House of Cards: Inside the broken business of building
Monday 17 July 8:30 PM
This week on Four Corners reporter Stephen Long investigates what is wrong with Australia’s building industry?
Australia has experienced the highest rate of construction insolvencies in a decade, and over the past year, nearly 30% of all company failures are in construction.
Stephen and the team follow the supply chain pressures that are driving some builders to the brink, and expose companies who are racking up debt, liquidating and reincarnating leaving countless victims in their wake.
The team asks why the industry’s profit margins are so slim, such that any major disruption can be fatal.
Alongside building companies undone by tough times, there are also those that flout the law.
This report profiles one such Sydney company — its rise and fall show the limits of the system for dealing with insolvent companies and highlight failures of corporate regulation.
In such turbulent economic times, this is a must watch.
House of Cards reported by Stephen Long goes to air on Monday 17th July at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Putin’s Private Army
Monday 24 July 8:30 PM
From the Ukrainian frontlines to the mines of the Central African Republic, this week’s Four Corners lifts the veil on Putin’s private army – The Wagner Group.
In this independent French television investigation, former senior Wagner insiders speak out about what they saw in the line of duty.
The film traces the group, from its origins in Ukraine, to its clandestine operations in Syria, and its reign of terror across Africa where victims tell of rape, torture and massacres.
It also follows the rise and fall of the group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin who recently dared to challenge Putin’s power by marching on Moscow with thousands of his troops.
ABC has pulled its planned Four Corners episode on PwC tonight. Instead it screens a Channel 4 buy in, “Inside The Shein Machine” in which UK reporter, Iman Amrani, investigates TikTok sensation SHEIN
The AFR was told that Meldrum-Hanna packed up her things after her last story for the program, an investigation into an alleged investment swindle called “The Wolf of Woy Woy”, which aired in August last year.
ABC statement on Woodside protest action
The ABC has received queries about the presence of an ABC news team at yesterday’s protest action at the home of Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill.
A Four Corners team attended the protest action to gather material for a potential report later this year.
Just prior to the action the team received a tip to go to an address, they had no knowledge what was at the address or that it was someone’s house.
They had no knowledge of what action was going to occur there.
When they arrived the police were already in attendance, in numbers.
The ABC team remained on public land observing what was happening and getting some vision, as journalists do.
They at no time went on to private property or had any involvement in what was happening.
The ABC team in no way colluded with the activists.
Shadow State: How consultants infiltrated government
Four Corners takes on the big consultants.
Reporters Angus Grigg and Jessica Longbottom dive into the opaque world of government consulting, where firms push ethical boundaries and cost the taxpayer billions of dollars each year: little transparency, almost no accountability.
While PwC has attracted headlines over its use of confidential government information to help its clients avoid tax, there’s been less scrutiny of one of Canberra’s biggest players: KPMG.
Through forensic examination and whistleblower accounts, Grigg and Longbottom reveal consulting giant KPMG has faced accusations of repeatedly “wasting” public money while contracted by the Department of Defence.
The investigation also reveals controversies and conflicts of interest in other firms like Deloitte, Accenture and PwC.
Shadow State reported by Angus Grigg and Jessica Longbottom is available to stream on ABC iview from Sunday 6th August at 5:00pm and airs on ABC TV Monday 7th August at 8.30pm.
This ep was originally scheduled form last Monday but was moved to avoid the Matilda’s World Cup game. Interestingly it will be available on Sunday afternoon on iView.
I’d say that the producers considered this report so important that it could not be postponed for another week just to avoid clashing with the Matildas’ round of 16 match.
UPDATE
Having a quick squiz at the article not sure whag Roger Cook is complainjng about they were just documenting what they were seeing as media reporters tend to do.
They werent actually inside the property .
Statement has been updated to include:
Update on 4 August 2023: In response to concerns that have been raised, the ABC is conducting a detailed examination of the circumstances surrounding this matter.
Breaking the Cycle: The children of Australia’s meth crisis
Monday 14 August at 8.30PM
Australia is in the grip of a decade-long ice addiction, unmatched in almost any other country around the world.
Thousands of Australian babies are born exposed to their mother’s drug use every year.
This week, Four Corners investigates what’s being done to tackle one of the most hidden side effects of the drug epidemic.
Reporter Grace Tobin and documentary filmmaker Sascha Ettinger Epstein follow pregnant women struggling with addiction as they try to get help for themselves and their unborn babies and break the cycle before it’s too late.
What they reveal is a system largely unwilling to deal with the health crisis and little research on the horizon.
Through intimate character development, the program sensitively delves into the complexities of the issue, breaking down the data and stigma around pregnancy and substance abuse.
Breaking the Cycle reported by Grace Tobin goes to air on Monday 14th August at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Statement from ABC Managing Director David Anderson
Concerns have been raised regarding a potential story on climate protests that the ABC’s Four Corners program is currently in the process of developing.
After issuing a brief statement on 2 August in response to numerous media inquiries, the ABC also commenced an examination of the circumstances surrounding its filming of the attempted protest outside the residence of Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill, including the lead up to and recording of events that transpired. As the story has not been published, the examination does not fall within the remit of the ABC Ombudsman.
The examination has been conducted as quickly as possible to establish what occurred and address concerns raised. The ABC does not generally comment on stories that are in the early stages of development, as is common across all organisations conducting investigative journalism. However, the ABC respects that it is important in this instance to provide further context on the story as well as information from its examination into the matter.
The Four Corners story, still early in development and subject to change, seeks to focus on climate protests in Australia and the response by government, police and business. The intended topic of the story at this stage is to examine changes and amendments to anti-protest laws around the country and how they are being enforced. The program also seeks to critically examine the tactics by protest groups.
Based on the information reviewed, the proposed action by the protestors was in the planning prior to any contact with the ABC Four Corners team. The ABC’s team understood that it would be a non-violent protest action, and they maintain that they did not have prior knowledge of the address for the protest until the relevant morning.
It is understood the protestors intended to record themselves during the planned protest and then distribute their own footage to media after the protest. The ABC team maintains it did not collude with or encourage the protestors. The planned protest did not eventuate because the protestors were arrested by police who were already at the location on arrival.
The information provided does not indicate the Four Corners team crossed onto private property. The team also followed the direction of police, moving further back onto the road and later across the road. The team’s interactions with the protestors were at all times as journalistic observers, not participants.
The review does indicate the team did have some awareness of what was planned. To that extent, the element of the previous statement issued by the ABC concerning knowledge of what specific actions might occur prior to the event did not reflect all relevant information subsequently available and was incorrect. We will be investigating how this inaccuracy arose further to ensure this does not happen again.
The ABC’s approach to filming protests, or any activity by others which could involve misconduct by a third party, is guided by newsworthiness and journalistic principles. Immersive style documentary programs have been a part of public interest journalism programs on the ABC and on other broadcasters, for decades. Filming protests in that manner does not equate to endorsement of the activities.
In this particular instance, any airing of ABC footage on an ABC platform would not occur until a much later date, if at all, and only after it had been through significant prepublication editorial processes. That would include dealing with concerns over whether material identifies private addresses, noting that ABC News was not the publisher of recent images of Ms O’Neill’s property available in other media.
The ABC has robust editorial policies, consistent with best practice, that already seek to strike a balance between protecting public interest journalism, privacy of individuals, and appropriately addressing controversial, sensitive, and legal matters. A strict rule of no reporting or recording of controversial matters would inevitably have prevented many important stories, from the ABC and other media organisations, from being published.
As a result of recent events, the ABC will be reviewing and if necessary, updating its editorial guidance about when mandatory upward referral is needed to appropriate senior management.
The ABC Four Corners team will continue to develop this story in the public interest. It will continue to be produced and completed as per the ABC’s rigorous processes, complying with ABC Editorial Policies and the highest standards of editorial judgement before any publication.
The Silence: AFL’s Last Taboo
Monday 21 August 8.30pm
The AFL is the only major sporting code in the world that hasn’t had a single elite male player publicly identify as gay.
This week on Four Corners, reporter Louise Milligan investigates the AFL’s culture and asks what has created this silence?
The league’s governing body signed a pledge to tackle persistent homophobia a decade ago.
But Milligan speaks with players, advocates and supporters who all say the code’s lack of leadership on the issue is baffling.
Current and former players speak openly with Four Corners about the anti-gay bigotry that they say lingers in the AFL.
They call for change and say the league needs to be a safer place for gay players.
The Silence reported by Louise Milligan goes to air on Monday 21st August at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Can’t see this going poorly at all
Why doesn’t the AFL simply out its players?
Given Four Corners’ recent track record on LGBTIQ+ stories, expecting this to be a disaster.
The Antidepressant Story
Monday 28 August at 8.30pm
Around one in seven Australians now take some sort of antidepressant.
Globally they have made the pharmaceutical industry billions of dollars.
When modern antidepressants like Prozac were launched in the late 1980s, they were quickly heralded as wonder drugs for treating anxiety and depression with few side effects.
While many people say they have benefited from taking them, this week’s Four Corners from the BBC’s Panorama reveals the physical and mental side effects of the drugs can be wide-ranging and are often downplayed.
From headaches and brain fog to more severe impacts like loss of sexual function and suicidal thoughts – The BBC spoke to more than 100 patients grappling with effects of some kind.
The documentary asks — are they really helping?
The Antidepressant Story goes to air on Monday 28th August at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Monday 11 September at 8:30pm
Dan Bourchier travels to North, West and Eastern Australia asking what sovereignty/ self-determination means and looks like to First Nations people and where a Voice to Parliament fits with those visions. The story centres on two locations where working models of self-determination are operating on the ground – an Aboriginal run community model in far western NSW, and the 7-year-old South West Native Title Agreement, also knowns as the Noongar Treaty, in Perth. The story opens at this year’s Garma Festival.
No Country for Women
Monday 4 September at 8:30pm
Despite the Taliban’s public promises of change, Ramita Navai powerfully exposes the reality of life for women under their rule.
She secretly films in a jail where she discovers women being held by the Taliban without trial or charge, their fate often unknown to their families.
She uncovers evidence of Taliban officials using violence to forcibly marry young girls and accompanies an underground network of female activists on dangerous missions to rescue women hunted by the Taliban.
This is a powerful on the ground expose filmed by British Iranian journalist Ramita Navai for ITV and reveals the reality of what’s really going on inside Afghanistan today.
