Secrets We Keep

At just 13 years old, Thomas Carrick was placed under covert surveillance by the Australian Federal Police. Believing he was speaking to ISIS operatives online, Thomas was in fact engaging with undercover officers, conversations that would eventually see him charged with terrorism offences. The AFP knew Thomas lived with autism and an intellectual disability. Still, they pursued him in a way a jud...

In Jailbreak , we hear the extraordinary story of a fugitive who lived for 30 years on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia. The reclusive Darko Desic (prolific weed grower, prison escapee and martial arts expert) tells his story for the first time; a story of resilience and discipline.   In following Darko’s remarkable journey, Jailbreak explores eternal truths about free wil...

Why did Joey decide to use the terrorist's name? Where are far-right extremist communities gathering now?  In this bonus Q&A episode, Joey answers your questions about making the Lone Actor podcast. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Journalist and host of the Weekend Briefing Antointette Lattouf sits down with Joey Watson to go beyond the investigation. Find out how Joey came to the story, and how his family history influences his work.  Have a question for Joey? Email secretswekeep@sca.com.au. You can hear more from Antointette every Saturday on the Weekend Briefing .  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

Having spent years tracing the terrorist, Joey is still left with unanswered questions.  Parts of the manifesto don’t match the online worlds Joey has investigated — references to revolution, societal collapse, and a call for chaos.  Joey’s search leads to a shadowy neo-Nazi terror network that emerged in the years before the attack. Could this be the missing link in th...

After the attack, authorities in Austria learnt that the terrorist had been linked to a high-profile extremist in their country – Martin Sellner.   The terrorist had given Sellner a sizeable donation, and had visited Austria four months before the attack. So, the question was asked – did Sellner and the terrorist have contact?  However, the Austrian investigation into th...

Two trips to the Balkans, in South-Eastern Europe might hold the key to the terrorist's mindset in the years before the attack. This is a region steeped in nationalist history and revered by the far-right, and the details of his time here are murky.  Joey follows the terrorist to the other side of the world, searching for more clues about his radicalisation, trying to find out if anyone in Eu...

On the afternoon of the attack, a member of a private Facebook group for Australian extremists comments that the terrorist had been “in the scene for a while”.  Digging through an archive of Facebook posts, Joey Watson uncovers just how deep those connections ran.  Joey finds the terrorist had been in contact with Australian extremists for years – including signalling t...

The terrorist posted a manifesto and a live stream link on an obscure image board just minutes before the attack, urging users to “do their part by spreading my message.”  Journalist Joey Watson investigates the online community of 4chan, and finds how a once-creative part of the internet was taken over by far-right extremists, desensitizing each other towards violence. &nbsp...

In 2019, a 28-year-old Australian terrorist live-streamed himself murdering 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch New Zealand, sending shockwaves around the world. It was the deadliest act of right-wing extremist violence committed by an Australian.   As journalist Joey Watson speaks with survivors and researchers, he begins to uncover a more complex story. What, or who, led the terro...

On March 15 2019 a gunman opened fire on two mosques in Christchurch, killing 51 people. Officially, he acted alone. But what if that wasn’t the full story? In Secrets We Keep: Lone Actor , journalist Joey Watson digs into the digital underworld that shaped Brenton Tarrant — a 28-year-old Australian radicalised online and armed with a global ideology. Joey retraces the steps of the ter...

How is international commercial surrogacy being sold to foreign intended parents?  Amelia sends Senior Producer Claudianna Blanco to Colombia to find out. Claudianna talks to experts, industry insiders and surrogates to uncover the international daisy chain of brokers and middlemen.   All episodes of By Any Means are available exclusively on the LiSTNR app. If you want to get in tou...

Surrogacy is the pointy end of the fertility industry – the last resort for conceiving babies that are genetically linked to their parents. In Australia, the only legal option for surrogacy is via someone offering to carry a baby altruistically.   Who are these women who are happy to carry a baby for a stranger? Amelia sends Senior Producer Claudianna Blanco to Tasmania for the Sur...

You’ve heard the mistakes the fertility industry has made – so it’s no surprise some people are offering another option.  In this episode, Amelia Oberhardt dives into the ‘known donor’ movement, of men offering their sperm on Facebook.   Is it better than using sperm sourced through a fertility clinic? And is an unregulated environment of sperm donation...

Systemic secrecy and loose record-keeping in the early days of IVF is coming to light, and it's clear that some sperm donors were abusing the system.  In this episode, Amelia hears from adult donor-conceived people whose lives have been altered because of secrecy and negligence. From people finding out they have an unknown large number of siblings, to inherited health conditions, and the angu...

In the early 2000s, the advent of DNA test kits opens the Pandora’s Box of conception secrets. As the identities of many previously anonymous sperm donors are suddenly revealed, their biological children’s lives are upended upon learning the truth about how they’d been conceived.  Amelia speaks to Darren, a medical student who’d donated his sperm anonymously in the 198...

An intriguing email propels journalist Amelia Oberhardt to investigate the fertility industry in Australia, its history and methods, and the outcomes for the children born during the early days of IVF – when secrecy around conception and anonymous sperm donation was the norm.   Amelia’s starting point is her best friend’s mother – one of the first women to go thro...

Egg donation, sperm donation and surrogacy – assisted reproduction technologies have made it easier than ever to have a baby but created an ethical and identity minefield. From finding sperm on Facebook, to finding out you might have 700 siblings, Secrets We Keep: By Any Means examines the multibillion-dollar fertility industry that fills wombs. Journalist Amelia Oberhardt speaks with parent...

Claire discovers how the Australian Federal Police are embracing FIGG, but with no regulation to safeguard against the privacy concerns which come with increased genetic surveillance. And in the final episode of Should I Spit?, the true market value of DNA databases is revealed and we find out how the personal information amassed by companies like Ancestry is being facilitated by Australia’s...

Claire meets the scientist responsible for the original DNA family history project Michael’s father donated to. He’s a well-known archaeo-geneticist who was attempting to build a DNA family tree of the whole world, with the hope it would bring world peace. This ambitious plan was funded by a Mormon billionaire. A celebrity genetic detective takes on the Angie Dodge case and finds that...

Claire learns the details about the original study which took the DNA samples from Michael’s father; from its religious origins to how the data eventually became part of Ancestry’s database. The police have another investigative lead to Angie’s killer, an image created purely from the DNA taken from the crime scene. Detectives show it to Michael’s family, convinced the kill...

Although Michael is no longer a murder suspect, his male cousins are scrutinised. The Idaho Falls police are trialing a new technology which predicts someone’s physical appearance based on DNA samples. Michael’s sceptical about the science and fears the police are searching deeper in his family to find Angie’s killer. Episode 6 of Should I Spit?  reveals forensic genetic gen...

A man called Chris Tapp has been in prison for 20 years for the death of Angie, but his DNA was never found at the crime scene. For Angie’s mother, Carol it doesn’t make sense, and she goes from initially calling for this man’s execution to being his greatest advocate. Carol then pushes the police to use a new technique of forensic genealogy. However, fears this new technique thr...

Claire attends RootsTech, the world’s largest family history conference to learn why genealogy is such a popular hobby. There, Claire learns how the LDS Church and Ancestry have amassed billions of records worldwide and turned the mapping of family trees into a multi-billion dollar industry.  Meanwhile, Michael continues to investigate how he’s been caught up in the Angie Dodge in...

DNA is the blueprint for life. While police call it the ‘gold standard’ for forensic identification, transnational corporations see dollar signs. Investigative journalist Claire Aird brings the untold story of how your DNA data can land you in a murder investigation, and how this same data is amassed for power and profit. Should I Spit? is the origin story of the multibillion dollar co...