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Adele Ferguson
Adele Ferguson is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist, columnist and author, best known for her series on franchising, wage fraud, cosmetic surgery and financial services sectors which resulted in major state and national inquiries, legislative change and a royal commission.
She has won the nation's highest journalism award, the Gold Walkley, and nine Walkley awards, a Logie, the Graham Perkin Journalist of the Year and other many awards. In 2019 she was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her contribution to journalism. She wrote an unauthorised biography on Gina Rinehart and Banking Bad and was formerly with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Latest by Adele Ferguson
Analysis
analysis:Australia is awash with oligopolies and the impact is on your bank account
A report into soaring grocery prices, rising energy bills and steep airfares will be released on Wednesday. Its findings and recommendations will cause a headache for some of the country's biggest and most powerful companies, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:Shocking stories of nurses and tradies dying at work exposed in unreleased review
When a workplace safety regulator is accused by workers, inspectors, unions and victims of being timid, ineffectual and suffering from systemic cultural and operational issues, it's time for a massive overhaul, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:A million clients, almost $900b and high-risk assets: The trading wild west on ASIC's radar
The new breed of investment and share trading apps targeting retail investors and self-managed super funds are convenient for some but a headache for others, including the corporate regulator, which has found mis-selling, mislabelling, and misleading disclosures, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:Inside the gold scam that made a fortune — and cost taxpayers millions of dollars
It took seven years of expensive, drawn-out legal battles, but one of the oldest and biggest private precious metals companies in Australia closed a dark chapter in the gold refining industry with a recent win against the ATO, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:Suicides, bankruptcies, marriage breakdowns: Could this be a watershed moment for Australia's scandal-prone franchising industry?
The franchising industry has been besieged by numerous scandals and many reviews in recent years, but little has changed. Now a new government review could be a watershed moment — so long as it gets it right, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:One woman's cosmetic surgery 'hell' points to a national problem
Rowah Kaddour still has nightmares about the putrid smell of rotting skin emanating from her abdomen after undergoing cosmetic surgery that went horribly wrong, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:A whistleblower's guilty plea sends a chilling reminder
The decision by whistleblower David McBride to plead guilty to leaking classified information to the media is a chilling reminder of the flaws in Australia's whistleblower protections, writes Adele Ferguson.
CBA accused staff of being mentally unstable in bid to quash a financial services scandal
The inside story of how the Commonwealth Bank went to extraordinary lengths to discredit whistleblowers and journalists who exposed wrongdoing within the company.
They risked their livelihoods to speak up — but now these whistleblowers are warning others to stay silent
A group of high-profile whistleblowers who helped spark royal commissions and change laws write an open letter to the federal government accusing it of overseeing a broken system that leaves whistleblowers exposed to costly legal fees — and worse.
Analysis
analysis:'The only way to stop it is to ban it': The battle to stop engineered stone killing workers
The resounding message of the Safe Work Australia report into silicosis is simple: Ban engineered stone benchtops and save worker lives. So what will make governments act, asks Adele Ferguson.
'Unpoliced pots of gold': The questionable business practices in podiatry
An investigation into the business practices of a podiatrist who describes himself as probably the highest-paid practitioner in Australia has exposed some deep failings in the health system that open it up to rorting and privacy breaches.
Analysis
analysis:Lost jobs, failed marriages, freedom at risk: Whistleblowers take huge risks at great personal cost
Institutions that do the wrong thing usually do what they can to cover it up. That’s the force a whistleblower is up against, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:The 'shonky impostor' that's meant to help with your airline complaints
When a customer advocate is described as feckless and a dud it should be a clarion call to fix it. Two years after the Aviation Consumer Advocate was labelled a "shonky impostor", things are finally heating up, writes Adele Ferguson.
Calls to strengthen whistleblower protections
Louise Beaston, the wife of ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle, says better protections for whistleblowers are needed.
Duration: 16 minutes 27 seconds
Richard Boyle faces the prospect of four decades in jail. His wife says all he did was tell the truth
One of the taxpayers helped by ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle has spoken out for the first time, describing the prosecution of the person who gave him a lifeline as "insanity". Mr Boyle's wife has also spoken to 7.30 about the toll the six-year-long ordeal has taken on the couple.
Analysis
analysis:Former ASIC boss said his job led him to despair. What shocked him the most was the government response
If this matter wasn't so serious, Treasury's responses to former ASIC chairman James Shipton's letters about his experience at the regulator would make rich material for an episode of the British political satire Yes Minister, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:The Chatime underpayment penalty will send a message to those at the top of the franchising sector
Whether it is wage theft, outdated enterprise agreements, or traineeships subsidised by the government, an ominous cloud has hung over the country's labour force for years, writes Adele Ferguson.
Nuix insider lifts the lid on share market float disaster as calls grow to reform ASIC
A parliamentary inquiry into the performance of the ASIC kicks off this week and it promises to be explosive. One of its case studies will be the scandal-ridden tech company Nuix, which torched billions of dollars of shareholder value.
Duration: 15 minutes 59 seconds
Analysis
analysis:'Stuck with the rancid bacon': Insider lifts lid on the share market disaster that cost investors billions
A former executive at one of the country's most disastrous share market floats in years says he wasn't surprised when the share price crashed, wiping billions of dollars from the fortunes of investors, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:How a sleeper issue inside the big four accounting giants could topple the economy
The infiltration of EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC in government departments has been well documented. What is less well known is their role in the private sector, where experts fear a sleeper issue could trigger a corporate collapse, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:Class actions are meant to help level the playing field. So how did this one go so wrong?
After a decade, retirees who lost money in the collapse of Banksia Securities Limited are a step closer to getting their money. But the story remains an epic tale of the rich and powerful exploiting their standing to rip off the vulnerable, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:Kitchen benches are still killing young tradies — and we know how to stop it
The reality is these shiny stone benchtops are not a necessity and too many of our tradies who work with them are getting sick or dying, writes Adele Ferguson.
Analysis
analysis:A nip and tuck, not a full facelift: Whistleblower fears changes to cosmetic surgery regulations don't go far enough
Deformities, nerve damage, psychological trauma, loss of function of limbs. It's quite the list of allegations in what is shaping up as one of Australia's biggest-ever cosmetic surgery class actions, writes Adele Ferguson.
An investigation into the billions of taxpayer funds going to the big four consulting firms
A 7.30 investigation by Adele Ferguson reveals billions of dollars in taxpayer funds have gone to the big four consulting firms and it's often hard to know exactly what that money has bought.
Duration: 15 minutes 47 seconds
Analysis
analysis:How four companies infiltrated governments and took home $10 billion
Until now, the big four accounting firms had built themselves an aura of credibility and trust in government and corporate Australia, writes Adele Ferguson.