Four Corners

Monday the 14th of March at 8.30 pm

This week on Four Corners BP: $30 Billion Blowout: the story of the worst offshore oil disaster in US history, the BP Deepwater Horizon spill, through the eyes of the man dubbed the most hated man in America, former BP boss Tony Hayward.

And a warning for Australia as the Federal Government issues licences to explore for oil deep in our most pristine oceans.  Presenter Kerry O’Brien will explore the lessons from the spill with the Co-Chair of the BP Oil Spill Commission.

The US President called it “the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced.”  And there was one man who became the focus of America’s angry response: Tony Hayward.

In BP: $30 Billion Blowout, Tony Hayward, BP’s former Chief Executive speaks out in a wide-ranging interview, reliving every aspect of the crisis: from being under the US media spotlight and running a multinational in financial meltdown, to dealing with a US President who was making the crisis personal.

It may have been an environmental disaster of epic proportions, but the political and financial fallout from the Deepwater Horizon Spill ultimately proved just as toxic as the oil that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.

In an extended interview the former BP boss recalls his time as America’s Public Enemy Number One:

“You know it’s very difficult to hate a company, it’s much easier to hate an individual…

He regrets some of his comments to the US media – or at least his candour:

 “If I had a degree at RADA rather than a degree in geology I may have done better.  I’m not certain it would have changed the outcome, but certainly the perception of myself may have been different…”

And he lashes out at aspects of the coverage, such as the criticism he received in June when he took time out to go sailing with his son:

“I have to confess, at the time I was pretty angry actually.  I hadn’t seen my son for three months.  I was on the boat for six hours, between the hours of midnight and six o’clock in the morning US time and I’m not certain I’d do anything different.  I wanted to see my son.  The only way I could see my son was to be with him on a boat race he was on…”

First broadcast on the BBC Money Programme, BP: $30 Billion Blowout features a host of interviews with key industry insiders, including Bob Dudley, the new Head of BP. Dudley talks in detail about just how close to the edge the world’s fourth largest company came at the height of the crisis:

 “When a company reaches this point where its debt becomes almost illiquid, it is very difficult to come back from that. These were frightening days…”

Following the report, Four Corners presenter Kerry O’Brien will interview one of the men entrusted by President Obama to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disaster.   Senator Bob Graham was the Co-Chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.   Its final report is a damning indictment of the safety culture of the entire industry.

Four Corners, presented by Kerry O’Brien, goes to air on Monday 14th March at 8.30pm on ABC1.

Four Corners: Monday the 28th of February at 8.30 pm on ABC1

Next week on Four Corners, The Miracle Baby of Haiti. The story of a baby girl plucked from the rubble of the Haiti earthquake and the British doctor who made the momentous decision to evacuate her. A simple act of mercy with profound consequences for everyone involved.

With the terrible images of the Christchurch earthquake fresh in everyone’s mind, Four Corners brings you a remarkable story from another nation struck by nature’s fury.

It’s just over a year since the devastating earthquake in Haiti claimed three hundred thousand lives. The injuries were appalling, the destruction enormous. An estimated 3 million men, women and children, one in three Haitians, were affected.But amidst the horror an extraordinary story emerged, The Miracle Baby of Haiti. Tiny Landina Seignon, somehow survived several near death experiences. She was found in the rubble of the paediatric ward at La Trinite hospital in Port-au-Prince two days after the earthquake. Many patients, nurses and doctors had died after being crushed in the rubble of the building that had collapsed around them.

Médecins Sans Frontières’ volunteer and British surgeon, David Nott, found baby Landina, all alone, in an emergency field hospital. He knew that if she was to survive she would need a specialist operation on her skull, which could not be done in Haiti. With her skull burnt through, her brain was at risk of an infection that would kill her. Along with British filmmaker Inigo Gilmore, Nott evacuated her to a hospital in Britain. Her survival instincts kicked in once more. She soon began to thrive and gain weight.

But was Landina an orphan? Had any of her family survived? Was anyone looking for her? At the time of her evacuation all they had was her name. Inigo Gilmore decided to return to Haiti to try to find her family. The search through the wreckage of Haiti’s destroyed capital, led to the back streets of one of its worst slums, and to a woman who might be the baby’s mother. Was this the child she had given up for dead? This baby’s plight drew many people into her life – and changed their lives forever. But what started as a simple act of mercy would have unpredictable and profound consequences for everyone involved.

First broadcast by Britain’s Channel Four, The Miracle Baby of Haiti screens on Four Corners this Monday.

Four Corners, presented by Kerry O’Brien, goes to air on Monday 28th February at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 1st March at 11.35 pm. You can also see the program on ABCNews24 at 8.00pm each Saturday, on ABC ivew or the web at abc.net.au/4corners

Monday, 21 February at 8.30pm on ABC1

This week on Four Corners: The Gas Rush 

As Australia sets its sights on becoming one of the world’s energy superpowers Four Corners investigates the coal seam gas industry and the cost to famers and the environment.

With access to guerrilla activists and their undercover filming, Matthew Carney reports on the coalition of farmers, local townspeople and even a corporate titan who want to halt Australia’s gas rush.

Imagine you are running a successful farming operation; then one day a man from the gas company arrives with news that a coal seam gas field lies beneath your feet.   From there 3 wells are sunk, then another 18.  And then a proposal for another 30, turning your property into a thriving gas field, while threatening the viability of the working farm.

Down the road, the neighbour sells after 48 wells are sunk into his property.   The compensation of $250 a year, per well was not much inducement to stay.   The wells themselves are estimated to be making the companies a million dollars a year, each.

And then the gas company says they might have to move your house to sink another well into the land.

This is the experience of just one of the farmers featured on Four Corners this week.

Right across Australia gas companies are drilling down through the earth to extract the resource that the industry says will be one of the answers to our future energy needs.  Already some $31 billion worth of gas projects have been approved by the Federal Government, which are expected to generate thousands of jobs and billions in revenues.  

But this precious resource lies beneath homes and farms, and the food bowls of Australia. 

And this is where the gas companies are drilling; prompting a heated conflict over who should pay the price for our energy supplies.

Matthew Carney reports from communities in Queensland and NSW that are directly affected.   Farmers tell of their feelings of violation and frustration; their belief that they are losing control of their properties and their ability to plan for the future.   As one says “It’s really frustrating.  We have taken on extra debt to fund our farming business and we are powerless to stop people accessing it and abusing it.”

But it’s not only what’s happening above ground that worries them.

One farmer claims his water supplies are dropping alarmingly as the coal seam drilling causes the water table to drop at an accelerated rate.  This cattle farmer believes he may only have two years supply left in one of his key water bores. 

Then there is the danger posed by faulty gas wells.   The program shows local activists testing for leaks and finding highly explosive gasses leaking at alarming levels.

Others talk of their fears that Australia’s greatest underground water resource, the Great Artesian Basin will be contaminated and depleted. Four Corners details cases of water supplies being tainted by salty toxic water. 

Many of those affected are beginning to work together on a national campaign to call a halt to the “Gas Rush”.

Four Corners, presented by Kerry O’Brien, goes to air on Monday 21 February at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 22 February at 11.35 pm. You can also see the program on ABCNews24 at 8.00pm each Saturday, on ABC ivew or the web at abc.net.au/4corners

FOUR CORNERS: Monday, 14 February at 8.30pm

This week on Four Corners, “The Forgotten Man.” The inside story of the security breach that enraged the American government and the man who made it all possible.

While WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange has been cast as a heroic champion of free speech, his ongoing expose of US foreign policy would not have been possible without the work of Private Bradley Manning. It was Manning who allegedly stole the classified documents published by WikiLeaks. It is Manning who now languishes in a US military prison.

Now reporter Quentin McDermott tells the inside story of Bradley Manning and his daring intelligence heist. David House is the only civilian allowed to visit Bradley Manning in jail. He describes the young soldier’s mental deterioration and his struggle to deal with long hours of confinement.

He tells the program:-“ the US government is just trying to put immense pressure on him in order to get him to crack open.”

In this week’s Four Corners we hear the only recording of Bradley Manning’s voice and we listen to the logs of alleged conversations with the man who ultimately betrayed him.

That man is Adrian Lamo. In an extraordinary interview he tells how he came to know Bradley Manning, claiming the young soldier openly confessed to him his role in the WikiLeaks’ scandal. 

Four Corners also explores the disputes that have erupted inside WikiLeaks.  A former insider has told the program how he held deep reservations about Julian Assange’s determination to keep releasing material that might compromise his source.

The program puts these accusations to the WikiLeaks boss.  

There is little doubt American wants to punish Julian Assange. But to bring a case vital questions must be answered. How did Private Bradley Manning steal the classified material? How did he relay it to WikiLeaks? Did he do this of his own accord or did Julian Assange conspire with him to take the information?

To see the key players in the extraordinary drama, don’t miss Monday’s Four Corners.

 “The Forgotten Man” goes to air on Monday 14th February at 8.30 pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 15th February at 11.35 pm. It can also be seen on Saturdays at 8.00pm on ABC 24, and it can be viewed on i-view or the web at: www.abc.net.au/4corners .

FOUR CORNERS – “Secret Iraq-Insurgency” on MON 11 OCTOBER AT 8.30PM ON ABC1

Next week on Four Corners, “Secret Iraq-Insurgency”. Part one of a startling expose revealing what really happened in Iraq after the occupation of the country by Coalition troops.

The invasion of Iraq began in March 2003. The President of the United States, George W. Bush, claimed he wanted to remove a dictator who is armed with weapons of mass destruction, and liberate a people. Instead the invasion provoked a bloody insurgency resulting in the death of thousands of civilians, massive troop casualties, and at the same time laying the ground-work for the arrival of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Made for Quicksilver productions by producer Sam Collyns, the series tells the story of Iraq not simply from the point of view of the invaders but from the insurgents who fought them. It tells how fundamental strategic mistakes made by the Americans pushed formerly peaceful Iraqis into the arms of the fanatical Al Qaeda.

“ Time in Abu Ghraib (prison) helped recruit the insurgency … even people who had not fought the Americans before their arrest vowed to die fighting them after their time in prison.”

In the opening episode of “Secret Iraq”, the insurgents reveal how their treatment at the hands of the allied troops instilled a hatred of Westerners and in turn sparked their rebellion. Many have never spoken before.

“I’m like any Iraqi who wanted to defend his honour, his family and his home.”

A key C.I.A. operative explains how the decision to use private security contractors, instead of soldiers or police, also created massive problems for the Coalition:

“Their goal was to protect some guy in an armoured car. And they made a lot of bad enemies because of the way they behaved.”

Other Iraqis explain how the decision to purge the military and police forces of anyone seen to be connected with Saddam and his Ba’athist Party allowed those same institutions to be taken over by murderous Shia militia, who set up death-squads prepared to kill anyone they did not accept.

“If you like they were police officers by day and terrorists or insurgents by night.”

But the Americans were not the only commanders making major policy errors. The program also reveals the failure of the British to gain control of Basra.

What did the allies do wrong? What provoked the insurgency? Who was behind the death squads killing hundreds of people? And what will the invasion ultimately mean for Iraq? Those are just some of the questions this series tries to answer.

“Secret Iraq-Insurgency” goes to air on Monday 11th October at 8.30 pm on ABC1. It is replayed on the same network at 11.30 pm Tuesday 12th. 

Four Corners is also replayed at 2.00 pm on Saturday of the same week on ABC 24. It can also be seen on iview and the web. Abc.net.au/4corners

FOUR CORNERS – OXY: THE HIDDEN EPIDEMIC – MON 27 SEPT AT 8.30PM ON ABC1

“It’s the hidden heroin. It’s the society heroin. You know, to have heroin in a pill.” – Drug addict

They are pure, they are legal and they are addictive. The drugs in question are opiate-based painkillers, prescribed by doctors to help chronic pain sufferers. For some time now, authorities have warned these drugs are turning up on the streets and are being bought and sold by addicts to satisfy their drug cravings.

But now there’s another problem, with profound consequences for ordinary Australians. People who take these drugs for legitimate reasons are becoming addicted. Some have died, others have seen their lives destroyed. 

Robbie M. was just 20 years old when a forklift crushed his leg in a work accident. He had three operations and was prescribed painkillers by his doctor. Within a short period of time, Robbie became addicted. Just three years after the accident he was dead from an overdose involving prescription drugs. An investigation after his death showed that in the last four weeks of his life he had obtained 2,000 pills to fuel his addiction.

Robbie’s story might be extreme but it isn’t unique.

Ruth was a busy working mum. She strained her back at work in 2006. The pain persisted and nothing seemed to help until her doctor prescribed her an opiate-based painkiller. Three years on and Ruth had become a full blown addict. The crunch came when she overdosed.

Fortunately, Ruth received help and has been able to get her life back on track. As Four Corners reveals, not everyone is so fortunate.

We’ll call him Bruce. He is in his 40s but looks much older. He began his abuse of prescription drugs after trying to relieve back pain. He quickly became hooked on oxycodone. To feed his habit he began to ‘doctor shop’, going from one doctor to another asking for prescriptions of the same drug. Then, realising how easy it was to obtain legal drugs, he began selling them. In no time at all he was leading a team of people who shopped for drugs they could use and sell.

At the height of Bruce’s addiction, he was even prepared to buy drugs from cancer sufferers. It’s cases like his that explain the expansion of the illicit prescription drug market. 

Over the past decade, the number of prescriptions written for these types of drugs has increased dramatically. Recent figures show doctors wrote 1.8 million scripts for them in just one year. 

The question is, why are so many more prescriptions being written? In part, the answer can be found in an increased number of chronic pain sufferers. Experts warn that many GP’s don’t really know how addictive these drugs can be. Now, a growing number of doctors and researchers are warning that unless we learn to treat chronic pain in different ways, that don’t involve opiate-based drugs, we will have a major problem on our hands.

“Oxy – The Hidden Epidemic” goes to air on Monday 27th September at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 28th at 11.35pm. The program is also replayed on ABC News 24 on Friday and Saturday at 10.00pm and 2.30pm respectively. It can also be seen at abc.net.au/iview and abc.net.au/4corners.

FOUR CORNERS: RETURN TO THE RAINBOW WARRIOR – MON 20 SEPT AT 8.30PM ON ABC1

It was a misty night in July 1985 when two French skin-divers swam under the Rainbow Warrior and attached mines to its hull. At ten minutes to midnight, the first bomb exploded. A short time later there was another explosion. One man, Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira, was killed.

In the days that followed, two French spies were caught: Alan Mafart and Dominique Prieur. Both pleaded guilty to playing a part in the plot. But what about the others? The agents who set the bomb, who were they? How many were sent there? Who was really responsible, and where are they now?

Reporter John Hudson tracks down the man who led the team that sank the Rainbow Warrior. Confronting him in a park, Hudson manages to interview him. What we learn about the man’s past and present will amaze you.

The program also hears from another operative who brought the components for the bomb to New Zealand. He reveals information about the plan and admits the stupid mistakes made by his fellow team members.

Finally the French Prime Minister of the time, Laurent Fabius, speaks about the attack and what he and others inside the government knew.

Ultimately these sources paint a picture of an ill-conceived plan – hatched by the then Defence Minister Charles Hernu – in order to satisfy his own lust for power and to gain approval from his leader, Francois Mitterand.

RETURN TO THE RAINBOW WARRIOR goes to air on Monday 20th September at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 21st September at 11.35pm. The program is also replayed on ABC News 24 on Fridays and Saturdays at 10.00pm and 2.30pm respectively. It can also be seen at abc.net.au/iview and abc.net.au/4corners.

FOUR CORNERS: AFTER THE DELUGE – Monday 13 September at 8.30pm on ABC1

“Even people like us did not know what was happening, because we thought it was just, you know, a little area affected. And then gradually over a week you began to realise the number of people that were going to be affected- 20 million people.” – Imran Khan

High in the Swat Valley sits what once was the town of Kalam. Until last year the area around the town had been the centre of bitter fighting between Government and Taliban forces. When the Pakistan Army finally regained control 18 months ago, many in the town hoped they could re-establish the region as a tourist destination. But torrential rain and flooding have changed all that. As the rain fell and the rivers rose, buildings and houses were swept away, farms were inundated and people killed.

Although the area has been a no-go zone for Westerners, reporter Liz Jackson and cameraman Matt Leiper – with help from aid agencies – travel to the region to retrace the path of the flood. They discover that few people across the province realised just how potent the rainstorm would be. It’s now clear that authorities were also taken by surprise, and that very few preparations had been made. 

As they move around the valley they talk to people who survived the deluge and the resulting destruction. They meet farmers who lost all their crops, as well as an old man who walked three hours to trade his ration card for a bag of flour. The ration card came with a price though – to get it, he has been enlisted to rebuild the road into town:  

“It is tiring but we have no choice. We build the road down there and they give us a card to get some rations for ourselves, so we’ve walked here to get the rations.”

As they travel further south and the terrain flattens out, they see the full impact of the flood waters taking over thousands of kilometres of land. One family tells how they were forced to leave their house with just the clothes they wore:

“We got no prior warning. The water came on us suddenly. We left our houses bare foot. We did not even wear burqas, we just saved the children. The men said let’s go and we left everything in the house.” 

When they enter the Punjab it’s clear that almost all of Pakistan’s food-producing land is beneath water. The people there are desperate; many are living perched on the top of levy banks. Adults are sick and injured, but small children are most at risk. Consequently, families will accept any form of assistance from any organisation that is willing to help them. Four Corners finds that groups with clear links to terrorist organisations are working in this area, providing aid to the needy. These groups work co-operatively with the military. No one is in a position to refuse their assistance, but there is a concern these groups may work to radicalize sections of the community once the flood waters recede.

“This is what happens repeatedly. These groups are banned. They change their name, they continue to operate, they’re banned again, after another terror attack…  the Government should say, look, any group that’s been banned under any name, if it re-emerges under any name, we’re not going to allow it to operate. They need to put their foot down. But can they, is another issue.” – Samina Ahmed, International Crisis Group

Four Corners reveals the true extent of this disaster. It’s estimated that 21 million people have been affected; at least 10 million are without shelter; 1.2 million homes have been destroyed or damaged; and 160,000 square kilometres of land are under water. Flood waters are continuing to threaten towns in the Sindh Province . Tens of thousands of people are sick, many of them children. Some describe the situation as a disaster unfolding in slow motion. 

How can the millions of displaced people be clothed, fed and given medical attention so they can recover and participate in the reconstruction of the country? As people on the ground see it, there is no easy answer. What’s certain is that without help many people will suffer and die, leaving Pakistan even more unstable than it was.

“After the Deluge” airs Monday 13th September at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 14th September at 11.35pm. It is also replayed on ABC News 24 on Friday and Saturday of the same week at 10.00pm and 2.30pm respectively. You can also watch the program at abc.net.au/iview and at abc.net.au/4corners.

FOUR CORNERS: BODY CORPORATE Monday 6 September at 8.30pm on ABC1

Liam is five years old. As he grew, his parents realised he had a condition that made learning difficult. Then he had what seemed to be an epileptic fit. His doctor thought the young boy had Dravet syndrome, but the only way to be sure was to have a genetic test to see if Liam had a crucial gene linked with epilepsy.

It should have been straightforward. After all, Australian scientists discovered the gene, linked it to epilepsy, patented it and developed a diagnostic test. The problem is that those researchers sold the rights to another Australian company that wants a return on its investment. To make that return it charges a license fee, which means it costs $2,000 every time the test is carried out in Australia.

The hospital where Liam was being treated couldn’t afford to pay the fee, and instead sent the sample to be tested overseas where they were charged just one third of the original asking price. But this option took more time, leaving the young boy and his family waiting in distress.

Liam’s family are not the only ones frustrated with a situation that allows a company to charge whatever it likes to confirm a patient has a serious health condition, simply because it holds patent rights to a particular gene.

And consumer health activists are not sitting still. In the United States, they took the company that held patent rights over a gene linked to breast cancer to court. The activists argued it was illegal to hold patents on naturally occurring mutant breast cancer genes. The judge agreed, and now the issue is set to be tested at the very top of the American legal system. In Australia, a similar court battle is looming.

Millions of dollars now hang in the balance. Patients are understandably confused and the biotech companies will not easily give up their rights. They warn that without a patent, medical research will diminish and patients will suffer.

This week on Four Corners, reporter Andrew Fowler travels to the United States and around Australia to hear from both sides in this high-stakes battle. He talks to the researchers, patent lawyers and families who have been forced to pay significant amounts of money to find out if they have genes linked to potentially life-threatening conditions.

Who is right? Can the very basis of life itself be patented and sold? Is it possible that a unique gene that makes us what we are could be patented by someone we don’t know and then franchised out to a major corporation?

”Body Corporate” goes to air on Monday 6th September at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on ABC1 on Tuesday 7th September at 11.35pm. The program can also be seen in the same week on Friday and Saturday at 10.00pm and 2.30pm on ABC News 24. It will also be available at abc.net.au/iview and abc.net.au/4corners

FOUR CORNERS: CRIME INCORPORATED - Mon 30 Aug at 8.30pm on ABC1

“The general public do need to know… the breadth and the scope of organised crime and the damage it’s doing to them.” – Expert in criminal intelligence

If you ask Australia’s top criminal intelligence analysts they will tell you organised crime has changed. Gangs no longer rely on geographic or ethnic connections. Crime now is trans-national and cross-cultural.

Modern crime bosses have also changed. Now they are like the chief executive officers of major multinational corporations with the organisational skills to match. Their job is to bring together people with expertise in procurement, transport and importation of drugs and other illegal cargo. Once the goods are delivered in Australia they are then distributed by another arm of “the company” through major supply chains.

This week Four Corners details the activities of these powerful networks. The program reveals how these networks are able to function despite attention from the police. It shows how officials on the waterfront and other points of authority are paid off to assist the importation of drugs and the chemicals needed to make them. As a result, the networks imported and sold drugs worth millions of dollars. The program also reveals the identity of the men involved, the network they created and the police operation that targeted them.

“Crime Incorporated” goes to air on Monday 30th August at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 31st August at 11.35pm. The program can also be viewed in the same week on Friday at 10.00pm and Saturday at 2.30 pm on ABC News 24

Also available online at abc.net.au/iview and at abc.net.au/4corners.