BTN Classroom Episode 13, 2022

BTN Transcript: Episode 13 - 17/5/2022

Hey. I'm Amelia Moseley and you're watching BTN. Thanks for hanging out with us, let's see what's coming up in today's show. We're going to take a trip to the seventh planet, find out about the origins of the democracy sausage and meet some kids who are learning to save lives.

Opinion Polls

Reporter: Jack Evans

INTRO: But first, to the election. Hopefully by Sunday we'll know who the next PM is going to be, and, in the meantime, you'll probably hear a lot of people guessing who it's going to be by looking at opinion polls. Jack had a look at what they are and how good they are at predicting the political future.

JACK: Who will win the election?

When it comes to predicting an election, there are a number of ways you can go about it.

JACK: Labor? It's Liberal. It's, ah, uncertain.

But if you want to be a little more scientific about it, you could go for opinion polls. Yep, you've probably heard the term being thrown around quite a bit recently.

JACK: Opinion polls help paint a picture of what people are thinking by asking people what they're thinking. I mean it's all pretty obvious, isn't it?

It is a little more complicated than that. Asking every single registered voter how they are planning to vote would be, well, difficult. And that's where statistics comes in. If you were to get a big enough group of randomly chosen people and ask them for, well, their opinion, you'd start to get an idea of what the whole population thinks.

JACK: Imagine the population is like this stew that I just so happen to be making. A random sample is a bit like a spoonful. It'll give you an idea of how the whole thing is going to taste. Of course, if the sample is too small all you get is carrot. But if you use a big enough spoonful, you'll get a nice collection of all the tasty ingredients. Ooh, it needs more pepper.

So, how do you scoop up a random sample of people? Well, in the old days it was done face-to-face. But as technology evolved polling companies started using phones. That was actually a pretty good way of getting a truly random sample because you don't really know who's on the other end of the line and area codes meant you could choose a sample from a certain electorate or for bigger surveys, make sure your sample came from across the country. These days they're continued to be done via phone calls and also through online surveys.

But today's tech has thrown up some problems for pollsters and some experts reckon it's getting harder to get a proper random sample. You see, unlike landlines, you can't tell where someone lives from their mobile number so you can't make sure you're reaching people in different areas. And unlike old days, mobile phones let you know who's calling and many people don't like answering calls from people they don't know. Then there are online polls which tend to only be filled out by people who, well, like filling out online polls. So, you can start to see how a lot of opinions are being missed. The polling companies are using some clever statistical tricks to try to get around those problems, like weighting, which looks at who's answered a poll and adjusts the results if it looks like the sample isn't representative enough.

Still, not everyone has a high opinion of opinion polls. In fact, during the last election in 2019 the majority of opinion polls predicted that Labor would win easy. But that didn't happen. While some reckon opinion polls still have a really important role to play, others reckon maybe we shouldn't be relying on them to give us all the answers.

JACK: Well, I guess I could just wait until the election actually happens to find out who wins. Or I could build a time machine.

Election Lingo - Democracy Sausage

Rookie Reporter: Devon

When it comes to election day, there's a lot of talk about these tasty tubes of meat. But what does a sausage in a slice of white bread have to do with voting? Well, it's thought to have begun in the 1940s. During World War Two, butchers stuffed all the not-so-pretty bits of meat into sausages to avoid waste. While they weren't fancy, they were cheap and tasty, which made them a great option for fundraising. And where better way to fundraise than at the polling booth?

Australia's one of the few countries with compulsory voting. Which means nearly everyone turns up to have their say at schools, halls or churches. And so, the first election sausage sizzle was held. Over the years you'd spot leaders behind the barbie or chowing one down. There were even some sizzling scandals. From controversial eating styles. To accusations of sausage bribery. Turns out it takes a lot more than a free snag to snag votes.

In the 2016 Federal Election, the humble sausage truly became an Aussie hero. Hashtag democracy sausage. Australians on social media helped spread this hashtag around the world. And it became the Australian National Dictionary's word or phrase of the year. Now whether you're a meat eater, vegetarian or vegan there's a sausage for pretty much everyone. And no matter who Aussies vote for; most agree it wouldn't be a democratic election without the democracy sausage. Now who wants onions? Sauce?

News Quiz

This is Natasha Fyles, the new leader of which state or territory? She's the new leader of the Northern Territory. She was chosen by her party for the top job after former Chief Minister Michael Gunner made the surprise decision to resign so he could spend more time with his family.

Do you know the name of the famous Australian portrait competition that this painting won last week? The Bald Archie Prize, the Archibald Prize or the Archie Bell Prize? It's the Archibald Prize. Blak Douglas is the second Indigenous artist to take out the prize thanks to his portrait of Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickins.

And do you know which country won Eurovision? Was it Ukraine, Italy or Australia? It was Ukraine. Kalush Orchestra's song "Stephania" whomped it in, scoring the biggest public vote in the history of the song competition.

New Philippines President

Reporter: Amal Wehbe

INTRO: Australia isn't the only country that's been in election mode. The Philippines has just chosen its new leader, a man named Ferdinand Marcos Junior. That's a really familiar name to a lot of people in the Philippines and around the world and Amal found out why.

It's fair to say that people in the Philippines can get pretty passionate about politics. Meanwhile in Australia.

REPORTER: Do you know who these 2 people are?

PERSON 1: No.

PERSON 2: That's Scomo and I don't know him.

Hm, yeah, it's a bit different in Australia isn't it. But, back to the Philippines. They've just elected a man named Ferdinand Marcos Junior, affectionately known as Bongbong. But Marcos is a name that has a long and controversial history in the Philippines. Back in 1965, Bongbong's dad Ferdinand Marcos Senior was elected President. He and his beauty queen wife Imelda Marcos were very popular. At first the economy boomed as they poured money into new roads and public buildings. While Imelda charmed world leaders and ordinary Filipinos. The couple also spent a lot of money on themselves. We're talking palaces, summer palaces, and this. Imelda in particular had a reputation for loving luxury. She spent millions and millions on jewels, expensive clothes, designer bags, and most famously 3 thousand pairs of designer shoes.

BILL BIRTLES, JOURNALIST: They were just absolutely minted in terms of the amount of wealth they had, which is not what you're supposed to be when you're the president of a country.

So where did that money come? Well, basically, they stole it. They used tax money and money meant for development projects. Marcos was also brutal to people who opposed him. In 1972 he imposed martial law on the Philippines.

REPORTER: Elections have been cancelled, criticisms of his actions and his regime have been outlawed, his political opponents have been jailed.

BILL BIRTLES, JOURNALIST: By the mid-1980s, there was growing opposition to this regime because the Marcos presidency didn't make the Philippines richer. It's one of the poorest countries in South East Asia. By the mid-80s it was in economic decay, millions and millions of people in poverty. And yet Marcos and his wife Imelda and their extended family were living it up.

In 1986 there was a revolution, and the Marcos family were driven out of power and out of the country. Ferdinand Marcos Senior died 2 years later, but his family still had influence in the Philippines.

BILL BIRTLES, JOURNALIST: The Marcos family has always had its loyalists. Even when they got kicked out in the mid-1980s, it's not like everybody in the Philippines agreed that they needed to be overthrown.

Bill's been in the Philippines covering the election and he says there are lots of reasons why people voted for the son of a dictator. Some still have good memories of life under Marcos Senior, and others are willing to overlook the family's reputation.

AMAL: And there's another thing that experts say had a big influence on Bongbong's success, this.

Bill says that the Marcos team have used social media to pretty much rewrite history, and paint life under the Marcos' as pretty good.

BILL BIRTLES, JOURNALIST: It's used social media very very effectively to promote these ideas that actually the first Marcos presidency was a golden age.

And in a country where a lot of people use social media to get their news, it's had a huge effect. So, what does this mean for the Philippines? Well, some people are worried that history might repeat itself, and they say it's not a good sign for democracy. As for Bongbong he says people shouldn't judge him based on his family's history but on what he does for the Philippines, and it's future.

Uranus Mission

Reporter: Jack Evans

INTRO: Okay, let's get away from politics now, in fact, let's get away from the Earth altogether and explore Uranus. The seventh planet in our solar system is one of the most mysterious because we've never managed to send a probe there, but now scientists want to change that. Here's Jack.

ALIEN 1: Citizens of Uranus, I have some very exciting news.

ALIEN 3: Oh, are they finally going to change our planet's name?

ALIEN 1: What? There's nothing wrong with the name of our planet.

ALIEN 3: Oh, c'mon we're the butt of every joke.

ALIEN 2: Literally.

ALIEN 1: Would you two stop being so immature. What I was going to say, is that the people of planet Earth are planning some sort of visit to us.

ALIEN 2: Oh, well that is actually pretty exciting news.

ALIEN 1: Yes, I know. Now I want everything perfect for their arrival alright. So, get the welcome banner ready. Yeah?

That's right, we citizens of Earth, or rather a bunch of scientists in the US, are strongly urging NASA to send a mission to Uranus. They say for too long now the distant planet has been ignored. In fact, the only time we've gotten close to it was when a space probe, Voyager 2, did a fly by back in 1986. So, some reckon it's about time we sent another probe to Uranus to find out a bit more a butt it. About it. Sorry, about it.

In the meantime, here's everything we do know. Let's start with its discovery. Unlike the closer planets, which you can see by just looking up, Uranus wasn't discovered until telescopes had been invented. It was first spotted 241 years ago by the English astronomer and composer, William Herschel. Although at first, he thought it was a comet or a star. Mr Herschel actually wanted to call the planet Georgian Sidius, or George's Star, after King George the Third. About 70 years later astronomers eventually settled on Uranus, after the Greek God of the Sky. Although some prefer the pronunciation Uranus for, well, obvious reasons.

Since then, we've managed to figure out a few things about our distant neighbour. Like the fact that Uranus is one of two ice giants in our solar system. It's about 4 times bigger than Earth and has a small rocky core surrounded by hot dense fluids of icy materials such as methane, water and ammonia. And apparently, it's quite smelly.

ALIEN 2: Yeah, Uranus is full of stinky gas. It's not a joke, It's just a fact.

That's because the atmosphere is thought to be made up of mostly hydrogen sulphide, which is the molecule that makes rotten eggs stinky.

ALIEN 2: See, I told you.

There is also some methane in the atmosphere which is why Uranus appears blue. There are some other cool things that we know about Uranus. Like there are 27 moons orbiting it; it has 13 rings; a day on Uranus is about 17 hours and 14 minutes and it takes 84 Earth years to rotate around the sun. As for getting there it would be nearly impossible for a spacecraft to land on the surface because it's mostly just swirling fluids. Add that to the extreme pressures and temperatures from the atmosphere and it's really no place for life to exist, soz guys.

ALIEN: Wait, what?

Which is why NASA is looking into sending a probe to study more of Uranus. Although being about 3 billion kilometres away from Earth it could take another 15 years before we actually get there.

ALIEN 2: 15 years.

ALIEN 3: Well, that's ages away. Ugh.

Quiz

How much would you weigh on Uranus? More, less or the same? You'd weigh less. Even though Uranus is bigger than Earth, it's less dense so it only has 89 percent of Earth's gravitational pull.

St John Cadets

Reporter: Michelle Wakim

INTRO: This week is National Volunteer Week, which celebrates all of the work done by volunteers of all ages in all different areas, all across Australia. Michelle went to meet with some young volunteers who spend their free time learning how to save lives. Check it out.

If you found yourself in an emergency with someone needing your help, would you know what to do? Well, these guys would.

INDIA: We are St John's Cadets, and tonight we're practising CPR and defibrillation.

These cadets are at their weekly training session, where they learn new skills and earn badges in different areas of first aid.

BELLE: Like a sprained ankle, or a snake bite and things like that.

OLIVIA: It was really interesting doing the Emergency Management Badge, particularly at the start of the pandemic when we're learning about managing big medical events.

St John is a charity that has been in Australia for more than 130 years, providing ambulances and first aid all around the country. And, like many important organisations in Australia, they rely mainly on volunteers. Almost one-third of Australians volunteer with organisations that do really important work in all sorts of areas. There's about 6 million people doing jobs that we rely on, for free. It's thought all that work is worth about 17 billion dollars a year to the Aussie economy, that's a lot. And that doesn't even count the unofficial volunteer work people do, whether it's cleaning up the beach, caring for a loved one, or brightening a stranger's day.

OLIVIA: It's really rewarding when someone comes to you for help and you're able to give them that help and they're able to go away and feel better.

When these guys are 16, they'll be able to use all the skills they've learnt to volunteer as first aid officers at festivals and other events.

OLIVIA: I used to go to the show and that was really an interesting way of getting experience in the community and helping people out.

And they say they've already put some of the skills they've learnt into practice.

INDIA: My brother fell off his skateboard and no one was home. It was just me and my brother, and he came home, and he was bleeding. He's like, 'Help me, like, you're a cadet'. And I was like, 'Okay.' I bandaged him up, like did the job.

LACHLAN: My friend kneeled in broken glass.

RHIANNA: I've helped aid CPR, which was terrifying.

MICHELLE: I'm all gloved up.

This is all stuff that a lot of adults don't know how to do.

CADET: We're just checking for response now, 'can you hear me?'

I, for one am pretty impressed. While it's hard work, these guys say that being a cadet is really rewarding.

BELLE: It kind of gives me a lot more confidence.

INDIA: It really sets you up well for the future, that you can basically take these skills into any pathway.

LACHLAN: Everything that we do is for everyone's good. So, I feel like as a cadet, it's just really good to know that I can strive for my best and everyone else will do as well.

And whether it's saving lives, putting out fires, or any of the many, many jobs that volunteers do, they say there's a lot to be gained by giving back.

RHIANNA: I'm proud to be part of an organisation who's only giving. You're giving skills to other people without anything in return. You're learning how to help society with, again, nothing in return.

LACHLAN: It benefits everyone really, including yourself. So why not give it a go?

Sport

Cricket fans, friends and teammates have all paid tribute to Andrew Symonds. The 46-year-old former Aussie all-rounder died in a car accident on Saturday near Townsville. Symonds played 26 tests for Australia
and 198 one dayers, including helping to win 2 World Cups.

Novak Djokovic has won the Italian Open beating Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas. This is Djokovic's first title in more than six months. But it means he'll head into the French Open as top seed.

Sam Kerr has done it again, scoring not one but two goals at Wembley helping Chelsea take home the Women's FA Cup trophy. Over in the Men's, Liverpool just keep winning. They won the Men's FA Cup, beating Chelsea 6 to 5 in penalties. It's the first time in 16 years they've won the trophy.

Hold tight because you're looking at the first Electric Scooter Championship. 30 riders battled it out in the streets of London over a 470 metre course reaching speeds of up to 100 kays per hour.

Logan's Fire Knife Dancing

Rookie Reporter: Logan

INTRO: Finally, today, we're going to meet another young Melburnian who's told their story as part of the Take Over Melbourne competition. Logan wanted to share how he reconnected with his Samoan culture by learning fire knife dancing. Check it out.

Over a thousand years ago my Samoan ancestors would come back from war and recreate battles for the village. They would spin, throw, and catch their Nifo Oti war clubs. Time passed, fire was added to the blaze, and it became Siva Afi, the fire dance.

I was born in Melbourne but lived on the beautiful islands of Samoa when I was younger. I loved it there. Going to the beach, spending time with family and eating delicious Samoan food. But when we moved back to Melbourne, I found it really hard to adjust. I began losing my Samoan language, eating junk food and just gaming way too much. I felt disconnected, like something was missing. And I didn't know who I was.

To help, mum took me to Samoan school, and I signed up for Siva. That workshop changed my life. I started training daily in the backyard. I saved up my pocket money and with mum's blessing bought myself some proper fire knife sticks.

LOGAN: So, this is the Nifo Oti, in English, Nifo means tooth, and Oti means death. The tooth of death.

I'm the only performer at events and celebrations but teach students around the world with my online workshops. Today I'm teaching students from Hawaii. I want this knowledge to be available to all Samoans and anyone wanting to build their confidence, discipline, and feel a connection to the Samoan culture. Siva Afi has enabled me to be confident in my identity as a Samoan-Australian. I no longer wonder who I am. And I hope I can help people be proud of who they are.

Closer

Great stuff Logan. Well, that's it for today's show. I hope enjoyed it, and hey maybe even learned something. We'll be back with more next week and in the meantime, you can jump on our website to see more stories and quizzes and don't forget to tell your teachers about our resources. And, as usual, Newsbreak will be right here in the studio every weeknight to keep you up to date, so check that out. Have a good one and I'll see you soon.