232 episodes
Background Briefing ABC News
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Background Briefing brings you true stories not everyone will want you to hear.
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The whistleblower who exposed Australia’s secretive offshore detention system
"Simone" arrived on a remote island to help asylum seekers. But she witnessed something there that convinced her to leak over 2000 documents. Reporters Paul Farrell and Maddison Conaughton investigate what happened.
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The Whistleblower who brought down Australia's Dr Death
When patients start unexpectedly dying at a regional hospital, nurse Toni Hoffman takes a big risk to blow the whistle on a negligent surgeon. But years later, it's still unclear why she was ignored for so long.
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The whistleblower who captured the nation — and the man who unmasked her as a fraud
Kathy Jackson was once heralded as a revolutionary who shone a bright spotlight on union corruption but she too was later found to be a fraudster who had misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars in union members' money. So who was the man responsible for blowing the whistle on her?
Reporter Annika Blau investigates. -
The whistleblower who helped catch a paedophile politician
When an electoral officer helps police arrest a popular politician, her life begins to unravel. Her boss would spend more than a decade in prison, but she loses her job, and is even eventually admitted to a mental health institution. Now she’s asking: could he have been stopped earlier? Reporter Tynan King investigates.
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A mother's message and the hospital that didn't want to hear it
A woman has lost the ability to speak and is forced to communicate by blinking. From her hospital bed she tries to blink out a request, but hospital staff refuse to help.
Background Briefing can reveal that similar situations are playing out in many public health facilities across Australia, as patients pursue their legal right to die, and healthcare workers say "no".