Background Briefing in white on a stylized orange B

Program: Background Briefing

Background Briefing is the ABC's flagship investigative journalism podcast. Its award-winning investigations and documentaries expose cover-ups, corruption, real-life mysteries, whistleblowing, crime, fraud and miscarriages of justice — often before these stories receive mainstream attention.

The Background Briefing podcast brings you true stories not everyone will want you to hear, told by trusted reporters across Australia.

This Australian podcast makes investigative journalism bingeable. From scams and fraud to schooling and health scandals, tech and social media digs, police exposes and various unsolved cases, each episode of the Background Briefing podcast is a must-listen.

Recent series include:

Hometown Boys exposed how a terrible crime fractured a local community around a local football club.

The Invisible Killer: a forensic investigation into unexplained deaths in aged care after a doctor makes an unusual discovery.

The Favourite: how a schoolyard secret stayed hidden for years.

Stop and Search, which uncovered the mechanics of power and police accountability.

Before and After investigated medical hype, telehealth, body image, cosmetic procedures and consumer risk.

Beef: how small feuds escalate into serious disputes.

Airs Sunday at 9am Repeated: Sunday 11pm and Tuesday 2pm

The Background Briefing podcast brings you true stories not everyone will want you to hear, told by trusted reporters across Australia.

Episodes

Sorted by latest

INTRODUCING — Dark Menace

When police raided a terrace in Sydney's inner west, they found an iPad with a note: if this device connects to the internet, its contents will delete. That house belonged to one of Sydney's top criminal barristers.

Published: Wed 30 Sep 2026 at 12:00amWed 30 Sep 2026 at 12:00amby Charlotte Grieve

Duration: 1 minute 24 seconds

03 'This Bloody Machine' | The Empty Chapel

It would be a game changer if it happened. But the challenges facing a proposed proton cancer treatment centre in Sydney are stacking up.

Published: Fri 11 Sep 2026 at 12:00amFri 11 Sep 2026 at 12:00amby Julia Bergin and Loretta Florance

Duration: 31 minutes 49 seconds

02 'This Bloody Machine' | The Other Plan

The public plans for a half-a-billion-dollar Sydney development have proton therapy all over them. But they're not the only set.

Published: Fri 4 Sep 2026 at 12:00amFri 4 Sep 2026 at 12:00am

Duration: 32 minutes

01 'This Bloody Machine' | Jewel in the Crown

Sue Bleasel is running out of time. Her life's work has been to bring a life-saving proton therapy machine to Australia. But with construction about to start, big questions remain.

Published: Fri 28 Aug 2026 at 12:00amFri 28 Aug 2026 at 12:00amby Julia Bergin and Loretta Florance

Duration: 31 minutes

TRAILER – Introducing 'This Bloody Machine'

It's a plan so good that everyone wants to believe it. Bring a life-saving cancer machine to Australia so desperate families don't have to travel overseas for treatment. But the plan keeps failing.

Published: Fri 14 Aug 2026 at 12:00amFri 14 Aug 2026 at 12:00amby Julia Bergin and Loretta Florance

Duration: 1 minute 25 seconds

Long Read | The Girl Who Vanished From Her Bed: Part Two

A missing child, the botched police investigation case, and the aunt who never stopped asking why — this is part two of Maddison Connaughton's long read investigation into the disappearance of schoolgirl Eloise Worledge.

Published: Fri 24 Jul 2026 at 12:00amFri 24 Jul 2026 at 12:00am

Duration: 15 minutes 22 seconds

Long Read | The Girl Who Vanished From Her Bed: Part One

Could new leads solve one of Australia’s most haunting cold cases, the disappearance of Eloise Worledge? This is part one of Maddison Connaughton's investigation, a collaboration with ABC Long Read.

Published: Fri 17 Jul 2026 at 12:00amFri 17 Jul 2026 at 12:00amby Maddison Connaughton

Duration: 21 minutes 15 seconds

Beef | Battle for the Blue Zones 2

You may have heard the strange story about the man who cheated death. Diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and given just months to live, he moved home to die in peace on the idyllic Greek island of Ikaria. But he didn't die.

Published: Fri 3 Jul 2026 at 12:00amFri 3 Jul 2026 at 12:00amby Maddison Connaughton

Duration: 34 minutes 30 seconds

Beef | Battle for the Blue Zones

You've heard there are these enchanted places around the world where people often live past 100, thanks to lifestyles the rest of us envy.

Published: Fri 26 Jun 2026 at 12:00amFri 26 Jun 2026 at 12:00amby Maddison Connaughton

Duration: 33 minutes 22 seconds

The dark reality of Australia's AI dream factory

It’s been billed “the Netflix of AI.” A little-known Australian startup running an online service, boasting more than 20 million users worldwide. It promises to bring your fantasies to life with realistic AI companions you design and control.

Published: Fri 19 Jun 2026 at 12:00amFri 19 Jun 2026 at 12:00amby Josh Robertson

Duration: 33 minutes 24 seconds

Features

Police investigating accused paedophile's links to celebrated charity

Australian and Cambodian police are jointly investigating accused paedophile Mark Dennis's network and links to a celebrated Cambodian charity following his death after being charged with possessing child abuse material.

barrister Mark Dennis leaving a police station in sydney

Published: Fri 2 Oct 2026 at 5:29amFri 2 Oct 2026 at 5:29amby Charlotte Grieve, Kyle Taylor and Daryna Zadvirna

This project was to bring proton therapy to Australia. Alternate plans tell another story

Australians have been promised proton cancer therapy for years. The latest hope rests with a multi-million-dollar Sydney development where the money, partners and even the machine itself remain uncertain.

Four design sketched of a building, with various artistic styles and from different perspectives.

Published: Sat 12 Sep 2026 at 4:57amSat 12 Sep 2026 at 4:57amby Julia Bergin and Loretta Florance

ABC removes more episodes by sacked reporter Mahmood Fazal

An ABC review of sacked reporter Mahmood Fazal's use of anonymous interviewees find three more episodes of concern from Four Corners and Background Briefing.

A close-up of a man with a dark beard and brown eyes. He is wearing a cap and looking serious.

Published: Mon 17 Aug 2026 at 6:03pmMon 17 Aug 2026 at 6:03pm

'Cocaine dealer' on Mahmood Fazal's Four Corners episode says she did it as 'an acting role'

Further concerns over the accuracy of reporting by sacked Four Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal are raised on Media Watch, including that a hire car was used to mislead viewers in the profile of a purported cocaine dealer.

A close up photo of a man in a cap with a beard.

Published: Tue 4 Aug 2026 at 2:47pmTue 4 Aug 2026 at 2:47pm

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