In this 6-part series presented by Adele Ferguson, the Background Briefing team brings you the untold stories of ordinary Australians who helped bring some of Australia’s biggest and dirtiest scandals to light.

INTRODUCING — 'The Whistleblowers', a new series from Background Briefing

Background Briefing brings you true stories not everyone will want you to hear.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

News

Documentary

Kathy Jackson was once heralded as a revolutionary who shone a bright spotlight on union corruption but she too was later found to be a fraudster who had misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars in union members' money. So who was the man responsible for blowing the whistle on her? 

Reporter Annika Blau investigates.

The whistleblower who captured the nation — and the man who unmasked her as a fraud

When an electoral officer helps police arrest a popular politician, her life begins to unravel. Her boss would spend more than a decade in prison, but she loses her job, and is even eventually admitted to a mental health institution. Now she’s asking: could he have been stopped earlier? Reporter Tynan King investigates.

The whistleblower who helped catch a paedophile politician

What happens when a person blows the whistle on wrongdoing?

The Whistleblowers

A woman has lost the ability to speak and is forced to communicate by blinking. From her hospital bed she tries to blink out a request, but hospital staff refuse to help.

Background Briefing can reveal that similar situations are playing out in many public health facilities across Australia, as patients pursue their legal right to die, and healthcare workers say "no".

A mother's message and the hospital that didn't want to hear it

This week reporter and Dharawal woman Brooke Fryer goes inside a program that's helping violent men turn their lives around.

INTRODUCING — 'The Whistleblowers', a new series from Background Briefing

Download our free app to listen on your phone