Democracy is a powerful concept. But it doesn't come cheap. Reporter Linton Besser delves inside the investigation that blew the lid on corruption within Australia's major political parties.

Democracy for Sale

Kerry O'Brien

Rupert, Rebekah and Andy

In the Shadow of the Stadiums

Long haul truckies say they're being pushed to the brink by big business and government with lethal results.

This Trucking Life

Violence is part of life in the Middle East but have children now become a new target for Israeli security forces? A special investigation by journalist John Lyons.

Stone Cold Justice

Follows the journeys of a small group of North Korean secret film-makers, revealing what life is really like under the new leader Kim Jong Un.

Inside North Korea

A little boy lost and a family's search for answers; how did the police get the investigation so wrong? Geoff Thompson reports.

Little Boy Lost

Faced with death, would you illegally pay for a heart, lungs or kidney? Thousands do and the international black market is booming.

Tales from the Organ Trade

The inside story of an investigation to rescue an Australian child from an international paedophile ring. Caro Meldrum-Hanna reports.

The Boy with the Henna Tattoo

An investigation of the intelligence operation that's caused friction in Australia's relationship with East Timor. Marian Wilkinson reports.

Drawing the Line

Quentin McDermott investigates the scandal that's engulfing the National Gallery. Were our finest art experts duped?

The Dancing Shiva

An investigation of the Chinese debt binge that's left economists holding their breath. What will be the impact on Australia?

How China Fooled the World

How does a mortgage broker, whose work has prompted multiple complaints and is the subject of ongoing police investigation, continue to operate? Linton Besser reports on Australia's shadowy world of unregulated lending.

A Lender of Last Resort

The car manufacturing industry is on the way out, so what's the real impact? Stephen Long reports.

End of the Road

Four Corners commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings.

Day of Days

Geoff Thompson puts together the most comprehensive account yet of what took place at The Manus Island Regional Processing Centre in February 2014.

The Manus Solution

Putting the spotlight on a top bank's financial planners. Was it bad advice or just greed? Adele Ferguson reports.

Banking Bad

A shocking insight into the sexual exploitation of many thousands of poor and vulnerable children in Pakistan, one of the world's most important Muslim nations.

Streets of Shame

How did Malaysian authorities lose a plane, search in the wrong place and ignore significant evidence for so long? Caro Meldrum-Hanna reports on the Mystery of Flight MH370.

Lost: MH370

It was a high-tech hip replacement that failed. The company tried to cover it up. Now they're exposed. Quentin McDermott reports.

The Walking Wounded

Can Pope Francis reform a Church weighed down by scandal and controversy?

The Pope's Revolution

With ample evidence of sex abuse in the military, why don't the top brass deal with the abusers? Michael Brissenden reports.

Chamber of Horrors

Brazil splurged billions to host the soccer World Cup while many live a life of poverty and crime. What price the "beautiful game?"

She was the queen of the British tabloids, a faithful and trusted servant of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. He was the top aide to the British Prime Minister. But for the past eight months, Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson have been the focus of one of the longest-running criminal trials in British history.

While the rest of the world moves to embrace renewable energy why is Australia drawing back? Four Corners documents the revolution in power generation taking place across the globe.

Power to the People

It was a crime that left Australians horrified. The tragic death of Luke Batty, killed by his father. Could his brutal murder have been prevented? Luke's mother Rosie tells her story.

Rosie's Story

Thanks to social media, today's teenagers are able to interact directly with their culture and their heroes, dispensing approval to music, videos, food and clothes, as well as each other. They say that's empowering because they can deliver a verdict instantly. But is this empowerment or a new form of slavery? And are teenagers being manipulated by big corporations and the marketing moguls who see social media as the ultimate marketing tool?(Australia, English)

Generation Like

He is a self-styled evangelist who told his followers he was The Anointed One, chosen by God to convert the world to his beliefs. In reality, Scott Williams was a cult leader who used his own brand of religion to warp biblical scripture in the pursuit of sex, money and power. Reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna investigates the rise of Scott Williams and his incredible path around the world and back to Australia, exposing how he created a hell on earth for many followers.(Australia, English)

Cult Of Horrors

They're known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and they are sweeping across Iraq with frightening speed. They brutalise anyone they perceive as an enemy and then show the results in graphic detail, through a co-ordinated campaign on social media. BBC reporter Paul Wood goes into the front lines of this shocking conflict to investigate how and why ISIS or Islamic State, as they now call themselves, are ripping Iraq apart.(Australia, English)

ISIS Terror in Iraq

They were sexually abused by the clergy and then found themselves targeted by the Church's lawyers. Why did it happen and who was responsible for the strategy? Reporter Quentin McDermott reveals the systematic way the Catholic Church sought to conceal the sexual abuse of children, using lawyers to minimise the potential financial impact to the organisation.(Australia, English)

In the Name of the Law

Testing claims the Reef is at risk and should be on the UNESCO World Heritage 'in danger' list. Marian Wilkinson reports.

Battle for the Reef

He was a highly paid neurosurgeon, addicted to cocaine and obsessed with sex. Yet despite significant evidence he was running out of control, and the death of a call girl he'd hired, Suresh Nair continued operating in a private hospital. In a joint Four Corners/Fairfax investigation, reporter Tracy Bowden analyses what the NSW Medical Board, Nepean Public Hospital and the Nepean Private Hospital knew about the rogue doctor.

The Hand that Holds the Scalpel

The story of the woman dubbed the White Widow, now one of the world's most wanted terror suspects.

The White Widow

The horror of flight MH17 and the shocking war that resulted in the plane being shot down. Stephen Long reports.

MH17 - Caught in the Crossfire

Australian casinos that target Asian VIP gamblers to boost their profits could run a serious risk of exposure to organised crime, according to a range of law enforcement and security experts. Reporter Linton Besser investigates the drive to entice foreign gamblers to Australia and the implications of that strategy.

High Rollers - High Risk?

Inside the surrogacy industry. Debbie Whitmont reports.

Made in Thailand

The tobacco industry is pouring vast amounts of money into developing electronic or e-cigarettes which are claimed to be safer than conventional cigarettes and could save millions of lives. (Part 1 of 2)

The Seduction of Smoking (1)

The tobacco industry is pouring vast amounts of money into developing electronic or e-cigarettes which are claimed to be safer than conventional cigarettes and could save millions of lives. (Part 2 of 2)

The Seduction of Smoking (2)

How governments use internet providers to spy on you.

Privacy Lost

This week, reporter Geoff Thompson goes to the Victorian town of Ararat to see if an ongoing community intervention to promote weight loss and better health can work.

Fat Chance

This week on Four Corners, reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna travels through the regions of two states, riding with police and users, to tell the shocking story of towns and people in the grip of ice.

Ice Rush

Investigating the Green on Blue killing of three Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. Quentin McDermott reports.

The Enemy Within

Khaled Sharrouf: jihadist or simply a criminal? Marian Wilkinson reports.

Gangster Jihad

The shocking story of how young unmarried Irish mothers were forced to work in work-houses to atone for their sins while their children were taken away from them.

Ireland's Lost Babies

The story of girls and boys, born in the wrong body and their struggle to be who they are. Janine Cohen reports.

Being Me

How caregivers preyed on the vulnerable, unable to defend themselves. Nick McKenzie reports.

In Our Care

Four Corners is Australia's longest-running investigative journalism/current affairs television program. Broadcast on ABC1 in Australia, it premiered on 19 August 1961 and celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2021. Founding producer Robert Raymond and his successor Allan Ashbolt did much to set the ongoing tone of the program.

Based on the Panorama concept, the program addresses a single issue in depth each week, showing either a locally produced program or a relevant documentary from overseas. The program has won many awards for investigative journalism, and broken many high-profile stories. A notable early example of this was the show's epoch-making 1962 exposé on the appalling living conditions endured by many Aboriginal Australians living in rural New South Wales.

Democracy for Sale

Seasons22

Season 54 Episodes44

Cast1

Discussion

Episode Summary