The Greatest Menace is a new podcast from award-winning journalists Patrick Abboud and Simon Cunich and the result of a three-year investigation.
Patrick Abboud and Simon Cunich’s new podcast, titled The Greatest Menance, details their three-year-long investigation into Australia’s former “gay prison,” and its shocking experiments to “treat” homosexuality.
The prison, opened in 1957 and operational for a number of decades, The Greatest Menace shines a light on the former New South Wales Government’s hushed operation to eradicate, what officials at the time called, “the greatest menace to society”: homosexuality. Around the same time, the NSW Government set up a secretive research committee to find the causes and treatments for homosexuality using homosexual prisoners as research subjects.
“I was astounded, my jaw dropped and I literally shouted: ‘How did I not know about this?!’ This investigation also forced me to reflect on my own prison-like confines of shame. Coming from a Middle Eastern background where, in some parts of that region, it’s still illegal to be gay, I was shunned when I came out and facing that shame felt like life or death for me. The former NSW Government weaponised shame and it’s still so pervasive today,” Patrick Abboud said.
“Although significant progress has been made in the last few years regarding our LGBTQI+ community, it is important for The Greatest Menace to shed a light on the horrendous and appalling past that the former New South Wales Government and police played in the unjust treatment of queer people.”
Available on Audible, the podcast uncovers the secret police task force that was operating in the 1950s through to the 1960s, whose purpose was to entrap, isolate and eradicate the “homosexual threat.”
Audible VP of Content – Asia, Karen Wiggins, says: “Patrick [Abboud] has unearthed an incredibly confronting slice of Australian history that’s never been exposed before. His determination and dedication to revealing the truth make this podcast a riveting listen and we are delighted to make it free for everyone to access.”
The Greatest Menace, an Audible Original podcast series, is free to access for six months for both members and non-members, here.
