BtN: Episode 26 Transcript 10/9/13

Transcription

1 BtN: Episode 26 Transcript 10/9/13 On this week's Behind the News We learn more about the new guy running Australia. Drones being used to spy on farmers - is it justified or an invasion of privacy? And what's the true value of money? We head to the Royal Australian Mint to see how our coins are made. Hi I'm Nathan Bazley, welcome to Behind the News. Also on the show today we meet a girl who went from being a top ballet dancer to a karate champion. But first let's kick off with the main news story this week - the election. Here's Sarah with the Wire. The Wire As you probably noticed there was an election on the weekend. Right around the country people went to the polls to decide who they wanted to lead the country. As the counting started it became clear that many people wanted a change. And by quarter to ten - before all the seats were even decided - the Prime Minister took to the stage to concede defeat. KEVIN RUDD: Geez, I thought we'd lost. He thanked his supporters and wished the new Prime Minister well. Then it was Tony Abbott's turn to take the stage for a victory speech. TONY ABBOTT: From today I declare that Australia is under new management and Australia is once more open for business. Mr Abbott has started putting together his leadership team and has announced a few of the top jobs. Joe Hockey will be the new Treasurer; Deputy Liberal Leader Julie Bishop will be Foreign Affairs Minister. In the Labor Party many of the top pollies - including Kevin Rudd - managed to keep their seats so they'll still be in parliament as members of the Opposition. A few minor party members also scored seats in the lower house including Adam Bandt for the Greens. In the senate it looks like quite a few minor party members will be heading for parliament. The senate has the power to block or approve bills so if they don't agree with the Government on big issues things could get interesting. 1

2 Poll Results And we did our own poll last week for you to have your say on the election. 54% of you thought that Kevin Rudd would make the better PM - over Tony Abbott. Seems like the adults disagreed with you! Tony Abbott Reporter: Matt Holbrook INTRO: So as you saw there we have a new PM - and it's Tony Abbott. Let's learn a bit more about him and what he plans to do. Here's Matt. What do you know about Tony Abbott? KID 1: Doesn't look as old as Kevin Rudd. KID 2: He's very active, which is good, you need that in a Prime Minister. KID 3: I think he likes to swim a lot. KID 2: Did he used to be a lifesaver or something? He always has lifesaver caps on when he's swimming and stuff. KID 1: He must be a really good listener because he's got really big ears. KID 4: Cheapie. KID 5: Sporty, yeah. KID 3: Smart. He would be a good Prime Minister because he makes sensible choices KID 1: Middle-aged MATT HOLBROOK, REPORTER: So apart from age, and choice of swimming costume, what else should you know about the new PM? Well, here are some things that might surprise you about Tony Abbott. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in the UK. That's a scholarship given to some of the world's smartest and most successful people. And in his time there, he even did a bit of boxing. After that, he came back to Australia, and studied to be a Catholic priest. He later worked as a journalist, and for a while, ran a concrete plant. So the Prime Minister's had his fair share of interesting jobs. These days, he's married, and has three kids Louise, Bridget and Frances. And while he's given up boxing, he's still got a sporty side. 2

3 As a politician, Tony Abbott's been around for a while. He's been a member of parliament for nearly twenty years and was the Health Minister under an old Prime Minister, John Howard. He's been leader of the Liberal party since But now that he's PM, he's got a pretty big "to do" list. Let's take a look at it. You've probably heard this phrase more than once: TONY ABBOTT: Who do you trust to stop the boats? Stop the boats. Stopping the boats. Yep, Tony Abbott's promised to stop asylum seekers arriving by boat. He's giving more money to Indonesia to stop people smugglers before they begin the journey to Australia. He also has a plan to buy unsafe, dangerous boats, so they can't be used to transport asylum seekers. And just in case you weren't sure: TONY ABBOTT: We're going to stop the boats. Next up - the Carbon Tax. Labor brought it in to help the environment, by making big polluters pay more money. Tony Abbott says that he's going to scrap it. Instead, he wants to fund different projects to help reduce carbon emissions. TONY ABBOTT: We will get as much environmental improvement, as much emissions reduction as we can, based on what we've budgeted. And then there's broadband. The Coalition has been pretty negative about Labor's National Broadband Network. It's been designed to connect Aussie homes with fibre optic, the fastest network technology around. But the Coalition says that's too expensive. It's got its own plan that's a bit cheaper, and won't take as long to build, but also won't be as fast. They're just some of the things on Tony Abbott's to do list. So while it's all smiles for now, for this new Prime Minister, there's some serious work ahead. Drone Debate Reporter: Natasha Thiele INTRO: We've talked on BtN before about drones. They can fly in the sky and sometimes take videos of what's going on below. Recently some animal rights campaigners decided to use their own drone to look for evidence of animal cruelty. But as Sarah found out it's stirred up a lot of debate about whether it's right to spy from the sky. SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: They're in the sky over cities and towns. They're exploring, searching, recording, and they could be watching you. 3

4 REPORTER: To some people the idea of being filmed from the sky by flying drones is pretty disturbing. But with machines like this getting better and cheaper all the time it looks like drones are here to stay. A drone is any flying machine that can be controlled from the ground. And they've got all sorts of uses - from kids toys to multi-million dollar weapons. But it's drones like this - remote controlled helicopters fitted with high definition cameras - that have recently been causing some debate. This drone has a name - Hector. It's worth 17,000 dollars and it's owned by an animal rights charity and today it's being used to take photos of a free range egg farm. For eggs to be labelled as free range the chickens are supposed to be free to roam around during the day but the group suspects that some farmers are fibbing about how much their animals get out and about. And with Hector they're hoping to prove it. ANIMAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNERS: See, that's all really lush green. ANIMAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNERS: Yeah, there's no evidence at all. ANIMAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNERS: No evidence that the chooks have been scratching in any of that. Spying on farmers isn't anything new for animal rights activists like Mark. He says he's been arrested many times for sneaking onto properties and taking videos. He says it's worth it, if he can expose cruelty. But he says, the difference is with Hector spying is totally legal. You see, people don't own all of the sky above their land and as long as they don't get too close drones aren't actually trespassing. There are some laws controlling where you can fly; for example you can't be higher than 122 metres, you can't be too close to an airport and you can't be too close to people. But some worry that the law as it stands doesn't give enough protection to people's privacy. And some don't appreciate being spied on. MARK PEARSON: We're just filming in the area, that's all. GLENN MONCRIEFF: Why? MARK PEARSON: Sorry? GLENN MONCRIEFF: Why? I just got a phone call to say that somebody was flying something over our farm. MARK PEARSON: Oh, right, right. Yeah. Well, that's just some of the things we do, we document things, we film things around the area that are of interest to us. GLENN MONCRIEFF: Where are you from? 4

5 MARK PEARSON: And that's probably pretty much all I'm going to say. Farmer Glenn is one of the chook farm's owners. He says usually his hens roam around till dark but on that particular day they were inside being wormed. So, he says, the footage taken by Mark and his team is unfair and misleading. GLENN MONCRIEFF: I find it extremely intrusive. I don't believe these people should have the right to do what they've just done. If they come and knock on me door and want to talk to me about - and ask questions, happy to help. If they want to fly things over my fence, I just don't agree with it. Glenn isn't the only one. Some people reckon we need better laws to stop people from using drones to invade people's privacy. There are also worries about the safety of these machines if they're flown too close to aircraft or too close to people on the ground. But some reckon they can be valuable tools and if people have nothing to hide then they shouldn't be worried about having more eyes in the sky. Online Poll OK let's make that our poll this week. The question is: Is it ok for animal rights campaigners to use drones to collect information? To vote just head to our website. Making Money Reporter: Emma Davis INTRO: We often hear on the news about the changing value of the Aussie dollar. But what value does a dollar actually have? After all it's just a bit of metal isn't it? Emma went behind the scenes at the Royal Australian Mint to see how our coins are made. EMMA DAVIS, REPORTER: These days it's hard to go a day without using money. Whether it's pocket money for doing chores, shopping at the supermarket or even for a new wardrobe. But have you ever stopped to think about where all these coins come from? Well all our coins come from this place, the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra. So let's check out how it's all done. ANDREA LITTLE: Hello and welcome to the Royal Australian Mint. My name is Andrea and I'll be your guide. So follow me and we'll check out what there is to see at the mint. Be sure to look at the stairs as well. Yep, they're all coins. This is what the factory looks like. It's a busy place. Robots and humans work together to get everything done, and a lot gets done here in a day. ANDREA LITTLE: This is it. This is the only place in Australia that makes our circulating coins. So just behind us at the moment we've got all the robots working 5

6 hard, they're actually packing and counting some coins at the moment. Before they will get boxed and go off to the banks and any moment now we're about to see our largest strongest robot Titan do a big lift of a drum of blanks and that will start the process of making coins today. Titan weighs four point six tonnes and there's a good reason for that. He's in charge of lifting these big drums full of blanks and each drum weighs about 750 kilos. The blanks spill down onto this conveyor belt, so they can be lifted up and put into these blue coin pressers. ANDREA LITTLE: Here in our circulating coining hall we can do 650 coins per minute so that's on average so it's very quick when we talk about our everyday coins. See how fast it's moving? Every time it presses down, another coin gets imprinted with the design, like the 10 cent piece we all know so well. But they don't just make coins here, they also design them too. This is the coin designer s office. All of the coins you've ever seen have gone through a coin design process. But before they can be sketched designers like Aaron have to research the design. AARON BAGGIO: Then we generally produce finished art for ourselves which is 1 to 1 or I guess an enlarged image of our design and that design will then begin to be sculpted. The plaster probably looks a bit strange because it's so much bigger than a regular coin. It needs to be big so the designer can get all the details just right. You wouldn't want to make a mistake and see it every time you reach for your change. Once it's finished, it's scanned on to the computer where the finer details are added. And then this design is ready to be pressed into the blanks. But most of the specialist coins Aaron makes aren't used by the public. These fancy coins are called 'uncirculated coins'. These types of coins are mostly for people to collect and while you can use them to buy things, you wouldn't want to. That's because some cost a lot to buy, since they took a lot of time to design and only a small number are minted. Take these ones for instance. They might look like normal, everyday coins but the whole set costs $125 to buy. Back to the factory and once the coins have been stamped they're bagged, tagged and loaded into trucks. These trucks take the coins to banks all over Australia and that's how they get into our cash system. So next time you grab a coin out of your pocket, take some time to think about what kind of journey that small piece of metal has made. Quiz 1 Let s see how closely you were paying attention to that. Here s a quiz. The question is: Which animal is on the one dollar coin? Platypus 6

7 Echidna Kangaroo Answer: Kangaroo Street Dogs Reporter: Natasha Thiele INTRO: The platypus is on the twenty cent coin and the echidna is on the five cent coin. Now to a story about another favourite animal of ours dogs. Did you know that in some countries there are lots of stray dogs roaming the streets? It can be a big problem they can be aggressive and can carry diseases. Tash finds out about an Aussie vet who's travelled overseas to help fix the problem. NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: The beautiful Himalayas, home to some of the world's highest mountain peaks including the famous Mount Everest. Every summer, tens of thousands of tourists head to the Himalayan town of Leh. But there's another side of the town they might not know about. Thousands of dogs roam the streets here. They don't have owners and they survive on food scraps from tourists. Most of them can be pretty friendly and well-behaved but there are some that aren't. The problem is the dog population is getting bigger and so is the number of dangerous dogs. SARAH MATTHEWS, VET: They go hunting, they'll attack the local stock so that's obviously an economic concern for farmers but also they are hungry and aggressive and they will attack each other and will attack humans so obviously there's a risk. The local hospital says around 15 people come in with dog bites every day. This can be dangerous because the dogs can carry a disease called 'rabies'. It can be passed on to people and it can make you really sick. Chemists need to have anti-rabies vaccines on standby but supplies often run out. Nothing is really done to stop the dangerous animals. Most of the locals are Buddhists, who don't believe in putting them down. Sarah is a vet from Sydney and her partner Andy is training to be a vet nurse. They're part of a volunteer group called 'Vets Beyond Borders' that are trying to control the street dog population in Leh. Their four-month trip involves de-sexing as many dogs as possible so they can't breed with one another. To do that, the dogs need to be caught by dog catchers which can be a hard task. Then they're taken to a clinic where they're treated. SARAH MATTHEWS, VET: Okay, so this is a male adult dog. So basically we've anaesthetised him. We've put him onto fluids so he's supported during surgery and just put a sterile drape over him. They're also vaccinated against rabies. After a couple of days, they're taken back to where they were found. So far in Leh, more than 700 dogs have been desexed by volunteer vets. They hope to get to 1000 before the end of the season. 7

8 ANDY GRAFTON, VOLUNTEER: Well it's nice to drive down the street and see dogs with giant shaved patches which you know you did a few days ago and you know that that dog's not gonna have any puppies. Sarah and Andy are worried the program will suffer, after they head back home to Australia. There aren't enough local vets showing interest in the program. SARAH MATTHEWS, VET: This year is a transition year. I come in as a reasonably qualified surgeon, I do a lot of desexing myself, but I also train the local vets to do surgery and you know here I am two and a half months in; I've had one vet attend on three days. The Score Let's get some sports news now here's James with the Score. `The Games of the 32nd Olympiad in 2020 are awarded to the city of Tokyo! After two years of campaigning, Tokyo has won a bid to host the Olympic Games in The Japanese capital city beat Istanbul 60 votes to 36. The last time the Games were held in Tokyo was all the way back in *** Still on the Olympics and wrestling has been voted back in as an Olympic sport. It was taken out of the Olympics program seven months ago to make room for something new. But even though other sports, including squash, baseball and softball were put forward the International Olympic Committee decided that wrestling will get its spot back at the Tokyo games. *** To AFL and it was a big first week of finals with some surprising results. Port Power defeated Collingwood in the first elimination final 87 to 63. Richmond's season is also over after Carlton came from behind to beat the Tigers by twenty points. *** In Formula One, Sebastian Vettel has won the Italian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso finished second while Aussie, Mark Webber, finished third. *** The Aussie cricket side might have lost the Ashes but they're leading their one day international series with England 1 - nil. Captain, Michael Clarke, helped Australia to a total of 316 with an impressive century and England couldn't chase the score down. They were bowled out for 227. Quiz 2 We're going to have a story about karate next but first let's have quiz. 8

9 The question is: What does the word `karate' mean? Empty hand Strong arm Spiritual fighter Answer: Empty hand Karate Kid Reporter: Natasha Thiele INTRO: Recently some of Australia's best young karate kids took part in the international karate championships. Two of the gold medals went to a teenage girl who'd come into the sport from a rather unusual background. Tash went to meet her. NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: From pirouettes to hook kicks and arabesque to round-house kicks, it's a big change from tutu's and tights. Mary used to be a dancer. But three years ago, she decided to give up dancing. Instead she turned her focus to the ancient art form of karate. MARY: Well someone came knocking on our door promoting GKR handing out flyers and me and a few friends thought it'd be a good idea and our parents liked the idea because it can keep us fit and we could learn how to protect ourselves, so me and a few friends started up and they lasted a month but I kept going. Karate is practised right around the world. It teaches physical and mental strength, as well as confidence and self-defence. And Mary says some of the skills are similar to ballet. MARY: In karate believe it or not there's actually a lot of technical work and a lot of remembering routines, so that's where my dancing and ballet really comes in handy. It was a little bit hard at first because when I was kicking in karate I used to point my toes but after a few months it was easy to make the adjustment. REPORTER: So Mary, is there a move you can show me that might be similar to ballet, but a karate move? MARY: Well this is a stance in karate that's similar to a plié in ballet. So if you step into second position in ballet and plié down, that there is stance. REPORTER: Okay cool, that's good for your thighs. MARY: It's a bit of a work out. How about I show you a combination? So you wanna start in hikidashi then you wanna step back and do a block, then you wanna punch and step up and kick and step down. REPORTER: Should we give it a go then a bit faster? 9

10 Every karate student hopes to one day become a black belt - that's the highest grading you can get. But depending on your club, there are a few other colours you need to pass first. It takes a lot of training and experience to get there. At the moment Mary is a red belt, but she's proving she has what it takes to one day get the black. This year, she competed in the GKR Karate Club's World Cup in Sydney. It's one of the biggest clubs in the world. She did really well taking home two gold medals! One was in a sparring category called 'kumite' which involves scoring points against your opponent. The other was in 'kata' where Mary performed a pattern of choreographed karate moves. MARY: It was quite overwhelming it was just, I was almost in tears. It was just so good to know that all my hard work had paid off. Closer That's it for the show. You can jump onto our website if you want to get more info on any of the stories. You can send us your comments and don't forget to vote in this week's poll. I'll see you next time. 10