Background Briefing - Program podcast
By ABC Radio National
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Podcast Description
Radio National's agenda-setting current affairs radio documentary program.
| Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 |
Life and death on the frontline | It’s become who I am. If I didn’t do it anymore, I’d feel myself diminished.’ Why, despite the risks, do journalists choose to work in conflict zones? Is it safer to be a print or broadcast journalist? The latest technology allows reports to be sent immediately but it hasn’t made it easier to get the story. Despite advances, today’s wars are still, ‘fought out in a kind of medieval darkness’. Reporter: John Simpson. | 26 5 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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2 |
Residents vs McDonald's | A group of residents in Adelaide have opened a new front against the fast food giant. They’re trying to stop a McDonald’s restaurant opening opposite a school, arguing it will raise childhood obesity rates in the area. This may be the first time an urban planning court in Australia has looked beyond traffic, noise, litter and crime concerns, to consider the food environment. Reporter: Stan Correy. | 19 5 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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3 |
Fatal shore: the deaths of three teenage surf lifesavers | 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 | 12 5 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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4 |
Lead poisoning: a silent epidemic | 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 recently flooded suburbs of Queensland are lead-dust hot spots but residents haven’t been warned. Reporter: Ian Townsend | 5 5 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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5 |
Blood, sweat and tears in the cage | 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. Reporter: Hagar Cohen | 28 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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6 |
Cage fighting and the rise of the UFC | It began as a brutal no-holds-barred experiment and is now a multi-billion dollar fight industry. Cage fighting, or Mixed Martial Arts, is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and especially in Australia. The sport’s main promoter says it’s part of our DNA and fighters will do anything to step into the cage. Reporter Hagar Cohen. | 21 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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7 |
Clive's world | He’s a billionaire mining magnate, a real estate developer, football club saviour, a medical philanthropist, a professor, a political combatant and, officially, a National Living Treasure. How does he do it? Background Briefing investigates the big world and the big claims of Clive Palmer. Reporter: Stan Correy | 14 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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8 |
Energy efficiency: Not in Australia mate! | In forty years Australia’s energy efficiency record has barely improved. We’re a land of air con, power hungry industry, and fuel guzzling cars. But electricity is no longer cheap, and we have to deal with carbon emissions. Energy savings could deal with both. Yet the message has been swept away by the political storm over a carbon price. Reporter: Di Martin | 7 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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9 |
Energy efficiency: how does your house rate? | Want to avoid big power bills in your next home? The federal government wants all homes for sale or rent to have an energy efficiency rating. We already rate new homes, and the system is weeding out some power guzzling designs. But there are major flaws as well. Some super efficient designs don’t rate—and some six star homes are still substandard. So how do you find an energy efficient home? Reporter: Di Martin | 31 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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10 |
The dark side of the boom | In the 1970s, Joh Bjelke-Petersen told mining companies to build towns or they wouldn't be able to dig out the black gold. That's why towns like Moranbah were built. Forty years later, Moranbah has morphed into a big miners camp. House prices have gone through the roof, businesses are collapsing and families are leaving. Now even Labor voters are reminiscing about Joh. Reporter, Wendy Carlisle. | 24 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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11 |
Bosnia's forgotten victims | With ex Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic about to face a war crimes trial in The Hague, one former British commander, Bob Stewart, returns to the scenes of atrocities he witnessed in Bosnia and talks to the victims who’ve been left behind. Bob Stewart’s journey is emotional and it reveals how people are struggling with the daily reality of living beside neighbours who 20 years ago were bitter enemies. | 17 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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12 |
Political micro-targeting | Political parties constantly narrow their campaigns to focus on key marginal seats, and they have to do it more cheaply and efficiently. It’s becoming harder to convince wary voters and the parties are looking for more direct approaches. Electronic ‘micro-targeting’ is the new frontier. | 10 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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13 |
A sinking feeling in the Torres Strait | On six Torres Strait islands, tidal flooding is washing away everything from building foundations to ancestral graves. Mosquitoes are thriving, with a serious malaria outbreak on one island. The state and federal governments are reluctant to invest in seawalls for protection and residents say they won’t leave. | 3 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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14 |
Range anxiety and the future of the car industry | How far and how fast can electric cars go? That’s what most buyers want to know as the big car-makers talk up battery power and zero emissions. Meanwhile in the US and Australia public debate about the future of the car industry is caught in the old politics of subsidies and jobs. | 25 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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15 |
Fighting fire with fire | There is fierce scientific debate over whether the policy of annual prescribed burning in Victoria will reduce the risk of another Black Saturday that took so many lives in February 2009. | 18 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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16 |
Orica: how not to deal with a toxic leak | A chemical spill at the Orica plant near Newcastle in NSW put the company in the spotlight and raised serious questions about its safety procedures and what it told the neighbouring residents. The Orica leak also highlights major health and safety issues around hazardous industries located on the doorstep of residential suburbs like Stockton, and whether there are adequate laws in place. | 11 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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17 |
When a breast implant maker goes rogue | French-made PIP implants were taken off the market two years ago after a massive fraud was discovered: instead of using medical grade silicon the factory was filling the implants with cheaper industrial silicon. Many of them have burst and been removed and over 100,000 women around the world are waiting to find out what the health consequences might be. In Australia the medical watchdog (the TGA) is only now examining the suspect implants. Why has it taken to long? | 4 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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18 |
Extra Audio: Interview with Hanne Warsoe | Interview with Hanne Worsoe on the role of the Home Education Unit in Queensland. [Download audio] | 28 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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19 |
Opting out and staying at home | As the new school year begins more than 50,000 Australian children will be kept at home, to be taught by their parents. The homeschooling movement is growing rapidly but the majority of the arrangements are illegal, because the parents refuse to register with education departments. The authorities appear reluctant to prosecute and there is a lack of compelling evidence to show that homeschooling offers better (or worse) education outcomes. | 28 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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20 |
Mining Afghanistan | As foreign troops withdraw, will foreign miners move in? They’ve known of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth for a century but it hasn’t been safe or easy enough to extract it. Now Western companies, including Australian miners, are behind the geopolitical eight-ball as China and India lock up mining rights. Reporter, Stan Correy (Originally broadcast on the 18th December 2011) | 21 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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21 |
Bess Price: welcome to my world | Warlpiri woman Bess Nungarrayi Price gives a personal account of the way violence has ripped apart her family, and others, in Aboriginal communities of Central Australia. Bess and her white husband, Dave, argue passionately for the right of people in these communities to live without the fear of violence, and for children in remote areas to have access to a good quality education. Photo: Ann Arnold | 14 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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22 |
Guns are back | Gun clubs report lots of new members, hunting is cool, and handguns are gangland chic. The hundreds of thousands of guns destroyed in buybacks since Port Arthur have been more than replaced by new ones. But guns are highly political and the national system for monitoring gun ownership is a mess. Reporter, Ian Townsend. | 7 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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23 |
Boys and the buff culture | 'Zyzz' was a ladies man and a puny boy's dream realised. From skinny teenager to rippling Adonis he epitomised a growing obsession with male body culture. His death had an unexpected impact and has re-opened concerns about steroid use. Reporter, Brendan King. Photo source: Facebook | 31 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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24 |
Don't trust the web | The internet is awash with misinformation, manipulated identities, fake reviews, and dishonest comments. Politicians use astroturfing. So do businesses and marketing firms. Beware—it's infecting everyone. Reporter Hagar Cohen | 24 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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25 |
Mining Afghanistan | As foreign troops withdraw, will foreign miners move in? They’ve known of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth for a century but it hasn’t been safe or easy enough to extract it. Now Western companies, including Australian miners, are behind the geopolitical eight-ball as China and India lock up mining rights. Reporter, Stan Correy | 17 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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26 |
Occupy: a global moment or a movement? | It started with a bang in Wall Street and spread to over a hundred cities worldwide. But, as the novelty wears off, the tent city occupations are facing their own crunch time with the weather, the police and internal disagreements threatening their survival. Reporter, Hagar Cohen. | 10 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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27 |
The great rural health challenge | Rural and remote Australia relies heavily on overseas trained doctors if it can attract a GP at all. Background Briefing looks at how a town can survive when its medical services start shutting down, how to support what remains, and whether Australia needs to overhaul its policy on overseas trained doctors. Reporter: Di Martin | 3 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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28 |
The hard lessons learnt by NSW town, Harden | The town of Harden built its state of the art medical centre to house 4 doctors and 2 dentists. It boasts a one of its kind hydrotherapy pool. But for three years the Centre has stood largely disused. Just one GP has operated out the centre – although finally, another is soon to join him. Di Martin reports on what other towns can learn from the Harden experience. | 3 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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29 |
Riding the sports betting boom | Freedom to advertise and the rise of the mobile app has led to a tripling of sports betting in Australia. The winning odds are now front and centre in the coverage of major sports and you can bet on all kinds of 'exotic' options. So what are the odds on a big corruption scandal or a new generation of problem gamblers? Reporter, Brendan King. | 26 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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30 |
Guns are back | NSW Police and Customs officials have arrested four people in relation to a gun importation syndicate that they believe has illegally imported between 160 and 200 Glock pistols since this program by Ian Townsend went air in November last year. The program looks at the increasing number of guns in the community and how and why they are getting there. | 12 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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31 |
Qantas and the ghost of Workchoices | Qantas has opened a new industrial relations battlefront. The Labor government's Fair Work laws are being put to the test but there are bigger political implications for the Opposition, which is split over whether to re-embrace Workchoices, the IR policy that many believe brought an end to the Howard government. Reporter, Stan Correy Photo: AAP, Miles Godfrey | 5 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 31 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Well worth checking out
Comprehensive, thought-provoking discussion of a wide variety of topics.
Great listening
A great program with thought provoking guests and topics. (Also the perfect length for my bus ride to work).
Top shelf
Some of the best journalism around in Australia at the moment.
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