Mark Willacy
Mark Willacy is a reporter for ABC Investigations, based in Brisbane. A former Middle East and North Asia correspondent, Mark has reported for the ABC in more than 30 countries. He's a seven-time Walkley Award winner, and has been awarded Australia's highest honour in journalism — the Gold Walkley. His book ROGUE FORCES, which exposed alleged SAS war crimes, won the 2022 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-Fiction. He's twice been named Queensland Journalist of the Year and in 2019 he won a Logie Award with Four Corners for his story on the Thai cave rescue. Mark has written three books. For more secure communication, email Mark at markwillacy@protonmail.com
Latest by Mark Willacy
Turnbull’s old colleagues have laid out in gobsmacking detail how they brought him down
Senior Liberals lift the lid on the "week of madness" that consumed Malcolm Turnbull's prime ministership and elevated an unexpected contender to the top job.
Analysis
analysis:Senior Liberals asked to describe Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison in one word reveal intriguing theory
Speaking with dozens of Coalition insiders during the making of the ABC docuseries Nemesis, one PM provoked the most polarised responses, writes Mark Willacy.
'I just saw him as an idiot': Barnaby Joyce on the moment Malcolm Turnbull denounced his affair
The former merchant banker and bush accountant enjoyed an unlikely but successful political partnership. That all changed when Malcolm Turnbull strode into his courtyard and denounced Barnaby Joyce in front of the nation over his affair with a staffer, Vikki Campion.
'A hideous day of embarrassment': For Tony Abbott's colleagues, one political debacle still makes them cringe
Dozens of Tony Abbott's Coalition colleagues reveal why they think his prime ministership unravelled so quickly.
Abbott considered sending 'large military deployment' to Ukraine in wake of MH17 disaster
Former defence force chief Angus Houston reveals how Tony Abbott considered sending a "large military deployment" to Ukraine after Russia-backed separatists shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, killing 298 people including 38 Australian citizens and residents.
Weeks after tearing down his government, Turnbull did a welfare check on Abbott. Here's how it went down
Dozens of former colleagues have spoken candidly to the ABC political docuseries Nemesis about the destructive rivalry between Liberal giants Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.
Out of power and off the leash, senior Coalition figures have opened up about their nine years in government
Over months of filming and 60 on-camera interviews for the ABC's landmark political docuseries Nemesis, the free character assessments between former Coalition colleagues fly thick and fast. But as well as the blue language and invective, there are also moments of remorse and regret.
Ben Roberts-Smith alleged to have directed the killing of elderly imam in Afghanistan
Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith directed one of his SAS comrades to kill an elderly man who was dragged from a mosque in Afghanistan, according to allegations uncovered by ABC Investigations.
Australian SAS veteran charged with war crime in historic first
Police charge a decorated former SAS soldier who was shown in a Four Corners program shooting an Afghan man in a wheat field. He is the first Australian serviceman or veteran to be charged with a war crime under Australian law.
Soldiers in secret anti-terror unit reluctant to work with Australians after sexual harassment allegations surface, source says
An Australian Special Forces soldier is removed from a secretive multinational operation tracking foreign jihadists after multiple allegations of sexual harassment from other members in the program.
Former Australian commando served with warrant by war crimes investigators
A former special forces soldier is a target of a war crimes investigation for the alleged killing of at least one unarmed detainee in Afghanistan in 2012.
Before the Australian commandos head out on a mission in Afghanistan, one of them starts filming. This is what happens next
ABC Investigations has obtained hours of footage filmed by Australian commandos in Afghanistan and never before seen publicly, raising fresh questions about the conduct of special forces soldiers in the nation's longest war.
Queensland Star casino concerns referred to regulator that approved shareholder with alleged crime links
Queensland's Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman refers revelations of crime links involving a key shareholder of Brisbane's new casino back to the same regulator that didn't spot them in 2015.
Revealed: Co-owner of $3.8bn casino development linked to notorious Chinese gangsters
An ABC investigation reveals the links between a company with a major stake in Australia's most expensive casino venture and notorious organised crime figures in Hong Kong and Macau.
Defence report warned of Special Forces 'not telling the truth' about misconduct allegations
An internal Australian Defence Force report explicitly warned of a "code of silence" and a culture of cover-up in the special forces, years before allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan emerged.
Behind the scenes of Four Corners' investigation of alleged torture by Australian soldiers in East Timor
Former servicemen told Four Corners what happened in East Timor in 1999 set in train cultural issues that would later lead to alleged war crimes by Australian SAS soldiers in Afghanistan.
Held in a hot room in blacked-out ski goggles, this man says he fabricated his confession to Australian interrogators
An Australian intelligence officer ordered interrogators to extract a videotaped confession from a Timorese man after he was allegedly tortured in a secret interrogation centre in East Timor in 1999.
Cosgrove 'dismayed' to learn of secret New Zealand probe into allegations of torture by Australian soldiers in East Timor
Former INTERFET commander Sir Peter Cosgrove denies any senior New Zealand military officials raised concerns with him about the treatment of detainees by Australian soldiers in East Timor.
'They tortured us': A teenager taken by Australian soldiers thought he was going to die
During the widely celebrated mission in East Timor, Australian soldiers detained and abused 14 men and boys in a secret interrogation facility. Years later, the detainees are still haunted.
Case against Australian SAS soldier collapsed after New Zealand witnesses were denied identity protections
Australia's only prosecution of an elite SAS soldier for crimes in combat collapsed because special forces witnesses were denied "standard" identity protections, the New Zealand military reveals.
'Died violently is an understatement': What we know about Four Corners probe into an Australian's actions in East Timor
Witness accounts of the actions of an Australian SAS soldier in East Timor have been unearthed after more than 20 years. Here's what they say.
The firefight was over, but NZ SAS soldiers say what they saw an Australian do next disturbed them
Secret documents reveal eyewitness accounts from New Zealand soldiers who said an Australian SAS operator brutalised corpses in East Timor in 1999.
This 13-year-old was shot dead by the SAS as he cowered behind a tractor wheel
A 13-year-old died in the biggest single alleged unlawful killing by SAS operators under investigation by the Brereton Inquiry into war crimes. Here is the one photo taken during his lifetime.
War crimes witness in hiding after blast at her NSW home
A former special operations intelligence officer and witness in the Brereton Inquiry is relocated by the Defence Force after a blast at her family home.
Our journalist in Afghanistan has an Australian visa, but he can't get into Kabul airport
An Afghan journalist who has been crucial to ABC Investigations stories on alleged war crimes has an Australian visa, but can't get into the airport at Kabul.