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EP 7: The Hearings After Midnight
In 1987, long after the inquiries ended and the headlines faded, Canberra held its real hearings—off the books, after midnight, and far from the public eye. In Episode 7, we enter the shadow world of the Special Review Committee: no signage, no transcripts, and witnesses brought in not by subpoena, but persuasion. Files that vanished years earlier reappear in audit trails. A retired accountant presumed dead speaks again—his voice drifting from a tape mailed from Malta. And a records officer, Margaret Larkin, prepares to break her silence… before disappearing on the road to Canberra.
What follows is a cascade of leaks, threats, and late-night broadcasts that ricochet through Parliament House. A federal investigator’s wire recordings are seized under national security—but not before a single duplicate escapes. Journalists are warned off. Civil servants vanish. And a micro-cassette carrying account numbers and transfer dates slips into the nation’s bloodstream, exposing a financial trail that runs from the Riverina to the Cabinet Room.
As secrecy collapses into panic, a government attempts “strategic forgetting”—only to discover that not all records burn. Because from the archives to the coast of Queensland, one final reel remains alive, carrying a voice that survived its own erasure. And with it, the truth Australia tried to bury is about to surface.
Credits
Written & Produced by Stephen Johns
Sound Design & Editing by Stephen Johns
Archival Research by Alex G
Archival audio excerpts courtesy of ABC News.
Used under Australian fair dealing provisions for news, reporting, and public interest analysis.
© Compromised Podcast Series. All rights reserved.
Music licensed via Uppbeat:
- Like a River — Danijel Zambo
- License: ZBUR1HQGWB9QNF8D
- Blur — Goods Cargo
- License: QW3FGXP3VW0ZPYCW
- Endless Puzzle — AVBE
- License: 6G9BN3TRTYTCDBRL
- Spring Coming — Enrique Molano
- License: TMQZ5W2MAANQTUGE
- A New Chapter — Luminbird
- License: IE7ZTC8BRCGTDDAF
- Don’t Let Go — Apex Music
- License: CYOGRURAAB6M03TF
- Intriguing Case — Matt Stewart-Evans
- License: HFKUUE2XUQGLQBFL
- Underworld — Revo
- License: ZGYJAN3ID11LOG67
- Maytan Risunchis — Arnito
- License: KRW17THKJYCGKOTT
- Electromagnetic Interference — Adi Goldstein
- License: 9VP5CGTC8PWXRZFO
- News You Can Trust — Soundroll
- License: MQ40T11AHMNQUXCW
- The Heart of Silence — Arnito
- License: L3CQPJASUHTDSRKI
- Two Worlds — Tatami
- License: IRYXNADNBHVFFQ8J
Justice Philip Woodward audio in part: Crime Investigation Australia: Conviction in Donald Mackay case. 2007. Foxtel
Al Grassby comments: ABC News archives Australia
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/enrique-molano/spring-coming
License code: TMQZ5W2MAANQTUGE
https://uppbeat.io/t/avbe/endless-puzzle
License code: 6G9BN3TRTYTCDBRL
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
View all episodes
By Stephen JohnsIn 1987, long after the inquiries ended and the headlines faded, Canberra held its real hearings—off the books, after midnight, and far from the public eye. In Episode 7, we enter the shadow world of the Special Review Committee: no signage, no transcripts, and witnesses brought in not by subpoena, but persuasion. Files that vanished years earlier reappear in audit trails. A retired accountant presumed dead speaks again—his voice drifting from a tape mailed from Malta. And a records officer, Margaret Larkin, prepares to break her silence… before disappearing on the road to Canberra.
What follows is a cascade of leaks, threats, and late-night broadcasts that ricochet through Parliament House. A federal investigator’s wire recordings are seized under national security—but not before a single duplicate escapes. Journalists are warned off. Civil servants vanish. And a micro-cassette carrying account numbers and transfer dates slips into the nation’s bloodstream, exposing a financial trail that runs from the Riverina to the Cabinet Room.
As secrecy collapses into panic, a government attempts “strategic forgetting”—only to discover that not all records burn. Because from the archives to the coast of Queensland, one final reel remains alive, carrying a voice that survived its own erasure. And with it, the truth Australia tried to bury is about to surface.
Credits
Written & Produced by Stephen Johns
Sound Design & Editing by Stephen Johns
Archival Research by Alex G
Archival audio excerpts courtesy of ABC News.
Used under Australian fair dealing provisions for news, reporting, and public interest analysis.
© Compromised Podcast Series. All rights reserved.
Music licensed via Uppbeat:
- Like a River — Danijel Zambo
- License: ZBUR1HQGWB9QNF8D
- Blur — Goods Cargo
- License: QW3FGXP3VW0ZPYCW
- Endless Puzzle — AVBE
- License: 6G9BN3TRTYTCDBRL
- Spring Coming — Enrique Molano
- License: TMQZ5W2MAANQTUGE
- A New Chapter — Luminbird
- License: IE7ZTC8BRCGTDDAF
- Don’t Let Go — Apex Music
- License: CYOGRURAAB6M03TF
- Intriguing Case — Matt Stewart-Evans
- License: HFKUUE2XUQGLQBFL
- Underworld — Revo
- License: ZGYJAN3ID11LOG67
- Maytan Risunchis — Arnito
- License: KRW17THKJYCGKOTT
- Electromagnetic Interference — Adi Goldstein
- License: 9VP5CGTC8PWXRZFO
- News You Can Trust — Soundroll
- License: MQ40T11AHMNQUXCW
- The Heart of Silence — Arnito
- License: L3CQPJASUHTDSRKI
- Two Worlds — Tatami
- License: IRYXNADNBHVFFQ8J
Justice Philip Woodward audio in part: Crime Investigation Australia: Conviction in Donald Mackay case. 2007. Foxtel
Al Grassby comments: ABC News archives Australia
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/enrique-molano/spring-coming
License code: TMQZ5W2MAANQTUGE
https://uppbeat.io/t/avbe/endless-puzzle
License code: 6G9BN3TRTYTCDBRL
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.