27 YEARS OF SUNDAY August 3, 2008 Watch part one Watch part two
A long and proud chapter of Australian television history closed on August 3 2008, when the final edition of the ground-breaking and award-winning SUNDAY program went to air on Channel Nine. We look back at some of the award winning pieces filed by many of the outstanding journalists who worked on SUNDAY. Joining host Ellen Fanning to celebrate SUNDAY’S unique place in Australian journalism are many well-known faces from the program’s 27-year history, who have all contributed to its remarkable success. They include founding executive producer Allan Hogan, Jennifer Byrne, Charles Wooley, Helen Dalley, Ray Martin, Ross Greenwood, Michael Pascoe, Ross Coulthart, Adam Shand, Laurie Oakes, and the original host, Jim Waley. Along with Australian politics, the SUNDAY team will look back on the program’s illustrious history with local and international reports on the events that have shaped our world. The SUNDAY site will be kept live so viewers can continue to search and enjoy the show's valuable archive of political interviews, features and special investigations.more
From Behind the Razor Wire July 27, 2008 Watch our report Under the Howard Government, asylum seekers were routinely locked up in remote and isolated detention centres. Thousands of the inmates were women and children and as early as the year 2000, psychiatrists and medical experts were sounding warning bells about the psychological harm being done, especially to children. Those experts now accuse the government of consistently ignoring the reports, a charge they say, that borders on state sponsored child abuse.
more
Vicar of Baghdad July 20, 2008 Watch our report From the time of Jesus, there have been Christians in what is now Iraq. The Christian community took root there after the Apostle Thomas headed east in the year 35. But now, after nearly 2,000 years, Iraqi Christians are being hunted, murdered and forced to flee -- persecuted on a biblical scale in Iraq's religious civil war. You'd have to be mad to hold a Christian service in Iraq today, but if you must, then the vicar of Baghdad is your man. He's the Reverend Canon Andrew White, an Anglican chaplain who suffers from multiple sclerosis and from a fanatical determination to save the last Iraqi Christians from the purge.
more
Burke and Wills July 13, 2008 Watch our report It's hard to imagine a more desolate place in Australia than the region 90 kilometres north-east of Birdsville in Queensland’s remote Channel Country. It's a land of heat and wind, flies and saltbush, and not much else. Sitting on the edge of an ironstone gibber plain, water is scarce, and food scarcer. In the past three years, however – for about a week at a time – it's been home to a disparate collection of people, who have been looking, in a very systematic and sensible way, for treasure. A treasure which could change our ideas about our most celebrated European explorers, Burke and Wills.
more
The Secret Test July 6, 2008 Watch our report Top secret American military plans to test deadly nerve gas by dropping it on soldiers in a remote Queensland rainforest during the Cold War have been uncovered in Australian Government archives. Newly declassified Australian Defence Department and Prime Minister's office files show that the United States was strongly pushing the Government for tests on Australian soil of two of the most deadly chemical weapons ever developed, VX and GB – Sarin - nerve gas. The plan called for 200 mainly Australian combat troops to be aerially bombed and sprayed with the chemical weapons – with all but a handful of the soldiers to be kept in the dark about the "full details" of the tests.
Questioning Science June 29, 2008 Watch part one Watch part two The theory of anthropogenic, or man-made, global warming has become an unchallengeable fact, a piece of black letter law almost unique in the world of science. Proponents of the theory say the time for scientific debate is over. However, there is a school of thought that our knowledge of climate systems is as yet insufficient to be so conclusive on the causes of global warming. Sunday examines the political consensus building that has portrayed global warming as the most urgent crisis humankind has ever faced. more
Sexualisation of Children June 22, 2008 Watch part one Watch part two Bras for four year olds, soft porn music videos during children’s viewing times, dolls dressed as prostitutes, 14 year old fashion models, billboards for longer lasting sex. This is the world the contemporary Australian child grows up in and a Senate inquiry has asked this question: Are our children being psychologically damaged by premature sexualisation? The Inquiry into the sexualisation of children in the media has heard submissions from parents, psychologists and academics and most agree this is a trend that is having a detrimental effect. The Sunday program reviews the evidence presented and examines the strategies suggested to curb the disturbing trend.
more
Death Row Pets June 15, 2008 Watch part one Watch part two There's a showdown looming between the RSPCA and the Australian Veterinary Association over the contentious issue of puppy farms and how they should be regulated. Each year in NSW around 60,000 cats and dogs are killed. Australia wide that number is around a quarter of a million. Clover Moore, Independent MP and Lord Mayor of Sydney, has launched her answer to this problem – a controversial bill which has the industry divided. Sunday visits a puppy farm to talk to the owners and see how the dogs are treated.
more
The Nixon Fallout June 8, 2008 Watch part one Watch part two The journalist who demolished US President Richard Nixon in an historic 1977 interview has been forced to defend his reputation against allegations he was a lightweight - and that luck played a big part in his triumph. In an exclusive interview, Sir David Frost described the claims as 'just whacko'. The allegations were made by American author James Reston Jr – formerly a member of a three-person specialist team employed by Frost to help prepare for what is regarded as one of the most significant political interviews ever broadcast.
more
Many of Sunday's best stories result from tip-offs from our viewers. E-mail us your idea or call 02 9965 2470 ... or, to find out more about leaking a secret, click here.
