Saddam Hussein has been found, weapons of mass destruction have not. The reason for the Iraq invasion crumbles, and the world’s attention is turned to corruption in the United Nations Oil For Food Program. The AWB’s dealings in Iraq are about to come under scrutiny from an international investigation. 

Featured:
Darryl Hockey
Alexander Downer
Caroline Overington 
Mark Pieth 

Contact: secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Richard Baker interviews former Prime Minister John Howard, to find out why Australia went into the Iraq War, and ask how much his government knew about the AWB’s dealings.  

Featured:
John Howard
Caroline Overington 
Alexander Downer
Trevor Flugge

Contact: secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Baghdad Nights – Episode 9 – G’day Mr Howard

The Cole inquiry recommends the AWB be investigated, and the Australian Federal Police set up a taskforce. Richard Baker speaks to former AFP officer Ross Fusca and finds out the taskforce mysteriously disappeared. The corporate regulator, ASIC, also attempts to hold the wheat men to account. 

Featured:
Darryl Hockey
Ross Fusca
Michael Long
Trevor Flugge
Rod McLeod (voicing Mark Emons) 
Dan Mullins (voicing lawyer)

Contact: secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Baghdad Nights – Episode 8 – Shut it down and shred

It’s Trevor Flugge and Michael Long’s turn in the witness box, though it couldn’t have come at a worse time. The media is fixated on photos of the pair in Baghdad holding guns, looking like cavalier cowboys. But they won’t be the only powerful men called to give evidence.  

Featured:
Trevor Flugge
Michael Long
Nonee Walsh
Kelvin Thomson
Alexander Downer
Darryl Hockey

Contact: secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Baghdad Nights - Episode 7 - Absolute nong

The Australian government announces an inquiry into the AWB, with the lawyers hoping to prove the AWB knew it was breaching sanctions. A whistleblower fronts the inquiry to give evidence... in secret. 

Featured:
Trevor Flugge
Darryl Hockey
Michael Long
Anwar Al-Rawi
Rod McLeod (voicing Mark Emons) 
Dan Mullins (voicing lawyer)

Contact: secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Baghdad Nights - Episode 6 - Every man for himself

Baghdad Nights - Episode 5 - Life, death and deals

The US invades Iraq, and good old Australia has joined. The Australian wheat men are on the ground a month later, and the secret mission begins – protect Australia’s lucrative wheat market. 

Featured:
Robin Raphel 
Trevor Flugge
Michael Long
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Wright
Alexander Downer
Alan Tracy

Contact: secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Baghdad Nights – Episode 4 – Wars within wars

The drums of war are beating, and the Australian Wheat Board’s multimillion-dollar trade with Iraq is at risk. Lucky for them, powerful sources promise to keep the AWB informed of any signs of war, while the public hears something different.  

Featured:
Trevor Flugge
Darryl Hockey
Alexander Downer
Anwar Al-Rawi
Michael Long

Contact: secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Baghdad Nights - Episode 3 - A hidden agenda

How did the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) fund Saddam Hussein’s regime? Richard Baker speaks with Michael Long and Trevor Flugge from the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) to find out how Australia built a strong trade relationship with Iraq.

Featured:
Anwar Al-Rawi
Maitham Al-alyawy
Michael Long
Trevor Flugge

Get in contact: secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Baghdad Nights - Episode 2 - Bread and bullion

In the lead up to the Iraq War, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB), gave $300 million in illicit funds to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Journalist Richard Baker meets Trevor Flugge, the AWB’s chairman who went on to be the poster boy for the corruption scandal, thanks to a leaked photo.  

Featured:
Trevor Flugge

Get in contact: secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Baghdad Nights - Episode 1 - The bloke with the gun

It’s Australia’s biggest corruption scandal: $300 million funnelled to a notorious dictator via dodgy wheat contracts in the lead up to the Iraq War.   

Award-winning journalist Richard Baker takes you inside the scandal, with the help of three wheat salesmen caught in the middle of extraordinary world events. Were they cowboys who pocketed millions for their company? Scapegoats for a government stuff up? Or something in between...  

Secrets We Keep: Baghdad Nights launches August 6.  

Introducing Baghdad Nights

In December 2005, Richard Baker published a story about an obscure oil company called Tigris Petroleum, and its ties to Iraq. A few weeks later, Tigris would be linked to the AWB at the Cole inquiry. In this bonus episode, Richard revisits the story, and finally gets some key documents about Tigris released. 

Featured:
Michael Long
Alexander Downer
Ross Fusca

Contact: secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Baghdad Nights - Bonus - The Tigris matter

Joey travels to Melbourne to try and meet a living mole suspect to finally get some answers.

If you have any feedback or information about this story you can email secretswekeep@sca.com.au or you could send Joey a letter GPO Box 22, Sydney NSW 2000.

Nest of Traitors - Episode 7 - Honey badger

A KGB defector directs Joey towards a former British politician. Joey investigates and finds the names of four potential moles who operated inside ASIO during the Cold War. He begins searching for the four suspects. 

If you have any feedback or information about this story you can email  secretswekeep@sca.com.au or you could send Joey a letter GPO Box 22, Sydney NSW 2000.

Nest of Traitors - Episode 6 - The suspects

A rendezvous leads Joey to an apartment where a source tells him that more information about the suspected moles might lie in a top secret government report. When he realises only the Prime Minister’s office can authorise the report to be released, Joey takes his questions all the way to the top.

If you have any feedback or information about this story you can email  secretswekeep@sca.com.au or you could send Joey a letter GPO Box 22, Sydney NSW 2000.

Nest of Traitors - Episode 5 - Looking for moles

Joey meets a man who investigated ASIO in the 1970s, to find out what made the spy agency vulnerable to being infiltrated by the KGB. ASIO was directed to search for traitors, but the internal investigations were inconclusive.

If you have any feedback or information about this story you can email  secretswekeep@sca.com.au or you could send Joey a letter GPO Box 22, Sydney NSW 2000.

Nest of Traitors - Episode 4 - Cold War Warriors

Joey drives into the middle of the desert to find out why Australia became a target for the KGB. He learns that Australia was a bigger player in the Cold War than he’d ever imagined, and how the mole could’ve had access to secrets from its powerful Western allies.

If you have any feedback or information about this story you can email  secretswekeep@sca.com.au or you could send Joey a letter GPO Box 22, Sydney NSW 2000.

Nest of Traitors - Episode 3 - Welcome to Woomera

Who were the KGB? What was ASIO up against? To help his mole hunt, a former spy takes Joey inside ASIO during the Cold War. 

He points Joey to a KGB spy called Gerontiy Lazovik who may have recruited a mole in Australia. As Joey dives deeper into this story, he begins to suspect there was more than one mole.

If you have any feedback or information about this story you can email  secretswekeep@sca.com.au or you could send Joey a letter GPO Box 22, Sydney NSW 2000.

Nest of Traitors - Episode 2 - Fabric of nightmares

Three years ago, journalist Joey Watson learnt about the ultimate spy story. During the Cold War, the Australian spy agency ASIO was infiltrated by the enemy - one of their spies turned and began working for the KGB, the Soviet Union’s feared spy agency. They became a mole. 

For decades, the mole's identity remained a mystery and the damage they caused unknown. To uncover the truth, Joey sets out to find them.  

Joey starts by meeting the main suspect who was arrested in the early 1990s and uncovers a much bigger story about secrets and power.

Nest of Traitors: Declassified is a behind-the-scenes peak at what goes into making the podcast series with Joey Watson and Clair Weaver. 

If you have any feedback or information about this story you can email  secretswekeep@sca.com.au or you could send Joey a letter GPO Box 22, Sydney NSW 2000.

Nest of Traitors - Episode 1 - Operation Liver

Three years ago, journalist Joey Watson was pulled into the ultimate spy mystery. During the Cold War, the Australian spy agency ASIO was infiltrated by a Soviet mole. For decades the mole's identity was buried and the damage they caused unknown. To uncover the truth, Joey sets out to find the mole. It’s a story about power, national secrets and how countries behave when they think no-one is watching. Coming February 1.

Introducing Nest of Traitors

In the final episode of the season, Amelia Oberhardt reflects on what she's learnt in the series, and confronts one last stigma - her mother's alcohol dependency. 

Support services:

National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline: 1800 250 015 

Lifeline: 13 11 14

Forced Adoption Support Service: 1800 21 03 13

Featured:
Jennifer McRae 
Danae Witherow 
Professor Dan Lubman - Turning Point 

Shame, Lies & Family - Repeat or repair

In researching the series, Amelia Oberhardt heard a shocking story about a Queensland abortion raid that showed another side of how women were treated in Australia’s not too distant past.  

Amelia finds out more about the options women had when faced with an unplanned pregnancy, the road to legalising abortion, and what happened one Monday morning in May 1985. 

Featured:  
Caroline de Costa – Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the College of Medicine at James Cook University
Lorraine Smit – former counsellor and assistant, Children by Choice 
Judy Petroeschevsky – former counsellor, educator and co-ordinator, Children by Choice
David Grunmann – Queensland surgeon 

Shame, Lies & Family - The abortion raid

Leonie Pope was taken from her mother as a baby in 1972, after her mother was coerced into signing forms that gave away her rights. Leonie and her siblings were all taken from their family, and are part of the Stolen Generations.  

Leonie was fostered and adopted to a Welsh family, and spent her childhood on the other side of the world, growing up in Wales. This is Leonie’s story of coming home.  

You’ll also hear from Dr Mary Graham, about her work to change the approach of child welfare agencies in Queensland.  

Gayaa Dhuwi: https://www.gayaadhuwi.org.au/if-you-need-help/

A spokesperson for the Mater Hospital said: 'Forced adoptions occurred in Queensland into the 1970s and were usually procured by social workers or departmental officers acting for the State Government, which issued a formal apology for the policy in 2012. Mater fully endorses the apology given by Catholic Health Australia in 2012 for the role that some Catholic hospitals and health services played in this widespread practice.’ The Mater didn't address questions about the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children during the 1940s-1980s.' 

Responding to questions about a redress scheme in Queensland for Stolen Generations survivors, a spokesperson for the Department of Treaty, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Communities and the Arts said: 'The Queensland Government recognises Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to experience the ongoing impacts of previous State and Commonwealth laws, policies and programs, including in relation to children. The Queensland Government is committed to improving the health and wellbeing outcomes of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples who experience disparity. We are doing this by restoring local decision-making authority and establishing place-based partnerships to ensure communities are leading the way as we work to Close the Gap.'

Shame, Lies & Family - Coming home

It’s a decade this year since Julia Gillard’s apology to those affected by forced adoption, but there’s still unfinished business. Now, it’s the adoptees picking up the baton and carrying on the fight for recognition, redress, and justice.  

Amelia speaks to two adoptees – Jennifer McRae and Danae Witherow – about how being taken from their mothers has affected their lives, and their push for an inquiry in Western Australia. Shakira Ramsdell explains what's happening in Victoria, the one state in the process of setting up a redress scheme. 

Forced Adoption Support Service: 1800 21 03 13

UPDATE: A spokesperson from the WA Department of Communities responded after deadline, writing 'formal integrated birth certificates [are] currently not available' but are being considered. 

Shame, Lies & Family - Where do I come from?

At its peak in the early 1970s, almost 200 babies per week were adopted in Australia. It’s impossible to know how many of these adoptions involved coercion, but we do know that it was a time many believed single women were incapable of looking after their children.

In this episode, Amelia Oberhardt looks at how this system was allowed to operate, and what lead to forced adoption ending. 

If you would like to share your story, email secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Forced Adoption Support Service: 1800 21 03 13

Featured:
Patricia Farrar - Mother, PhD
Shurlee Swain - Emeritus Professor, Australian Catholic University 

Shame, Lies & Family - In the child’s best interest

Young, pregnant, unwed. What happened next is one of the most shameful periods in Australian history. Amelia Oberhardt speaks to two women who experienced a forced adoption – a broad term used to describe the various ways women were coerced into giving up their baby.  

Di Sheehan and Lily Arthur explain how stigma and a flawed system altered the course of their lives. 

If you would like to share your story, email secretswekeep@sca.com.au

Forced Adoption Support Service: 1800 21 03 13

Shame, Lies & Family - Moral danger

Amelia Oberhardt flies to Cairns to meet the man in the photo, hoping to finally get the answer to a question that has haunted her for over a decade. Who is the baby in the photo?  

Knowing what happened to her mum, Amelia feels more resolve than ever to tell the stories of other women from her mother’s generation.  

Shame, Lies & Family - Welcome to Cairns

In the aftermath of seeing the photo at the wake, Amelia Oberhardt is on a search to find the man in the photo. Her pursuit leads her down a rabbit hole, into the world of 1960s and 1970s Australia, and the realities of how women were treated in this era.  

And then, a new avenue provides new clues in the search for Michael.

Shame, Lies & Family - Finding Michael

Standing at her mother’s wake, journalist Amelia Oberhardt is confronted with a photo she’s never seen before - her mum Cecelia as a teenager wearing a wedding ring, accompanied by an unknown husband and cradling an unfamiliar baby.  

Immediately, Amelia begins to ask questions. Who is this man? Who is this baby? And does this photo explain Ceceila’s untimely death?  

Shame, Lies & Family - The wake

Amelia Oberhardt introduces Season 2 of Secrets We Keep - Nest of Traitors. Hosted by Joey Watson, the season investigates another big Australian secret. Launching January 23.

The next Australian secret

Closed adoptions have affected many Australian families, and no one experience is the same. 

In this episode, you'll hear how forced adoptions have affected people from a new perspective - two adoptees, and one father. 

Lifeline: 13 11 14

Forced Adoption Support Service: 1800 21 03 13

List of organisations that can help

Shame, Lies & Family - Your Stories

If you or your family have been affected by forced adoption, it can be daunting to start your journey to find information about your history. 

However support is available, and host Amelia Oberhardt speaks to two post adoption support services about how someone can navigate this journey. 

Forced Adoption Support Service: 1800 21 03 13

List of organisations that can help

Adopt Perspective Podcast 

Featured: 
Charlotte Smith - CEO of Vanish 
Jo-Ann Sparrow - President of Jigsaw Queensland 
Rachel Bell - Social Worker, Forced Adoption Support Service 

Shame, Lies & Family - Finding your family

We’ve been inundated with responses and questions from you, with your stories from the forced adoption era.  

Dr Susan Green is a psychologist and adopted person and speaks to Amelia Oberhardt to answer questions about the psychological impacts of forced adoption.  

We’ll be back to our normal format next week.  

Home

Discover

Sign up for free to listen for longer

Home

Discover

Sign up for free to listen for longer

Baghdad Nights - Episode 5 - Life, death and deals

Mark as played

Share

About the episode

View all episodes