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S2025 E33 Big Brethren
本集简介

In the streets of suburban Sydney lies the headquarters of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church — a secretive, ultra-wealthy organisation whose $22 billion business empire stretches around the globe. 

Critics accuse the religious group, once known as the Exclusive Brethren, of operating like a cult, while its leader Bruce Hales and his family live in luxury, at the centre of a network of thousands of companies worldwide. 

This week on Four Corners, former members tell reporter Louise Milligan about the psychological manipulation, surveillance, and threats the church allegedly uses against them, as well as attempts to intimidate them and buy their silence. 

Big Brethren charts how companies that support the church have amassed billions and are now under scrutiny from the Australian Taxation Office.  

Whistleblowers also reveal the group's attempts at political penetration, including covert election campaigning, despite members traditionally being discouraged from voting. 

上一集
2025/09/08 S2025 E32
Race to the Bottom

The race is on to find the minerals we need to enable the world's transition to clean energy, and vast reserves of those minerals lie untouched at the bottom of the Pacific.

But, while mining them could fuel our green future, scientists warn it risks catastrophic damage to our oceans.

Enter Australian entrepreneur Gerard Barron, the founder and CEO of The Metals Company.

He wants to extract potato-sized balls called polymetallic nodules from the seabed and believes they could be worth trillions of dollars.

His project has gained political momentum after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order supporting seabed mining, even in international waters.

The United Nations affiliated agency responsible for regulating the exploitation of the world's deep-sea resources says mining under US permits would be unlawful and undermines global cooperation.

With no clear rules in place, and the stakes higher than ever, the future of deep-sea mining is now a global flashpoint.

Reporter Mark Willacy travels from Jamaica to Tonga to Washington D.C. to investigate the battle over who controls the ocean, who profits from its resources, and what the world could stand to lose.

Race to the Bottom is a stunning film that reveals a growing divide between political ambition, corporate interests and environmental responsibility.

Race to the Bottom, reported by Mark Willacy and produced by Mary Fallon, goes to air on Monday 8 September at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.