BtN: Episode 32 Transcript 12/11/13
On this week's show
 I investigate the mystery of the lost votes hiding somewhere in Western
Australia
 Paul and I have collected a truck load of food and find out where it's all going
later.
 And I check out the ancient art form of mime. That's if I can get out of this
box.
Hi, how's it going, I'm Nathan. We'll get to all those stories and more, later on the
show today.
But first the Philippines has been hit by one of the most powerful storms ever
recorded. Here's the latest.
The Wire
Can you imagine 80 percent of your neighbourhood destroyed in just hours? That's
exactly what’s happened in some areas of the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan
struck over the weekend. It was billed as one of the worst storms of the century.
It ripped through the Philippines before moving on toward Vietnam. During the
worst of it 315km an hour winds tore apart buildings making debris into deadly
weapons as it flew through the air.
People sheltered anywhere they could even on rooftops. While on the coast huge
waves crashed into homes leaving very little behind.
Many thousands of people are feared dead. And many more still have been injured.
But luckily evacuations saved countless lives including many kids.
Now those families are returning to what's left of their homes. But the first concern
for most is the basics of life like food and drinking water. Both are in short supply. So
the Australian Government is just one of the countries in the area pledging money to
help.
But with such widespread destruction. The cleanup is going to be slow and incredibly
painful.
PRESENTER: It's a terrible situation. You can send your messages of support by
using the behind the news hashtag and we'll put them on our website. And thanks to
those of you last week who got involved with the Remembrance Day conversation
after we ran our story.
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Spying Game
Reporter: Nathan Bazley
INTRO: Onto other news now there are claims that Australia has been spying on
Indonesia. As you can imagine the Indonesians aren't too happy about it. So let's
take a look at what that means for our friendship with our neighbours.
TITLE: What's the most important thing you look for in a best friend?
KID: I think humour is the best, because you wouldn't want a dull person to be your
best friend.
KID: Maybe having some things in common and some things not.
KID: Maybe trust, athleticism. Well that depends on the friend.
There is a lot to think about when choosing a BFF. So imagine what it's like when you
have to speak for a whole country. Just over a month ago, the leader of Australia and
the leader of Indonesia did just that. They declared their two countries pretty much
besties.
TONY ABBOTT, PRIME MINISTER: Bapak President, the best days of this
relationship are ahead of us and they will be better days thanks to your friendship for
Australia.
SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO, INDONESIAN PRESIDENT: Mr Abbott's visit
shows relations are very close and very good between Indonesia and Australia.
That was the good times. But now, things have changed dramatically. And all because
something that can ruin the best friendship - spying. Yes, everything went pearshaped after claims surfaced that Australia is spying on its largest neighbour and
apparent friend. Australia hasn't confirmed it yet, but Indonesia say they believe it's
true. And just like your BFF at school, if there's no trust, where does that leave you?
KID: But if it was very personal I'd be very upset.
KID: If they keep doing it for a long time you wouldn't trust them anymore.
KID: If it was something with a person you wouldn't really want to be their friends
kinda.
Not surprisingly, Indonesia isn't happy either. So why would Australia want to spy on
its friends and risk losing that trust? Well in the world of spying, rule 1 is that pretty
much everyone does it. Finding out what other nations are up to and what they're
planning can help identify threats, improve trade, or negotiate better deals. So it's
incredibly common, even among nations that are friends.
Not long ago, America was caught out spying on the phones of 35 world leaders,
many of which are their close friends too. Germany found out about it and was far
from impressed.
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ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: Such an alliance can only be built on
the basis of trust. I repeat that spying among friends is not at all acceptable for
anyone.
Which brings us to the second rule of spying. Everyone does it, but whatever you do,
don't get caught. Now that Australia seems to have broken that rule, Indonesia says
it's striking back. It's threatening to stop passing info about people smugglers onto
Australia and has also refused to take back some asylum seekers found in its waters.
Australia may have gained some info through spying, but in the process, might have
lost out on other vital info from a friend. So in the end, is it okay to spy on countries
that are friends or not?
KID: You shouldn't actually spy on a country because they might have secret
business about the whole country and not for other countries to know.
KID: I just don't think you can trust a person if you've found them spying on you.
KID: If I was the leader of another country and they were doing that to me, I
wouldn't tolerate it.
Online Poll
Let's open that up to a vote.
Here's the poll question:
Should Australia spy on other countries?
Jump on the website let us know.
Last week we asked you if big crocodiles should be moved from their natural
environment.
22% said yes
78% no.
Lost Votes
Reporter: Sarah Larsen
INTRO: During the election we heard a lot about how important our votes were. So
how would you feel if your vote went missing? Well that's what happened in
Western Australia and as Sarah reports some are worried that it might have
changed the result of the election.
KID: Somewhere in Western Australia a great mystery lies waiting to be uncovered.
Hidden perhaps in plain sight. If it is not found there could be dire and expensive
consequences.
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My name is Nicholas Gage and I'm a professional treasure hunter.
SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: In Western Australia a real-life mystery has been
playing out and it could have serious consequences. It started with the election in
September.
When the state's senate votes were added up the result was really really close. So the
Electoral Commission decided to do a recount, just to make sure. On the second
count the result was different. Two candidates who looked to be getting a seat missed
out and two new ones got a spot. Except, not all the votes got counted. Somehow,
somewhere, nearly 1,400 ballot papers went missing.
KID: How could this happen?
KID: The past is filled with many mysteries.
It is pretty unusual. In Australia votes are treated like treasures. The people in charge
go to a lot of effort to keep them safe. Before they're used ballot boxes are checked
and sealed. They're visible at all times and they're guarded by a polling official.
Volunteers from different political parties watch over the counting to make sure
nothing goes wrong. So losing any votes, even a relatively small number is really
serious.
KID: Do you think someone hid them deliberately?
KID: You mean, sabotage?
While they're investigating the case, the Government says it was probably just an
honest mistake. But not everyone agrees. This guy is the leader of one of the parties
who won a seat in the first count, then lost in on the second. He was furious and said
the election was no longer fair.
KID: We have to find those votes.
KID: No, it's too late. Even if we found them, the election winners have already been
announced. The law says it's official.
KID: No. It's not democratic.
There is one institution with the power to change the election result - the High Court
of Australia. And that's where the losing parties, and the Electoral Commission itself,
say they'll probably take the case. The judges will have to decide whether or not the
missing votes actually made a difference. And if they did, Western Australia may
have to have a whole new senate election. That would be really unusual and really
expensive.
Some people reckon it's a sign that Australia needs to change the way it votes. Most
people here use pencils and paper to make their choice but it's not the only option. In
some countries all the voting is done electronically. Computers can add up the scores
and with no paper there's less chance of human error. But it's not perfect.
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Some say storing votes on computers leaves them open to cyber criminals who could
mess with results or break software. And with no paper it's harder to double check
when things go wrong. While some think we could make e-voting secure others
reckon the old fashioned way is still the best.
KID: The votes must be out there somewhere. One day we'll find them.
OzHarvest
Reporter: Nathan Bazley
INTRO: Imagine how much food 8 billion dollars would buy. Now, imagine all that
food in the dump. That's how much families like yours and mine throw out each
year. It's crazy. There is one group trying fix that though and I went to meet them.
NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: This big yellow truck is my ride for today.
I'm riding shotgun with Paul, as he goes about his normal delivery and pickup run for
OzHarvest. I'm here to find out how this organisation claims to fix two issues at once
- food wastage and poverty.
NATHAN: Say hello Paul.
PAUL: Hello everybody, hi.
NATHAN: We're going on our way to our first stop this morning, which is where
Paul?
PAUL: It's Four Seasons, which is a fruit and vege distributor, which provides us with
a lot of fruit and vege on a daily basis.
Once we arrived, I asked the manager here why he gives OzHarvest perfectly good
fruit and vege for free.
STEVE: The problem today is that a lot of fruit and vege that comes to us has a small
blemish on it. And the customer doesn't want it. But it's still very good. And very
good to eat.
Yep, this is all perfectly good food would usually go to waste.
STEVE: I think we've donated something like 12,000 kgs of fruit and vege. It gives us
a good feeling as well.
NATHAN: It looks lovely, we've got some rocket, some apples, some bread, some
potatoes, some zucchini, some nectarines, rockmelon, alfalfa, fantastic.
PAUL: Every lovely healthy food.
Meanwhile, I think Paul's starting to like having me around.
PAUL: You'll have to come out with me more often.
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Next up, we have some food drop off. But before that, I wanted to ask Paul why he
enjoys volunteering with OzHarvest.
PAUL: I have had people come up to me in the street and say I wouldn't eat without
you people, when I'm walking down the city street. These have been people that have
been street people and they've known we've delivered to certain charities and they
know that that food was provided by us. And that makes you feel really terrific. It
really makes you feel good.
NATHAN: What have you learnt about food wastage since you've been working here?
PAUL: I never realised the amount of food that was wasted. I just had no idea.
Well neither do most people Paul, so here are the stats. Each year, the average home
throws away more than $1,000 dollars worth of food. And at school, 24% of kids
lunches end up in the bin. Add it all that up and across Australia, homes ditch 7.8
billion dollars worth of food. That's about 4 million tonnes.
But not if OzHarvest have anything to do with it. Their mission is to grab as much of
that waste as they can from businesses and send it to places like this. Here at the
Women's Community Centre, meals are made for those in need. And some of the
ingredients come from OzHarvest's deliveries. For our final stop today, Paul and I
headed for the Adelaide Convention Centre. Because you can't have dinner, without
dessert.
PAUL: This is the kinda stuff we get.
NATHAN: Ahh this looks really tasty.
PAUL: Oh it's absolutely fantastic.
Two trays of pastries and sweet treats for us to pack away before we get too hungry.
And that was me done for the day.
NATHAN: Very good. So that's where I finish up Paul, you're going on to some more
deliveries now aren't you?
PAUL: Yes I'm going north and going to 4 or 5 charities up north to distribute the
load we've just collected.
NATHAN: Thanks so much for having me today, it was really interesting.
PAUL: And thanks so much for giving us the opportunity to show us what we do.
Quiz 1
They're doing a great job. Time for a quiz.
Which type of food do we waste the most?
Fresh food
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Takeaways
Leftovers
Answer: Fresh Food.
A third of all food we chuck a way is fresh.
Fair Games
Reporter: Natasha Thiele
INTRO: All sports have rules to make competition fair. And in the Paralympics
there are even more rules to make sure people with similar disabilities match up
against each other. But as Tash reports a group of scientists are coming up with
new ways to test disability with the aim of making the Paralympics fairer.
NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: This race made headlines at last year's London
Paralympics. People questioned how a couple of guys with two prosthetic legs were
allowed to race athletes with just one and beat them by a huge distance. Although
they were playing by the rules, some say their two blades gave them an unfair
advantage. And the question of fairness has come up in other Paralympics sports too.
So how do they decide who competes against who?
At the moment athletes are tested a bit like this. Here Jarrod is doing a jump test and
Emma is doing a strength test.
DR SEAN TWEEDY, CLASSIFICATION RESEARCHER: I'm going to start pulling
hold it hold it Emma keep holding okay and relax and I can feel from that its normal
resistance and I'd give a muscle grade then from between zero and five.
Athletes are then put into a class with people with a similar level of disability. But
while these tests are pretty good, it's a complicated process and it involves a bit of
guess work.
JARROD LARKINS-LAW, PARAROOS PLAYER: The grey area is definitely there,
you know when you go over and play other countries and you know other players you
see them, you kind of wonder what classification they are and some of the countries
you just don't have a clue.
Sean and his team are trying to make that grey area a little clearer. They're
developing new ways to test athletes measuring stuff like movement, co-ordination
and strength and recording it all into a giant database. Here Rebecca is measuring
Jared's foot co-ordination. She's getting him to do a tap test on a sensored pad.
This is Guillaume. He has cerebral palsy. They're testing how far he can flex his legs.
Outside on the track, they're testing the sprinting power of a young soccer player.
Jarrod has to run 60 metres with string attached to his body. The device records
every millimetre, which Sean puts into the system to work out Jarrod's speed.
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JARROD LARKINS-LAW: It's a fair thing. So I was an eight which is the least
affected and now I'm a seven which means I'm a little bit more affected so it's cool
that they're putting their time into this to change the studies to make sure that the
grey area is as little as possible.
When the new system is ready to be rolled out, all Paralympic athletes would need to
be tested and all countries would need the right technology and equipment to do
that. So that could still be several years away from happening. But for now these guys
are happy that they're on the right track to making competition fairer.
Quiz 2
Let's have a quick quiz.
How many different sports were played at the 2012 Paralympics?
20
30
40
Answer: 20
They include some sports that aren't played at the Olympics, like Boccia.
Let's get a wrap up now of the best sports action from the week.
The Score
It's not often the third place getter of a race celebrates as he crosses the line. But for
20-year old rookie Marc Marquez third in the final Moto GP race of the season gave
him enough points to take the world championship.
He's the youngest guy ever to win it.
******
The Wallabies have notched up a European tour victory beating Italy 50 to 20. The
result made everyone feel better about their last loss to England. But don't read too
much into it.
Out of 16 attempts, Italy have never beaten the wallabies before anyway.
******
And finally. You know skateboarding and you've seen motocross but what happens
when the two are combined? A fair bit of pain actually. This is boardercross a race on
skateboards over jumps and other obstacles.
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The new sport is fresh from the US but these younger fans haven't quite learnt to
appreciate the talent just yet.
KID: My favourite part of the competition is when they have stacks and fall off ramps
Mime
Reporter: Natasha Thiele
INTRO: Can you imagine trying to tell a story without making a sound? Well that's
something that mime artists do. Tash went along to a class which is teaching kids
how to do it.
NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: Have you ever used your imagination to pretend
something was there when it's not? These guys are finding out the secrets of mime.
To really play the part of a character and to tell a story, you need to use different
facial expressions, gestures and body movements. And if you can master that you can
pitch a ball, catch a bus, become a pirate, even get stuck in a small box without saying
a single word.
KID 1: You can't just go and just act out the mime without any expressions because
let's say if it's a sad mime, you have to be like a sad face. And if it's a happy mime, it's
a happy face.
KID 2: I learned more self-confidence and I think I can act better now.
KID 3: Well of course you need to learn to be quiet and you need to learn how to
express words in actions rather than just saying them.
KID 4: You can be a mime wherever you are.
Mime is one of the earliest forms of drama and means 'to imitate' in ancient Greek. A
mime will often dress in plain black and white coloured clothing and paint their face
white like a mask. That's meant to help make their facial expressions and features
more noticeable. One guy who's world famous for mime is Marcel Marceau. He was a
French actor who even started his own mime school in the 1940s. While mime might
not be as popular as what it was in the Marceau days, it's an art that can still be seen
today in movies and comedy acts. In fact, you've probably seen these Aussies before.
They're The Umbilical Brothers. They're well known for mixing mime with sound
effects, conversation and props.
Jenn's been a mime artist for more than 20 years.
JENN MANDES, MIME ACTOR: Number one you have to be very very fit, number
two you need to be totally concentrated because some of the things are really hard
work like climbing up stairs or running, in fact you're actually doing it on the spot so
you really have to work on technique.
REPORTER: So Jenn, can you show me a little mime routine?
JENN: I will show you the box. Soft hand and that's the wall and the other hand, soft
and press.
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Mime definitely takes a lot of concentration and imagination, but these guys have
proven it's not only a great way of expressing yourself, it's also a lot of fun.
Closer
That was a pretty convincing zombie there, well done. That’s it for the show. Thanks
for watching. We’ll see you next week.
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