday, this Four Corners investigation questions the conduct of some of the most senior politicians in the nation.
On January 6, the most sacred symbol of American democracy was stormed by supporters of Donald Trump, unleashing violence and destruction. As President Joe Biden takes charge, the Republican party is grappling with its political future. Defeated, disgraced, and now twice-impeached, Donald Trump may be out of office, but the anger he unleashed continues to threaten and America is watching for his next move. Watch Sarah Ferguson's return to Four Corners.
From PBS Frontline (USA). Just days after supporters of outgoing president Donald Trump smashed their way into the home of US democracy in a failed bid to halt the transfer of power, Joseph R Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. On Monday Four Corners brings you a political and personal portrait of the man now leading America. The program charts his rise from a hardscrabble childhood where he faced bullying and discrimination based on a severe stutter, to his discovery of the power of politics. Against the odds, he gained momentum and won the Presidency. Now he faces the huge task of uniting a bitterly divided nation.
The self-described defenders of Russia are determined to shut down anti-Putin sentiment in Australia as part of a propaganda war to remind the world that Russia is a force to the reckoned with. On Monday, Four Corners investigates the rise of a cluster of pro-Moscow organisations with ties to the Kremlin, establishing chapters in Australia. Experts tell the program that Russia has kept a close eye on Australia following the collapse in relations between the two nations in 2014, following Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine and the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. Those who know Russia well say Australia needs to watch Russia closely.
Kakadu National Park is supposed to be a jewel in Australia’s tourism crown. But despite its stunning landscapes, the World Heritage listed site is in crisis. On Monday Four Corners investigates accusations of mismanagement and neglect which have fuelled a bitter dispute between the park’s traditional owners and the authority that runs the park. Traditional owners are speaking out about their frustrations and they want all of Australia to hear them.
China’s President Xi Jinping is a force to be reckoned with. As leader of the Communist colossus, he commands the world’s attention but who is China’s strongman? How did he rise to power and what is his agenda? China specialists warn that countries like Australia were too slow to understand the challenge posed by the rise of President Xi. Prominent China scholars say that China has already fundamentally re-written the international rule book. The question is, how will the rest of the world respond?
“I have been subject to the most wild, intense, unrestrained series of accusations that I can remember in modern Australian politics.” Federal Attorney General Christian Porter “She told me that at the college that night she was raped by him.” Friend of the complainant “The only thing that I'm ever going to be able to say, and it's the truth — and that is that nothing in the allegations that have been printed ever happened.” Federal Attorney General Christian Porter On Monday, Four Corners brings you “Bursting the Canberra Bubble”. “I would have thought if there was an inquiry by a competent person without a political agenda, that that would be a way of stopping this trial by media.” Friend of the complainant
On Monday night, in a shocking investigation, Four Corners reveals how a sex slave cult has been operating in plain sight here in Australia. Vulnerable young women, cut off from their families and with every aspect of their lives controlled, have been turned into slaves. Now some of those who have escaped are speaking out to warn others. The program reveals how this cult has been recruiting and exploiting women for years. Now authorities are calling on the public for help.
When former coalition staffer Brittany Higgins came forward to allege that she had been raped in a ministerial office in Parliament House, it horrified the country. Her account of effectively being silenced for political reasons sparked outrage and condemnation of the culture of Canberra. Four Corners investigates how and why Brittany Higgins’ story was kept quiet for almost two years. The program examines the key questions of who knew what, and when, and whether there’s been a cover up.
From BBC "This World" (UK). In the early hours of February 1 this year, Myanmar's military launched a textbook coup, arresting the Nobel Prize winning political leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and many of her colleagues. Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy MPs had been due in parliament to confirm their landslide election victory over the military backed opposition. Instead, her arrest signalled that Myanmar's generals were back in charge, undoing years of political and diplomatic manoeuvring that had forced them to relinquish control. In this provocative portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi, some of those who once publicly supported her say she lost her credibility during her time in power.
The Federal Government is promising a gas-led recovery that will turbocharge Australian manufacturing and provide reliable and affordable power to households as our reliance on coal winds back. But not everyone is convinced. On Monday Four Corners investigates what is driving the Federal Government’s push for a gas-fired future in the face of considerable scepticism. Featuring interviews with key players in Australia’s energy business, from the Government’s hand-picked special adviser to gas company leaders and the nation’s energy security chief, the program interrogates the case for gas.
From This World, BBC Two (UK). On the 23rd of January last year Chinese authorities announced they were locking down the city of Wuhan, home to some eleven million people. The Chinese government was desperate to contain an outbreak of a new virus that would soon be labelled COVID-19. What they didn't reveal was that the virus had already been circulating for at least seven weeks while Chinese officials tried to stop the news of it getting out. Four Corners brings you an investigation into what the Chinese government knew about the virus and compelling evidence of a determined campaign to keep it under wraps.
Over the last twelve months, China has launched a wave of trade sanctions against Australia. Industry after industry has been hit with a range of punishing measures, from massive new taxes to import restrictions. As a result, many Australian products have effectively been banned from entering China, leaving the businesses that rely on this trade in peril. On Monday Four Corners investigates what's behind China's trade war with Australia.
Across the country, millions of Australians of all ages, play video games every day. They're among hundreds of millions of gamers across the world. Growing research shows many gamers struggle to switch off and can find themselves hooked on their virtual universe. The discussion about gaming and whether it can cause harm is often reduced to a simplistic debate. On Monday Four Corners goes deeper, bringing together gamers, major industry players and psychologists in an investigation that reveals the manipulative techniques used in many games.
Dr Peter Scott-Morgan is a renowned scientist and robotics expert. In 2017 he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), an incurable illness that attacks the body's nerves causing muscles to waste away. As the condition progresses, a person becomes 'locked in' — unable to move but still fully alert. Faced with this devastating diagnosis, Peter decided to use his skills to change his future. In this deeply personal film, Peter's quest to become a self-described 'cyborg' and his determination to live is truly inspirational.
The world of fashion has always traded on the desire of shoppers for the latest thing. Whether it's a new-season coat or a dress in an on-trend colour, the industry has been underpinned by consumers continuing to buy ever more clothing. Known as "fast fashion" this affordable but disposable approach to clothing has created billion dollar empires, but there is a cost. This investigation reveals the unglamorous, and in some cases illegal practices of the clothing industry. With millions of tonnes of textiles ending up in landfill, some in the fashion industry are challenging customers to change their buying habits.
As the horror year of 2020 drew to a close, Australians were told there was a way out of the pandemic. The federal government outlined a mass vaccination program that would see vast numbers of Australians inoculated against the virus by October 2021. Months on, beset by supply problems and hitches in the rollout, the government has abandoned its targets and faces accusations of having botched it. On Monday Four Corners investigates how Australia’s vaccine program rollout has fallen short.
Crown Sydney was spruiked as a world class 6-star resort and VIP casino development destined to become a jewel in the Crown casino empire. But when it finally opened to the public in late 2020 the man behind the project, gaming tycoon James Packer, was nowhere to be seen and the casino at the heart of the plan was not allowed to operate. The story of how both the casino licence and the building was approved is a cautionary tale. What followed was a textbook example of what big money, back room lobbying and political influence can deliver.
Twenty years on from the 9/11 terror attacks, one war correspondent returns to Afghanistan to try and make sense of the conflict. Graeme Smith travels back through the cities and provinces where he witnessed intense conflict and explains what it was like to have a bird's-eye view of history in the making. His reporting captured the brutality of the battles as well as dark and troubling incidents that cast a shadow over the mission in Afghanistan. Now he wants to see how life has changed for the Afghan people and if they feel confident that Afghanistan can find peace.
A family divided by QAnon. The extreme political movement has mobilised a committed band of believers dedicated to fighting what they claim is a war against corrupt child abusing elites. QAnon has vocal devotees in Australia.
The admission by the CEO of Australia Post that four executives had been given Cartier watches as a reward for a banking deal sparked a wave of indignation and damaging headlines. Politicians on both sides of the spectrum were quick to condemn the purchases and laid the blame at the feet of the beleaguered CEO, Christine Holgate. Within hours, Ms Holgate was gone but the scandal was far from over. On Monday, Four Corners investigates the turmoil inside Australia Post and what brought down its high-profile CEO.
Australia's biggest casino, Crown Melbourne, has attracted the rich and powerful from the day it opened its doors. It's also been a magnet for organised crime. Money laundering and criminal activity have seen Crown's operations put under the microscope in multiple inquiries, exposing years of illegal conduct. Crown is supposed to be subject to strict rules and regulations, so where was the authority in charge of keeping Crown in check?
In the world's financial capital, Australian Lex Greensill was every inch the corporate titan. With a company valued in the billions of dollars and a jet setting lifestyle, he mixed with the rich and powerful on a grand scale. Yet many Australians had never heard of Greensill until the company he founded came crashing down sparking one of the biggest international financial scandals since the global financial crisis. On Monday Four Corners investigates the rise and fall of the billionaire from Bundaberg and how his business imploded.
In 1953 the world stood in awe when Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered Mount Everest. Their feat inspired generations of climbers to tackle the mountain. But in 2019, when pictures emerged on social media showing climbers jammed together queuing to reach the summit, there was an outcry. The climbing season in 2019 was one of the deadliest ever, with eleven climbers losing their lives on Everest. In this gripping program, those on the mountain recount the dramatic events that unfolded on the world’s highest peak.
TikTok is a phenomenally successful social media platform with more than a billion users scrolling through its endless feeds. But there is a dark side to the world’s most popular app and a major investigation has uncovered disturbing evidence about how the app operates. A joint investigation by Four Corners and triple j Hack shows how dangerous content is being served up to unwitting users with sometimes devastating consequences.
For weeks, millions of Australians have been trapped by outbreaks of COVID-19 around the country. The number of infections is climbing with the spread of the virulent Delta strain. This type of outbreak is exactly what the nation's leading experts warned of when Four Corners reported on the failings in Australia's vaccine rollout in May. Their warnings have become a grim reality. On Monday Four Corners examines how Australia was left dangerously exposed.
From BBC Panorama (UK). Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way we work and live in ways that were once dismissed as the stuff of science fiction. The technology has the capacity to improve our lives, but it also presents new challenges and potentially grave risks. In interviews with senior US military personnel and contractors, the program shows how AI is transforming defence departments around the world. Decisions made now on who will control this technology and how it will have a critical impact on our future.
Four Corners is the longest running series on Australian television and a powerhouse of investigative journalism - fearless and forensic, holding power to account for 60 years. The award-winning program has amassed 62 Walkley awards, seven of them the coveted Gold, as well as 23 Logie awards. To mark the program’s extraordinary milestone, Four Corners will broadcast a special episode with highlights from the show’s six decades. In addition to the broadcast program, a special collection of extended highlights from each decade, and selected programs, will be showcased on iView and our website.
Fox News is the brash cable TV network that has dominated both the ratings and the headlines in America, delivering revenue and power to the Murdoch family empire. On Monday, Four Corners investigates how Fox News became a propaganda vehicle for Donald Trump and helped destabilise democracy in the United States. Featuring Fox News insiders, the program reveals how the network's slavish support of Trump split the Murdoch family and spoiled Rupert Murdoch's succession plans.
On the night of the US presidential election, Donald Trump declared the vote was a "major fraud on the American people". Rather than face defeat, he, and his allies, began a campaign claiming the election had been stolen. In the aftermath, some high profile Fox News presenters gave a platform to Trump's campaign pouring fuel on the already ferocious political divide. Now their words and actions in the feverish weeks that followed the election are under scrutiny in multi-billion dollar lawsuits. The second part of this Four Corners special examines the case being made against high profile Fox News presenters and Trump backers.
In the baking Afghan summer sun, thousands of people made a desperate dash for the airport in Kabul. Their city was convulsed with fear after the country's leadership fled, leaving the Taliban back in the Presidential Palace. It was an inglorious end to the 20 year war effort to rid the nation of the Taliban. On Monday Four Corners takes you into the fall of Kabul. In interviews and videos from those on the ground, the program captures the drama and the chaos of the last 16 days.
The Jehovah's Witnesses are a religious group with eight million followers in multiple nations, including Australia. A knock on the door and an earnest offer to share their teachings is the only interaction most people will have with this god-fearing organisation. Few would know the extreme nature of their beliefs. On Monday, former members of this group reveal the secretive practices used to instil fear and maintain discipline among followers.
Around the world a new type of crime is being carried out and it goes right to the heart of what we eat. Food fraud is a highly lucrative criminal enterprise that affects a huge range of products. Criminal syndicates are infiltrating the global food suply chain, undermining the ability of consumers to trust what is on the label and what ends up on their plate. In this fascinating film, international food investigators show the many and varied scams they have uncovered and who is behind them.
For decades Australian soccer has operated in the shadow of the other major sporting codes. Despite its immense popularity as a community sport, it's struggled to attract the eyeballs, sponsorship, and the profile of the AFL and the NRL. Almost half of Australia's premier soccer clubs are owned or controlled by foreign entities, raising the question: Why? Who are they? And what are they getting out of it? On Monday Four Corners investigates the powerbrokers dominating Australian soccer.
In a major international investigation, Four Corners will reveal the secrets of the Pandora Papers. For months, more than 600 journalists from around the world, including the ABC, the Washington Post and the BBC, have been working with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on a top-secret investigation. Their focus has been the world of offshore finance where maximum privacy is guaranteed for wealthy clientele. Despite authorities around the world promising to close loop holes and crack down on the myriad of offshore services, the investigation shows how this industry is flourishing.
In June this year, one of Australia’s biggest record companies, Sony Music, rocked the music world when it announced the sacking of its long-time CEO, Denis Handlin. His reign came to an end four months ago when he was fired as the company announced an investigation into its “workplace culture”. Now Four Corners can reveal the inside story of Sony Music, where fear and intimidation stalked the corridors for decades. Former Sony Music employees are breaking their silence to expose what they endured for so many years.
From France 5. For 16 years, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been on the world stage as a trailblazing leader. Now, after 30 years in politics and four terms in office, Angela Merkel has chosen to leave public life at the height of her popularity. No other world leader has left office at a time of their own choosing after such a long tenure at the pinnacle of power. Despite her stature and years in the spotlight, she has remained an enigma. In this fascinating portrait, the program traces Angela Merkel's life story and how she rose to power and wielded it.
Once upon a time, cosmetic surgery was only for the wealthy. Today, it's advertised and marketed as a perfectly normal experience for anyone who can afford it. Cosmetic surgeons have become social media stars with followers in the millions. But behind the glitz and glamour lie some ugly truths. On Monday, Four Corners, in a joint investigation with The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, exposes alarming practices in this multi-billion-dollar industry and reveals how the regulatory system is failing to protect Australians.
Across Australia, property prices are going through the roof, pushing the total value of residential real estate to a staggering nine trillion dollars. When the pandemic hit in 2020, there were fears the property market would collapse. Instead, house prices have risen at the fastest pace in at least three decades. On Monday, Four Corners tracks the property price boom that’s fuelling risky and irrational behaviour and investigates what is driving it.
The name Eddie Obeid once inspired fear. As a Labor factional boss, he was the ultimate backroom kingmaker. Today, his name is a byword for corruption and abuse of office. But the story does not end with Eddie Obeid behind bars. On Monday, Four Corners reveals how business is still booming for the Obeids and funding their lavish lifestyle.
Some time in the next four months Australians will head to the ballot box to choose the next Prime Minister. Political strategists, pollsters and the media will be doing all they can to get into the heads of voters, to predict and analyse the outcome. On Monday, Four Corners kicks off a new season with the first in a two-part special focusing on voters as they weigh up their options in key electorates across the nation. In this first episode, voters assess the key moments of Scott Morrison's prime ministership, and share their opinions of his leadership.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese is facing the biggest test of his political life. Can he convince voters he is ready to run the country? Voters in key seats give their assessment of Anthony Albanese's performance so far.
In the magnificent high country of the Snowy Mountains, wild horses roam the land. But there is a bitter clash of culture dividing communities - national icon or feral pest? The ugly divide over Australia's brumbies.
President Vladimir Putin has gone on the attack, taking aim at western nations, accusing them of threatening the Russian state. Now activists who have risked everything speak out about the abusive political climate in Russia.
An investigation into the hidden and shameful failure in public health taking place in remote Australian communities. Incompetent and inexcusable medical care resulted in multiple preventable deaths. Louise Milligan reports.
Exposing the stories of Australians who say they've been virtually abducted by the state, stripped of their assets and stopped from speaking out, until now. How a system designed to protect the vulnerable, does the opposite.
Four Corners takes you into a city under siege - Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Sarah Ferguson reports on the despair and defiance of the Ukrainian people resisting the Russian invasion.
Our planet under threat and the terrible cost of extreme weather. Australia is not the only nation experiencing wild, dangerous and unprecedented weather. A sobering look at increasing extreme weather events around the world.
Two decades ago, Australia's military forces led an international armed intervention in East Timor to quell a wave of sickening violence. Mark Willacy reveals the untold story of a disturbing chapter in our military history.
The dark stain on Australia's proudest military mission. Mark Willacy reveals fresh allegations of serious misconduct, including torture, carried out by Australian soldiers during the intervention in East Timor in 1999.
Four Corners investigates the corporate colossus that has taken a major slice of Australia's food production sector while being exposed internationally for bribery, corruption and environmental vandalism. Grace Tobin reports.
How Aspen Medical cashed in on COVID. Linton Besser investigates the health contractor hand-picked by the federal government for lucrative contracts worth more than a billion dollars. Why was it chosen and did they deliver?
Four Corners investigates the new mining boom in critical minerals - necessary in mobile phones, renewable energy and electric vehicles. Angus Grigg finds Australia is in the box seat to exploit a surge in worldwide demand.
When Russia invaded Ukraine it overturned decades of stability. We trace Vladimir Putin's rise to power from his days as a KGB counterintelligence officer to his emergence as a global power player in the post Cold War era.
How the 2022 election was won and lost. Undecided voters talk about the leaders, policies and performance during the campaign and what influenced their vote. Plus political strategists pull apart the tactics and motivations.
Cryptocurrency is the hottest financial product in the world, with hype fuelled by celebrity endorsements. We investigate what lies behind the slick marketing and big promises to examine if it's a fad, a fraud or the future.
What happened to a group of young female athletes who were groomed and abused by their running coach. Charlie Webster uncovers the truth of what happened to her teenage running friends at the hands of a manipulative predator.
Dr Norman Swan investigates the science behind a new drug treatment in the race to solve dementia. Dr Swan looks at evidence that lifestyle choices may help delay the onset of the disease while the world waits for a cure.
We examine the failures in the investigation into the abduction and murder of 13-year-old Milly Dowler, featuring interviews with senior police and those covering the case. Plus we shed light on the role of the media.
Vaping was hailed as the new way to quit smoking but there are concerns it is now causing nicotine addiction in teens. Grace Tobin investigates the booming black market which is thriving due to a failure to police the rules.
In the lead up to the 2022 Australian Federal Election a factional war inside the Liberal party was about to explode. On Four Corners, Liberal insiders speak out for the first time about the deep divisions within the party that directly implicated former Prime Minister Scott Morrison and went all the way to the High Court. Reporter Sean Nicholls also reveals extraordinary allegations about back room Liberal party operatives and their relationships with wealthy business interests.
The planning failures deepening Australia's flood crisis. Adam Harvey meets families struggling with current and past flood events. They tell stories of despair, abandonment, and financial ruin. Many have lost everything.
The plastic surgery industry in China is booming. Demand for cosmetic procedures is so widespread among the country's young population that it is estimated the industry will be worth US$200 billion by 2030. On Monday, Four Corners examines the massive growth in China's beauty obsession. The program meets the social media influencers and the ordinary young Chinese who are prepared to undergo extreme procedures to radically change their appearance.
The race to make psychedelic drugs part of mainstream medicine. Elise Worthington looks into clinical trials to treat trauma, PTSD and mental health conditions, plus the dark side of abuse, malpractice and underground supply.
How Chinese money is buying the Solomon Islands. Angus Grigg investigates the extent of Chinese influence and control, plus new details about the Chinese money being used by PM Sogavare to secure his hold over the country.
Several former United Nations insiders allege a wide range of sexual abuse and corruption across many UN agencies. First-hand accounts from whistleblowers with decades of experience at the world's top diplomatic institution.
Behind the scenes with some of the Independent women who defied the odds and defeated high profile politicians. With rare access we filmed personal moments away from the spotlight, documenting their transition to Canberra.
Almost 20,000 people have reportedly been killed since the military seized power in Myanmar in February 2021. Over the past year filmmakers have worked with local journalists who have risked their lives to secretly document the army's brutal repression. The result is a forensic investigation into the repeated use of lethal force on large numbers of peaceful protesters.
When a smooth-talking businessman came to a working-class Australian suburb his promises of a better life were intoxicating. Hundreds of investors believed him and bought shares in the mining exploration company he spruiked. Instead, almost all the battlers lost their hard-earned cash, for some their entire life savings. Four Corners reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna goes in pursuit of the elusive businessman and the missing money that people invested in his business, obtaining hundreds of internal company documents.
The inside story of the decline of Qantas. Current and former staff talk about ruthless cost cutting and a divide and conquer culture. An airline in damage control, beset by customer complaints and a demoralised workforce.
In suburban Australian streets there's a turf war going on where teenagers are being attacked with knives and sometimes killed just for being in the wrong neighbourhood. Four Corners goes deep inside the postcode wars. Reporter Grace Tobin has gained extraordinary access to the teenagers who are being drawn into the violence and the escalating criminal activities that follow.
In a rare in-depth interview, Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton speaks about some of the issues that shaped him and his vision for Australia. Colleagues who've known him for many years also offer their insights.
In towns and cities across Australia, the critical lack of affordable and social housing now means people with low paying jobs are struggling to find accommodation. Louise Milligan reports on the new face of homelessness.
How genealogy databases are being used to solve crimes and cold cases. As DNA databases continue to grow, law enforcement agencies are becoming increasingly confident these new DNA detectives will expose criminals.
The real cost of Australia's worker shortage. From hospitals and hotels to farms and factories there's an urgent need for workers. The problem is particularly acute in regional towns where almost every sector is struggling.
In Australia Aboriginal women are among the most victimised groups in the world, murdered up to 12 times the national average. Their deaths rarely make the headlines. Bridget Brennan examines the lack of resources available for Indigenous women at risk of domestic violence.
What would conflict with China mean for Australia? Tensions between China and the US over Taiwan are the highest since the 1970s. Angus Grigg talks to the experts who are mapping the war games and the impact they would have.
Did Western powers fail to prevent war in Ukraine? Four Corners traces the current war in Ukraine back to 2014 when Russia invaded Crimea and supported the separatist movements in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. The program talks to key participants who worked on the many failed negotiations for a ceasefire.
Australia's failure to protect children in detention. Four Corners will show for the first time the dangerous restraining practice used by WA officers on children.
Four Corners takes you inside the suburban schools connected to the secretive Opus Dei. Reporter Louise Milligan and the team investigate the disturbing practices of the conservative Catholic organisation Opus Dei and its influence in the NSW Liberal Party.
The doctors who break their sacred oath but are still allowed to practise. Australia's system of health regulation is allowing doctors who have groped, dated and even raped their patients to continue practising. Reporter Emily Baker investigates the medical complaints handling process as patients tell harrowing stories of betrayal, and the system that struggled to respond.
Can carbon credits really save the planet? Four Corners reporter Stephen Long journeys deep into the Papua New Guinean jungle to uncover the confronting truth about the carbon trade, finding a vast chasm between what is marketed and what is really happening.
Film-maker Olly Lambert spends two months on Ukraine’s southern front line with volunteer special forces as they begin the push to capture Kherson. How are they winning the fight? This revealing and intimate observational film takes a deep dive into the trenches and outposts of the Ukrainian military.
Australia's secret battle with eating disorders. We follow families as they struggle to get the right treatment, exploring the complexities and revealing a health system appallingly underprepared to deal with this crisis.
Inside Perth Mint's billion dollar scandal. Criminals have targeted Australia's largest government-owned gold refiner, trying to exploit weaknesses in its reporting systems to launder money.
Exposing the political games of one of Australia's most powerful lobby groups. A senior Liberal Party minister speaks for the first time about the orchestrated campaign to remove him by the powerful Australian gambling lobby.
British filmmaker Ben Zand takes us into the dark world of Incels - a radical online subculture of young men who rage against women for supposedly denying them sex and then turn that rage into fantasies about horrific violence.
Four Corners opens the door on the real estate industry. More than a hundred agents and property professionals reveal the ways in which their profession manipulates and misleads buyers as well as sellers in the pursuit of making a deal.
A Four Corners investigation has uncovered a scandal that goes to the heart of the Paralympic Games.
Johnny Kitagawa’s legendary male-only talent agency trained young boys to become superstars. But for over 50 years, Japan has kept Kitagawa’s dark secret – a long history of allegations of sexual abuse, made by boys in his agency. Even after the music mogul’s death in 2019, the Japanese media remained largely silent. Why? BBC journalist Mobeen Azhar explores the suffocating reality of being a J-pop idol and the influence that Kitagawa had on the media, and exposes the brutal consequences of turning a blind eye.
Australia is under cyber-attack and the problem is only getting worse. John Lyons tracks the criminal syndicate behind one of our largest-ever data breaches, finding highly-organised criminal gangs that are often based in Russia.
Two years ago, reporter Sarah Ferguson investigated how Rupert Murdoch's Fox News promoted Donald Trump's misinformation. This week Fox has abruptly agreed to pay more than $1 billion in a defamation settlement with Dominion. Four Corners revisits its investigation into the inner workings of the powerful Murdoch-owned conservative news outlet, in the wake of the company's billion-dollar settlement with an election technology company.
As Australia embarks on the $368 billion AUKUS plan to acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, reporter Angus Grigg exposes major delays and safety issues in our current Collins Class vessels.
The new reality of artificial life: Four Corners investigates the misuse and abuse of generative artificial intelligence and what it means for humanity.
This week Four Corners goes deep inside Russia to document the opposition to the Ukrainian war. The filmmakers get rare access to the brave Russians who are willing to speak out against their government. Despite the incredible risk, a group of graffiti artists, an actor, a local politician, and a YouTube influencer let the producers film their lives as they voice dissent. It’s been dangerous for Russians to speak up against Vladimir Putin’s regime for years. New censorship laws, introduced since the invasion of Ukraine, have made it tougher than ever. This Storyville, BBC co-production is a gripping and timely piece of journalism.
Australians are the highest per capita users of cocaine in the world, and we pay top dollar. Mahmood Fazal speaks with traffickers, importers, street dealers and high-ranking cartel operatives who break their code of silence.
The new legal tactics blocking justice for survivors. Louise Milligan goes inside the legal fight as lawyers representing victims face institutions pushing to have cases thrown out of court altogether.
Taiwan is in dire straits, stuck in the middle of a struggle between two nuclear superpowers - China and the United States. BBC reporter Jane Corbin takes us inside that fight and tells a story that could have ramifications for all of us.
The secretive deals between Australia's big sporting codes and bookmakers. Reporter Pat McGrath reveals how sports governing bodies get a cut of every bet made in Australia on their games. Could it change the way the games are played?
Four Corners reveals one of Australia's best kept secrets. The program will expose how a senior officer at our national spy agency stole and sold highly classified intelligence to Russia's KGB for at least six years.
Inside Australia's Biggest Tax Scam. Paul Farrell investigates the Plutus Payroll scheme: a vast conspiracy to defraud more than $100 million from Australian taxpayers, revealing how it was set up and how it was brought down.
A week after the Wagner rebellion exposed cracks in Russian President Vladimir Putin's power, we investigate his decades long clashes with US Presidents. The miscalculations and missteps that paved the way for war in Ukraine. From acclaimed PBS Frontline filmmaker Michael Kirk and his award-winning team.
The battle over youth gender care. Patricia Karvelas breaks open the debate, navigating polarised arguments and scientific research on issues including medical interventions, puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
Inside the broken business of building. Australia has the highest rate of construction insolvencies in a decade. We examine the supply chain pressures, slim profit margins and failure in regulation as some flout the law.
From the Ukrainian frontlines to Syria and the mines of the Central African Republic, we lift the veil on Putin's private army - The Wagner Group. Former senior Wagner insiders speak about what they saw in the line of duty.
Channel 4 Reporter Iman Amrani investigates the TikTok sensation that is Shein. Undercover cameras go inside Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein's factories for the first time.
How consultants infiltrated government. Consulting firms push ethical boundaries and cost billions of dollars with little transparency and almost no accountability. We reveal accusations of wasted public money and conflicts of interest. Reporters Angus Grigg and Jessica Longbottom dive into the opaque world of Australian Government consulting.
The children of Australia's meth crisis. Thousands of Australian babies are born exposed to their mothers' drug use every year. We investigate what's being done to tackle one of the hidden side effects of the drug epidemic.
The AFL is the only major sporting code in the world that hasn't had a single elite male player publicly identify as gay. Louise Milligan investigates the AFL's culture and asks what has created this silence?
Antidepressants have helped many treat anxiety and depression but the physical and mental side effects can be wide-ranging. From headaches and brain fog to more severe impacts like loss of sexual function and suicidal thoughts. The BBC spoke to more than 100 patients grappling with effects of some kind (originally a BBC production for Panama).
Despite the Taliban's public promises of change, we expose the reality of life for women in Afghanistan. We accompany an underground network of female activists on dangerous missions to rescue women hunted by the Taliban. Filmed by British Iranian journalist Ramita Navai for ITV and PBS Frontline.
Renegotiating Australia's democracy. Dan Bourchier travels the country talking to people about what the referendum means to them. The Voice debate has been unsettling and confusing, so what does self-determination look like?
The inside story of the decline of Qantas. Current and former staff talk about ruthless cost cutting and a divide and conquer culture. An airline in damage control, beset by customer complaints and a demoralised workforce.
How the NDIS fails to protect our most vulnerable. Anne Connolly and the Four Corners team expose criminals, opportunists and registered providers who have been busted exploiting loopholes to overcharge and defraud the NDIS.
Undercover operatives and secret informants have been crucial in the fight against organised crime. But what happens to these people who risk their lives once the operations have finished and the criminals are behind bars?
Climate, protest and the fight for the future. Reporter Hagar Cohen takes you deep inside the battle between climate activists, the government and energy companies. Watch along as protestors visit the Woodside CEO's home.
Inside the hidden system locking people up indefinitely. Four Corners reveals allegations of the torture and mistreatment of people living with disabilities and mental illness who are locked up indefinitely by the state.
The nation-building project that went horribly wrong. Snowy Hydro 2.0 was sold as a low-carbon future by the end of 2024. Instead, the pumped hydro project is now five years behind schedule and the forecast cost blows out to $12 billion.
Private security policing the public. In the heart of Darwin, private security firms hired by the Northern Territory Government patrol the streets doing work usually done by the police. We examine is there adequate training, accountability and oversight? Four Corners uncovers the extent of the potentially unlawful practices of these guards.
BBC Three Documentary: Investigative journalist Matt Shea delves into the perplexing rise of Andrew Tate, a once-obscure figure who leveraged bombastic online courses to become a global sensation.
In the 2024 season return, Four Corners uncovers the tactics being used by supermarkets to keep the prices high - and the competition out.
A man accused by Rwandan authorities of participating in one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century is living in Australia's suburbs. This joint Four Corners and Guardian investigation raise tough questions about Australia's immigration screening processes.
Why the rest of Australia should care about what's happening at elite schools. Amid the push for private boys' schools in Australia to go co-educational, we investigate if these institutions are safe places for girls.
Inside Israel's war machine. John Lyons asks the tough questions; challenging some of Israel's most powerful political and military voices about the country's strategy and intentions. Is there any way out of this war?
Two years since Ukraine was invaded by Russia, Four Corners brings you a rare insight from the other side. Filmmaker Sean Langan's groundbreaking documentary offers a human perspective on life on the Russian frontline.
Four Corners goes behind the scenes of David McBride's fight to clear his name. The former Australian military lawyer is credited with exposing war crimes in Afghanistan — but was that his intention when he released government secrets?
The weight-loss wonder drugs in high demand and short supply. Elise Worthington meets desperate patients trying to access medications like Ozempic and exposes an Australian scam illegally exporting the suspect drugs overseas.
More than three million Australians are living with chronic pain, and it's become a breeding ground for exploitation. We expose the ugly side of medicine with patients in worse pain after having surgery and lives put at risk.
Four Corners brings you the inside story of one of America’s biggest national security leaks. PBS Frontline production.
Australia's addiction to crystal meth or 'ice' is having devastating consequences, but beyond the street dealer, most are unaware of the drug's murky supply chains - and the faceless figures profiting at the top.
A growing number of children are struggling to attend school - they want to go to school but feel like they can't because of anxiety and stress. We meet families battling the blame, shame and fear of missing out on education.
Ten years after the riot at Sydney's Cronulla Beach the original Four Corners program by reporter Liz Jackson that looks at the inside story of the riot, its triggers and its vengeful aftermath.
In July 1985, the Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior was sunk in Auckland Harbour following two explosions.
Three Four Corners stories from the 1960s presented by John Penlington.
Three Four Corners stories from the 1970s reveal how environmental consciousness was taking hold.
A moving portrait of the conductor Stuart Challender.
