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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.

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03 The Unbreakable Cult | Sue me!

2026/11/05

To combat outside scrutiny from the "dark forces" of the media, Universal Medicine creates its own propaganda department. It's a red rag to a bull for the cult's arch critic, Esther Rockett. Inspired by WikiLeaks, she starts a blog lampooning Serge and exposing the cult's practices in forensic detail. As she's getting relentlessly attacked, and paid a visit by the police, she's ready to move on. That's before Serge decides to sue.

02 The Unbreakable Cult | The recruiter

2026/10/29

Helen doesn't know her psychologist is devoted to the cult of Universal Medicine. So when she finally seeks help for her childhood trauma, she thinks she can trust this registered health professional. Soon, she's been referred to spiritual healers, sent to a masseuse for "esoteric breast massage" and put on the path to meeting cult leader Serge Benhayon.

01 The Unbreakable Cult | Hands on

2026/10/22

When Serge Benhayon had a spiritual epiphany sitting on the toilet nearly 30 years ago, he says he became possessed with all the knowledge of the universe. With these secrets at his fingertips, Serge invented four "esoteric" healing therapies and began to train up followers devoted to his way of life. That’s how the cult of Universal Medicine was born.

INTRODUCING... The Unbreakable Cult

2026/10/19

Serge Benhayon has been leading a cult out of the Byron Bay hinterland — just south of the Queensland border — for more than a decade. He was found by a jury to be a charlatan who swindles cancer patients. Yet every time he comes under attack, his followers close ranks around him.

03 Dark Menace | Operation Queenstown

2026/10/15

Before police raided Mark Dennis’s Sydney terrace, two tradies saw something inside that left them rattled. At the front door, a doormat told visitors to “come back with a warrant”. But it was what covered the interior walls that stayed with them for years.

02 Dark Menace | What Happened At Sunrise

2026/10/08

As the founder of a famous Cambodian orphanage rubbed shoulders with Hollywood stars, like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, a Sydney barrister was quietly becoming one of the charity's most powerful backers. To staff, Mark Dennis SC was “the big boss”. Few dared to question him. Even when he made them feel afraid.

01 Dark Menace | The Chairman's Secrets

2026/10/01

He was a silk at Sydney's most prestigious criminal defence chambers. And the former chairman of a celebrated charity protecting vulnerable children, where some called him "godfather". But he went by the alias of "Dark Menace" — and was allegedly hiding a sinister double life. Within weeks of that becoming known, he was dead.

INTRODUCING — Dark Menace

2026/09/29

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. A driven man who moved through courtrooms and corridors of power with ease. But the man had dark secrets too. And so, when the truth about him surfaces, it sets off a reckoning that stretches from Sydney’s most prestigious criminal defence chambers to the neon-lit bars of Phnom Penh. alleged crimes were hidden for so long.

03 'This Bloody Machine' | The Empty Chapel

2026/09/10

It would be a game changer if it happened. But the challenges facing a proposed proton cancer treatment centre in Sydney are stacking up. It begs the question: why are an unpaid volunteer and private developer stepping in to provide a life-saving cancer treatment that Australian families have been demanding for years?

02 'This Bloody Machine' | The Other Plan

2026/09/03

The public plans for a half-a-billion-dollar Sydney development have proton therapy all over them. But they're not the only set. As Australian families continue to fly overseas to get the life-saving treatment their children need, new questions arise about whether it's going to be possible for Sue Bleasel to pull off her plan. And now, they're coming from people inside the bigger project. When an insider speaks out for the first time, it becomes clear Sue isn't being kept in the loop on all the developer's plans.

01 'This Bloody Machine' | Jewel in the Crown

2026/08/27

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.

TRAILER – Introducing 'This Bloody Machine'

2026/08/13

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. The latest idea is to build a half-billion-dollar health science precinct in the heart of Sydney to house Australia's first proton therapy machine. It's got some big names backing it, support from a federal politician, and the green light from state government and local council. So why, when reporters Julia Bergin and Loretta Florance take a closer look, is it so hard to get a clear answer about what's going on? Is it happening? And what will it take to bring this machine to Australia? This Bloody Machine is a three-part Background Briefing investigation that follows a trail of money, egos, secret plans and changing stories to find out if the proton therapy dream is too good to be true.

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

2026/07/23

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.

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

2026/07/16

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.

Beef | Battle for the Blue Zones 2

2026/07/02

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. He lived for decades, and his miraculous recovery became one of the most shared stories of the Blue Zones movement, a prime example of the island's rare power to keep death at bay. There's just one problem. How much is actually known about this mysterious death-defying man?

Podcast reviews

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4.6 out of 5

35 reviews

★★★★★

Bilas Peles 2024/11/23

Good listening

Intelligent investigative reporting on interesting topics, usually, but not always, Australia-based

★★★★★

The Dodg 2020/10/30

A joy

This is just a great great show.

★★★★★

Cinavaphotos 2020/09/04

A must Listen!!

I’ve been listening to this show for almost a year now, and I love it. This show is the definition of real investigative Journalism. The episodes are ...

★★★★★

Boutie 2020/04/24

A Window on Australia

As a listener in America, the mix of topics and the depth of journalism devoted to each are a welcome window on Australia’s diverse communities, circu...

★★★★★

Jack_McCoy 2019/09/17

Investigative Journalism Radio

I wasn’t aware investigative journalism on the radio could be as compelling as this. Really good sound design and editing. Topics are as diverse as se...

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