Background Briefing

Cruise liners berthed near homes on Sydney harbour are burning a carcinogenic fuel banned in US and European ports. Residents say they’re getting sick but the cruise companies have refused to burn cleaner fuel and the government says it won’t act to stop the dirty ships for at least another year. Anne Connolly investigates.

The prime minister has called for an urgent national approach to tackle domestic and family violence and yet crucial services for victims are being cut. The loss of support services is causing alarm, especially in regional areas where victims are already isolated. Hagar Cohen travelled to Broken Hill and Mildura to investigate.

The NSW Rural Fire Service is the biggest volunteer fire-fighting force in the world and enjoys hero status in the community but the RFS is facing serious questions about soaring costs, accountability and its fire-fighting strategies. Gregg Borschmann investigates.

As part of a Background Briefing series on mental illness in the work place, Di Martin spoke to Justice Shane Marshall of the Federal Court. In an Australian first, the judge spoke candidly about his struggles with depression and the mental health issues that face the legal profession.

The sudden deaths of four young doctors have raised serious concerns about the mental health of medicos working in an overloaded health system. And many doctors claim that a mandatory requirement to report ‘impairment’ discourages them from seeking help. Ann Arnold investigates.

While Western countries urge their Muslim citizens to embrace the secular values despised by Islamic extremists, the self-declared Islamic State is using brutality, bureaucracy and a steady cash flow to control its ‘Caliphate’ in Syria and Iraq.

As of 1 January 2015 residents of Indigenous towns in Queensland have the option to buy their homes and convert communal land to freehold. Many want ‘the great Australian dream’, but it will extinguish native title and may expose communities to the open real estate market for the first time.

Twenty million feral cats are behind a deadly second wave of extinctions in Australia. Can they be stopped or will they finish off what 230 years of settlement began? Gregg Borschmann investigates. (This program was originally broadcast on 12 October 2014.)

As it embarked on its annual fundraising weekend, one of our oldest charities faced claims of child sexual abuse. The Salvo's had at least one known paedophile in its ranks. Sarah Dingle investigated. (This program was originally broadcast on 25 May 2014.)

Traumatised police are shunned, isolated and put under secret surveillance. They lose their careers, friendships and often their homes, marriages and children, and a growing number are taking their own lives. William Verity investigates the silence around police, post traumatic stress and suicide. (This program was originally broadcast on 2 March 2014.)