Four Corners
Four Corners is Australia's longest-running investigative journalism/current affairs television program. Broadcast on ABC1 in Australia, it premiered on 19 August 1961 and celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2021. Founding producer Robert Raymond and his successor Allan Ashbolt did much to set the ongoing tone of the program. Based on the Panorama concept, the program addresses a single issue in depth each week, showing either a locally produced program or a relevant documentary from overseas. The program has won many awards for investigative journalism, and broken many high-profile stories. A notable early example of this was the show's epoch-making 1962 exposé on the appalling living conditions endured by many Aboriginal Australians living in rural New South Wales.
A gripping account of the insurrection as it unfolded, told by those who were there. In her return to Four Corners, Sarah Ferguson confronts some of those who answered Donald Trump's call to overturn the election result.
A personal portrait of the man now leading America charting Joe Biden's rise from a hardscrabble childhood where he faced bullying and discrimination based on a severe stutter, to personal tragedies and political missteps.
Self-described defenders of Russia are determined to shut down anti-Putin sentiment in Australia, establishing pro-Moscow chapters as part of a propaganda war to remind the world that Russia is a force to the reckoned with.
Four Corners investigates accusations of mismanagement and neglect which have fuelled a bitter dispute between Kakadu's traditional owners and the authority that runs the World Heritage Listed site.
China's President Xi Jinping and his quest for world power. An insightful look at his rise to power, how he consolidated his leadership through economic strength, populism and iron fist control, and what is his agenda?
Four Corners examines the historical rape allegation made against Federal Attorney General Christian Porter, which he strenuously denies.
In a shocking investigation, Four Corners reveals how a sex slave cult has been operating in plain sight here in Australia.
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. Four Corners examines who knew what, and when.
In February, Myanmar's military launched a coup, arresting political leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In this provocative portrait, some of those who once publicly supported her say she lost her credibility during her time in power.
Four Corners investigates what is driving the Federal Government's push for a gas-fired future in the face of considerable scepticism, with many warning that the public is not fully informed about the costs of backing gas.
An investigation into what the Chinese government knew about the COVID-19 outbreak and compelling evidence of a determined campaign to keep it under wraps.
How Australia's trade with China became a political weapon. Stephen Long reveals how trade sanctions appear to have been carefully timed and targeted to cause maximum damage plus the human and financial cost of the dispute.
Across the country, millions of Australians of all ages, play video games every day. Four Corners brings together gamers, industry players and psychologists to investigate the manipulative techniques used across many games.
After being diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), renowned scientist and robotics expert Dr Peter Scott-Morgan set out to find and apply cutting edge technology to extend his life and retain the essence of who he is.
With the rise of online shopping, the demand for cheap and readily available clothing has created a new fashion boom. Four Corners investigates the unglamorous, and in some cases illegal practices of the clothing industry.
Australia's success in keeping COVID from taking hold made us the envy of the world, but the slow pace of vaccine rollout has caused frustration and confusion. Adam Harvey charts how our vaccination program has fallen short.
A cautionary tale of big money, back room lobbying and political influence. As James Packer prepares to walk away from the casino business he championed, those who fought against Crown say there are lessons to be learned.
Twenty years on from the 9/11 terror attacks, former war correspondent Graeme Smith travels back through the cities and provinces of Afghanistan to try and make sense of the conflict.
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 story behind the turmoil that's engulfed Australia Post. Four Corners investigates allegations of secret privatisation plans and proposed job cuts, and examines who was really standing up for whom. In interviews with key players, we ask the decision makers to explain their actions to the people of Australia.
How the casino regulator failed to stop crime at Crown. Industry insiders with decades of experience speak for the first time about how the regulator allowed crime to flourish under its nose. Their revelations expose how and why Crown was not held in check and they say Crown is not the only one that needs to accountable.
The rise and fall of an Australian billionaire. From Bundaberg to the boardrooms of the international corporate elite, how did Lex Greensill make and lose a fortune, leaving a trail of creditors and investors in the lurch.
Mount Everest has become big business with multiple companies selling the promise of an adventure of a lifetime. But surging numbers of inexperienced climbers have been swarming the mountain, with deadly consequences. Now the elder statesmen of the climbing community warn that change is needed to protect both Everest and those who climb it.
Data mining, discrimination and dangerous content on the world's most popular app. In a joint investigation by Four Corners and triple j's Hack, Avani Dias uncovers the many techniques TikTok is using to know about its users.
They are the videos that stunned the world - images from the firegrounds capturing the ferocity of the bushfires that have raged across Australia. We bring you the people and the stories behind the heart-stopping footage.
A criminal scandal stretching from the White House to Australia. Stephanie March investigates the insider trading scandal that engulfed a US Congressman and his Sydney-based investment, posing major questions for regulators.
Private school privilege and a culture of cover up. Schools promise academic excellence and pledge to turn out fine young men and women, but has a desire to protect reputation at all costs allowed a toxic culture to flourish.
The deadly epidemic that sparked a global emergency. We chart the Coronavirus outbreak from Wuhan, whether a cover up by Chinese authorities allowed the virus to spread and how scientists are racing to develop a vaccine.
Growing up without a gender. Young Australians who do not identify as male or female explain how they negotiate the world and the judgement of others. Their parents talk about what it's like to raise a gender neutral child.
The Jeffrey Epstein scandal continues even after his death. Through interviews with key players, including Prince Andrew, we piece together sordid details of Epstein's offending and the allegations made against Prince Andrew.
Exposing killings and cover ups by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. Four Corners details explosive revelations about the conduct of Australia's elite special forces during the war in Afghanistan. Mark Willacy reports.
On the frontline to preserve the world's largest tropical rainforest. Brazil is allowing the Amazon to be felled at an alarming rate, but Indigenous tribes, scientists and activists are fighting back. Sophie McNeill reports.
The fight to contain coronavirus. Have critical mistakes left Australia and our frontline medical workers dangerously exposed? Doctors, patients and health practitioners talk about confronting the virus for the first time.
Amazon is a corporate colossus that dominates the global retail landscape, but it also collects a staggering amount of personal data about its customers. Former high-level insiders reveal how the company achieved its success.
The coronavirus outbreak created a public health emergency that unleashed a financial wrecking ball through our economy. Capturing history in the making David Speers follows the political scramble, with access to key players.
How the cruise of a lifetime turned into a deadly nightmare. Passengers and day trippers were trapped when NZ's most active volcano erupted. Were tourists warned of the danger and could more have been done to prevent tragedy?
The healthcare workers on the frontlines of the fight against coronavirus. Four Corners has captured video diaries, interviews and footage with deeply personal accounts from staff in hospitals and GP clinics across Australia.
As the shocking death toll continues to rise, President Trump's calls for states to reopen could have catastrophic consequences. We track the halting federal response, early warnings, missed opportunities and mixed messages.
How brutal politics derailed climate policy in Australia. Several former senior public servants speak about flawed decision making and squandered opportunities by parties on all sides of the political spectrum over a decade.
How the Ruby Princess became an incubator for infection, leaving passengers and staff dangerously exposed. An alarming picture emerges of crucial decisions by the cruise operator and the actions of Australian authorities.
One of the world's poorest countries, North Korea use breathtaking tricks to circumvent UN sanctions and outwit the west. Money laundering, arms smuggling, insurance fraud and human trafficking finance its nuclear arsenal.
An in-depth look at the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine. From extraordinary scientific hurdles to extreme moral and ethical dilemmas, Australian scientists have had to overcome missed opportunities and a lack of preparedness.
AI enables machines to 'think' at a speed and depth far beyond human capacity, unleashing incredible possibilities but also the potential for harm. Will we see a new cold war as China and the US battle for tech supremacy?
How coronavirus spread among our most vulnerable elderly residents. We examine Australia's second most deadly coronavirus cluster, Newmarch House aged care facility, where 34 staff and 37 residents were infected and 19 died.
Australia's aviation crisis and the future of flying. Aviation is a high profile casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, our second major carrier Virgin was on the brink of collapse. What went wrong and is the industry viable?
The long road to recovery after the Black Summer bushfires. Despite millions in donations and promises of government assistance, communities such as Cobargo still live in terrible conditions and fear they have been forgotten.
In a searing and 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 George Floyd's death resonates so profoundly.
Witness the daily struggles of doctors and hospital staff in Cremona as they battle to keep coronavirus patients alive. Medical staff fight off emotion, fatigue and fear as numbers continued to climb in the north of Italy.
The financial scandal and human cost of Australia's workers compensation schemes. Some injured workers say their lives have been ruined by insurers hell-bent on avoiding payouts. We examine the methods used to assess claims.
Four Corners investigates the claims of a worldwide protest movement against wireless 5G technology, exploring how it works and the scientific studies undertaken into whether the technology is actually a threat to our health.
We reveal how 'big plastic' used clever marketing campaigns to persuade consumers and environmental groups to carry the burden by recycling rather than reducing the amount of plastic manufactured, allowing exponential growth.
The second wave: what went so wrong in Victoria. How did COVID-19 escape into the community, wreaking havoc and putting the nation in peril. We examine failures by the authorities who were supposed to keep the community safe.
Violent crime and the mentally ill: how the mental health system is failing to protect the community and the patients themselves. Families reveal a disturbing picture of inadequate healthcare with devastating consequences.
The race to colonise outer space. We examine the extraordinary opportunities and challenges of the new space age as billionaire entrepreneurs make travel beyond our own planet possible, while nation states stake their claims.
How bribes, sex and money fuelled America's opioid epidemic. The aggressive marketing of dangerously potent and addictive opioids by pharmaceutical companies has driven an alarming rise in global drug addiction and death.
The Australian mercenaries selling paramilitary services to warlords and despots abroad. Four Corners investigates this murky world as conflicts are being fought by private military contractors operating as guns for hire.
The investigation that exposed a predatory network of human traffickers. With exclusive access to police and the court case, see how they brought down the family crime group behind the UK's biggest human slavery operation.
Australia is in a deep economic downturn, decades of growth halted by the coronavirus pandemic. After the closure of our borders and extensive restrictions, we investigate the financial fallout and what the future may hold.
Incredible stories of survival from the Beirut blast zone. Adam Harvey pieces together the story of the explosion, tracking down people who filmed or witnessed the blast, as well as business owners and emergency responders.
How digital dating became a predators' playground. In a joint investigation for Four Corners and triple j Hack, Avani Dias uncovers a deeply troubling pattern of sexual assault and rape facilitated by the use of Tinder.
Breaking the silence about sexual abuse in sport. Around the world sporting codes have been engulfed in scandal with revelations about the sexual abuse of young athletes by coaches, and administrators accused of covering up.
With just over a week before polling day, can Donald Trump again defy the polls and his critics and secure a second presidential term? Michael Brissenden examines key states and voting blocs in this fierce political dogfight.
In first hand accounts the class of 2020 reflect on how the global pandemic upended their final year of school. Students from across Australia discuss the uncertainty and disruption of lockdown and their plans for the future.
Parliament House in Canberra is a hotbed of political intrigue and high tension - but what happens after hours? Louise Milligan investigates the conduct of some of the most senior politicians in the nation.
Four Corners reporter Sophie McNeill reveals the story of Saudi asylum seeker Rahaf Al Qunun from inside a Bangkok hotel room capturing the high tension, despair and eventual jubilation when Rahaf is offered asylum in Canada.
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 transforms into an economic powerhouse, billions of dollars have been illegally spirited out of the country. Mark Willacy reports on the bounty hunters chasing China's missing millions in Australia.
Why are so many women going to prison? Across Australia, 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.
Four Corners reveals how Australia's highest ranking Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, was brought to justice. With the suppression order lifted on his conviction for sexually abusing two boys, the full story can now be told.
In heart-stopping interviews and video we follow the story of Princess Latifa, daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum - the ruler of Dubai whose horse won the 2018 Melbourne Cup, as she attempts to escape Dubai.
Uber is one of the most recognisable brands in the world. It's embedded in our language and revolutionised transport. How did the edgy digital disruptor upend an entire business model, outwit regulators and crush competitors?
The Christchurch terror attack brought to light the violent, disturbing right-wing extremist movement flourishing on the internet. Were authorities so focused on Islamic extremism that they failed to grasp this deadly threat?
The struggle to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. With a Federal election looming, we explore climate change policy: from electricity prices, the role of coal, the cars we drive, animals we breed and gas we export.
New evidence of China's covert political influence campaign in Australia. We reveal secret Beijing-backed political activity and information gathering operations targeting politicians and Chinese dissenters in Australia.
A grandmother's desperate journey to rescue her children and bring them home. Four Corners exclusively brings you the story of the Sharrouf children and their grandmother's fight to save them from a refugee camp in Syria.
Four Corners explores the controversial police technique putting innocent people behind bars, with a series of high-profile cases across America revealing a slew of wrongful convictions based on false confessions.
Universities that 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.
It's almost three years since the shocking revelations of mistreatment in the NT's Don Dale youth detention centre. Four Corners investigates a new child detention crisis in another part of Australia. Mark Willacy reports.
The Battle for Warringah is one of this election's most intriguing. We examine the new style of campaigning and the future of the Liberal Party through the battle between Former PM Tony Abbott and Independent Zali Steggall.
On April 15, the world watched in horror as the Notre-Dame Cathedral caught alight. Through interviews and video from fire authorities and eyewitnesses we follow the epic battle to save the 800-year-old architectural icon.
How the Chinese Communist Party crushed democracy. 30 years ago millions of students and citizens protested in Tiananmen Square calling for democracy. A trove of vision and audio reveals how the shocking events unfolded.
Louise Milligan investigates what led up to James Gargasoulas driving a car at high speed through Melbourne's Bourke Street killing six people, despite facing serious criminal charges and warnings he was a danger to others.
President Trump has ignited a massive trade war with China, slapping billions of dollars worth of tariffs on Chinese goods. Despite the rhetoric, questions are being asked about who has the most to lose from the conflict.
Australia has one of the worst extinction rates on the planet, and growing. Four Corners goes into the field with leading scientists and conservation volunteers to document first hand the fight to save these wild creatures.
In increasingly alarming scenes, the US and Iran are facing off in the Middle East. Tensions have escalated, driven by concerns over the Islamic Republic's nuclear capabilities which have led to fears of military conflict.
Two years on from the investigation into water theft in the Murray-Darling Basin that sparked a royal commission, we return to the river system to investigate new concerns about how the plan to rescue it is being carried out.
We uncover disturbing evidence of how China is effectively operating the world's largest prison. In Xinjiang province the Uyghur population is rounded up, detained or monitored using AI technology and mass surveillance tools.
Julian Assange is one of the most influential figures of our time. The Australian born founder of WikiLeaks harnessed technology to champion free speech and the right to know. But is he a hero or villain?
In 2016 Donald Trump enjoyed Wikileaks damaging Hillary Clinton's campaign. Now President Trump wants to imprison the publisher of the leaks. We explore Julian Assange's activities while sheltering in the Ecuadorian Embassy.
How the UK's plan to leave Europe turned into a nightmare. Three years after the UK voted to leave the EU, key negotiators and politicians reveal what happened and how new PM Boris Johnson intends to resolve the crisis.
Can Boris Johnson deliver Brexit and keep the Kingdom together? Phil Williams explores his career from journalist to politician, through epic gaffes, scandals and a colourful turn of phrase to become Britain's 77th PM.
From shoddy workmanship to lax laws, Australia's apartment building crisis is leaving owners out of pocket and in some cases homeless. Industry insiders reveal a litany of failures that could leave defects for years to come.
National security versus the public's right to know. The extraordinary steps Australia's government took to prosecute a former spy and his lawyer for conspiring to reveal secret intelligence operations aimed at a foreign government.
For 12 weeks Hong Kong has been convulsed by turmoil as pro-democracy flash mob protestors rise up against mainland Chinese rule. We go on the frontline to witness the escalating violence and chaos with extraordinary footage.
How your postcode can determine the quality of care you get. Medical staff speak out about the standard of hospital care after a series of catastrophic incidents resulting in preventable death, injury or permanent disability.
Social media has transformed how we communicate and share thoughts. But it has morphed into the perfect platform for orchestrated disinformation campaigns, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish real from fake info.
Dying is an expensive business with the billion-dollar funeral industry virtually unregulated. We reveal the dubious tactics of some in the industry, from price gouging, unethical conduct and questionable treatment of bodies.
For the first time former brides of Islamic State tell their stories of life in the caliphate. Tracing their journeys from quiet Australian suburbia to the streets of the Middle East, they beg to be allowed home to Australia.
Sir Trevor McDonald investigates the extraordinary case of one of Britain's worst serial killers: Beverly Allitt, a young female nurse who murdered and attacked children in her care.
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?
The scandalous case of Lawyer X and the underbelly murder investigations. Prominent figures reveal the story of cops, criminals, murder and betrayal, and how the actions of Victoria Police have undermined the justice system.
It's sold as a dream job - an 'influencer' lifestyle where you can work flexible hours from home and earn a commission. But social media marketing and selling schemes are accused of using illegal pyramid selling practices.
The man wrongly accused in the William Tyrrell child abduction investigation, Bill Spedding, speaks publicly for the first time. How did a single-minded approach by police lead to a raft of mistakes and missed opportunities.
Why too many young Australians are struggling with literacy in the digital age. Louise Milligan examines the way reading and writing is being taught in our schools to find out what is going wrong.
Linton Besser reports on the undercover operation to catch the world's most wanted money launderer in The Billion Dollar Bust.
The domestic workers treated like slaves in Australia. Louise Milligan investigates the hidden workforce kept behind closed doors, living in slave-like conditions and made to work around the clock.
The search for foreign fighters in the ruins of Raqqa. For four years Islamic State ruled its 'caliphate' from its capital Raqqa. ABC Middle East correspondent Matt Brown goes on an intense journey to the city freed from IS.
Dancing, drugs and rebellion in the Islamic Republic of Iran. After decades of strict rules, many young people in Iran are now rebelling. They're taking their lives in their hands and defying the regime to party in secret.
How Australia's warming climate is changing the way we live and work. Rather than waiting for politicians, our farmers, small businesses, government planners and corporations are adapting to weather challenges and acting now.
Australia's population is growing fast, we've added almost 400,000 people in the last year, and we're feeling the strain. Ben Knight investigates what a Big Australia means and the difficult choices that will have to be made.
The women who worked for Harvey Weinstein tell their stories. For the first time, work colleagues and employees who kept quiet fearing legal action and reprisals, are coming forward to allege he used his power to abuse them.
The millions of Australians missing out on superannuation. Despite having a .5 trillion pool of retirement savings, the rise of the gig economy and freelance workers mean millennials are entering a very different workforce.
Taking on the extraordinary powers of the Tax Office. Adele Ferguson puts the actions of the ATO under the microscope, examining how it uses its extensive powers and whether it is acting fairly and ethically.
The undercover investigation that left social media giant Facebook reeling. We unmask the secretive political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and the dirty tricks they deployed to undermine the democratic process.
The race to riches for Australia's new marijuana moguls. While entrepreneurs are talking up the potential of products from insomnia cures to chronic pain treatments, patients are struggling to access cannabis products.
Sugar, politics and what's making us fat. Michael Brissenden investigates the power of Big Sugar and its influence on public policy. We reveal the industry's tactics and the access they enjoy, as doctors warn of an obesity crisis.
The case that put sexual consent on trial. The young woman at the centre of one of Australia's most controversial rape trials has chosen to speak to Four Corners in the hope others will learn from her experience.
The scandalous conduct of a global bank. HSBC is one of the world's largest and most powerful financial institutions, but it has been at the centre of several of the biggest financial scandals uncovered this century.
The workers paying the price for our mobile phone obsession. Smartphones and tablets revolutionised the way we communicate but the technology we are addicted to has had toxic consequences for the factory workers making them.
Millions of Australians fork out big money for private health insurance. In this joint Four Corners investigation with Dr Norman Swan from RN's Health Report, we examine what's driving these out of pocket expenses.
Four Corners follows the money trail from New York to Moscow, tracking the ties between Trump, his business empire and Russia.
Sarah Ferguson continues to chart the extraordinary allegations, interrogating the evidence and interviewing key protagonists in this unfolding drama over members of the Trump team accused of being compromised by Russia.
In the final part of our special report, Sarah Ferguson investigates central allegations that members of the Trump team, including possibly the President himself, actively colluded with Russia to subvert American democracy.
The teenage criminals sentenced to life in jail. Being tough on crime has become a popular mantra for political parties, but calls for a crackdown have led to tougher penalties and mandatory life sentences for some youths.
The quarantine failures putting the Australian economy at risk. Four Corners investigates some of the worst biosecurity breaches, uncovering sophisticated smuggling operations, inadequate enforcement and corruption.
The Secrets and Scandals of Australian Horse Racing. With a prize pool more than million and employing 50,000 people it's one of our biggest industries, but away from the glamour all is not well in the sport of kings.
The extraordinary rescue mission to save Thailand's lost boys. Mark Willacy documents the extraordinary international effort to find and rescue 12 school boys and their soccer coach from a remote cave in northern Thailand.
How corporate greed and deception cost AMP its trusted place in Australian life. How AMP ripped off customers including charging fees for no service and the measures it took to conceal its actions as it lied to the regulator.
Australia accused of failing to stand up for democracy as Cambodia descends into dictatorship. Sophie McNeill confronts the man whose political opponents have been imprisoned and assassinated in mysterious circumstances.
The undercover investigation exposing how Facebook decides what you see. An undercover reporter, training as a content moderator, is taken through the rules behind the social networking site, secretly filming the process.
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, cosmetic surgery has entered the mainstream.
Having a child is supposed to be the most natural thing in the world, but knowing how to raise children can be daunting. Follow the story of three mothers determined to learn how to become better parents.
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.
Strategist and provocateur Steve Bannon channelled the anger of those who felt left behind by globalism to elect Trump as president. Sarah Ferguson interviews Bannon on his crusade for a global populist-nationalist movement.
The teenage survivors rebuilding their lives. They were young girls and teenagers, out to see their favourite pop star in Manchester. As the show ended, a terrorist detonated a home-made bomb killing 22 and injuring 250.
In part one, Four Corners investigates the business of aged care and what that means for the vulnerable residents left in its care. Families speak out with disturbing accounts of overworked staff and neglected residents.
In part two, we detail shocking cases of abuse and premature deaths in our nursing homes. Carers and families come forward to tell their stories and reveal the abject failure of government regulation to protect the elderly.
A portrait of a community surviving the drought. A story from the heart of the drought, a portrait of the land and its people where lack of rain is biting hard. Witness the strength of Quirindi doing all they can to carry on.
The secret tactics used by global chemical giant Monsanto to protect its billion-dollar business and its star product, the weed killer, Roundup. We trace the company's influence campaign from the US back to Australian farms.
Hidden cameras behind bars reveal the problems facing governments around the world: how to manage soaring prison populations, rife with drugs, violence and squalid living conditions as well as the rise of privately run jails.
How a cashed up gun industry has Australia's firearms laws in its sights. Sean Nicholls examines a lobby group funded and directed by major firearms sellers and manufacturers employing new tactics, connections and influence.
The visit by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was a triumph for the House of Windsor brand. We examine the sophisticated corporate campaign to future-proof the Crown and how the Royals modernised and rebuilt their reputation.
According to the media, Melbourne is in the grip of a crimewave, overrun by African street gangs responsible for a wave of violence. Reporter Sophie McNeill is on the ground to get to the truth about "African" crime.
The final Four Corners for 2018 examines the corporate crisis that engulfed the ABC and brought down both the Managing Director and Chair. Sarah Ferguson speaks with inside players including Michelle Guthrie and Justin Milne.
Four Corners returns with an incisive exploration of how President Trump will wield power. Reporter Michael Brissenden interviews key players in the Trump camp & Republicans on the political earthquake rippling across the US.
How Australians are spending billions on unproven vitamins & supplements. With 7 out of 10 Australians taking a complementary medicine, Four Corners looks at the regulation & marketing of these products.
A Report from the Frontlines in the Battle Against the Islamic State. As the war against IS intensifies, Matt Brown reports from the frontlines of Mosul - the biggest urban battle since World War II.
What happens to the plastic we throw away? A report on how our rubbish ends up in the ocean and the damage it causes.
The Crown empire have bet big for years on China. Four Corners investigates what went wrong for James Packer's gambling & entertainment operations in China & what this might mean for its Australian business.
Can President Trump keep his promise to make America Great Again? Four Corners meets the human face of America's working poor as they struggle to feed their families.
Four Corners brings you the views of distinguished former members of the US military and senior policy makers who warn that climate change is not only real, it's a threat to global security.
The mothers and carers battling for justice and protection for their disabled children.
Four Corners reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna reveals the brutal backroom politics ripping into Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.
Cracking the Code: What Facebook really knows about you. How one of the world's most powerful corporations is turning our lives and our data into vast profits, in ways we have no control over.
This powerful film shines a light on the barbarism of the Syrian regime at a time when the future of President Assad is being argued over by the world's most powerful nations.
After the Game: Elite athletes blow the whistle on the high price paid for sporting glory.
Four Corners investigates how a nation as rich as Australia is in coal, gas, sunshine and wind, could find itself in an energy crisis.
It was one of the biggest illegal firearms busts in Australian history. A criminal syndicate brazenly smuggling weapons into the country exposing the failings in the nation's border security. Ben Knight reports.
A 2-part investigation into the Lindt Cafe siege. 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.
An investigation uncovering how China's Communist Party is infiltrating Australia, tracking the activities of Beijing-backed organisations and the efforts made to intimidate CCP opponents.
The brave few who blew the whistle on Australia's most corrupt police force.
With the rise of social media and smartphones in virtually every pocket, internet trolls are only ever a click, tap or swipe away. Four Corners takes you into the dark side of the internet.
The retirement villages ripping off retirees. Adele Ferguson investigates.
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.
A story of identity, love and dignity, introducing three families who tell their stories about living with dementia.
In Philadelphia in the early 2000s, a team of lawyers embarked on an investigation led by a formidable District Attorney. What they uncovered was one of the worst criminal cover-ups in US history.
Stretching from Qld to SA, billions of dollars in taxpayer's money has been poured into rescuing the rivers & streams of the Murray-Darling Basin. Linton Besser investigates where the money, & the water is going.
The digital age has revolutionised the way we live our lives. With the technology of smartphones governments have been given the ability to spy on their citizens on an astonishing scale. Nawal Al-Maghafi reports.
The dirty truth about your rubbish. Four Corners investigates the big business of rubbish & where it ends up. In interviews with insiders, reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna exposes hidden practices occurring in the waste industry.
The Greens have been a party in disarray. As the party faces its biggest challenges since its foundation, Four Corners investigates if the party's actions live up to their spin. Louise Milligan reports.
Australians are carrying more personal debt than ever. We hold the second highest level of household debt in the world. Michael Brissenden investigates the forces driving our debt fuelled housing boom & the risks it poses.
Giving blood is a selfless act that saves lives. For many, it's a way of giving back to the community. In other countries, blood has become a lucrative commodity fuelling a global trade worth billions of dollars.
In the wake of the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in London, reporter Deb Whitmont investigates the risk of flammable aluminium cladding in Australia & the dangerous legacy of failed regulation in the building industry.
How Kim Jong-un's murderous ambitions & nuclear weapons program are threatening world peace - tracing his rise to power, his aggressive pursuit of a nuclear weapons program to eliminating potential rivals.
Developers, deals and donations on the Gold Coast. In this pro-development town, a series of controversial billion dollar proposals have prompted a collection of unlikely allies to say enough is enough. Mark Willacy reports.
Inside the murky world of international kidnapping and hostage negotiation. Every year more than 30,000 people are kidnapped around the world. A small number are taken for political reasons, many more held for financial gain.
The dubious dealings of India's corporate colossus. Four Corners travelled to India to dig into the business practices of Adani, the corporate giant planning to build Australia's biggest mine site. Stephen Long reports.
It's one of the biggest environmental scandals in Australian history. Harmful chemicals, leaching into the ground & waterways, contaminating our water. Linton Besser investigates the toxic legacy of fire-fighting foam.
In her only Australian TV interview, Hillary Clinton speaks exclusively with Sarah Ferguson. Candid, open & at times angry, the former presidential candidate talks about what went wrong & her fears for the future.
As the National Broadband Network passes the halfway point in its rollout, Geoff Thompson investigates why Australia's fast broadband is stuck in the slow lane, leaving a growing number of customers disappointed and angry.
A right-wing nationalist party is centre stage in German politics for the first time since Hitler's Nazi Party. We chart the rise of a notorious anti-immigrant group which stands accused of a wave of violent attacks.
Inside the secretive world of tax havens where corporations and the wealthy operate far from public view. In a global investigation we reveal the lengths some business figures and global corporations go to avoid paying tax.
In the week of the same-sex marriage survey result Four Corners looks into the battle for control raging inside the Liberal Party. Whatever the survey result, the politicking will be far from over. Michael Brissenden reports.
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. Debbie Whitmont reports.
Sarah Ferguson presents an investigation into the criminal networks that are threatening the integrity of sport, amidst the uproar over the match fixing revelations in tennis, Linton Besser reports.
What's behind the rise in shark attacks, and is there anything we can do to stop them? Geoff Thompson reports.
Dying to Dance. Inside the dance party drug scene. Caro Meldrum-Hanna reports.
Exploring America's gun culture where kids learn to shoot and their classrooms are designed to be bulletproof. How America grapples with gun violence.
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.
It's the bank that's spent two years rebuilding its reputation after being exposed for ripping off its customers in a devastating financial advice scandal. An explosive corporate investigation by Adele Ferguson.
The big game and big bucks in Africa's trophy hunting industry. Taking us into the darker world of illegal hunting where lions are tranquilised or partly domesticated to make them easier to shot.
A rare account from inside the Essendon doping scandal. Quentin McDermott reports.
The investigation into the scandal engulfing Malaysia's Prime Minister and the question that led to the arrest of our reporter and cameraman.
This Four Corners investigation will reveal how the rich and powerful exploit the system. Reporter Marian Wilkinson follows the money trail.
The rise and fall of Clive Palmer's business empire and political career. Hayden Cooper reports.
In the wake of the attacks in France and Brussels, a BBC Panorama investigation into Islamic State's European terror network and Western intelligence agencies' battle to stop it.
The bad blood between Australian doctors and the Federal Government over offshore detention.
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.
Gold Walkley award-winning reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna follows the trail of evidence in the brutal death of a young woman as her family fights for justice.
Supplements and safety: an investigation into the billion dollar health supplement and vitamin industry. What's in all those pills and could they be doing you harm?
As we head into the third week of the election campaign, Four Corners examines how money and influence operates in the shadowy world of political donations.
With an increasing number of women turning to fertility treatments to help them conceive a baby, Four Corners investigates, are women being sold false hope by the IVF industry?
The scams, fraud and incompetence leaving remote communities exploited and betrayed. Linton Besser journeys almost 5000km across Australia in search of who's to blame.
We meet the people of the small Syrian town who defeated ISIS and are determined to rebuild their lives in the rubble.
The Deputy and the Dark Horse: 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?
With startling predictions that more than 5 million Australian jobs will disappear in the next 15 years, as a result of technology, we look at the future of work and ask are we preparing our kids for the jobs of the future?
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.
The Race To Dope: The elite athletes blowing the whistle on how they cheated the system.
Australia's Shame: The brutalisation of children behind bars. This confronting investigation by Caro Meldrum-Hanna will send shockwaves around Australia.
Insult To Injury: How the system damages cops with PTSD. Quentin McDermott reports.
Man on a wire: How long can Malcolm Turnbull survive?
Milked Dry: The awful price being paid by Australian dairy farmers for the milk we drink. Deb Whitmont reports.
Children On The Frontline: Escape from Aleppo, 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.
Cyber War: How hackers are threatening everything from your bank account to the nation's secrets. Linton Besser reports.
The EU referendum result shocked many, but as this BBC film shows the warning signs were there. In interviews with key players, the program charts the tactics & spin used in the campaign.
Rehab Inc: The high price parents pay to get their kids off ice. Ben Knight reports.
An outback town's bold experiment to save its young people from a life of crime.
Inside America's university fraternities. They're the elite clubs where testosterone, alcohol & campus life come together in a potent mix. Normally media shy, one frat house agreed to let the cameras in.
China Rising: The challenges for Australia as China and the US struggle for supremacy in Asia. Peter Greste joins Four Corners for a special report.
For Better or Worse: How the personal has become political in the fight over same-sex marriage. Four Corners investigates the politics behind the plebiscite debate.
They're the human face of Australia's tough border policies - the more than 100 refugee children living on Nauru. Debbie Whitmont reports.
The activists using cameras to fight back against police brutality in the US.
Four Corners investigates the business of salmon farming. A report by Gold Walkley Award-winning journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna.
Crossroads Afghanistan: A heart-stopping journey on one of the most dangerous roads in the world, right through the heart of Taliban country.
Broken Homes: On the frontline of Australia's child protection crisis.
When acclaimed TV journalist Liz Jackson is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, crippling her with pain & panic attacks, she turns the lens on herself to make the most challenging story of her life.
Shocking revelations on Melbourne's gangland killings. Nick McKenzie reports.
Inside the campaign to save the two Australians on death row in Bali. Mark Davis reports.
Inside Australia's multi-billion dollar greyhound racing industry.
Scandal in the federal government's employment programs. Linton Besser reports.
Apple is the most valuable brand on the planet, making products that everyone wants - but how are its workers treated when the world isn't looking?
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.
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.
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?
"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...
"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 o...
"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 n...
"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 developm...
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
How 33 miners in Chile, who dodged death, have come to terms with the horror they experienced and their second chance at life.
An explosive expose of the cruelty inflicted on Australian cattle exported to the slaughterhouses of Indonesia.
Plot of this episode is not specified yet. Please check back later for more update.
Plot of this episode is not specified yet. Please check back later for more update.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Plot of this episode is not specified yet. Please check back later for more update.
Plot of this episode is not specified yet. Please check back later for more update.
Plot of this episode is not specified yet. Please check back later for more update.
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.
The first in a two-part special focusing on voters as they weigh up their options in key electorates. 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.
A gripping account of the insurrection as it unfolded, told by those who were there. In her return to Four Corners, Sarah Ferguson confronts some of those who answered Donald Trump's call to overturn the election result.
A personal portrait of the man now leading America charting Joe Biden's rise from a hardscrabble childhood where he faced bullying and discrimination based on a severe stutter, to personal tragedies and political missteps.
Self-described defenders of Russia are determined to shut down anti-Putin sentiment in Australia, establishing pro-Moscow chapters as part of a propaganda war to remind the world that Russia is a force to the reckoned with.
Four Corners investigates accusations of mismanagement and neglect which have fuelled a bitter dispute between Kakadu's traditional owners and the authority that runs the World Heritage Listed site.
China's President Xi Jinping and his quest for world power. An insightful look at his rise to power, how he consolidated his leadership through economic strength, populism and iron fist control, and what is his agenda?
Four Corners examines the historical rape allegation made against Federal Attorney General Christian Porter, which he strenuously denies.
In a shocking investigation, Four Corners reveals how a sex slave cult has been operating in plain sight here in Australia.
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. Four Corners examines who knew what, and when.
In February, Myanmar's military launched a coup, arresting political leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In this provocative portrait, some of those who once publicly supported her say she lost her credibility during her time in power.
Four Corners investigates what is driving the Federal Government's push for a gas-fired future in the face of considerable scepticism, with many warning that the public is not fully informed about the costs of backing gas.
An investigation into what the Chinese government knew about the COVID-19 outbreak and compelling evidence of a determined campaign to keep it under wraps.
How Australia's trade with China became a political weapon. Stephen Long reveals how trade sanctions appear to have been carefully timed and targeted to cause maximum damage plus the human and financial cost of the dispute.
Across the country, millions of Australians of all ages, play video games every day. Four Corners brings together gamers, industry players and psychologists to investigate the manipulative techniques used across many games.
After being diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), renowned scientist and robotics expert Dr Peter Scott-Morgan set out to find and apply cutting edge technology to extend his life and retain the essence of who he is.
With the rise of online shopping, the demand for cheap and readily available clothing has created a new fashion boom. Four Corners investigates the unglamorous, and in some cases illegal practices of the clothing industry.
Australia's success in keeping COVID from taking hold made us the envy of the world, but the slow pace of vaccine rollout has caused frustration and confusion. Adam Harvey charts how our vaccination program has fallen short.
A cautionary tale of big money, back room lobbying and political influence. As James Packer prepares to walk away from the casino business he championed, those who fought against Crown say there are lessons to be learned.
Twenty years on from the 9/11 terror attacks, former war correspondent Graeme Smith travels back through the cities and provinces of Afghanistan to try and make sense of the conflict.
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 story behind the turmoil that's engulfed Australia Post. Four Corners investigates allegations of secret privatisation plans and proposed job cuts, and examines who was really standing up for whom. In interviews with key players, we ask the decision makers to explain their actions to the people of Australia.
How the casino regulator failed to stop crime at Crown. Industry insiders with decades of experience speak for the first time about how the regulator allowed crime to flourish under its nose. Their revelations expose how and why Crown was not held in check and they say Crown is not the only one that needs to accountable.
The rise and fall of an Australian billionaire. From Bundaberg to the boardrooms of the international corporate elite, how did Lex Greensill make and lose a fortune, leaving a trail of creditors and investors in the lurch.
Mount Everest has become big business with multiple companies selling the promise of an adventure of a lifetime. But surging numbers of inexperienced climbers have been swarming the mountain, with deadly consequences. Now the elder statesmen of the climbing community warn that change is needed to protect both Everest and those who climb it.
Data mining, discrimination and dangerous content on the world's most popular app. In a joint investigation by Four Corners and triple j's Hack, Avani Dias uncovers the many techniques TikTok is using to know about its users.
How Australia became trapped by COVID-19. Despite millions of people staying at home, the number of infections is climbing with the virulent Delta strain. How issues of supply and hesitancy left Australia dangerously exposed.
Artificial intelligence is changing our lives 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 potentially grave risks.
Four Corners is the longest running series on Australian TV and a powerhouse of investigative journalism: fearless and forensic, holding power to account for 60 years. A special look at highlights from the show's six decades.
The first of a two-part Four Corners special on Rupert Murdoch's Fox News. Sarah Ferguson examines how the network promoted Donald Trump's propaganda and helped destabilise democracy in America.
Fox News insiders reveal how the network changed once Donald Trump entered politics and Rupert Murdoch took over. Part 2 examines the politics at work within the network and fear this alliance has put US democracy in peril.
Four Corners takes you into the fall of Kabul. Interviews and videos from people on the ground capture the drama and chaos of the last 16 days and show the desperate lengths people were resorting to for a chance at freedom.
Exposing the secretive world of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Former members reveal the secretive practices used to instil fear and maintain discipline among followers. Those who have escaped say it's time to hold them to account.
A new type of crime that goes to the heart of what we eat. Criminal syndicates are infiltrating the global food supply chain, undermining the ability of consumers to trust what is on the label and what ends up on their plate.
Big money, sportswashing and the power play to control Australian soccer. Almost half of our premier soccer clubs are owned or controlled by foreign entities. Who are these powerbrokers and what are they getting out of it?
In a major international investigation Four Corners reveals the secrets of the Pandora Papers. Despite authorities promising to close loop holes and crack down on the myriad of offshore services, this industry is flourishing.
The inside story of Sony Music, where fear and intimidation stalked the corridors for decades. Former employees break their silence to expose a toxic workplace culture where appalling behaviour was normalised and covered up.
For 16 years, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been a trailblazing leader on the world stage. After 30 years in politics she has chosen to leave public life at the height of her popularity, having remained an enigma.
Behind the glitz and glamour of cosmetic surgery lie some ugly truths. Adele Ferguson exposes alarming practices in this multi-billion-dollar industry and reveals how the regulatory system is failing to protect Australians.
What's driving Australia's property frenzy. Despite fears of a collapse, the pandemic saw house prices rise at the fastest pace in decades. Stephen Long tracks the property price boom fuelling risky and irrational behaviour.
The secret deals making the Obeid family millions. Angus Grigg has been on the financial trail uncovering secret business dealings and how business is still booming for the Obeids, funding a lavish lifestyle.
They are the videos that stunned the world - images from the firegrounds capturing the ferocity of the bushfires that have raged across Australia. We bring you the people and the stories behind the heart-stopping footage.
A criminal scandal stretching from the White House to Australia. Stephanie March investigates the insider trading scandal that engulfed a US Congressman and his Sydney-based investment, posing major questions for regulators.
Private school privilege and a culture of cover up. Schools promise academic excellence and pledge to turn out fine young men and women, but has a desire to protect reputation at all costs allowed a toxic culture to flourish.
The deadly epidemic that sparked a global emergency. We chart the Coronavirus outbreak from Wuhan, whether a cover up by Chinese authorities allowed the virus to spread and how scientists are racing to develop a vaccine.
Growing up without a gender. Young Australians who do not identify as male or female explain how they negotiate the world and the judgement of others. Their parents talk about what it's like to raise a gender neutral child.
The Jeffrey Epstein scandal continues even after his death. Through interviews with key players, including Prince Andrew, we piece together sordid details of Epstein's offending and the allegations made against Prince Andrew.
Exposing killings and cover ups by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. Four Corners details explosive revelations about the conduct of Australia's elite special forces during the war in Afghanistan. Mark Willacy reports.
On the frontline to preserve the world's largest tropical rainforest. Brazil is allowing the Amazon to be felled at an alarming rate, but Indigenous tribes, scientists and activists are fighting back. Sophie McNeill reports.
The fight to contain coronavirus. Have critical mistakes left Australia and our frontline medical workers dangerously exposed? Doctors, patients and health practitioners talk about confronting the virus for the first time.
Amazon is a corporate colossus that dominates the global retail landscape, but it also collects a staggering amount of personal data about its customers. Former high-level insiders reveal how the company achieved its success.
The coronavirus outbreak created a public health emergency that unleashed a financial wrecking ball through our economy. Capturing history in the making David Speers follows the political scramble, with access to key players.
How the cruise of a lifetime turned into a deadly nightmare. Passengers and day trippers were trapped when NZ's most active volcano erupted. Were tourists warned of the danger and could more have been done to prevent tragedy?
The healthcare workers on the frontlines of the fight against coronavirus. Four Corners has captured video diaries, interviews and footage with deeply personal accounts from staff in hospitals and GP clinics across Australia.
As the shocking death toll continues to rise, President Trump's calls for states to reopen could have catastrophic consequences. We track the halting federal response, early warnings, missed opportunities and mixed messages.
How brutal politics derailed climate policy in Australia. Several former senior public servants speak about flawed decision making and squandered opportunities by parties on all sides of the political spectrum over a decade.
How the Ruby Princess became an incubator for infection, leaving passengers and staff dangerously exposed. An alarming picture emerges of crucial decisions by the cruise operator and the actions of Australian authorities.
One of the world's poorest countries, North Korea use breathtaking tricks to circumvent UN sanctions and outwit the west. Money laundering, arms smuggling, insurance fraud and human trafficking finance its nuclear arsenal.
An in-depth look at the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine. From extraordinary scientific hurdles to extreme moral and ethical dilemmas, Australian scientists have had to overcome missed opportunities and a lack of preparedness.
AI enables machines to 'think' at a speed and depth far beyond human capacity, unleashing incredible possibilities but also the potential for harm. Will we see a new cold war as China and the US battle for tech supremacy?
How coronavirus spread among our most vulnerable elderly residents. We examine Australia's second most deadly coronavirus cluster, Newmarch House aged care facility, where 34 staff and 37 residents were infected and 19 died.
Australia's aviation crisis and the future of flying. Aviation is a high profile casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, our second major carrier Virgin was on the brink of collapse. What went wrong and is the industry viable?
The long road to recovery after the Black Summer bushfires. Despite millions in donations and promises of government assistance, communities such as Cobargo still live in terrible conditions and fear they have been forgotten.
In a searing and 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 George Floyd's death resonates so profoundly.
Witness the daily struggles of doctors and hospital staff in Cremona as they battle to keep coronavirus patients alive. Medical staff fight off emotion, fatigue and fear as numbers continued to climb in the north of Italy.
The financial scandal and human cost of Australia's workers compensation schemes. Some injured workers say their lives have been ruined by insurers hell-bent on avoiding payouts. We examine the methods used to assess claims.
Four Corners investigates the claims of a worldwide protest movement against wireless 5G technology, exploring how it works and the scientific studies undertaken into whether the technology is actually a threat to our health.
We reveal how 'big plastic' used clever marketing campaigns to persuade consumers and environmental groups to carry the burden by recycling rather than reducing the amount of plastic manufactured, allowing exponential growth.
The second wave: what went so wrong in Victoria. How did COVID-19 escape into the community, wreaking havoc and putting the nation in peril. We examine failures by the authorities who were supposed to keep the community safe.
Violent crime and the mentally ill: how the mental health system is failing to protect the community and the patients themselves. Families reveal a disturbing picture of inadequate healthcare with devastating consequences.
The race to colonise outer space. We examine the extraordinary opportunities and challenges of the new space age as billionaire entrepreneurs make travel beyond our own planet possible, while nation states stake their claims.
How bribes, sex and money fuelled America's opioid epidemic. The aggressive marketing of dangerously potent and addictive opioids by pharmaceutical companies has driven an alarming rise in global drug addiction and death.
The Australian mercenaries selling paramilitary services to warlords and despots abroad. Four Corners investigates this murky world as conflicts are being fought by private military contractors operating as guns for hire.
The investigation that exposed a predatory network of human traffickers. With exclusive access to police and the court case, see how they brought down the family crime group behind the UK's biggest human slavery operation.
Australia is in a deep economic downturn, decades of growth halted by the coronavirus pandemic. After the closure of our borders and extensive restrictions, we investigate the financial fallout and what the future may hold.
Incredible stories of survival from the Beirut blast zone. Adam Harvey pieces together the story of the explosion, tracking down people who filmed or witnessed the blast, as well as business owners and emergency responders.
How digital dating became a predators' playground. In a joint investigation for Four Corners and triple j Hack, Avani Dias uncovers a deeply troubling pattern of sexual assault and rape facilitated by the use of Tinder.
Breaking the silence about sexual abuse in sport. Around the world sporting codes have been engulfed in scandal with revelations about the sexual abuse of young athletes by coaches, and administrators accused of covering up.
With just over a week before polling day, can Donald Trump again defy the polls and his critics and secure a second presidential term? Michael Brissenden examines key states and voting blocs in this fierce political dogfight.
In first hand accounts the class of 2020 reflect on how the global pandemic upended their final year of school. Students from across Australia discuss the uncertainty and disruption of lockdown and their plans for the future.
Parliament House in Canberra is a hotbed of political intrigue and high tension - but what happens after hours? Louise Milligan investigates the conduct of some of the most senior politicians in the nation.
Four Corners reporter Sophie McNeill reveals the story of Saudi asylum seeker Rahaf Al Qunun from inside a Bangkok hotel room capturing the high tension, despair and eventual jubilation when Rahaf is offered asylum in Canada.
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 transforms into an economic powerhouse, billions of dollars have been illegally spirited out of the country. Mark Willacy reports on the bounty hunters chasing China's missing millions in Australia.
Why are so many women going to prison? Across Australia, 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.
Four Corners reveals how Australia's highest ranking Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, was brought to justice. With the suppression order lifted on his conviction for sexually abusing two boys, the full story can now be told.
In heart-stopping interviews and video we follow the story of Princess Latifa, daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum - the ruler of Dubai whose horse won the 2018 Melbourne Cup, as she attempts to escape Dubai.
Uber is one of the most recognisable brands in the world. It's embedded in our language and revolutionised transport. How did the edgy digital disruptor upend an entire business model, outwit regulators and crush competitors?
The Christchurch terror attack brought to light the violent, disturbing right-wing extremist movement flourishing on the internet. Were authorities so focused on Islamic extremism that they failed to grasp this deadly threat?
The struggle to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. With a Federal election looming, we explore climate change policy: from electricity prices, the role of coal, the cars we drive, animals we breed and gas we export.
New evidence of China's covert political influence campaign in Australia. We reveal secret Beijing-backed political activity and information gathering operations targeting politicians and Chinese dissenters in Australia.
A grandmother's desperate journey to rescue her children and bring them home. Four Corners exclusively brings you the story of the Sharrouf children and their grandmother's fight to save them from a refugee camp in Syria.
Four Corners explores the controversial police technique putting innocent people behind bars, with a series of high-profile cases across America revealing a slew of wrongful convictions based on false confessions.
Universities that 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.
It's almost three years since the shocking revelations of mistreatment in the NT's Don Dale youth detention centre. Four Corners investigates a new child detention crisis in another part of Australia. Mark Willacy reports.
The Battle for Warringah is one of this election's most intriguing. We examine the new style of campaigning and the future of the Liberal Party through the battle between Former PM Tony Abbott and Independent Zali Steggall.
On April 15, the world watched in horror as the Notre-Dame Cathedral caught alight. Through interviews and video from fire authorities and eyewitnesses we follow the epic battle to save the 800-year-old architectural icon.
How the Chinese Communist Party crushed democracy. 30 years ago millions of students and citizens protested in Tiananmen Square calling for democracy. A trove of vision and audio reveals how the shocking events unfolded.
Louise Milligan investigates what led up to James Gargasoulas driving a car at high speed through Melbourne's Bourke Street killing six people, despite facing serious criminal charges and warnings he was a danger to others.
President Trump has ignited a massive trade war with China, slapping billions of dollars worth of tariffs on Chinese goods. Despite the rhetoric, questions are being asked about who has the most to lose from the conflict.
Australia has one of the worst extinction rates on the planet, and growing. Four Corners goes into the field with leading scientists and conservation volunteers to document first hand the fight to save these wild creatures.
In increasingly alarming scenes, the US and Iran are facing off in the Middle East. Tensions have escalated, driven by concerns over the Islamic Republic's nuclear capabilities which have led to fears of military conflict.
Two years on from the investigation into water theft in the Murray-Darling Basin that sparked a royal commission, we return to the river system to investigate new concerns about how the plan to rescue it is being carried out.
We uncover disturbing evidence of how China is effectively operating the world's largest prison. In Xinjiang province the Uyghur population is rounded up, detained or monitored using AI technology and mass surveillance tools.
Julian Assange is one of the most influential figures of our time. The Australian born founder of WikiLeaks harnessed technology to champion free speech and the right to know. But is he a hero or villain?
In 2016 Donald Trump enjoyed Wikileaks damaging Hillary Clinton's campaign. Now President Trump wants to imprison the publisher of the leaks. We explore Julian Assange's activities while sheltering in the Ecuadorian Embassy.
How the UK's plan to leave Europe turned into a nightmare. Three years after the UK voted to leave the EU, key negotiators and politicians reveal what happened and how new PM Boris Johnson intends to resolve the crisis.
Can Boris Johnson deliver Brexit and keep the Kingdom together? Phil Williams explores his career from journalist to politician, through epic gaffes, scandals and a colourful turn of phrase to become Britain's 77th PM.
From shoddy workmanship to lax laws, Australia's apartment building crisis is leaving owners out of pocket and in some cases homeless. Industry insiders reveal a litany of failures that could leave defects for years to come.
National security versus the public's right to know. The extraordinary steps Australia's government took to prosecute a former spy and his lawyer for conspiring to reveal secret intelligence operations aimed at a foreign government.
For 12 weeks Hong Kong has been convulsed by turmoil as pro-democracy flash mob protestors rise up against mainland Chinese rule. We go on the frontline to witness the escalating violence and chaos with extraordinary footage.
How your postcode can determine the quality of care you get. Medical staff speak out about the standard of hospital care after a series of catastrophic incidents resulting in preventable death, injury or permanent disability.
Social media has transformed how we communicate and share thoughts. But it has morphed into the perfect platform for orchestrated disinformation campaigns, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish real from fake info.
Dying is an expensive business with the billion-dollar funeral industry virtually unregulated. We reveal the dubious tactics of some in the industry, from price gouging, unethical conduct and questionable treatment of bodies.
For the first time former brides of Islamic State tell their stories of life in the caliphate. Tracing their journeys from quiet Australian suburbia to the streets of the Middle East, they beg to be allowed home to Australia.
Sir Trevor McDonald investigates the extraordinary case of one of Britain's worst serial killers: Beverly Allitt, a young female nurse who murdered and attacked children in her care.
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?
The scandalous case of Lawyer X and the underbelly murder investigations. Prominent figures reveal the story of cops, criminals, murder and betrayal, and how the actions of Victoria Police have undermined the justice system.
It's sold as a dream job - an 'influencer' lifestyle where you can work flexible hours from home and earn a commission. But social media marketing and selling schemes are accused of using illegal pyramid selling practices.
The man wrongly accused in the William Tyrrell child abduction investigation, Bill Spedding, speaks publicly for the first time. How did a single-minded approach by police lead to a raft of mistakes and missed opportunities.
Why too many young Australians are struggling with literacy in the digital age. Louise Milligan examines the way reading and writing is being taught in our schools to find out what is going wrong.
Linton Besser reports on the undercover operation to catch the world's most wanted money launderer in The Billion Dollar Bust.
The domestic workers treated like slaves in Australia. Louise Milligan investigates the hidden workforce kept behind closed doors, living in slave-like conditions and made to work around the clock.
The search for foreign fighters in the ruins of Raqqa. For four years Islamic State ruled its 'caliphate' from its capital Raqqa. ABC Middle East correspondent Matt Brown goes on an intense journey to the city freed from IS.
Dancing, drugs and rebellion in the Islamic Republic of Iran. After decades of strict rules, many young people in Iran are now rebelling. They're taking their lives in their hands and defying the regime to party in secret.
How Australia's warming climate is changing the way we live and work. Rather than waiting for politicians, our farmers, small businesses, government planners and corporations are adapting to weather challenges and acting now.
Australia's population is growing fast, we've added almost 400,000 people in the last year, and we're feeling the strain. Ben Knight investigates what a Big Australia means and the difficult choices that will have to be made.
The women who worked for Harvey Weinstein tell their stories. For the first time, work colleagues and employees who kept quiet fearing legal action and reprisals, are coming forward to allege he used his power to abuse them.
The millions of Australians missing out on superannuation. Despite having a .5 trillion pool of retirement savings, the rise of the gig economy and freelance workers mean millennials are entering a very different workforce.
Taking on the extraordinary powers of the Tax Office. Adele Ferguson puts the actions of the ATO under the microscope, examining how it uses its extensive powers and whether it is acting fairly and ethically.
The undercover investigation that left social media giant Facebook reeling. We unmask the secretive political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and the dirty tricks they deployed to undermine the democratic process.
The race to riches for Australia's new marijuana moguls. While entrepreneurs are talking up the potential of products from insomnia cures to chronic pain treatments, patients are struggling to access cannabis products.
Sugar, politics and what's making us fat. Michael Brissenden investigates the power of Big Sugar and its influence on public policy. We reveal the industry's tactics and the access they enjoy, as doctors warn of an obesity crisis.
The case that put sexual consent on trial. The young woman at the centre of one of Australia's most controversial rape trials has chosen to speak to Four Corners in the hope others will learn from her experience.
The scandalous conduct of a global bank. HSBC is one of the world's largest and most powerful financial institutions, but it has been at the centre of several of the biggest financial scandals uncovered this century.
The workers paying the price for our mobile phone obsession. Smartphones and tablets revolutionised the way we communicate but the technology we are addicted to has had toxic consequences for the factory workers making them.
Millions of Australians fork out big money for private health insurance. In this joint Four Corners investigation with Dr Norman Swan from RN's Health Report, we examine what's driving these out of pocket expenses.
Four Corners follows the money trail from New York to Moscow, tracking the ties between Trump, his business empire and Russia.
Sarah Ferguson continues to chart the extraordinary allegations, interrogating the evidence and interviewing key protagonists in this unfolding drama over members of the Trump team accused of being compromised by Russia.
In the final part of our special report, Sarah Ferguson investigates central allegations that members of the Trump team, including possibly the President himself, actively colluded with Russia to subvert American democracy.
The teenage criminals sentenced to life in jail. Being tough on crime has become a popular mantra for political parties, but calls for a crackdown have led to tougher penalties and mandatory life sentences for some youths.
The quarantine failures putting the Australian economy at risk. Four Corners investigates some of the worst biosecurity breaches, uncovering sophisticated smuggling operations, inadequate enforcement and corruption.
The Secrets and Scandals of Australian Horse Racing. With a prize pool more than million and employing 50,000 people it's one of our biggest industries, but away from the glamour all is not well in the sport of kings.
The extraordinary rescue mission to save Thailand's lost boys. Mark Willacy documents the extraordinary international effort to find and rescue 12 school boys and their soccer coach from a remote cave in northern Thailand.
How corporate greed and deception cost AMP its trusted place in Australian life. How AMP ripped off customers including charging fees for no service and the measures it took to conceal its actions as it lied to the regulator.
Australia accused of failing to stand up for democracy as Cambodia descends into dictatorship. Sophie McNeill confronts the man whose political opponents have been imprisoned and assassinated in mysterious circumstances.
The undercover investigation exposing how Facebook decides what you see. An undercover reporter, training as a content moderator, is taken through the rules behind the social networking site, secretly filming the process.
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, cosmetic surgery has entered the mainstream.
Having a child is supposed to be the most natural thing in the world, but knowing how to raise children can be daunting. Follow the story of three mothers determined to learn how to become better parents.
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.
Strategist and provocateur Steve Bannon channelled the anger of those who felt left behind by globalism to elect Trump as president. Sarah Ferguson interviews Bannon on his crusade for a global populist-nationalist movement.
The teenage survivors rebuilding their lives. They were young girls and teenagers, out to see their favourite pop star in Manchester. As the show ended, a terrorist detonated a home-made bomb killing 22 and injuring 250.
In part one, Four Corners investigates the business of aged care and what that means for the vulnerable residents left in its care. Families speak out with disturbing accounts of overworked staff and neglected residents.
In part two, we detail shocking cases of abuse and premature deaths in our nursing homes. Carers and families come forward to tell their stories and reveal the abject failure of government regulation to protect the elderly.
A portrait of a community surviving the drought. A story from the heart of the drought, a portrait of the land and its people where lack of rain is biting hard. Witness the strength of Quirindi doing all they can to carry on.
The secret tactics used by global chemical giant Monsanto to protect its billion-dollar business and its star product, the weed killer, Roundup. We trace the company's influence campaign from the US back to Australian farms.
Hidden cameras behind bars reveal the problems facing governments around the world: how to manage soaring prison populations, rife with drugs, violence and squalid living conditions as well as the rise of privately run jails.
How a cashed up gun industry has Australia's firearms laws in its sights. Sean Nicholls examines a lobby group funded and directed by major firearms sellers and manufacturers employing new tactics, connections and influence.
The visit by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was a triumph for the House of Windsor brand. We examine the sophisticated corporate campaign to future-proof the Crown and how the Royals modernised and rebuilt their reputation.
According to the media, Melbourne is in the grip of a crimewave, overrun by African street gangs responsible for a wave of violence. Reporter Sophie McNeill is on the ground to get to the truth about "African" crime.
The final Four Corners for 2018 examines the corporate crisis that engulfed the ABC and brought down both the Managing Director and Chair. Sarah Ferguson speaks with inside players including Michelle Guthrie and Justin Milne.
Four Corners returns with an incisive exploration of how President Trump will wield power. Reporter Michael Brissenden interviews key players in the Trump camp & Republicans on the political earthquake rippling across the US.
How Australians are spending billions on unproven vitamins & supplements. With 7 out of 10 Australians taking a complementary medicine, Four Corners looks at the regulation & marketing of these products.
A Report from the Frontlines in the Battle Against the Islamic State. As the war against IS intensifies, Matt Brown reports from the frontlines of Mosul - the biggest urban battle since World War II.
What happens to the plastic we throw away? A report on how our rubbish ends up in the ocean and the damage it causes.
The Crown empire have bet big for years on China. Four Corners investigates what went wrong for James Packer's gambling & entertainment operations in China & what this might mean for its Australian business.
Can President Trump keep his promise to make America Great Again? Four Corners meets the human face of America's working poor as they struggle to feed their families.
Four Corners brings you the views of distinguished former members of the US military and senior policy makers who warn that climate change is not only real, it's a threat to global security.
The mothers and carers battling for justice and protection for their disabled children.
Four Corners reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna reveals the brutal backroom politics ripping into Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.
Cracking the Code: What Facebook really knows about you. How one of the world's most powerful corporations is turning our lives and our data into vast profits, in ways we have no control over.
This powerful film shines a light on the barbarism of the Syrian regime at a time when the future of President Assad is being argued over by the world's most powerful nations.
After the Game: Elite athletes blow the whistle on the high price paid for sporting glory.
Four Corners investigates how a nation as rich as Australia is in coal, gas, sunshine and wind, could find itself in an energy crisis.
It was one of the biggest illegal firearms busts in Australian history. A criminal syndicate brazenly smuggling weapons into the country exposing the failings in the nation's border security. Ben Knight reports.
A 2-part investigation into the Lindt Cafe siege. 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.
An investigation uncovering how China's Communist Party is infiltrating Australia, tracking the activities of Beijing-backed organisations and the efforts made to intimidate CCP opponents.
The brave few who blew the whistle on Australia's most corrupt police force.
With the rise of social media and smartphones in virtually every pocket, internet trolls are only ever a click, tap or swipe away. Four Corners takes you into the dark side of the internet.
The retirement villages ripping off retirees. Adele Ferguson investigates.
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.
A story of identity, love and dignity, introducing three families who tell their stories about living with dementia.
In Philadelphia in the early 2000s, a team of lawyers embarked on an investigation led by a formidable District Attorney. What they uncovered was one of the worst criminal cover-ups in US history.
Stretching from Qld to SA, billions of dollars in taxpayer's money has been poured into rescuing the rivers & streams of the Murray-Darling Basin. Linton Besser investigates where the money, & the water is going.
The digital age has revolutionised the way we live our lives. With the technology of smartphones governments have been given the ability to spy on their citizens on an astonishing scale. Nawal Al-Maghafi reports.
The dirty truth about your rubbish. Four Corners investigates the big business of rubbish & where it ends up. In interviews with insiders, reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna exposes hidden practices occurring in the waste industry.
The Greens have been a party in disarray. As the party faces its biggest challenges since its foundation, Four Corners investigates if the party's actions live up to their spin. Louise Milligan reports.
Australians are carrying more personal debt than ever. We hold the second highest level of household debt in the world. Michael Brissenden investigates the forces driving our debt fuelled housing boom & the risks it poses.
Giving blood is a selfless act that saves lives. For many, it's a way of giving back to the community. In other countries, blood has become a lucrative commodity fuelling a global trade worth billions of dollars.
In the wake of the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in London, reporter Deb Whitmont investigates the risk of flammable aluminium cladding in Australia & the dangerous legacy of failed regulation in the building industry.
How Kim Jong-un's murderous ambitions & nuclear weapons program are threatening world peace - tracing his rise to power, his aggressive pursuit of a nuclear weapons program to eliminating potential rivals.
Developers, deals and donations on the Gold Coast. In this pro-development town, a series of controversial billion dollar proposals have prompted a collection of unlikely allies to say enough is enough. Mark Willacy reports.
Inside the murky world of international kidnapping and hostage negotiation. Every year more than 30,000 people are kidnapped around the world. A small number are taken for political reasons, many more held for financial gain.
The dubious dealings of India's corporate colossus. Four Corners travelled to India to dig into the business practices of Adani, the corporate giant planning to build Australia's biggest mine site. Stephen Long reports.
It's one of the biggest environmental scandals in Australian history. Harmful chemicals, leaching into the ground & waterways, contaminating our water. Linton Besser investigates the toxic legacy of fire-fighting foam.
In her only Australian TV interview, Hillary Clinton speaks exclusively with Sarah Ferguson. Candid, open & at times angry, the former presidential candidate talks about what went wrong & her fears for the future.
As the National Broadband Network passes the halfway point in its rollout, Geoff Thompson investigates why Australia's fast broadband is stuck in the slow lane, leaving a growing number of customers disappointed and angry.
A right-wing nationalist party is centre stage in German politics for the first time since Hitler's Nazi Party. We chart the rise of a notorious anti-immigrant group which stands accused of a wave of violent attacks.
Inside the secretive world of tax havens where corporations and the wealthy operate far from public view. In a global investigation we reveal the lengths some business figures and global corporations go to avoid paying tax.
In the week of the same-sex marriage survey result Four Corners looks into the battle for control raging inside the Liberal Party. Whatever the survey result, the politicking will be far from over. Michael Brissenden reports.
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. Debbie Whitmont reports.
Sarah Ferguson presents an investigation into the criminal networks that are threatening the integrity of sport, amidst the uproar over the match fixing revelations in tennis, Linton Besser reports.
What's behind the rise in shark attacks, and is there anything we can do to stop them? Geoff Thompson reports.
Dying to Dance. Inside the dance party drug scene. Caro Meldrum-Hanna reports.
Exploring America's gun culture where kids learn to shoot and their classrooms are designed to be bulletproof. How America grapples with gun violence.
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.
It's the bank that's spent two years rebuilding its reputation after being exposed for ripping off its customers in a devastating financial advice scandal. An explosive corporate investigation by Adele Ferguson.
The big game and big bucks in Africa's trophy hunting industry. Taking us into the darker world of illegal hunting where lions are tranquilised or partly domesticated to make them easier to shot.
A rare account from inside the Essendon doping scandal. Quentin McDermott reports.
The investigation into the scandal engulfing Malaysia's Prime Minister and the question that led to the arrest of our reporter and cameraman.
This Four Corners investigation will reveal how the rich and powerful exploit the system. Reporter Marian Wilkinson follows the money trail.
The rise and fall of Clive Palmer's business empire and political career. Hayden Cooper reports.
In the wake of the attacks in France and Brussels, a BBC Panorama investigation into Islamic State's European terror network and Western intelligence agencies' battle to stop it.
The bad blood between Australian doctors and the Federal Government over offshore detention.
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.
Gold Walkley award-winning reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna follows the trail of evidence in the brutal death of a young woman as her family fights for justice.
Supplements and safety: an investigation into the billion dollar health supplement and vitamin industry. What's in all those pills and could they be doing you harm?
As we head into the third week of the election campaign, Four Corners examines how money and influence operates in the shadowy world of political donations.
With an increasing number of women turning to fertility treatments to help them conceive a baby, Four Corners investigates, are women being sold false hope by the IVF industry?
The scams, fraud and incompetence leaving remote communities exploited and betrayed. Linton Besser journeys almost 5000km across Australia in search of who's to blame.
We meet the people of the small Syrian town who defeated ISIS and are determined to rebuild their lives in the rubble.
The Deputy and the Dark Horse: 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?
With startling predictions that more than 5 million Australian jobs will disappear in the next 15 years, as a result of technology, we look at the future of work and ask are we preparing our kids for the jobs of the future?
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.
The Race To Dope: The elite athletes blowing the whistle on how they cheated the system.
Australia's Shame: The brutalisation of children behind bars. This confronting investigation by Caro Meldrum-Hanna will send shockwaves around Australia.
Insult To Injury: How the system damages cops with PTSD. Quentin McDermott reports.
Man on a wire: How long can Malcolm Turnbull survive?
Milked Dry: The awful price being paid by Australian dairy farmers for the milk we drink. Deb Whitmont reports.
Children On The Frontline: Escape from Aleppo, 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.
Cyber War: How hackers are threatening everything from your bank account to the nation's secrets. Linton Besser reports.
The EU referendum result shocked many, but as this BBC film shows the warning signs were there. In interviews with key players, the program charts the tactics & spin used in the campaign.
Rehab Inc: The high price parents pay to get their kids off ice. Ben Knight reports.
An outback town's bold experiment to save its young people from a life of crime.
Inside America's university fraternities. They're the elite clubs where testosterone, alcohol & campus life come together in a potent mix. Normally media shy, one frat house agreed to let the cameras in.
China Rising: The challenges for Australia as China and the US struggle for supremacy in Asia. Peter Greste joins Four Corners for a special report.
For Better or Worse: How the personal has become political in the fight over same-sex marriage. Four Corners investigates the politics behind the plebiscite debate.
They're the human face of Australia's tough border policies - the more than 100 refugee children living on Nauru. Debbie Whitmont reports.
The activists using cameras to fight back against police brutality in the US.
Four Corners investigates the business of salmon farming. A report by Gold Walkley Award-winning journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna.
Crossroads Afghanistan: A heart-stopping journey on one of the most dangerous roads in the world, right through the heart of Taliban country.
Broken Homes: On the frontline of Australia's child protection crisis.
When acclaimed TV journalist Liz Jackson is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, crippling her with pain & panic attacks, she turns the lens on herself to make the most challenging story of her life.
Shocking revelations on Melbourne's gangland killings. Nick McKenzie reports.
Inside the campaign to save the two Australians on death row in Bali. Mark Davis reports.
Inside Australia's multi-billion dollar greyhound racing industry.
Scandal in the federal government's employment programs. Linton Besser reports.
Apple is the most valuable brand on the planet, making products that everyone wants - but how are its workers treated when the world isn't looking?
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.
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.
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?
"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...
"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 o...
"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 n...
"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 developm...
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
How 33 miners in Chile, who dodged death, have come to terms with the horror they experienced and their second chance at life.
An explosive expose of the cruelty inflicted on Australian cattle exported to the slaughterhouses of Indonesia.
Plot of this episode is not specified yet. Please check back later for more update.
Plot of this episode is not specified yet. Please check back later for more update.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Plot of this episode is not specified yet. Please check back later for more update.
It's blokey and it's bolshie, the envy of other unions, with near blanket coverage of its workforce. For decades it has sought to influence election campaigns, dragged concessions out of fearful governments and fought ferociously for its members.
You don't have to be sitting on a street corner urinating in your trousers and shadow boxing to be a drunk. I'm living proof of that... - Ian
For years the global warming debate has swirled like a firestorm. Science has been tossed about in a tornado of spin from doomsayers and doubters, deep green activists and fossil fuel lobbyists.
Who's tough on crime? It's an election season ritual: the law and order auction to see which party will put more cops on the streets or increase sentences or build more jails.
Across southern Australia, fire chiefs are anxiously waiting for the cool draughts of autumn to extinguish another stress-filled season of sparks, flare-ups and rushed responses.
Our world might be getting smaller, thanks to technology, but virtual worlds and games are booming. Millions of people venture daily into these new and constantly evolving landscapes where they can conquer mythical armies, slay dragons and embark on other fantastical quests.
In May 2005, citizens of Spokane, USA, woke to startling news about their city's mayor, Jim West. The outwardly conservative Republican, who had pushed legislation barring gay teachers from public schools, had whiled away his private hours trawling for young men on an Internet chatroom, the Spokesman-Review newspaper alleged. West reportedly abused his office by offering internships to lure them into more intimate relationships.
With a wispy moustache and long, lank hair, it was a different David Hicks who just faced US military court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. No longer the clean-cut young man smiling familiarly out of old family snaps - and no longer protesting his innocence.
Australia is planting trees. After years of debate about logging old growth forests what could seem more sensible or more worthy? And yet a national quarrel has developed about tree plantations, a quarrel that Chris Master discovers is quietly dividing rural communities and members of the Coalition Government.
Picture a windswept hillside lined with slender white skyscrapers, each crowned by a giant whirring rotor longer than a jumbo jet. Or a swathe of desert covered by a sea of mirrors drawing power from the sun.
Imagine surviving a massive brain injury, then waking up in hospital to discover your personality has completely transformed.
"Well mate... let me just say this to you. I mean you wouldn't know this but I'm not a f...... good enemy to have..." (Brian Burke on the telephone)
A confronting report in which fit and healthy elderly Australians reveal plans to take their own lives before they lose their independence. Is this a new fact of life in greying Australia?
One spring day in 1964, Charles Moore and Henry Dee were hitchhiking in rural Mississippi. The two black men were picked up by the Ku Klux Klan, tortured, locked in a car boot and driven to Louisiana, then chained to an engine block and dropped alive into the Mississippi River.
Nick off, it's not for sale!... Qantas shareholder's answer to the takeover offer.
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Shackled, gagged and blindfolded, they are bundled on to spy planes, spirited to Third World capitals and dumped in prison hellholes. There they face repeated interrogations that typically include prolonged sessions of torture, crudely inflicted, unimaginably endured.
"We run an absolute dictatorship and that's what's going to drive this transformation and deliver results... If you can't get the people to go there and you try once and you try twice... then you just shoot 'em and get them out of the way... " - Telstra Chief Operations Officer Greg Winn (at a May business meeting)
While politicians clash noisily over global warming and how to fight it, millions of Australians are trying modestly to cut their energy use, to be a small part of a big solution.
Like Star Wars figures beamed back to the 17th century, Australia's hi-tech, lethally-equipped soldiers cut a surreal presence as they cautiously patrol the baking dustbowl of southern Afghanistan, drawing just casual glances from turbaned tribesmen and nomadic herders.
Across Britain counter terrorism forces are gathering evidence against the planners of the failed car bomb plots in London and Glasgow. The forensic information gleaned from the vehicles and the arrests in Britain and Australia should allow them to piece together how the conspiracy was formed.
"If they don't take responsibility then we will step in. We want the system to work so that when people don't take responsibility we're able to step in ... you could lose your freedom if you don't abide by the conditions." Noel Pearson.
"My baby was the last thing that I thought about until I pulled that needle out of my arm." Sharon, drug user.
It started with dinner in a Hobart restaurant. The head of Tasmania's biggest timber company and the then Deputy Premier chatted about future plans for the forest industry in Tasmania. Four years on the Tasmanian Parliament is about to decide whether to give the nod to a $1.7 billion giant pulp mill on the banks of the Tamar River north of Launceston.
An angry child, lashing out at the world, struggling at school, labelled a 'problem'. The desperate parents, looking for help, hoping that one day their child will have a normal life. This is the traumatic world of families living with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
When was the last time you had a good night's sleep? Are you one of the million-plus Australians who spend their nights watching the minutes tick by, dreading the morning, knowing you'll be exhausted? Some say it feels like dragging a piano around, an awful deadening weight.
"I don't think you can win without them. And I think if they're unified, you'll lose if they go against you. John Kerry learned that. Al Gore learned that and Hillary will learn that in 2008. The church is the only hope for the recovery of this country. And this is a do or die thing with us; we are not playing games with it. We are absolutely planning to take this nation back for God." The late Reverend Jerry Falwell.
How do you know if you can trust your doctor? How do you know if they have the skills to heal you? How do you find out, what all too often, the medical profession already knows: who to go to and who to avoid? It's been the ultimate insider's secret, the doctor you would never let near your own family or friends.
The crimes are shocking, the perpetrators alarmingly young. A 15-year-old who brutally murdered his parents; a 15-year-old participant in a fatal car-jacking; a 17-year-old who killed a schoolmate in a robbery gone wrong. Prosecutors have labelled them "the worst of the worst". All three of them will spend the rest of their lives in jail as a result of mandatory sentencing laws.
"There's no country in the world that has gambling in clubs and pubs in the way that we do in Australia." Professor Jan McMillen.
"When the US sneezes the rest of the world gets the cold."
The pictures were shocking. A woman swathed in a blue burqa, stumbling across the ground, barely able to see. Forced to her knees, then shot in the head. Publicly executed in a soccer stadium. Punishment, Taliban style.
On Saturday June 30 an explosives-filled Jeep Cherokee careered into Glasgow's airport terminal. Images of the flaming car and one of the attackers, Kafeel Ahmed, grotesquely burnt and struggling on the ground, sent a shudder of fear through Britain.
Democracy will just have to wait. The rallies have been crushed and the protesters are in captivity, in hiding, or fleeing the country. Military vehicles sweep Burma's main city Rangoon blaring menace from loudspeakers: "We have photographs. We are going to make arrests."
They don't vote and they repudiate any organised role in politics. It's God's call, they say, whether governments stand or fall.
They called him The Tractor. "He mowed people down," explained an informant.
"If you think about all the planes that are available as being puppies in a litter, the Super Hornet is the runt." US aviation analyst James Stevenson
After decades of hollow promises, it was time to cut the talk. In Canberra's eyes the rolling scandal of child sexual abuse in Indigenous communities demanded action, swift and certain.
In the political marketplace, their votes are gold dust. People like Matthew, Nicole, Mark, Deanne and George will determine who governs Australia after November 24. All are marginal seat voters. In recent elections all have gone with John Howard.
Four Corners returns for 2006 with a whistleblower... and revelations of a powerful insiders' club...
There's road rage over private tollways... Have deals between politicians and tollway bosses killed off grand new visions for public transport and decongested streets? Are they creating a road monster that leaves Australians addicted to cars?
Jack Thomas has become the first person to be convicted under Australia's new terrorist funding laws.
Kid watching is very grown-up business. The 12-and-unders are a demographic that marketers ignore at their peril.
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.
It's cheap, highly addictive and ultra-powerful. "Ice", or crystal methamphetamine, is now more popular than heroin, playing havoc with the minds and the bodies of nearly 50,000 Australians.
Seven got life sentences and two are facing death by firing squad - but the blood of the Bali Nine will not stain the hands of this country's crimefighters.
"I sold your wife."
For Saddam Hussein, it must have been a no-brainer. He would pay $200,000 to a top UN official. In return, Saddam would be showered in billions.
In the space of four days, Australians have witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of their Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister each submitting to rigorous, sustained and public interrogation at the Cole inquiry.
All of London was on edge when a young electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, headed off for work on 22 July last year. The previous day, four would-be suicide bombers had attacked the transport system. A fortnight earlier, a series of suicide bombings had killed 52 people.
Many thought he was dead or wounded. But when he dramatically appeared this week in an Internet video, firing off an automatic weapon and anti-American rhetoric, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi looked very much alive.
The Westpoint collapse...Ticky Fullerton digs into the scheme that has wiped out the life savings of thousands of Australians. Who's taken their money? And why did regulators let it happen?
In the hours before he killed himself in April last year, Campbell Bolton wrote a long note in which he told his family how sorry he was for the pain he was about to cause them. "It fills me with grief when I think of what I have done to you," he wrote.
Murder, drugs, extortion, robbery, gambling, prostitution... for 40 years, this has been the daily business of the Aryan Brotherhood, according to US law enforcers.
There's another story buried deep beneath the horrific headlines about sexual abuse in indigenous Australia.
Imagine being about to give birth, cocooned in a speeding car on a night-time dash to a hospital that's still hours away, every bump, every brake to dodge a kangaroo sharpening the pain and discomfort.
To his fans, research psychologist Harry Harlow was a 20th century hero, a scientific pioneer who revolutionised the way we raise our children today.
As Australian troops stand between the warring factions in East Timor, Liz Jackson reveals the power plays and intrigues that are tearing the infant nation apart.
If your late model car goes missing, don't expect to see it again soon.
"Do no harm." It's the ethos of medicine, the bedrock principle for all its practitioners.
"The price of petrol is disgusting, absolutely disgusting..."
For decades the Liberal Party has carried itself proudly as a broad church, home to a wide spectrum of ideology among members. Now a bitter factional war is playing out in Australia's biggest state that many say is disenfranchising grassroots members and threatening democracy.
Breast cancer stalked Becky Measures. It had struck 14 of her female relatives, killing some of them.
Four Corners often explores extravagant claims and tall tales. Rarely though does it meet a character quite as colourful as author Gavin Menzies.
Not long after dawn on August 15, 2004 a teenage girl was dragged through a town square in the Iranian provincial city of Neka, past a crowd of people to the spot where a mobile crane had been converted into a makeshift gallows. Atefah Sahaaleh was 16 years old. She was hanged that morning for crimes against chastity.
A member of a 'raskol' gang talks about rape as a ritual part of crime. A career truck driver on the highland's highway picks up a teenage prostitute - just part of his routine. A 'hostess supervisor' at a Port Moresby brothel explains that he may tell clients to use a condom with his girls but that sometimes he is too tired to bother. These are voices from Matthew Carney's intimate report on how Papua New Guinea became a hot spot for the AIDS virus.
Cares and crowds are forgotten. Sand crunches between your toes, there's salt on your skin and sun on your back. Here is where blue ocean meets virgin bush, and a golden stretch of beach is all yours for camping, swimming and quiet reflection.
Heat waves and cyclones; droughts ravaging farmland; rising seas swamping beach havens; forests drying up and species dying out; the Barrier Reef and Kakadu, icons of nature, doomed.
It's a battle for your body and for your money - a tug-o-war between two powerful forces: the marketing pressure to eat more versus the social pressure to weigh less.
The dust settled long ago at Ground Zero. But the world is still searching for clarity after 9/11.
They were ordinary suburban Australians setting out on a big overseas adventure... to cheer on the Socceroos at the World Cup, or take in the sights of Europe. They would climax the trip with a visit to ancestral lands in southern Lebanon where they would rekindle family ties, rediscover their heritage and relax.
They've launched controversial forays into election campaigns in Australia, New Zealand the US. Now the Exclusive Brethren are drawing more unwanted headlines, this time accused of trawling for dirt on the sex life of the NZ Prime Minister's husband.
It was a signature TV news image of the 1990s: the bush as battleground, greenies blocking bulldozers, shouting slogans and trading insults with angry timber workers.
Two weeks ago a leaked US intelligence assessment gave powerful new ammunition to critics of the Iraq war.
From Iraq to Solomon Islands and Afghanistan to East Timor, Australia's Army is stretched tight. The burden of overseas deployments weighs like a straining kitbag on the back of each of Australia's 22,443 regular soldiers.
From marginal to mainstream, once furtive but now flaunted, cosmetic surgery is being eagerly explored by Australians from teens to pensioners, female and male.
Each week more than a thousand Australians are delivered the cruel diagnosis: they have dementia - incurable, untreatable, terminal.
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.
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| Language | English |
| Release | 1961-08-19 |
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