BtN: Episode 25 Transcripts 15/09/09
On this week's Behind the News:
· Is your shopping centre being taken over by giants?
· The kids being targeted by smoking companies.
· And the girl who won a dream ride to understand the centre of the earth.
Hi I'm Nathan Bazley welcome to Behind the News.
Also on the show today – meet the creatures behind the mermaid legends.
But first let’s bring you up to date with the latest news.
The Wire
Students across the country have helped launch a computer safety programme.
The aim is to warn kids of the dangers on-line - and coincides with national child protection week.
The program is a virtual ‘whodunnit’ where they have to save a friend from an online stranger .
STUDENT: We don't know - Well we've got to figure out who's trying to contact us on the phone cause we don't know who this 'Kel' guy is.
After ten minutes they were hooked.
STUDENT: We got a new one. If you don't understand a question just ask them and they'll help you out - ooh, we've got a new one... oop, sorry.
And the message is sinking in.
STUDENT: Don’t trust anyone. Don't trust anyone cause you might, you know, don't trust anyone that you just met on the computer, or things like that.
A new scenario involving cyber bullying may be launched next year.
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Last week we told you about kids wanting to sail solo around the world. This week there was a dramatic development to the story.
Jessica Watson the 16 year old Aussie we met had an accident just as she was sailing to Sydney to start her round the world attempt.
She had to return home to Mooloolaba after her yacht collided with a cargo ship.
She said she was below decks, and didn't see the 225 metre ship.
JESSICA: "I go it's all right. I'm ok. But I've just lost half my mast."
Jessica will have her boat repaired but will still try for the record.
Her parents had been criticised for allowing their daughter to undertake the journey.
Poll
Really highlights the dangers of the trip, doesn't it? Although by all reports she handled the situation pretty well.
To get your thoughts on it all, we'll make that our poll this week.
The question is “Should kids be allowed to sail solo around the world?"
If you want to vote, go to our website.
Poll Results
And we had a very interesting result to last week's vote.
The question was : 'Should junk food ads be banned in kids' TV?'
48 per cent said yes - 52 per cent said no!
Absolutely borderline there - and here are some of your reasons...
Connor: Food ads are so yum why should we ban them?
Petzza : I think it’s revolting.
Bailey : I think no ads should be on unless they are censored because we are now the world's fattest country.
Chriso: It doesn't matter what the ads tell the kids, it's all up to the parents.
Snurgen: I think they should ban it during kids' shows because kids get more influenced than adults.
Claire: I believe the real contributors to obesity are video games and watching too much TV. Why ban the ads?
Shannon: There should be ads just at night time when the children are in bed
Sharni: I reckon we should be allowed to watch food ads because it's our choice what we want to do.
Presenter: And there’s still time to have your say on our website.
Supermarket Giants
Reporter: Catherine Ellis
INTRO: OK it's time for our first feature.
Think about all the food your family eats - does it come from a supermarket? If so, which one?
If you go around your classroom, you would most likely not hear too many different answers.
That's because there's a couple of giants out there that some people think are a bit too hungry!
Here's Catherine to explain.
CATHERINE ELLIS, REPORTER: It's hard to believe that not all that long ago supermarkets didn't exist!
There were individually owned little grocery stores where customers read out what they wanted, while assistants fetched each item, measured it out and packaged it up.
It was only about 80 years ago that the first supermarkets were born. Retailers realised that by selling in bulk, they could cut their prices and customers would come running!
But gradually over the years, as the little guys couldn't compete anymore, they got knocked out of the market and the big guys continued to grow.
Now the giants don't just own supermarkets.
They've bought up all sorts of stuff; including petrol stations, liquor stores, hotels and gaming businesses, insurance, electronics and department stores!
When it comes to liquor stores they own almost half the market!
Same goes for petrol.
As for Hotels and Gaming, Woolworths is the biggest operator in Australia.
Did you know Woolworths own Big W and the Coles people own Target and Kmart, and together they control more than 60 per cent of the department store market!
Guess who owns Bunnings? The Coles people do!
And now Woolworths wants to buy into the Hardware and Home Improvement markets too. It's a huge industry worth $36 billion dollars!
They're looking to buy up stores and locations across the country and it's got a lot of people worried.
Some people say small operators will be squeezed out.
And that's a worry because the less competition there is the more power the big guys have to raise prices.
But the big businesses disagree.
They say it allows them to sell stuff cheaper - so shoppers benefit.
There is a government group in charge of all this.
It's called the A-triple-C, which stands for Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. It's there to make stuff fair for customers and business.
They have to do lots of research before they give permission to companies like Woolworths to enter a new market, but with Woolworths latest push into the Hardware and Home Improvement industry - some people say the ACCC is not being tough enough.
And they're calling for it to do more to stop the giants taking over.
There's a lot of debate about whether shoppers have benefited from cheaper prices or not.
But there's no debating the fact that the independently owned and local stores are fast becoming a thing of the past.
Presenter: OK, next we’re going to talk about another big debate – smoking. But we’ll start off with a quiz.
Quiz 1
When was tobacco advertising banned at all Australian sporting events?
1. 1996
2. 2001
3. 2006
Answer: 2006
Smoking Danger
Reporter: Nathan Bazley
INTRO: Yep, really not that long ago!
In Australia now, you'd have to say the dangers of smoking are well known and there are pretty tight restrictions on how cigarettes are marketed.
But not everywhere in the world is like here. In Indonesia, there are very few rules, and the rules that are there are pretty much ignored. It's led to many kids taking up the habit, so we thought we'd have a closer look at the problem.
NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: It's Saturday night and for the young people of Jakarta, Indonesia, that means party time.
This is a big music festival, but you'll notice signs for something called 'LA Lights' everywhere.
And I mean everywhere!
That's a brand of cigarettes in Indonesia and tonight they are being pushed on kids as they enjoy the show.
Free lighters and smokes are handed out all night. The cost of the event itself was even covered by the brand.
In fact, in this town, it's hard to find a concert or sporting event NOT sponsored by tobacco companies.
It's all trying to convince the kids of Indonesia that smoking is cool. But far from that image, Indonesia is now finding itself dying in a cloud of smoke.
Indonesia is a country just to the north of Australia. But while the two countries are very close, their rules on smoking are miles apart.
NATHAN: Here we are very strict. People can't smoke inside most public places, cigarette advertising is banned, it's against the law to buy smokes under 18 and tobacco is taxed heavily to make smoking expensive. We also have huge education campaigns warning of the health risks.
But the story in Indonesia couldn't be more different.
There are essentially no restrictions on where and when you can light up.
And anyone can buy and smoke cigarettes, even kids your age!
Very few people here know about the dangers of smoking either.
Most have just never been told about it.
To make matters worse the habit is very affordable because of the low taxes on cigarettes.
In Australia a pack usually costs over ten bucks. In Indonesia they can be less than a dollar.
All of these factors add up to one huge problem.
But while it's easy to point the finger at Indonesia, you might not realise that Australia was much the same 'til around thirty-five years ago.
In those days cigarette advertising was everywhere and you could smoke pretty much anywhere.
Since then the government and health groups have worked hard to cut advertising, educate people and limit where you can light up.
Indonesia is still a long way from that.
Hundreds of billions of cigarettes are sold there each year.
More and more young people are buying them and getting hooked, which is a goldmine for tobacco companies.
But there is a terrible downside to all this cash - and it can be seen in Indonesia's hospitals.
400,000 people will die from smoking related illnesses within a year.
It's a scary number, but one Indonesia seems to be ignoring for now.
And they aren't the only country taking that approach.
But others, including Australia, are fully aware of the deadly realities of this habit and are trying to stop people smoking anyway they can.
Because they know it's only a matter of time until the true costs really hit home.
Kid Geologist
Reporter: Sarah Larsen
INTRO: Have you ever wanted to fly in a helicopter or get inside a submarine?
Well some lucky kids have done just that. It's all part of an idea to show kids that their hobbies can lead to amazing careers in science.
But not enough kids are thinking about those jobs, and as Sarah discovered, there's a lot more to it than lab coats and test tubes.
SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: How's this for work experience? Emma's in year 9, and she won a competition giving kids a chance to experience the best of their favourite science subject so she's being flown around in a chopper, checking out mountains, mines, coastlines and more! Her guide is Greg Swain: Exploration Geologist.
GREG: I always liked exploring around the rocks and looking around the caves. I always had a keen sense of adventure.
Greg's part of a program designed to show kids just how diverse and exciting jobs in science can be.
GREG: I found geology answered some of the questions I had about how the world is.
REPORTER: You see, while some kids love maths and science, others don't! There aren't enough kids studying it and that's a real problem because there are thousands of very cool jobs out there in need of young scientific minds.
The South Australian Government set out to show kids there's more to it than numbers and lab coats. It recruited everyone from video game designers to Antarctic explorers to give kids a day of ultimate work experience in their favourite scientific fields.
EMMA: Well first I heard of it in the school bulletin and I thought it sounded interesting and you only live once so I though why not and because it had something to do with geology I was interested in it and I wanted to find out more and learn more.
GREG: Geology is basically studying how the earth works - how the earth formed.
Under our feet there's a lot more going on that you might think.
GREG: At the moment we're standing on a thin layer of crust, like an orange peel on the outside of an orange so we've got a really thin layer which is solid and everything else is liquid.
REPORTER: You might wonder what a helicopter has to do with geology - well sometimes the best way to see what going on under the ground is from the sky.
Geos take to the sky with special equipment that can measure variations in things like gravity and magnetism. What they're looking for are valuable deposits of stuff gold and copper.
REPORTER: It’s all a bit like a detective story. They look at clues like the shape of the hills, patterns in the rock and even stones on the ground to figure out what precious minerals might be nearby.
This is the sort of stuff that got Emma hooked on Geology
EMMA: It's not just rocks and everything - although that's the main part of it - it's just how everything is and the world.
Getting her hands dirty has made Emma even more interested in science. And she reckons if more kids realised what was out there, they'd be more willing to give it a go.
Presenter: Pretty good perk of the job – and just another reason to get into the sciences! Still on a geological theme, time for another quiz.
Quiz 2
Which one of these metals is the most valuable?
1. Gold
2. Platinum
3. Silver
The answer is – Platinum.
At the moment Platinum costs around one third more than gold and about 80 times more than silver. Better get myself a shovel.
Dugongs
Reporter: Catherine Ellis
INTRO: We've all seen the movie or heard about mermaids. Now of course they don't exist - but where on earth did the idea come from?