Price of Life/The Greater Good

Duration: 60 minutes

About The Price of Life by Nigel Brennan

Bundaberg photojournalist Nigel Brennan travels to Somalia with Canadian reporter Amanda Lindhout.  They are abducted by a criminal gang, that puts a price of US$3 million on their heads.  If it's not paid, they will be killed.  And the Australian government does not pay ransoms.

After more than a year of stalled negotiations, Nigel's family takes matters into their own hands.  They go against government advice, scarifying their livelihoods, their houses and personal lives to bring the hostages home.  Meanwhile, the kidnappers are losing patience.  Brutalised, shackled, not knowing when or how the situation will end, Nigel faces the fight of his life.

This is a story about what it takes to survive, and how far a family will go for freedom, whatever the price.

About The Greater Good by Tim Ayliffe

He had never killed anyone who hadn’t deserved it. The means always justified the end. He didn’t need forgiveness.He needed justification. The greater good.

Battered war correspondent John Bailey is a man living on the edge. He’s haunted by nightmares of being kidnapped and tortured in Iraq and he’s drinking too much to drown the memories. As he battles to get his life back together, a story breaks that will force him back into the spotlight – and into the crosshairs of a deadly international player.

When a beautiful prostitute is found murdered in her luxury Sydney apartment, Bailey is ordered to cover the story by The Journal’s editor and his old friend, Gerald Summers, because he can’t trust anyone else.

One of the victim’s clients, a key advisor to the Defence Minister, is chief suspect in her murder and he’s on the run. When he contacts Bailey, claiming to have information that will bring down the government, the stakes become deadly. To complicate matters,the investigating police detective is the woman Bailey walked out on a decade ago.

When a ruthless CIA fixer turns up, followed by a murderous Chinese agent hot on his trail, Bailey realises he has stumbled onto the story of a lifetime – one that he may not live to tell.

Chair: Bec Mac