In tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes, Adam Hegarty investigates growing concerns about the Hague Convention, speaking with Australian mothers who say they were forced to hand over their children to allegedly violent fathers overseas.
The report leads a confronting night for the program, with Hegarty also examining new findings into the Singapore Airlines turbulence disaster that left one passenger dead and dozens more injured, including Australians.
THE POINT OF NO RETURN
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This is a story that’s upsetting to watch. 60 Minutes has obtained disturbing footage showing young Australian girls being forcibly taken from their mothers by Australian police officers, so they can be flown overseas, back to their allegedly violent foreign fathers.
To any lay person, that this could even happen defies logic. However, the reason it does is due to an international treaty Australia has signed. It’s called the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
Originally written to protect children, Adam Hegarty reveals there are now serious questions about whether that intention remains the case.
In this investigation, he speaks with distraught mothers who have been forced to give up their kids, and are demanding the federal government fix what seems like a glaring failure of duty to look after its young citizens.
Reported by Adam Hegarty and produced by Laura Sparkes.
TERROR AT 37000 FEET
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It was a flight into hell. Two years ago, high over southern Myanmar, a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 flew into some of the most extreme turbulence ever encountered by a commercial aircraft.
There was panic on board as passengers and crew were flung around the cabin. One man died and dozens more, including Australians, were seriously injured. Last week Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau quietly released a report into the tragedy.
It agreed with a conclusion 60 Minutes had reached 20 months ago, that the pilots had flown straight into the path of a huge, developing thunderstorm. But why would experienced aviators do something so obviously dangerous?
Reported by Adam Hegarty and produced by Garry McNab.
This episode of 60 Minutes airs tonight, Sunday 31 May, at 8.40pm on Channel 9 and 9Now, with a special start time of 7.00pm in Perth.
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