BtN: Episode 2 Transcripts 23/02/10
On this week's Behind the News:
- Gold fever breathing life back into ghost towns.
- Fresh ideas to keep the Aussie food bowl full.
- And some extreme one-wheel action!
Hi I'm Nathan Bazley welcome to Behind the News.
Also on the show today, we’ll have a look at why dogs go wild and cause all sorts of problems for farmers.
Hospital Check-up
Reporter: Tash Thiele
INTRO: But first up, if you get sick and end up in hospital, the last thing you're thinking about is how much you'll have to pay for treatment.
But depending on which hospital you go to you could either pay nothing, or heaps!
So what's the difference?
Tash went out to compare public and private hospitals, and found out why some pollies are thinking about changing how they're set up.
TASH THIELE, REPORTER: We hear about pollies talking about health all the time. It can be a way of winning votes with the Aussie public. But do you know the difference between public and private hospitals?
KID: Public you've got like twice as many people in there and private's for all the rich people
KID: Private is like you can get people in without others knowing and you can get more treatment there and public it's like out in the open.
KID: Public hospitals are where there's more than one people in a room and visitors are allowed and private hospitals are where there's like one person in a room and visitors are still allowed to visit them.
Let me explain. There's something called Medicare, a system that's run by the Federal Government. It helps pay for medical treatment and all people living permanently in Australia are covered by it.
Medicare is funded by taxpayers and the big guns in Canberra spend billions of dollars each year on what's called the 'public health system' and 'public hospitals'. So if you get sick and need to go to hospital for treatment, Medicare will pay the costs!
NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: Hospitals like this aren't cheap to run. It's a huge operation! Medical specialists, equipment, feeding patients, even the gardens all cost money!
Okay, so we've got public hospitals but what about private? Private hospitals are private businesses, so they're not actually run by the government.
To go to one you need to pay for it yourself. But it's not cheap! To have a baby at a private hospital and stay a few nights, it'll cost around 5-thousand dollars.
So some people choose to have 'private health insurance', where they pay a certain amount each year to help cover the costs of private health care. They prefer it because they think it gives them more choices of hospitals, doctors and faster service for some types of operations.
Health and hospitals are very complex issues and they get everyone talking! Some people reckon there's overcrowding in our public hospitals because lots of us don't want to pay or can't afford private health insurance.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is one person who wants to change a few things, if he's elected Prime Minister at the next Federal Election.
He wants local communities to take control of major hospitals in New South Wales and Queensland, because he thinks the local people know what's best for their area and more people would be happy.
But the state governments are a little worried. They think it would lead to those hospitals being left out of big decisions around the country. The Rudd Government also doesn't think it would work and says their plan is working just fine.
Health and education are always big issues and get used to hearing about them! Come the next Federal Election, pollies will be all over the issues!
Presenter: There's pro's and con's there on both sides and we'll let you know if there's any more updates to that story.
Gold Rush
Reporter: Sarah Larsen
INTRO: Have you ever heard about the gold rush of the past and wished you could strike it rich?
Well now might be your chance!
Gold mines that have been closed for years are opening up again, but before you grab a pick-axe and start digging Sarah discovered that it's new technology that's blowing the cobwebs off some historic mine sites.
SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: It was the precious metal that transformed Australia. When a spec was found in a Victorian creek in 1851 gold fever took hold. In the years that followed hundreds of thousands of people came to Australia from all over the world to try their luck in the goldfields. Entire towns grew around gold and the economy took off.
Travel around Australia and it’s not hard to find evidence of the country's gold mining history in ghost towns like this.
KIDS: So what happened to the gold? Why were towns abandoned?
REPORTER: When a mine closes its not necessarily because all the precious metal's gone. There's probably still gold down there somewhere, it's just that getting it out got too expensive.
When the gold rush started you could find gold just by panning in the mud. It cost almost nothing to get out and anyone could do it. Once that ran out you had to dig into the rock. That was much harder and more expensive. Once the stuff close to the surface was gone things got even more expensive. Mining companies took over, spending big on equipment and workers to get to the underground gold. Mining has always been about weighing up the costs; the machinery, the worker's wages, and the price of processing the gold, against the benefits; the amount of money you got from selling the gold. If costs outweighed the benefits the mine would close. That's what happened here at Cowarra in the ACT and locals like Greg still remember it.
GREG HAYDEN: Yeah, well we had playmates and all of a sudden we didn't.
But Cowarra may not be a ghost town for that much longer. A company is considering opening a new mine here and there are similar things happening at a number of old gold fields across the country. So what's changed? We have way better technology these days which lets you get more gold out of the rock for less money. Then there's the price of gold. Like many precious metals it's bought and sold in financial markets. Gold's always been seen as a pretty solid investment, so when the economy's not so good people tend to buy more of it so it's worth more. Some people reckon China's also had a lot to do with gold prices going up. There are a lot of people there and they're spending more money now. All of this is good news for mining companies. Last year Australia became the world's second biggest gold producer. Companies are looking for new gold deposits and opening new mines. But not everyone's happy with the thought of old mines like this being re-explored. Some think they should be left alone, as a living museum to Australia's golden past.
Presenter: We might do a poll on that.
Poll
The question is: Do you think old mines should be re-opened or left as museums?
If you want to vote just go to our website.
Food Bowl
Reporter: Nathan Bazley
INTRO:Making sure we have enough food to feed everyone in the country is a pretty important thing; right up there with making sure we have enough water to drink!
But because we've got less and less water in some big food producing areas, it's leading to less tucker too!
It's got people thinking about the best place to grow all the food we'll need in the future.
NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: This is a bowl of food.
But this is a food bowl.
It's the agricultural land of the Murray Darling basin, a huge area that stretches through New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia; and all up accounts for 40 percent of the food we produce in this country.
But lately things have been getting drier and drier, and the food bowl of the Murray Darling Basin is looking decidedly empty.
NATHAN: A lot of people are now wondering where we could start growing the food we need to fill this bowl back up. Water is the big key, so the first place they looked to is the Northern Territory.
The top end is known for its monsoon season which can dump around 2m of rain a year on some places.
That's about 4 times the rainfall the basin gets.
That's huge, but this area still might not be the key to our food future.
A panel of experts toured around the whole area and decided that there was one big problem in growing more crops here.
While the north gets massive amounts of rain over a few months, the rest of the year it's pretty much bone dry.
That's not so bad for cattle and not bad for the few farmers that can keep lots of water in dams to use later, but overall the panel ruled NT not going to be the nation’s future food bowl. Building enough dams to keep water all year round is just not worth it.
So where to now? Well from there, people started looking way down south to Tasmania.
It might be the country's smallest state, but Tasmania is big on one thing - water!
This guy, who's done a report into farming the state, reckons the huge rainfall is the reason Tassie should be the next food bowl.
He says they may have only 1 percent of the landmass of Australia, but they have 12 percent of the rain!
And that makes Tasmania a pretty promising place to grow lots more food in the future!
At this stage Tassie only accounts for a small part of the food making it to plates both here and overseas, but some people have high hopes for its growing future.
They hope to excel at wine, dairy, fruits and vegies, meat and fish.
David Bartlett, Premier of Tasmania: We have started, or are soon to commence, 400million dollars worth of irrigation projects that will transform Tasmania into the foodbowl of the nation.
And while a lot has to be done, and a lot of money has to be spent, it might not be too long before we see this little island making up a huge part of that delicious bowl.
Presenter: Ok, I need something to take my mind off all that food. Let’s try a quiz.
Quiz 1
When did Australia win its first Gold Medal at the Winter Olympics?
2010
2006
2002
Answer: 2002
Presenter: Steven Bradbury grabbed it for speed skating and he won when everyone in front of him stacked it!
Alisa Camplin also won gold that year in the freestyle skiing aerials event.
Let's see what else is happening in sport.
The Score
Celebrations are continuing for Australia's newest gold medallist, Torah Bright, after her amazing win in the snowboarding on Friday.
The young star got a call from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to congratulate her for the win which is only the country's fourth gold in history.
She now plans to relax and focus on her up-coming wedding in June.
*********
Back home now and in the A league and two teams have been eliminated from the finals after penalty shootouts.
Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory ended up 1 all after time with the Phoenix prevailing in a shootout.
And in the other elimination match Newcastle Jets and Gold Coast United had a lot of chances but were forced to penalties after both remained scoreless.
Gold Coast faltered there leaving themselves and Perth out of the race to the title.
Wild Dogs
Reporter: Tash Thiele
INTRO: OK, there are lots of us who love dogs - the way they look, their nature and personality but they aren't so lovable when they escape into the wild.
They can breed with dingos and can end up killing livestock.
Tash looks at the new tricks scientists are using to try to stop them.
TASH THIELE, REPORTER: They can be cute, aggressive, fun and energetic and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: But that's not what we're talking about! Domestic dogs like this may seem tame, but when they escape into the wild and breed with dingos, things can change!
Here in south-western Queensland, farmers have got a problem with wild dogs. They can mix with native dingos and crossbreed.
The problem is the wild dog population is growing and spreading and it's got people worried.
Farmers aren't happy because they're losing millions of dollars when the dogs kill their livestock, like sheep and cattle. Some farmers are even giving up on breeding sheep because it's that bad!
Back in the 1800s, what is now called 'the dog fence' was put up in places like South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.
It was originally built to keep out rabbits, but that didn't work. The fence was better at keeping animals like pigs, kangaroos and emus away from farming properties and was eventually turned into a dog-proof fence around 1914.
The fence is pretty famous! It's the world's longest fence, stretching more than five and a half thousand kilometres! It worked for a bit, but lots of the dogs have broken through damaged sections of the fence.
Experts say two dogs can kill up to 60 sheep in a night, but they don't actually eat them!
The dogs are also really tough! They can travel long distances. Apparently one walked 600 k’s from Queensland into New South Wales in 30 days!
Locals and scientists are trying to catch the dogs by calling them in a special way.
This is Tony. He calls himself the Wild Dog Trapper.
TONY TOWNSEND, WILD DOG TRAPPER: The whole idea is to actually go out, in a sense, make a public announcement that you are another dog in their area, and get them to come over.
Scientists then put radio transmitters on them, so they know where they're going and learn more about how they behave. The experiment is a way of stopping them, before they do damage to animals!
The farmers are worried the wild dogs could eventually spread closer to towns and cities and cause more problems for other animals and even people.
But let's hope locals and scientists can control them, so farmers can keep breeding their livestock without dogs getting in their way and causing trouble!
Presenter: I think it's a good idea to keep well away from any dog you don't know.
OK time for a quiz.
Quiz 2
A velocipede is a kind of...
Speed detector
Bicycle
Dinosaur centipede
Answer: Bicycle
Presenter: A Velocipede is what the early bicycles and tricycles were sometimes called and it means 'fast foot'.
Uni-cycling
Reporter: Sarah Larsen
INTRO: And fast feet are what you'll need to ride another type a unicycle!
You've probably seen them in circuses and street performances, but have you seen them ridden as an extreme sport?!
Sarah got out on one wheel to see why this amazing new sport is taking off.
SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER:
A Velocipede is what the early bicycles and tricycles were sometimes called and it means 'fast foot' and fast feet are what you'll need to ride another type; a unicycle! You've probably seen them in circuses and street performances, but have you seen them ridden as an extreme sport? Sarah got out on one wheel to see why this amazing new sport is taking off.
They're masters of balance, speed and skill on the streets or off the track. What? Two wheels? Yeah right! I 'm talking about uni-cyclists, the people that make riding a bike look as easy as, well, riding a bike!
BRANDON:I guess it’s just a lot of fun and a challenge.
Brandon might be having fun but he's a seriously good unicyclist. In fact, for his age he's one of the world's best! and he's taught his older brother Tirryn a trick or two!
BRANDON: I first saw a kid down town riding and I always wanted to be a clown so I went to a bike shop and bought my first unicycle and started practicing
TIRRYN: Watching Brandon so kinda thought, yeah, I'll give that a go.
In the old days uni-cycling was pretty standard circus fare and while it’s still popular under the big top in the past few decades things have got a little more extreme.
TIRRYN: As a general rule people with a unicycle are like look there's the circus but there's also this extreme side of it - jumping down stairs doing tricks and spins and jumps and stuff