Background Briefing

The Morrison Government claims Australia will meet its emissions targets "in a canter".It points to Australia's status as the world's largest LNG exporter to show how the nation's carbon footprint is getting smaller.But Background Briefing has seen bombshell emails by government advisors that reveal a very different picture.Jane Bardon investigates the true extent of Australia's fracking emissions.

It's a long-running ‘dummy director’ scam that’s siphoned tens of millions of dollars from workers, small businesses and the taxpayer.In Victoria, a small group of accountants spent 15 years signing on drug users and homeless Australians to help their clients cheat the system.Reporter Dan Oakes investigates how this was allowed to go on for so long.

Glenn Hartland is a serial rapist who lured four Melbourne women on Tinder. His victims say he continued to use dating apps while on bail. How did the police, the court, and the company behind Tinder allow this to happen?

These Australians were denied a fair hearing by one controversial judge. Now, for the first time, they're speaking out about their experiences.Hagar Cohen investigates what happens when the behaviour of a judge inside a courtroom is called into question.

In 2011, Boronika Hothnyang was accused of fatally stabbing her best friend, William Awu, directly in the heart.But when police arrived at the scene of the crime, Boronika's apartment in Dandenong south-east of Melbourne, she was fast asleep. Six men who had earlier been drinking at her place each gave detectives a very different version of events. In this episode, Sarah Dingle uncovers new evidence that raises serious questions about the strength of the case against Boronika.

The annual Uluru Camel Cup attracts a prize pool of tens of thousands of dollars, but is largely unregulated under NT law.After a champion camel named “Golden Nugget” won the 2018 race in controversial circumstances, allegations surfaced that the result was rigged.Reporter Alex Mann delves deep into the Camel Cup operator’s colourful past to investigate what really happened that day.This is a repeat of a program that aired in July 2019.

From piles of rubbish to leaking sewers, rats, and gas leaks.Pierre the Birdman is on a one-man mission to save his public housing block -- but he doesn’t own a computer, only just got a mobile phone, has never had legal training, and he barely finished high school.Despite this... he’s been winning cases against the NSW Government.Mario Christodoulou reports.

Jacki Whittaker thought one of the bedrooms in her Melbourne rental home smelt like "cat piss". But the real culprit was something far more sinister.The previous tenants had been cooking methamphetamine in the bathroom resulting in significant contamination.Jacki and her two adult children were told by a testing company they must leave immediately because it wasn’t safe to stay in the house.But no one really knows how many of us are actually at risk from meth residues because even scientists haven’t even worked it out.In this episode, Hagar Cohen investigates how some operators in an unregulated meth testing industry are scamming the public and profiting from our fear.This is a repeat of a program that aired in March 2019.

Whistle-blowers from inside Australia's lucrative employment services industry are claiming profits are being prioritised over the needs of vulnerable welfare recipients.Reporter Andy Burns investigates alleged murky behaviour inside the government's 350-million-dollar "Parents Next" program.She follows allegations that some private providers are benefitting at the expense of single mothers, some of whom are homeless.This is a repeat of a program that aired in August 2019.

When he rediscovered the elusive night parrot in 2013, John Young became a hero in the bird world. But his reputation is now in tatters after the veracity of his latest fieldwork was criticised by a panel of experts.Did the charismatic naturalist fake evidence of the green and yellow feathered creature?Ann Jones investigates a scandal that threatens to undermine conservation efforts. This is a repeat of a program that aired in March 2019.