Background Briefing

With the High Court set to decide whether the ACT’s same-sex marriage laws can survive, Di Martin follows the highs and lows for a group of same-sex couples as they wait to see if their plans to marry in Canberra can go ahead.

As the demand for foster care grows, the number of carers for children who have been removed from their families is in decline.

The NSW Parliament is split along pro-choice and pro-life lines over a law that would be the first in Australia to give legal rights to a foetus.

Once the domain of bad boys, bikies and sailors, tattoos are now part of mainstream fashion. Nearly three million Australians have been ‘inked’ and with the surge in popularity concerns are being raised about the toxicity of some of the inks used, as well as a lack of health regulations.

Among the thousands of foreign fighters in Syria, more than a hundred British nationals are thought to have joined armed opposition groups. Who are these men, why they have gone to fight and what will they do when they return? Jenny Cuffe investigates.

A project to dig minerals from the seabed off Papua New Guinea could signal a new era of mining in the world’s most remote and least understood environment, the deep sea. Mining companies are excited, ecologists are worried, and struggling island nations are watching with interest. Ann Arnold investigates.

A project to dig minerals from the seabed off Papua New Guinea could signal a new era of mining in the world’s most remote and least understood environment, the deep sea. Mining companies are excited, ecologists are worried, and struggling island nations are watching with interest. Ann Arnold investigates.

Australian businessman Matthew Joyce faces 10 years in a Dubai jail for conspiring to trick Gold Coast developer Sunland Group. But this is a story of two court cases, in two countries with two very different verdicts. Wendy Carlisle investigates.

From the cult of Kevin to the politics of knee-jerk opposition, the policies and strategies of the major parties are being decided by a handful of people, with debate discouraged, dissent quashed and policies more likely to fail. Di Martin reports.