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Episode · Background Briefing

TRAILER – Introducing 'This Bloody Machine'

13 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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It's a plan so good that everyone wants to believe it. Bring a life-saving cancer machine to Australia so desperate families don't have to travel overseas for treatment. But the plan keeps failing. The latest idea is to build a half-billion-dollar health science precinct in the heart of Sydney to house Australia's first proton therapy machine. It's got some big names backing it, support from a federal politician, and the green light from state government and local council. So why, when reporters Julia Bergin and Loretta Florance take a closer look, is it so hard to get a clear answer about…

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Background Briefing

ABC Australia · News · English

Background Briefing is the ABC's flagship investigative journalism podcast. Its award-winning investigations and documentaries expose cover-ups, corruption, real-life mysteries, whistleblowing, crime, fraud and miscarriages of justice — often before these stories receive mainstream attention. The B

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