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Sunday 4 March at 8:30 pm
D FOR DISGRACE
The past few weeks have been an exciting time for thousands of young Australians who have taken the educational leap from high school to university. For many of the students there’s the added adventure of moving out of home and into on-campus residential colleges. But in a major 60 MINUTES investigation, Allison Langdon exposes a sinister underbelly at many of these residences, a seedy culture of degrading initiation rituals. The “hazing”, as it’s called, is often dismissed as university tradition or harmless fun, but for an increasing number of victims who have been subjected to humiliating bullying and sexual assaults it’s anything but. Even worse, many of the administrators of these residential colleges – the people responsible for looking after the students – are actually looking the other way.
Reporter: Allison Langdon
Producers: Gareth Harvey, Alice Dalley
SIZE MATTERS
It may seem obvious, but when it comes to big wave surfing, size definitely matters. And at up to one hundred feet, or more than thirty metres, the largest and meanest waves in the world slam into a headland in Portugal called Nazaré. Such is this monster break it often breaks those brave – or crazy – boardriders who attempt to take it on. Just this week, Australian surfer Ross Clarke Jones almost died after being wiped off a Nazaré wave. But the precarious divide between disaster and glory is precisely the reason he and other Aussie big wave legends like Mick Corbett can’t stay away from the place.
Reporter: Liam Bartlett
Producer: Nick Greenaway
Sunday 11 March at 8:30 pm
HOME OF HORROR
After enduring years of misery, there’s finally some good news for the many victims of the Daruk Boys’ Home at Windsor, north-west of Sydney. A breakthrough in a major police investigation means several men who have been accused of dreadful physical and sexual crimes against teenagers will soon be receiving a visit from detectives. And what 60 MINUTES will also reveal is the identity of the superintendent of the government-run home whose job it was to protect the boys from harm. The young victims of the institution – now middle-aged men – say the superintendent not only refused to act on their claims of abuse, he punished them for speaking out in the first place. It led to even more suffering for the boys while he went on to a successful life in federal politics.
Reporter: Ross Coulthart
Producer: Laura Sparkes
THE WACO INSIDER
Waco, in the middle of Texas, used to be one of those American towns destined to be forever unremarkable. But 51 days of hell 25 years ago changed all that. It started when David Koresh, a cult leader who thought he was Jesus Christ, decided to take on the United States government. There was a violent gun battle and ten people, including four federal agents, were killed. But that bloodbath led to a bizarre standoff which lasted almost two months before Koresh, and 79 of his followers, were burned alive in a deliberately lit inferno. Only nine people survived. One of them was Australian man Graeme Craddock, and now for the first time he is telling what it was like inside Waco – and why he still believes David Koresh will one day return to Earth as the son of God.
Reporter: Allison Langdon
Producer: Gareth Harvey
Sunday 25 March at 7:00 pm
ENOUGH
This weekend many cities in the United States will be taken over by teenagers, fed up with the way adults are running their country. The nationwide protests are to demand tougher gun controls. What’s significant – and impressive – is that these rallies are being organised and led by the very students who last month endured the horror of seeing their own classmates gunned down at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Their simple message is getting louder by the day: enough is enough. And as Tom Steinfort reports, the students also have a very unlikely ally. Evan Ramsey is a convicted school shooter who is now spending the rest of his life in prison, regretting his moment of madness.
Reporter: Tom Steinfort
Producer: Nick Greenaway
HELP US BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
It’s difficult to imagine a more desperate situation or a more desperate mother. For 33 years Yvette Nichol did her very best to look after and raise her intellectually disabled son. But as they both got older, she needed to know he’d be cared for when she was gone. Try as she might to get help, it never came, so fearing he had no reasonable future, Yvette did something shocking and deeply troubling. She attempted to kill her child and herself. In a remarkably candid interview with Liz Hayes, Yvette explains what drove her to the brink, and how her drastic action has exposed a shameful truth about the ongoing care of disabled Australians.
Reporter: Liz Hayes
Producer: Sean Power
GOLDEN GIRL
Although it seems as if she’s been around for as long as anyone can remember, surely it cannot be true that Kylie Minogue is about to turn 50. For most of us, this showbiz idol is ageless, or at least perpetually twenty-something. And even more enviably, her career – in TV, movies and song – continues to flourish. It’s little wonder Kylie’s new album is called Golden. But in an exclusive interview with Karl Stefanovic, on assignment for 60 MINUTES, Kylie reveals the pain of her recent broken engagement and talks about reports that it led to a nervous breakdown.
Reporter: Karl Stefanovic
Producer: Eliza Berkery
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Note new time of 7pm
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Sunday 1 April at 7:00 pm
THE SURGEON AND THE SOLDIER
When Munjed Al Muderis fled war-torn Iraq, he escaped with just two things: a medical journal and the determination to start a new life. In the years since, he has put both to great use. After arriving in Australia as an illegal immigrant, Associate Professor Al Muderis is now one of the most skilled surgeons in the world. His expertise is in a revolutionary procedure called Osseointegration, which fuses human bones with robotic limbs. On assignment for 60 MINUTES, Mark Burrows reports on an operation this remarkable surgeon performs to rebuild the often-troubled soldiers who fought in conflict zones like his old homeland – good men such as US Army Captain Luis Montalvan.
Reporter: Mark Burrows
Producers: Steve Jackson, Clair Weaver
THE YORKSHIRE ROSE
At 91, Jack Crane should be enjoying a quiet life at his home in Lithgow, west of Sydney. Instead he has found himself at the centre of one of World War Two’s most intriguing mysteries, the disappearance of an RAF Stirling bomber known as the Yorkshire Rose. In June 1944 the plane was flying a top-secret mission deep inside Nazi-occupied France when it vanished. There’s been no trace of it, or the 23 servicemen on board, since. But with a lot of help, Jack thinks he now knows where the Yorkshire Rose is and he’s fighting reluctant bureaucrats at the British Ministry of Defence, demanding they conduct a search. He desperately needs answers because his brother Bob was the pilot, and after three-quarters of a century, time is running out to bring this war hero home.
Reporter: Ross Coulthart
Producer: Howard Sacre
GOING FOR GOLD
This time last year Lauren Parker was one of Australia’s most promising triathletes.
Supremely fit, her life was an exciting blur of international competition and full-time training. Then she was involved in a dreadful, freakish accident that left her paralysed. Sadly, Lauren wasn’t just broken physically and mentally – she could see no hope. But after months of misery something extraordinary happened. Next week she’ll be going for gold at the Commonwealth Games. Peter Overton reports on Lauren’s inspiring reinvention, and how some mighty help from an unlikely friend got a gifted athlete back on track.
Reporter: Peter Overton
Producer: Howard Sacre
YOU CAN
On this holiday weekend Peter Overton also meets a beautiful young Australian for whom life has not been a holiday. Jess Van Zeil is fighting a brutal battle with melanoma, but incredibly, despite her illness, she says she’s a lucky one. That’s because she has been able to receive treatment at the newly established Melbourne You Can Centre, a facility specially designed by young cancer patients, for young cancer patients. Jess’s story highlights the urgent need to close the gap in care that currently exists for those with cancer who are aged between 15 and 25.
Reporter: Peter Overton
Producer: Jo Townsend
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Suggestion that interviews have been shelved.
Karl Stefanovic: 60 Minutes boss Kristy Thomson angry at Uber conversation
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/has-karl-had-his-60-minutes-of-fame/news-story/921c844445c8d1ecd3ff0292c4bd6059
That article is a premium one, but what I’d really like to know is whether it came from Annette “I stopped watching commercial breakfast TV” Sharp or another columnist?
The article doesn’t have a byline. Not sure which “journos” are responsible for churning out “Confidential” these days.
The piece quotes an unnamed insider who claims Thomson isn’t a fan of Peter and doesn’t want Karl to be part of the show but his contract stipulates he has to be.
The article also mentions tensions being high on the Today set.
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Ross Coulthart’s contract hasn’t been renewed. Effect of expensive sports rights kicking in already. Watch the quality of 60 dip even further with more contributions from the Stefanovic brothers to fill the gaping hole.
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Jo Townsend has also left 60 Minutes.
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Last one out, please turn off the lights.
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Not that it’s likely to happen, but I think Tracy Grimshaw (or Leila McKinnon) would do a very good job on 60 Minutes as a full time reporter.
Really disappointing that Ross’ contract wasn’t renewed. One of the programs better reporters.
I would much prefer Ross over Tom Steinfort and the Stefanovics combined.
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Should we read anything at all into the fact that the non-renewal of Ross Coulthart’s contract has come just two days after it was announced that Mark Llewellyn is returning to Nine?
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Sure looks like it.
Sunday 8 April at 7:00 pm
THE FACE OF EVIL
Frank Wark is about as evil as a man can be. Thankfully, he is now in prison, where he is likely to spend the rest of his life. For years he was free to commit atrocious attacks on women, including rape and murder. If that isn’t horrendous enough, what is truly alarming is that we now know Wark’s crime spree could have, and should have, been stopped as soon it began. But as Ross Coulthart discovers, this violent predator, now aged 61, was able to continue his nefarious ways due to some of the sloppiest police work you will ever see.
Reporter: Ross Coulthart
Producer: Grace Tobin
SHEEP, SHIPS AND VIDEOTAPE
Australia’s export of live sheep, mostly to the Middle East, is very lucrative. Last year it was worth a quarter of a billion dollars. The very point of the business is that the sheep arrive at their destination alive, but transporting thousands of animals on long voyages across the sea is challenging. For years, exporters have assured the Australian public the safety and well-being of the sheep is their priority. And because they don’t allow cameras on board, we have had no choice but to accept what they say. That all changes on 60 MINUTES this week. Liam Bartlett has obtained secret video, recorded over multiple trips, which proves we have all been lied to. It shows disturbing animal cruelty and exposes a shameful industry.
Reporter: Liam Bartlett
Producer: Howard Sacre