List of Australian crime podcasts


This is a list of Australian crime podcasts from 2015 to the present.

Background

Podcasting, and in particular true-crime related podcasts which deal primarily with serial murders, kidnappings, disappearances, and unsolved crimes or unexplained mysteries, became popular as a media format in Australia starting in 2016. While some podcasts are privately produced, many are created by investigative journalists within media outlets such as The Daily Telegraph, ''The Australian, ABC, or SBS. Most detail individual cases across a short series of episodes while others issue individual, or sometimes serial, episodes on different cases weekly.
Most podcasts act to provide background detail on already well known cases while also updating cases for recent developments, investigations, or trials. Others, particularly with cold cases, make appeals to the public for information. Many also work to provide extrajudicial perspectives on the cases they cover. More recently, "survivor" podcasts, hosted by ex-criminals who were victims of childhood sexual abuse have become more common. Some are criticised as potentially complicating, or compromising, ongoing police investigations. Others can be seen as providing a form of entertainment from crimes or confirming societal or institutional unconscious biases.
Some shows have become well known internationally and others have gone on to provoke significant breakthroughs. A similar situation occurred with The Lady Vanishes which led to an inquest commencing in New South Wales in 2020. Another podcast, The Nurse, helped trigger a Commission of Inquiry in Tasmania in 2020. In February 2022, revelations from Shandee's Story prompted the coronial inquest into her disappearance to reopen alongside two wider inquiries into Queensland's state-run forensics lab.
In 2018, The Teacher's Pet won the Gold Walkley for excellence in Australian journalism. In 2019, Wrong Skin, won in two categories of the annual Australian Podcast Awards: Investigative Journalism & True Crime, and the inaugural Podcast of the Year. In 2020, Birds Eye View was awarded Podcast of the Year and Unravel: Snowball was awarded Best True Crime Podcast. More recently, The Nurse was awarded 2021's Best True Crime Podcast, The Greatest Menace won in 2022, and Inside The Tribe won in 2023. In 2024, Breaking Badness won the best Documentary category and Unravel: Firebomb'' won best True Crime.