Background Briefing

Australian businessman Matthew Joyce faces 10 years in a Dubai jail for conspiring to trick Gold Coast developer Sunland Group. But this is a story of two court cases, in two countries with two very different verdicts. Wendy Carlisle investigates.

From the cult of Kevin to the politics of knee-jerk opposition, the policies and strategies of the major parties are being decided by a handful of people, with debate discouraged, dissent quashed and policies more likely to fail. Di Martin reports.

From the cult of Kevin to the politics of knee-jerk opposition, the policies and strategies of the major parties are being decided by a handful of people, with debate discouraged, dissent quashed and policies more likely to fail. Di Martin reports.

Half of all adults in Tasmania cannot read or write properly, and many of their children are following in their footsteps as badly needed school reforms are frustrated. Sarah Dingle investigates.

Health and safety fears have restricted the growth of genetically modified foods for decades. But is a hungry world, a new generation of consumers and the weight of scientific evidence loosening the grip of the Frankenfoods curse? Ian Walker set aside his long standing antipathy towards GM foods to investigate.

There will be no Background Briefing program this week. In its place will be post-election analysis and interviews produced by the team at Sunday Extra .

More than a thousand asylum seekers have died trying to get to Australia by boat. But how many of them could have been saved? Australia’s search and rescue authorities stand accused of unnecessary delays, disregarding distress calls and passing responsibility to Indonesia, which is not equipped to carry out rescue operations. Jess Hill investigates.

The BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson has been visiting and reporting on China for a quarter of a century and in this program he returns to Beijing to talk to activists, academics and artists who are openly questioning whether Chinese communism can survive.

The BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson has been visiting and reporting on China for a quarter of a century and in this program he returns to Beijing to talk to activists, academics and artists who are openly questioning whether Chinese communism can survive.

For many baby boomers homelessness is just a couple of rent payments away. Up to a quarter of a million older Australians may be at risk. As Kylie Grey uncovers in this Background Briefing investigation homelessness has a new face. Have we left it too late for a radical re-think on how we house our ageing population?

It is the institution in which the vast majority of child sexual abuse occurs but the victims won’t be able to tell their stories at the upcoming royal commission. Children who are sexually abused by family members suffer the ultimate betrayal of trust, with nowhere else to go and no-one else to turn to. Sarah Dingle investigates their long search for justice.

The Australian Defence Force Academy has been dogged by controversy, from bastardisation rituals to social media sex scandals. This week James Woodford returns to ADFA, where he was in the first group of cadets in 1986, to see what’s changed and how defence force chiefs are addressing an entrenched sexist culture.

Tough new tobacco laws proposed for Europe have triggered a lobbying war and allegations of corruption that have rocked the European Commission, while in Britain the government is accused of caving in to the tobacco lobby over plain cigarette packaging. Jane Deith investigates.

An aggressive mosquito that’s spread a crippling virus through Asia is now being found at Australia’s border. The chikungunya virus is already being brought home by Australian tourists, and public health authorities are worried about a major outbreak if the mosquito, known as the ‘barbecue stopper’, becomes established. Ian Townsend investigates.

How a village in the NSW Hunter Valley won a landmark case against the mining giant Rio Tinto and the NSW government to stop a coalmine expansion. Residents argued their village would be virtually uninhabitable, and the court agreed. But the fight’s not over yet. Jess Hill investigates.

Australian clothing retailers have been called to account over their use of dangerous and abusive factories in Bangladesh. Unions and big investors alike are demanding changes and Kmart has been the first to respond, pledging to open its overseas factories to scrutiny. Di Martin examines an industry that’s long resisted giving details of its supply chain.

Sydney teen Henry Kwan became the public face of a new war on synthetic drugs when his death prompted state and federal bans on a range of compounds known as ‘legal highs'. But what exactly are these substances and can a ban be effective? Sarah Dingle meets a former manufacturer, and tests one of the most popular legal highs—White Revolver.

The taxi industry is ripe for reform. High fares and the skyrocketing value of taxi plates ensures big returns for the big players—like Cabcharge—but passenger numbers are in decline and drivers' wages have collapsed. What’s needed is an injection of real competition and choice. Wendy Carlisle investigates.

Australian grain growers say a foreign takeover of the country’s biggest agri-business, GrainCorp, should be stopped, in the national interest. They say they’ll be the losers if US food giant ADM takes control of the storage, movement and sale of grain across several states. Reporter Stan Correy looks at ADM’s chequered history and what the takeover would mean for Australian farmers.

Thousands of asylum seekers are being released from detention into the community but under the federal government’s ‘no advantage’ policy they are not allowed to work and they receive just $30 a day to pay for rent, food and all other expenses. Charities are reporting a huge increase in demand for their services and warn that a new subclass of people is being created. Hagar Cohen investigates.

Britain has accumulated the world’s biggest stockpile of civilian plutonium expecting to turn it into a valuable next-generation nuclear fuel. Now it’s being called one of the most embarrassing failures in British industrial history, an enormously expensive and dangerous mountain of waste. Rob Broomby investigates.

In less than a fortnight, the small community of King Island will vote on whether a crucial part of Australia's clean energy future should proceed to the next stage. But the islanders are sharply divided, after Waubra Foundation CEO Dr Sarah Laurie visited the island making claims that wind turbines harm human health. Sarah Dingle investigates.