As the US launches a review into AUKUS, Four Corners examines the future of the $368 billion submarine deal.
Reporter Mark Willacy and the Four Corners team travel to Washington, DC to speak with key players inside the Congress and the defence community.
One former Trump Defense Secretary says the program is moving too slowly.
Now, the Pentagon is reviewing the entire AUKUS deal with fears it might not align with the new administration’s “America First” policy.
In London, senior UK figures also sound the alarm. They warn of cost blowouts and delays in building the new AUKUS-class nuclear submarine with Australia.
Submerged asks the tough questions about what happens to Australia if Donald Trump decides the AUKUS deal doesn’t serve America’s interests – leaving Australia out of pocket and stranded.
Submergedreported by Mark Willacy and produced by Ninah Kopelgoes to air on Monday 16 June at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview. See more at abc.net.au/news and on ABC News social media platforms.
For years, serious abuse allegations followed Sean “Diddy” Combs, so how did his empire continue to grow?
With the music mogul now on trial for alleged sex trafficking, Diddy: In Plain Sight pulls back the curtain on the world he built, and the people who helped protect it.
Featuring first-hand accounts and never-before-seen footage, the film explores how silence, complicity and power allowed the allegations to stay hidden for so long.
Directed by Gussy Sakula-Barry for broadcaster Channel 4, this is a compelling and unflinching documentary about power, protection and the cost of looking the other way.
Diddy: In Plain Sightgoes to air June 23 at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview. See more at abc.net.au/news and on ABC News social media platforms.
The show posted an update on its socials this afternoon.
We’ve just learned that one of the members of the elite Ukrainian drone unit which featured in our documentary Endurance earlier this year has been killed.
Ukrainian media reports 32-year-old Yuriy Felipenko, a theatre and TV actor, was killed on the front line last week.
Endurance, reported by Mark Willacy, documented how Ukrainian units like Felipenko’s were targeting Russian forces with drones from bunkers near the front line.
A funeral for Felipenko was held in Kyiv yesterday.
A week before the 90‑day pause expires on his so-called reciprocal tariffs, Four Corners dives into the chaos created by Donald Trump’s trade policy.
Reported by Steve Cannane, Trading in Chaos investigates how the very people the president set out to help are now being harmed.
From soybean farms in North Carolina to toy warehouses in Texas, from the ports of New York and New Jersey to the rust belt of Pennsylvania, Steve and the Four Corners team have crisscrossed the US to talk to those most affected by the tariffs.
The film captures the confusion, uncertainty and fear generated by Trump’s whiplash-inducing tariffs, policies that experts say will increase the cost of living, make the US poorer and the world a less prosperous and secure place.
Trading in Chaos,reported by Steve Cannane and produced by Mary Fallon, goes to air June 30at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview. See more at abc.net.au/news and on ABC News social media platforms.
Australians in their 30s and 40s are facing an alarming surge in cancer diagnoses and researchers are scrambling to understand why.
From bowel and breast to liver and kidney, aggressive cancers are hitting younger people; they’re often detected late, with devastating outcomes.
This week on Four Corners, Dr Norman Swan investigates what’s behind the change.
Could it be ultra-processed foods, stress, or exposures dating back to childhood, even pregnancy?
He meets those grappling with a diagnosis and searching for answers.
Generation Cancer asks what can be done to curb the rise, and are we ready?
It’s a wake-up call for a generation — and health services — blindsided by this rise.
Generation Cancer, reported by Dr Norman Swan and produced by Elise Potaka, airs on July 7 at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview. See more at abc.net.au/news and on ABC News social media platforms.
For decades, Iranians have resisted a regime built on fear, repression and religious control.
Rage Against the Regime captures the latest chapter in that struggle through the voices of those who have lived it, exiled dissidents, young protesters and women who dared to speak out.
This is a story filmed in exile, told by Iranians forced to flee their country. Their testimonies reveal the reality of life under constant surveillance, where a wrong word or a visible strand of hair can lead to arrest, torture, or worse.
The film centers on the protest movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini while under police protection. Using powerful first-person accounts and rare footage smuggled out of Iran, it shows how a single act of state violence reignited a movement, bringing thousands into the streets, threatening the regime.
Rage Against the Regime is an unflinching portrait of courage in the face of brutal repression. It is a story about freedom, sacrifice and the cost of speaking out.
Rage against the Regimegoes to air on Monday July 14 at 8.30pm on ABC TV andABC iview. See more atabc.net.au/newsand on ABC News social media platforms.
For years, a star neurosurgeon operated inside Australia’s hospital system despite repeated allegations of sexist and inappropriate behaviour, and a string of legal claims by devastated patients.
This is the hidden story of the toxic culture that enabled him.
In this Four Corners investigation, reporter Louise Milligan talks to senior surgeons and hospital insiders who are speaking out for the first time.
Through powerful testimonies, internal documents, and newly surfaced footage, God Complex reveals a culture of protection, silence and complicity in Australia’s most elite medical circles, and the human cost of letting power go unchecked.
God Complexreported by Louise Milligan and produced by MayetaClarkgoes to air on Monday July 21 at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview. See more at abc.net.au/news and on ABC News social media platforms.
The Australian Taxation Office holds extraordinary power, but who’s keeping it in check?
The ATO is one of the most powerful and secretive institutions in the country, but for years, it’s operated without effective scrutiny.
In this major Four Corners investigation, award-winning financial journalists Neil Chenoweth and Angus Grigg reveal how inaction and flawed systems have allowed more than $50 billion in tax to go uncollected.
They unpick how a simple scam, supercharged on social media, saw tens of thousands of Australians fraudulently claim at least $2 billion in GST refunds.
They also show how corporate operators extracted millions more through fake invoices and phantom construction projects, often without triggering even basic checks.
And they expose how deep cuts, digital automation and a lack of independent oversight has left one of Australia’s most powerful institutions wide open to exploitation.
Born of years of forensic reporting by two of Australia’s most respected financial journalists in collaboration with the ABC’s investigations team, No Return exposes systemic failures inside one of the nation’s most opaque institutions.
It demonstrates why every taxpayer should demand accountability from the very agency entrusted to uphold it.
No Return,reported by Angus Grigg and Neil Chenoweth, and produced by Kyle Taylor, goes to air on Monday 28 July at 8:30pm on ABC TV andABC iview. See more atabc.net.au/newsand on ABC News social media platforms.
The Price of Justice: Who really wins in Australian class actions?
Monday 4 August at 8:30pm
At least one class action is launched on average every week in Australia. They are often seen as the only way Australians wronged by powerful institutions can get compensation and justice.
Across the country retirees, taxi drivers and First Nations families have signed up with the hope of compensation and recognition, but the reality is often very different – many are left feeling sidelined, short-changed, and sometimes retraumatised.
In this Four Corners, ABC investigations’ reporter Anne Connolly reveals how some class actions have become a brazen money-making exercise for lawyers and litigation funders – many of them based overseas.
The investigation exposes cases where law firms charged huge fees, funders nearly tripled their money, and people meant to be protected were left feeling exploited once again.
The Price of Justice asks whether the system still serves the public, or whether it’s now serving itself.
The Price of Justice, reported by Anne Connolly and produced by Alex McDonald, goes to air on Monday 4 August at 8.30pm on ABC TVandABC iview. See more atabc.net.au/newsand on ABC News social media platforms.
Trump versus the Courts: What will the American system of government become — the rule of law or the rule of the president?
President Trump has expanded the power and authority of his office like no other, and he is not stopping.
At stake is the foundational document of the United States of America – the constitution.
From undermining the courts to attacking prosecutors, judges, and the justice system itself, this week Four Corners examines how President Trump is pushing the limits.
Trump’s Power and the Law from the American public broadcaster PBS is a forensic examination of how the law is being remade to serve the ambitions of one man.
It draws on 20 interviews with Trump allies, opponents, legal experts and journalists to piece together a picture of a system under extreme pressure.
Trump’s Power and the Lawgoes to air at 8:30pm on ABC TV andABC iview. See more atabc.net.au/newsand on ABC News social media platforms.
A growing anti-government movement in Australia is challenging the authority of the courts, councils and cops.
Some call themselves sovereign citizens, others freedom fighters.
Supercharged during the COVID lockdowns, the movement’s rising influence and resolve has made it one of the judiciary’s primary concerns.
They’re flooding the legal system with pseudolaw claims, staging their own “trials” and targeting officials with campaigns of harassment and intimidation. While they claim to be peaceful, many express the desire for an armed population, ready to act against what they see as an oppressive government.
This week on Four Corners, reporter Mahmood Fazal embeds with key figures inside the movement to see how it operates. From “sheriffs” serving their own court orders to government departments, to local council meetings overrun by anti-vax activists.
Lawfare traces how the movement is trying to exert influence across Australia. Legal experts explain how this seemingly victimless civil disobedience can sometimes escalate into intimidation, violence and serious risks to public safety.
The investigation exposes a movement that’s testing the limits of Australian law and the institutions meant to uphold it.
It examines the human and institutional impact of the movement and the danger to our democracy if it’s not taken seriously.
Lawfarereported by Mahmood Fazal and produced by Amy Donaldson goes to air August 18 at 8.30pm on ABC TV andABC iview. See more atabc.net.au/newsand on ABC News social media platforms.
More than $100 million has vanished in a financial scandal at the heart of the federal government’s disability housing program.
One enterprise lured in more than 500 Australians with the promise of glittering high returns and social good, only to be exposed as one of the country’s most audacious investment scams.
Investors were told their money would help tackle the disability housing crisis while earning government backed, fixed returns. Instead, $78 million is alleged to have disappeared into a web of failed projects, luxury cars, gambling sprees and offshore ventures.
This week on Four Corners, reporter Jessica Longbottom reveals the cracks in the governance of Australia’s disability housing market and exposes systemic regulatory failure.
The government’s Specialist Disability Accommodation program, part of the NDIS, was meant to transform lives, but it was handed to a poorly regulated private sector.
Four Corners investigates how the program, marketed as an ethical investment, has turned into a feeding ground for property sharks and led to streets of vacant homes across the country.
The program asks: is this once in a generation opportunity at risk of collapse amid fraud, waste and shattered trust?
Empty Promisesreported by Jessica Longbottom and produced by Lesley Robinson goes to air on Monday 25 August at 8.30pm on ABC TV andABC iview. See more atabc.net.au/newsand on ABC News social media platforms.
Hospitals, doctors and nurses have long been protected under international law.
But in Gaza, most of the territory’s 36 main hospitals have now been attacked or destroyed.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack is an investigation into the impact of war on Gaza’s health system and the treatment of its medical staff.
Israel says it’s justified in attacking the hospitals as Hamas uses them for military purposes.
The documentary draws on testimony from Palestinian health workers, witness accounts, and official reports from human rights agencies, to examine allegations of attacks, detainment and mistreatment.
At its core are the personal stories of doctors trying to treat patients under extraordinary conditions.
One doctor survived strikes that killed his family, only to be detained while continuing his work. Another doctor, a senior medic, died in custody.
Directed by Karim Shah, Ramita Navai and Ben de Pear, and reported by Emmy award-winning journalist Ramita Navai for Basement Films and Channel 4.
It presents a rare and detailed account of the toll of the conflict on Gaza’s hospitals and the doctors within them, confronting urgent questions about the rules of war.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack airs September 1at 8.30pm on ABC TV andABC iview. See more atabc.net.au/newsand on ABC News social media platforms.
The ABC welcomes today’s decision not to convict whistleblower Richard Boyle, although his case again highlights the need for whistleblower protections to be strengthened.
In 2018 Boyle was working as a debt collector for the ATO when he gave information to investigative journalist Adele Ferguson revealing the heavy-handed tactics being used on taxpayers who owed money. The result was “Mongrel Bunch of Bastards”, an investigation led by Ferguson conducted jointly for Nine Newspapers and the ABC’s Four Corners.
Boyle helped expose systemic abuse of powers by the ATO. His disclosures led to multiple inquiries, including by the Inspector-General of Taxation, which resulted in reforms that have benefited thousands of ordinary Australians and small business owners.
Boyle pleaded guilty to disclosing protected information, making a record of protected information, using a listening device to record private conversations and recording another person’s tax file number.
We acknowledge the seriousness of these offences. However, Boyle had principled intentions, and his actions were in the public’s interest. His allegations were vindicated. He received no personal gain and has paid a high personal price for his whistleblowing.
If it wasn’t for whistleblowers such as Richard Boyle coming forward to journalists, there are many important issues affecting people’s wellbeing and livelihoods that the public would never know about.
