Background Briefing

As the competition watchdog looks into new allegations of the abuse of market power by Coles and Woolworths, food suppliers speak out about what they say is predatory behaviour, even blackmailing by the ‘big two’. Hagar Cohen investigates.

In the past 10 years Iraqis have endured a foreign military occupation, a brutal insurgency, intense sectarian violence and hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. They’ve also taken part in three democratic elections. Hugh Sykes has reported on Iraq throughout this time and he's just been back to talk to Iraqis about how their lives have changed.

Millions are spent each year on shark attack prevention measures that don’t work. In Western Australia, the tagging program could be used to kill protected sharks unnecessarily, and create a dangerous, false sense of security for swimmers. James Woodford investigates.

Australia’s diesel-reliant industries are on notice following the World Health Organisation’s emphatic conclusion that diesel exhaust is a cause of lung cancer. But as Stan Correy discovers, the Department of Mines in the boom state of WA has just closed a program that monitored the long-term health of miners.

There’s been a breakthrough with soil carbon trading that could get rural Australia sequestering carbon in the ground and earning credits for it. Soil carbon holds the remarkable promise of dealing with two national crises at the same time—climate change and our extensively degraded soils.  But it’s deeply politicised, and the science is not clear. Di Martin reports.  

The Dee River in Queensland is being killed by toxic water from an old gold mine. Mount Morgan is one of thousands of abandoned and unregulated mine sites, many of which are leaking contaminated ‘legacy water’ into river catchments. Ian Townsend investigates.

Factional self interest and extraordinary claims of corruption in NSW have severely damaged the Labor ‘brand’ and threaten to undermine the Gillard government’s re-election chances. Hagar Cohen investigates the latest attempt to salvage the NSW branch. 

The lifeblood of hundreds of east coast towns, Highway 1 is also the nation’s longest cemetery with hundreds killed on the road as promised upgrades are continually delayed. James Woodford drove from far north Queensland to southern NSW, charting life, death and broken promises along the way.

For years the greyhound industry has accepted the routine killing of injured and failed racing dogs. A leading official reveals thousands are killed each year in NSW alone, and says the practice is out of step with community values. Timothy McDonald investigates the often brief life of a racing dog. (Originally broadcast on 11 November 2012)