Season 1996

E1. The Big Picture Man

Feb 2, 1996 · 60m

By Andrew Fowler. This program examines the impact of the Keating style of government on the Australian political landscapes, particularly over the past three years. Keating's role as the dominant and central figure in the government during this time has become a major issue. Paul Keating is a big picture man and this program provides an insight into how he is perceived in the countdown to the election on March 2.

E2. An Average Australian Bloke

Feb 19, 1996 · 60m

Liz Jackson presents a personal profile of Liberal leader John Howard. During his interview, Mr Howard uttered his famous "comfortable and relaxed" line. This small phrase would go on to define the Howard prime ministership.

E3. Superbugs

60m

By Tom Mangold. The growing resistance to antibiotics is considered to have taken over the HIV epidemic in terms of potentially disastrous consequences. This British program is about the return of hospital-acquired infections and the first signs of multi-drug resistant TB. In Sydney, Liz Jackson interviews Dr John Turnidge from Monash University in Melbourne, and assesses the Australian situation. This program ends with a tribute to Four Corners cameraman Brett Joyce

E4. Balance and Power

60m

By David Hardaker. This story focuses on the battle between the Greens, the Democrats and Tasmanian Bob Brown's attempt to establish a bridgehead in the Senate and, as well as fighting for the balance of power, start the forward move for the Greens as a national political force

E5. Black and Blue

60m

By Murray McLaughlin. There are signs that the rank and file code of silence within the Queensland Police force prevails, and racist issues persist. This, combined with the return of the Nationals to government, the re-emergence of the police union as a political force and the police treatment of Aborigines has prompted the chairman of the CJC to express serious misgivings about the integrity of the Queensland Police Force. Four Corners also makes a disturbing examination of the Pinkenba Six case..

E6. The Crown Deals

60m

By Sally Neighbour. Since its inception in l992, Victoria's Crown Casino has never been far away from controversy. This report investigates the tendering process for the casino and its operators, Hudson Conway. The recent record of Hudson Conway is also examined, and we ask if the company is fit and proper to hold a licence under the strict probity conditions governing casinos

E7. American Apartheid

60m

By Gavin Hewitt (Australian component Chris Masters). Ex-BBC Panorama. BBC reporter Gavin Hewitt questions whether the increasingly separate lives of blacks and whites is leading to an American apartheid. Chris Masters interviews, in the studio via satellite, race relations author and commentator, Professor Roger Wilkins, a professor of history at Washington's George Mason University.

E8. Other People's Children

60m

By Chris Masters. Chris Masters reveals that child homicide is likely to be double the official number, and discovers that there are major shortfalls and deficiencies in our system of caring. Social agencies are thinly resourced, and neighbours are uncertain about getting involved. This is one of the most under-reported but poignant tragedies in Australia today.

E9. A Ray of Hope

60m

By Gerry Northam. Ex BBC Panorama. AZT, a drug that could prolong the life of HIV sufferers, became known in the mid-'80s when the AIDS crisis came to public attention. In this report, Gerry Northam points out that initial studies approving AZT were soon overtaken by an in-depth look at the drug which questioned whether it could do more harm than good. The situation revealed a potential conflict between the pursuit of profit and the search for truth.

E10. Death of a Principle

Apr 15, 1996 · 60m

By John Ware. Ex BBC Panorama. The Saudi Arabian regime is accused of despotism and inhumanity. Dr Mohammed Al-Mas'ari has claimed asylum in Britain after criticising the Saudi Royal family. The British Government is now under political pressure to deport him. The Saudi Government has threatened to cut off commercial contracts worth billions of dollars unless deportation orders are issued

E11. Crimes of Fashion

60m

By Andrew Fowler. In this program, Four Corners reveals money laundering, social security and tax fraud, and labour abuses in one of the biggest businesses in Australia - the fashion industry. Since deregulation six years ago, benefits have been cheaper clothes. However, there has been an increase in crime and a huge growth in the number of people working from home for the equivalent of third-world wages

E12. The Chemical Straightjacket

60m

By David Hardaker. This program is a special investigation into the problems nursing homes have in dealing with sufferers of dementia. Because of budget restraints, dementia patients are being treated with powerful, mind-altering drugs. One woman describes how her husband's condition rapidly deteriorated after entering a nursing home. It is expected that the number of dementia sufferers will double in the next 20 years.

E13. At the End of the Day

60m

By Liz Jackson. The Australian union movement is fighting to maintain its position as the dominant force in industrial relations. Not only is the new government determined to radically change industrial relations, but the work force increasingly regards our unions as irrelevant. This program previews the Reith reforms and asks if the union movement can survive the challenge of a new era

E14. Signal Failure

60m

By Murray McLaughlin. This program is about the decline of juvenile delinquency into mayhem and the consequences of the failure to recognise and treat the symptoms - resulting in the brutal murder of a two-year-old girl. The murderer was a 16-year-old youth under the court-ordered care and protection of Queensland's Family Services Department

E15. The X-ray Files

60m

By David Taylor. This is a disturbing report from the BBC that alerts us to the medical risks of X-Rays. The X-Ray machine has been perceived as a great boon to medicine as a valuable diagnostic tool. However, every X-Ray we have exposes our body to radiation, and there's strong statistical correlation between radiation exposure and cancer. This program accuses British doctors of underplaying the risks.

E16. Twice Betrayed

60m

By Sally Neighbour. This story is about the crisis within the Roman Catholic Church over sexual abuse. After decades of inaction, the Church is facing its day of reckoning as a legal and financial showdown looms. Four Corners reveals the cover up that left the victims twice betrayed.

E17. The Forgotten War

60m

By John Simpson. This BBC Global Report is about the civil war in Afghanistan - the war which followed the holy war the Mujahadeen fought with success against the Russians. This war is worse than the conflicts in Angola and Bosnia. The country has become a new centre for heroin cultivation and distribution. John Simpson reports on the local and global impact of the war.

E18. Principal, Principle

60m

By Chris Masters. This program is about Lurnea High School, which is only now getting over the crisis which started more than a year ago when principal, Robyn Cragg, clashed with six senior teachers, leading to union involvement and threats of a statewide strike. The issue has yet to be resolved. The program gives an insight into the politics, the volatility and pressures that teachers in the public school system are up against.

E19. A Life in Limbo

60m

By Sarah Barclay. Ex BBC Panorama. This program tells the story of Thomas Creedon, who was born so badly brain damaged that his parents were prepared to fight before the courts for the right to allow their son to die. The impending court case in the United Kingdom was set to make legal history. It focused on the competing principle of a child's right to live, as proclaimed by his doctor, and a right to die.

E20. Larouche: Profit and Lies

Jun 24, 1996 · 60m

By Andrew Fowler. This program is about the emergence and growth in Australia of an insidious organisation, and the devastating impact it has had on a number of lives. It documents the group's vendetta against prominent members of the Jewish community, its attempts to snare politicians into its conspiracy, and the alienation it has caused amongst families in its drive for young recruits.

E21. A Dangerous Mind

60m

By Virginia Moncrieff. In this program we ask if the behaviour of the alleged Port Arthur gunman, Martin Bryant, could have been predicted. The events of Port Arthur are traced and the life of Martin Bryant examined in the search for reasons for this tragedy. We also investigate scientific advances in producing a mental fingerprint of future mass murderers.

E22. The Road to Nowhere

60m

By Murray McLaughlin. This program is about the Northern Territory's new euthanasia bill; Max Bell -- who drove from Broken Hill to take advantage of the new law; and about the political manoeuvering and posturing that is holding up its implementation. Four Corners speaks to Dr Nitschke, Max's doctor, and reveals doubts about how genuinely committed the NT government is to this pioneering legislation.

E23. Telling His Story

60m

By Liz Jackson. Two months ago, Rob Riley, the most prominent Aboriginal activist in Western Australia, was found dead in a motel room in Perth. This program tells his story. His death sent shockwaves through the Aboriginal community. His close friends and his family talk openly about the pain an

E24. Drugs in Sport

60m

By Tom Mangold. Ex BBC Panorama. As the 26th Olympic Games get under way in Atlanta, this program examines the use of drugs in sport and the increasing pressure on technology to be able to identify new substances now starting to be used by some athletes. The morality of performance-enhancing drugs is also questioned.

E25. The Great British Beef Fiasco

60m

By Gerry Northam. Ex BBC Panorama. This program reports on BSE, Mad Cows Disease, and a decade of concealed dangers. BSE has crippled the British beef industry, poisoned relations between Britain and Europe, and may have infected untold numbers of people

E26. A Federal Case

60m

On the day an inquiry into the nation's premier police force is announced, Four Corners asks: Can the Australian Federal Police Force be trusted to keep itself honest? The clean image the federal police have held for so long has been a lie all along. Corruption within the force was exposed at the Royal Commission into the NSW Police.

E27. A Saudi Slave

Aug 12, 1996 · 60m

By Bruno Sorrento. Ex Channel 4 Dispatches. In this program a British crew follows the story of Jessica, a young Filippino woman, who travels to Saudi Arabia. She wants to work there so that she can raise money for an operation for her daughter, who needs heart surgery. Hidden cameras follow her life as she moves from family to family, is raped, beaten and forced to change her religion

E28. An Innocent Abroad

Aug 19, 1996 · 60m

By Mark Maley. This program tells the story of David Wilson, the young Australian traveller who was kidnapped and murdered by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge two years ago. We follow the efforts of his family as they try to save him and we have an insight into the dilemma of Australian policy in countries like Cambodia

E29. Asylum

Aug 26, 1996 · 60m

By Chris Masters. In this program Chris Masters investigates the crisis being faced by the intellectually disabled and their carers. By focusing on one institution the problems of institutional care are revealed and the arguments for bringing people into the community are examined.

E30. Smoke in the Eye

Sep 2, 1996 · 60m

By Daniel Schorr. Ex Frontline. This Frontline program looks at how tobacco dollars may weaken the reporting resolve of a nation's media. In 1995, despite having important, damaging accounts from inside the tobacco industry, two major American commercial networks backed away from their stories, at a time when they were subject to multi-billion dollar corporate mergers