BtN: Episode 14 Transcript 28/5/13 On this week's Behind the News: We look at a controversial plan which could see kids banned from childcare if they haven't had vaccinations. Reading the news blind the amazing story behind a famous voice. And from training on wheels in Canberra to the real thing on the ice we meet an up and coming star of luge. Hi I'm Nathan Bazely. Welcome to Behind the News. First up today: Let's get a wrap up of the main news stories this week. Here's Sarah with the Wire. The Wire There are set to be some big changes to what betting companies are allowed to advertise during sports broadcasts. The government says it wants to stop live odds being shown during games. But normal gambling ads will still be allowed during breaks in play like quarter time and half time. SENATOR STEPHEN CONROY: Australians are sick of having gambling and live odds in particular rammed down their throat. *** Car maker, Ford, has decided to shut down its factories in Australia. In three years time it won't make any more cars here. That means the end of the Ford Falcon a car only made in Australia. More than a thousand people will lose their jobs. The Federal and Victorian governments say they'll try to help them find new work. *** And have you ever wondered how much you cost your parents? Well, a new report's found the cost for a family on an average income to raising 2 kids to the age of 21 is around 812 thousand dollars! The big ticket items are the food and all that driving that parents do so that you can play sport or go to your friend s house! Tornadoes Reporter: Matthew Holbrook 1
INTRO: Americans are cleaning up after a powerful tornado devastated parts of the country. People died and thousands of buildings were destroyed. So why do tornadoes seem to be more common in that part of the world? And how do they start? Matt looks into it. A massive force, moving at speeds of more than three hundred kays an hour. So fast, there was barely enough time for people to react. Even some of the weather reporters had to call it a day. WEATHER REPORT: You know, JD, in twenty years I've never said this, but I think it's time to go. I really do, we've been monitoring the conditions here in town, so at this point folks, we are moving to our shelters. JD and I will continue to talk with you as long as we can. We are leaving the radar image up, but it appears it is time for all of us to get to shelter. The largest and most devastating tornado landed in Oklahoma, a state in the middle of America. It flattened homes and buildings, uprooted trees, and threw cars around. It left a path of destruction spreading seventeen kays. After the storm had passed, people sprung to action, checking the damage and helping the injured. Rescue teams freed those trapped in the rubble. One of the worst hit places was a school. It was completely destroyed by the tornado. KID 1: I just couldn't see anything and it was all loud, I could barely hear. KID 2: It was just "thump thump" and the roof came off, and I felt something, it was raining on me and all that. While tornadoes can happen anywhere in the world, they're most common in this part of the US. They get so many of them, it's been nicknamed 'Tornado Alley'. In Tornado Alley, hot, humid air comes from the Gulf of Mexico, and cold dry air comes from Canada. That creates perfect tornado conditions. When warm, humid air meets a layer of cold, dry air, it can form a storm. Then, if winds hit the storm from different directions it can cause it to spin into a spiral. That's called a vortex. When the tip touches the ground, it becomes a tornado. MATT: You can see a vortex here on a much smaller scale. It's fastest towards the centre, but it can be massive, and that's what makes a real tornado so dangerous. For now, there's a lot of cleaning up to do. VOX: It still doesn't seem real. I can't even describe how I feel. But there have been some positive stories coming out of so much destruction. This woman thought her dog had died under the rubble of her home. But then, in the middle of a TV interview she spotted something. WOMAN: The dog, the dog! I thought God just answered one prayer to let me be OK, but he answered both of them, because this was my second prayer. 2
Lots of people are getting involved to help put things right, but it's going to take some time for life to return to normal. Vaccinations Reporter: Nathan Bazley INTRO: The vaccination debate has hit the headlines again after some politicians suggested a plan to allow childcare centres to ban kids who haven't been vaccinated. At the same time figures were released that show immunisation rates in some parts of New South Wales have hit record lows. Here's more. NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: Way before you were born, there was a disease that kids sometimes got called polio. In the worst cases, it caused incredible pain, lifelong deformities and sometimes death. These kids were just some of around 40,000 people who contracted the polio virus in Australia, between the 30 s and the 80 s. Overseas it had a big impact too. In America in just one year, 57,000 cases were reported. 21,000 of them were left with some paralysis for life and more than 3,000 died. In Australia today, the number of new cases of polio is zero. This is how polio is tracking now. What was a huge problem has now almost disappeared. So the big question is, what happened right here? How was the polio war all but won? Medical experts say this was the magic bullet. The first polio vaccine was given out here in 1956. And pretty soon, rates of the disease dropped dramatically. You see, diseases like polio need people to live in to be able to spread. Vaccinations make that pretty hard. So if the disease has nowhere to live and grow, it can die out. That means that vaccinations aren't just about protecting you from a disease, they're about protecting everyone around you too. Polio isn't the only illness kids are vaccinated against in Australia. Here are the others. In Australia, more than 90% of kids are immunised. But why is that figure not 100 percent? It's free and pretty easy. So why would people say no to protecting themselves and others against disease? Well if you look on the internet you'll find some groups of people who don't agree with vaccination. Some say vaccination can cause serious side effects and that babies have died or been left with disabilities after being vaccinated. But the World Health Organisation, along with nearly all doctors and scientists disagree, and they're worried too many people are listening to the wrong advice. They say any side effects from vaccinations are very rare and usually very minor. But despite that, in some areas of NSW, the rates of vaccination are dropping dramatically, to now be below 50 percent. The NSW Opposition is so worried about it 3
they want to give childcare centres the option to exclude kids who haven't gotten a jab. Parents often rely on childcare centres, and it's hoped that giving childcare centres the choice of blocking unvaccinated children will convince their parents to change their minds. The state Opposition say this will work to lift immunisation rates and protect more kids. But anti-vaccination groups say it's not fair. And some others feel that the idea goes too far, and that parents should be educated about vaccinations, rather than being forced into accepting them. But the politicians say that the aim isn't to exclude people, but to encourage them to do the right thing. Because medical experts fear that if vaccination rates keep falling, diseases we used to fear but now don't even think about could make a very unwelcome return. PRESENTER: OK let's make that our poll this week. Online Poll The question is: Should childcare centres be allowed to ban kids who haven't been vaccinated? To vote just head to our website. Last week we asked if you would eat insects. 44% said you would. 56% said no way. Thanks for voting. Mabo Day Reporter: Sarah Larsen INTRO: Next Monday is Mabo day. In the Torres Strait it's a public holiday and in the rest of Australia it's a chance to remember a man who had a big impact on Australia's history. Sarah looks into who Mabo actually was. And a warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers; this story contains images of people who've died. There are certain Australians that we remember and celebrate. People who did extraordinary things, who made a difference and changed history for the better. 4
Eddie Koike Mabo is one of them. A man who took on the Australian legal system to fight an injustice and change the way Australian history was told. Eddie was born on the Island of Mer also known as Murray Island in the Torres Strait off the tip of Northern Queensland. For thousands of years it had been the home of the Meriam people and from the time he was little Eddie learned about the importance of his culture. But the country he grew up in didn't recognise even the basic rights of its first people. Indigenous Australians had to fight to be able to vote, to be paid equally, to be served in shops and go to theatres and hospitals with white Australians. When he was a young man Eddie joined the fight for Indigenous rights. But it was in the 70 s, while working as a gardener at James Cook University, that he made a discovery that would change his life. Eddie made friends with some historians at the university. He would tell them proudly about the land he owned on Mer which had been handed down to him by his ancestors. The historians had to tell him that, in fact, his people didn't own the land at all. Murray Island was officially Crown Land; owned by the Commonwealth of Australia and had been ever since British settlers arrived. REPORTER: When Captain Cook arrived in Australia land could be claimed by the Crown if it was "Terra Nullius" or land belonging to no-one. The law said Indigenous societies didn't count because they didn't have laws or governments and they didn't own land. But Eddie knew that wasn't true. In 1981 he was invited to speak about his people at a conference and a lawyer who was listening thought maybe Mabo could prove that terra nullius was wrong. So he and some of his fellow Murray Islanders took their case to the highest court in Australia. Mabo vs the State of Queensland became one of the most famous court cases in Australian history. Mabo wasn't just fighting for the Meriam people. If he won it would mean other Indigenous people could claim land rights. That was controversial. Some worried about the future of Aussie industries which used the land. But others saw it as a chance to right a great wrong in Australia's past. On June 3rd in 1992 the high court made its decision. 5
RICHARD MORECROFT, NEWS ANCHOR: The High Court has recognised that there were people here and their descendants have rights. Terra nullius was overturned and Indigenous land rights or Native Title was acknowledged. Despite some people's fears it didn't mean white people could have their homes taken away. It did mean people who were still living on and connected to their traditional land could finally have a say on what happened to it. Sadly, Eddie Koike Mabo didn't get to see his victory. He died just five months before the court verdict at the age of 55. But he hasn't been forgotten. His story has been celebrated in art an in films like this. The library where he liked to study in James Cook University is now named after him. And every year on the third of June people around Australia celebrate Mabo day. Quiz 1 OK let's have a quiz. The question is: Which is an island in the Torres Strait? Lord Howe Island Thursday Island Norfolk Island Answer: Thursday Island It's also known as Waiben, which means place of no water. Reading Blind Reporter: Sarah Larsen INTRO: Lots of people listen to the ABC radio station, Triple J. One of the voices you might have heard on that station is the regular newsreader Nas. Well last week she revealed something about herself that until now most listeners would never have known. Sarah reports. 6
If you ever tune into Triple J you may have heard this voice before. NAS CAMPANELLA, TRIPLE J REPORTER: G day Nas Campanella Triple J news" Nas is a journalist and it's her job to put together and read three minute news bulletins on the hour. NAS: the fed government s decision. But what you could never tell by listening is that Nas is blind. She isn't reading the news script, she's listening as a computer turns the words into audio then she repeats what she hears. NAS: I am reading a second or two behind it can't be any more than that or I would be stumbling all over the place. It's hard because the speech program has an American accent and it s a computerised voice that to contend with and it pronounces things wrong most of the time. Some carefully placed velcro dots help Nas to navigate all the buttons and switches to produce her own bulletins. NAS: In the headphones I can hear myself reading in the mic, I can hear the speech program telling me what to say. I can hear the audio grabs I have play to air and on top of that I can hear a clock telling me how much time I've got left to go to start bulletin and end bulletin. NAS: It's fine usually during the bulletin but by the end of the day after reading 5 bulletins I find my ears are a bit sore and it s all a bit much. REPORTER: What about your brain? NAS: No the brain learns to deal with it, laughs. Nas lost her sight when she was just 6 months old. She never let it slow her down, but she says in the beginning school was a challenge. REPORTER: Many people who are vision impaired can read using braille a special type of alphabet that uses raised dots. But in primary school Nas found out her fingers weren't sensitive enough to read braille. So she started to learn by listening using computer programs which turned words on a computer into sound. NAS: It made the world of difference because I hated reading, I hated learning and then once I discovered an easier way to do it opened up all these new doors. Nas went on to study journalism at uni. But she says getting a job was hard. NAS: I looked good on paper in terms of all voluntary experience I had in the industry, samples of work I had looked great, but it wasn't until I got to interview stage when they found out I had a vision impairment. It was like all of a sudden they just changed their attitude it was a big no and it was pretty heartbreaking. 7
But in 2011 that changed when Nas beat hundreds of other applicants to win an ABC cadetship. A trainee position designed to teach new journalists the ropes. NAS: How did you feel when you got the phone call you'd been given a cadetship? There were tears. Pretty happy. They were willing to take a chance when no one else was and they have done everything they possibly could to make it work and I couldn't have asked for anything more. Nas employers say there's very little she can't do. And she's on her way to an impressive career. NAS: I just like it, at the end of the day I go home and I feel good about my job and I look forward to it the next day. NAS: Right across Australia and the world if you're streaming on line you're listening to Triple J. NAS: It's a dream come true really. PRESENTER: That's pretty impressive work. If you want to have a go at reading the news like Nas we've put an audio clip on the BtN website for you to read along to. Good luck! Hope you do better than me. Let's get some sports news now. Here's Matt with the Score. The Score In the AFL most of the talk has been about something that happened in the crowd rather than on the field. A 13 year old girl had to be escorted from the ground after she shouted a racist comment at Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes. ADAM GOODES: It was shattering I turned around and when I saw it was a young girl I was just like really? I was just like how could it happen. The girl later apologised. Adam Goodes says there needs to be better education to change attitudes. *** Still on AFL, and the Crows had a stunning win over North Melbourne making a late comeback to snatch victory. The Kangaroos dominated and in the final quarter were up by thirty points. But the Crows put together a string of goals and with only 16 seconds left on the clock Jarred Petrenko soccered through the match winner *** Finally to netball, and Central Pulse just got over line against West Coast Fever in a tight game 53 to 52. They trailed for most of the match but a late push gave them the win helping to keep their finals hopes alive. 8
Quiz 2 OK. We're going to have a story about a Winter Olympic sport next. First let's have a quiz. The question is: How many gold medals has Australia won in the entire history of the Winter Olympics? 5 15 25 Answer: 5 And they were all fairly recent. The first was just over ten years ago when a speed skater called Steven Bradbury won his race because everyone else fell over. Luge INTRO: Well we're about to meet a girl who hopes that one day she might add to Australia's medal tally at the Winter Olympics. It's in a fast and dangerous sport called luge. Let's check it out. NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: With incredible speeds, rock hard ice and next to no protection, luge is a crazy sport. In fact, considering how dangerous it is, it's a wonder people sign up to do it at all. ASHLEY COONEY: For my first race in Lillehammer, I cracked my ribs. I've had bruises from head to toe. I've come back home black and blue. It's not a sport for the faint-hearted, but I guess no pain, no gain, really. But the pain of luge is a long way from where Ashley started, as a gymnast at age 4. She became national champion at 12 and was picked in the Olympic squad for the London Games. ASHLEY: I knew that was something I really wanted to do. And, progression, you know, came pretty fast. And, you know, I was - I loved winning. And so I wanted to be an Olympic athlete. I wanted to represent my country in a sport that I loved. But before that could happen, a car accident broke her collarbone and changed everything. 9
ASHLEY: It was really hard at the time. Gymnastics was my life. I was lost for a very long time. But at a time when most people might have given up on their Olympic dream, Ashley simply decided to take up a new sport. She found that the agility and strength she developed through gymnastics gave her a big edge in luge. ASHLEY: I think it's a little bit like gymnastics. It's unique. Not everyone can do it and the rush you get going at those incredible speeds is amazing. But having the skills for it and actually doing it, are two very different things. She started off practicing on wheels, kinda like strapping two rollerblades to your back and hoping for the best. Her training was enough to get a spot at the Euro Luge Championships, which amazingly was the first time she'd ever seen snow. Understandably, it was a painful start. But pretty soon, she'd cracked the top 27 riders, which is enough to earn her a place in the Winter Olympics next year if she keeps up her form. Next comes the fun bit, preparing for the big event! But it's not all fun, training is ramping up too. Ashley's coach, Hannah, is a retired luger. She says Ashley has what it takes to successfully hurl herself down an icy track. HANNAH CAMPBELL-PEGG, COACH: I have faith in her abilities and I've been there, done that before, so I know exactly how she feels when she goes down a track and when she's scared of going down a track and they're very natural feelings. Natural feelings Ashley is going to have to experience many more times, if her new dream of winter Olympic glory is to come true. ASHLEY: Luge was the second chance I never thought I'd have. And she's grabbing it with two spikey hands and nerves of ice cold steel. 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. 10
You can send us your comments and don't forget to vote in this week's poll. And I'll see you next time. 11