Background Briefing

Wild dogs are killing the wool industry in Queensland. The dingo fence is useless, poison baiting isn’t working and the law that says land owners must control wild dogs isn’t enforced. Now dog numbers have reached epidemic proportions. Ian Townsend investigates. (This story includes an image some may find disturbing.)

Australian GPs reveal why they are risking their reputations by diagnosing patients with Lyme disease—from Borrelia bacteria that are not even supposed to be in Australia. The treatment, high-dose antibiotics, is alarming health authorities and the nation’s chief medical officer has formed an advisory committee to look into this controversial disease. Di Martin investigates.

The process of approving the use of animals in scientific experiments is in crisis, with animal welfare and scientific members on key ethics committees at loggerheads. Hagar Cohen investigates.

When the Liberal National Party swept to power in Queensland it proclaimed the most extensive rules in the country to deal with lobbying and conflicts of interest within its own ranks. The LNP wanted to avoid lobbying scandals that had plagued the Bligh Labor government. So why is the Newman government now caught in its own lobbying controversy? Stan Correy investigates.

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority has cast a net over clubs and players in our two biggest football codes as it probes the use of banned substances. But just how widespread is the use of performance enhancing drugs in professional sport in Australia, and how effective is ASADA at catching high-level drug cheats? David Mark investigates.

As the long term legacy of Thatcherism is being re-interpreted following the death of the Iron Lady, Background Briefing returns to 1980s Britain. In this program, first broadcast in 1989, Nick Franklin and the late Tony Barrell investigate the rise and rise of Margaret Thatcher.  (Originally broadcast 7 May 1989)

A third of Tasmania’s town water systems don’t meet national drinking water standards and residents in several towns have to queue at a communal tap. Why has the ‘clean, green’ state got such a problem with contaminated water? Ian Townsend investigates.

As the competition watchdog looks into new allegations of the abuse of market power by Coles and Woolworths, food suppliers speak out about what they say is predatory behaviour, even blackmailing by the ‘big two’. Hagar Cohen investigates.

In the past 10 years Iraqis have endured a foreign military occupation, a brutal insurgency, intense sectarian violence and hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. They’ve also taken part in three democratic elections. Hugh Sykes has reported on Iraq throughout this time and he's just been back to talk to Iraqis about how their lives have changed.

Millions are spent each year on shark attack prevention measures that don’t work. In Western Australia, the tagging program could be used to kill protected sharks unnecessarily, and create a dangerous, false sense of security for swimmers. James Woodford investigates.

Australia’s diesel-reliant industries are on notice following the World Health Organisation’s emphatic conclusion that diesel exhaust is a cause of lung cancer. But as Stan Correy discovers, the Department of Mines in the boom state of WA has just closed a program that monitored the long-term health of miners.

There’s been a breakthrough with soil carbon trading that could get rural Australia sequestering carbon in the ground and earning credits for it. Soil carbon holds the remarkable promise of dealing with two national crises at the same time—climate change and our extensively degraded soils.  But it’s deeply politicised, and the science is not clear. Di Martin reports.  

The Dee River in Queensland is being killed by toxic water from an old gold mine. Mount Morgan is one of thousands of abandoned and unregulated mine sites, many of which are leaking contaminated ‘legacy water’ into river catchments. Ian Townsend investigates.

Factional self interest and extraordinary claims of corruption in NSW have severely damaged the Labor ‘brand’ and threaten to undermine the Gillard government’s re-election chances. Hagar Cohen investigates the latest attempt to salvage the NSW branch. 

The lifeblood of hundreds of east coast towns, Highway 1 is also the nation’s longest cemetery with hundreds killed on the road as promised upgrades are continually delayed. James Woodford drove from far north Queensland to southern NSW, charting life, death and broken promises along the way.

For years the greyhound industry has accepted the routine killing of injured and failed racing dogs. A leading official reveals thousands are killed each year in NSW alone, and says the practice is out of step with community values. Timothy McDonald investigates the often brief life of a racing dog. (Originally broadcast on 11 November 2012)

Punch, kick, knee, elbow, choke, stomp, almost anything goes in a cage fight. It’s brutal, it’s legal, it’s popular and it’s a public safety time-bomb without adequate regulation.

One of Australia’s top music schools is in upheaval. Worsening debt and a very public fight over the direction of teaching has plunged the ANU School of Music into uncertainty and acrimony. Half the teaching staff will go. For some this is a battle between good and evil. For others it is an inevitable cultural shift, away from traditional classical music. Reporter: Di Martin. (Originally broadcast...

Unmanned aerial vehicles have spread from war zones to toy shops. Now anyone can use a drone to point a camera into your private spaces and privacy laws can’t stop them. James Woodford investigates. (Originally broadcast on 16 September 2012)

Matthew Barclay, Saxon Bird and Robert Gatenby all died while competing at national surf championship events on the Gold Coast. Their deaths occurred in different years but at the same beach, and all in heavy surf conditions. Were their deaths preventable? Did Surf Life Saving Australia fail in its duty of care? There’s grief, anger and calls for a Royal Commission. Reporter: Wendy Carlisle  (This...

There’s growing evidence that lead poisoning shaves IQ points in children and has an insidious effect on behaviour. While experts debate safe exposure, a boom in home renovations could increase the risks. The suburbs of Queensland flooded earlier this year are lead-dust hot spots but residents haven’t been warned. Reporter: Ian Townsend (Originally broadcast on the 6 May 2012)