Who isn’t sick of expensive and unreliable electricity in this country? Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he is and has made it one of his government’s priorities to lower our bills. But to do so, he says he may have to take provocative action, including overturning the current ban on nuclear power. It is a cheap and dependable power source, but opponents of the idea always scream two words: Chernobyl and Fukushima. They’re the scenes of the world’s worst nuclear meltdowns, catastrophic disasters which apparently prove that going nuclear is a dangerous, deadly option. But are the critics right? What if the reality is that nuclear power is nowhere near as threatening as we have all been led to believe? To test the theory, Tom Steinfort and Australian energy expert, Dr Ben Heard, venture deep into the infamous radioactive reactor at Fukushima in Japan.
Reporter: Tom Steinfort
Producer: Nick Greenaway
THE CHAMPION
On the field, Johnathan Thurston was such a skilful player that his legend transcended the sport of rugby league. Even one-eyed Aussie rules, rugby union and soccer fans applauded his brilliance. What makes this especially remarkable was that he almost didn’t make it. As a kid, footy clubs declared he was too scrawny to ever make an impact. How wrong they were. But in a career bursting with accolades, there have also been controversies and hardships. At 35, Thurston has decided it is time to hang up his boots, and talking to Allison Langdon on 60 MINUTES, he looks back on a career that almost never happened.
Here’s a frightening fact: right now on Australian roads there are more than a million vehicles fitted with airbags that instead of saving lives, could kill. They are the time bombs made by Takata, a company so greedy it wilfully put profits above safety. This saga started two decades ago when the company developed a new, cheaper airbag. The only problem, which Takata knew about at the time, was that these airbags were faulty, filled with a volatile chemical prone to explode without warning. And when they did, it caused horrific injuries and deaths. The Takata airbag scandal is now the biggest auto recall in the world. But as Liam Bartlett asks, why has Australia been slower than many other countries to take the decisive action needed to save lives?
Reporter: Liam Bartlett
Producers: Laura Sparkes, David Hardaker
OVER THE INFLUENCE
Have you noticed how social media is now increasingly dominated by so-called “influencers”? They’re usually young, beautiful – and often impossibly fit – men and women sharing their transformative secrets for better, longer lives. These “influencers” have thousands, and sometimes millions, of adoring fans whose obsession with voyeurism and vanity is only satisfied by an endless stream of filtered, glamorous photos. For most people it’s pretty harmless. But as Allison Langdon discovers, sometimes the health advice dished out in a pithy slogan and apparently “proven” by a revealing selfie is actually so unhealthy it is making people sick. And it’s such a concern for doctors that it now has a name: orthorexia, an officially recognised medical condition.
For adventurous young backpackers, Tofo, on Mozambique’s south-east coast, is a must-visit destination, spectacular and remote. But two years ago, 20-year-old Australian woman Elly Warren’s trip to paradise ended in the most tragic circumstances. She was found dead, her body callously discarded near a toilet block. Since then it’s been a living hell for her family in Melbourne, made worse because detectives in Mozambique seemed more interested in ignoring the homicide than investigating it. Their attitude infuriated Elly’s father, Paul, so much that he decided to travel to Africa in the hope of uncovering vital clues. His journey is not only heartbreaking and bittersweet, but as Tom Steinfort discovers, also a successful one.
Reporter: Tom Steinfort
Producer: Nick Greenaway
FROM PAMELA WITH LOVE
Twenty-five years ago, a skimpy red swimsuit, a slow-motion camera and a Californian beach rocketed Pamela Anderson to worldwide fame. While most people couldn’t keep their eyes off her on the TV show Baywatch , there was something they didn’t see – her extraordinary commitment to animal rights and social justice. These days Anderson is a genuinely powerful political “mover and shaker”, with leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin happy to take her calls. She is also having an unusual love affair with the Australian founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. He remains holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London trying to evade the wrath of the US Government, but from her new beachside home in the south of France, Anderson reveals to Liam Bartlett how she is campaigning to free him – and why she needs our help to do it.
There’s something you won’t see on 60 MINUTES this week, and it’s guaranteed to infuriate you. It’s the face of a brave woman who suffered terrible sexual abuse when she was 15. The perpetrator was her 58-year-old school mathematics teacher. But if that wasn’t bad enough, what has come since has added to the victim’s torment. As Allison Langdon discovers, a crazy Australian law means that even if the courageous survivor wants it, her identity can never be revealed. She is effectively silenced. However, the creep who ruined her life can talk about the case, and has been. He’s been spreading lies by painting himself as the real victim. Now Hollywood, and the high-profile leaders of the “Me Too” movement, including television actress Alyssa Milano, have taken on this young woman’s cause by demanding that we “let her speak”.
There are few things more majestic than seeing a herd of elephants roaming the plains of Africa. But tragically, every year 20,000 are killed by poachers, who then harvest and sell their ivory tusks. It’s a cruel trade and one that former Australian commando Damian Mander has been fighting for a decade to stop. Despite his efforts, he was losing ground to the criminals. Then he came up with an idea from left field: an all-female squad of anti-poaching rangers. Critics said it wouldn’t work, but they were wrong, and now the brave women of Akashinga are not only saving wildlife, they’re saving themselves.
Reporter: Tom Steinfort
Producer: Nick Greenaway
THE BLOCK
For the sheer genius of its simple design, the humble Lego plastic brick stands out as the most successful – and fun – children’s plaything of all time. Unless of course you stand on one. But painful or not, Liam Bartlett reveals there is one Lego statistic that is completely mind-boggling. In the 60-year history of the company, over seven hundred billion – yes billion – pieces of Lego have been made. And it all started with a Danish carpenter looking for a cheap alternative to wooden toys. Even more remarkably, these days the multi-billion-dollar Lego empire remains a family business, headquartered in the same quiet village where it all began.
Hopefully this report will provoke a huge reaction in the community and exert pressure on Federal or State parliament to repeal this unjust law immediately, so the victim can speak out at will and the tormentor named and shamed. I look forward to the follow up before the end of this year or when the show returns early next year.
What’s wrong with a glass of wine, a beer or something stronger at the end of a hectic day? Well if you believe the results of the world’s largest study into the risks of alcohol, everything. The sobering news, which has just been reported in the prestigious Lancet medical journal, is that there is no such thing as safe drinking. That means, contrary to popular opinion, even one glass a day of our favourite tipple is detrimental to our health. And the report’s authors could not be more blunt: just like tobacco and obesity, alcohol is a killer, claiming more and more lives while most of us remain in blissful denial about how much we really drink.
Reporter: Tom Steinfort
Producers: Nick Greenaway, Alice Dalley
CROSSING THE LINE
The enormously popular Hillsong Church proudly boasts that it believes in people and their ability to influence the world with good. It was founded by the telegenic and usually talkative Brian Houston. But he didn’t want anything to do with this story reported by Liz Hayes, and that’s because it’s about evil – the most un-Christian behaviour imaginable, and his own father, Frank Houston. He too was a high-profile church leader, one who used his position and influence to abuse children. One of his victims was Brett Sengstock, who because of Houston’s depravity has endured a life of misery, hiding in the shadows. But not any longer.
Reporter: Liz Hayes
Producer: Garry McNab
JACKI
In the business of acting, she is a Jacki of all trades. In more than 30 feature films and 80 stage productions, Jacki Weaver has played young, old, evil and kind. And thanks to a couple of recent Oscar nominations, vivacious 71-year-old Jacki Weaver is in greater demand than ever. But what Hollywood has just discovered is what Australia has known for more than half a century. As Charles Wooley explains, not only is Jacki Weaver a star, she’s also a national treasure.
On the tennis court, John McEnroe was as famous for his foul-mouthed temper-tantrums as he was for his mesmerising play. His nickname, “Superbrat”, could not have been more appropriate. Today, at 59, the former ace claims he has mellowed, but having just spent some time with him in New York, Liam Bartlett isn’t so sure. He found the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion to be as feisty as ever, with a scathing assessment of the current state of tennis. In McEnroe-speak, if the sport is to survive it needs an urgent injection of aggro. It’s a view sure to be welcomed by Australia’s very own pin-up of petulance, Nick Kyrgios.
Reporter: Liam Bartlett
Producers: Grace Tobin
ABOUT DOUBT
Arthur Greer is a very unlikeable man. He has a criminal record best described as disgraceful; he’s violent; and he has convictions for sexually abusing two of his daughters. And it gets worse. Greer has spent the last 25 years in prison for murdering a 14-year-old schoolgirl. Most people would think good riddance to bad rubbish, but as Tara Brown discovers, this is where his story takes a turn. Arthur Greer says he didn’t murder anyone – and there seems to be evidence to suggest that, for once, he might be telling the truth.
Reporter: Tara Brown
Producers: Gareth Harvey, Michael Muntz
NIGHTS OF WHITE SATURN
When Trevor Barry dropped out of school he looked down. And why wouldn’t he? Like many young men in Broken Hill back in the 1960s, working in the local mines was an obvious career choice. For 34 years that’s exactly what Trevor did. Then one day, instead of looking down he looked up, and what he saw changed his life forever. Today 67-year-old Trevor is an amateur astronomer, but not just any backyard stargazer. His work – especially making discoveries about the planet Saturn – is so impressive that he has NASA, the biggest space agency in the world, knocking on his door.
Reporter: Liz Hayes
Producers: Ali Smith, Grace Tobin
For 40 years, 60 Minutes has set the benchmark for current affairs journalism in Australia, with some of the most fascinating stories and incredible characters ever seen on the small screen.
Following its induction into the Logies Hall of Fame earlier this year, the 60 Minutes 40th Year Special will go to air at 7.00pm this Sunday, December 2, on Nine as star reporters from past and present such as Jana Wendt , Liz Hayes , Ray Martin , Tara Brown , George Negus and Charles Wooley recount the amazing tale behind Nine’s long-running flagship program.
Along the way they will reveal some of their most memorable moments – for better or for worse – with no topic off limits, and share the stories that have stuck with them over the decades.
It didn’t take long for 60 Minutes to quickly grow into a household name synonymous with quality journalism, giving Australians hard-hitting, honest stories that continue to matter 40 years on.
