BTN: Episode 24 Transcript 28/8/18

Hey, I’m Amelia and you’re watching BTN. Coming up today.

• We take a special look at the Great Barrier Reef, the threats it's facing and how we can tackle them.

• Plus, the new medicine that will make a big difference to kids with cystic fibrosis.

• And what does it take to pilot a hot air balloon?

PM Reporter: Amelia Moseley

INTRO: We'll get to all that later. But first, wow, what a week it's been in Canberra! After days of chaos and confusion, has a new Prime Minister. Here's how it happened.

It's time to play everyone's favourite game show: Who's our Prime Minister? Oops, time's up. It's Scott Morrison!

SCOTT MORRISON I, Scott John Morrison, do swear that I will well and truly serve the people of Australia.

He's 50 years old, 182cm tall and father to Abbey and Lilly. He's known as 'Sco-Mo' to people that don't actually know him, and he was once a child actor! He was Australia's Treasurer and before that Immigration Minister and now he's the 30th Prime Minister of Australia! For those playing at home he's also our 5th PM in 5 years.

OK, I know what you're thinking "What did Scott Morrison look like as a kid?" Ha-ha! Just jokes. No, you're probably thinking "How did this happen?" I bet this guy's been thinking a bit about that too (our now former PM, ). So, let's go back a bit. In Australia, it's important to remember we don't vote for the PM. We vote for members of a political party and it's up to them to choose their own leader, but they can change their minds.

That's what happened a few years ago when the last PM, , was voted out and replaced by Malcolm Turnbull. Before that, Labor PM Kevin Rudd replaced Julia Gillard, who'd previously replaced him. Yeah. Messy.

So, here's what went down this time. Former home affairs minister said he wanted to lead, because he didn't think Malcolm Turnbull was doing such a bang-up job. So, their party - the Liberal Party - had a vote, but Dutton didn't win. End of story? No chance.

Some politicians who used to support Malcolm Turnbull then changed their minds and they rallied to force another vote just a few days later, which didn't exactly make this PM very happy.

©ABC 2018 Mr Turnbull decided to take himself out of it saying he'd quit parliament altogether if the vote went ahead. So, the race came down to Peter Dutton Deputy leader and Treasurer Scott Morrison. Morrison turned out to be the winner, of course, with as his deputy.

While it's all a bit confusing, the winner of this political game is clear for now. So, we'd better learn a bit more about our new PM.

MAYA Hey everybody, I just talked to Scott Morrison.

Luckily, our Rookie Reporter Maya met him back in 2016!

SCOTT MORRISON, 2016 When I was young, I always wanted to be involved in some sort of public service. My father is a policeman and my brother is an ambulance officer, he's a paramedic and my brother in law was a fireman.

He also seems to be a bit of a BTN fan!

SCOTT MORRISON, 2016 I remember watching BTN when I was a kid at school so it's great to say that it's still going!

We sure are! Been around for, oh, about 12 prime ministers now.

This Week in News

Okay so that was a pretty dramatic turn of events but what happens now? Well that's exactly what we'll reveal in this week's news headlines.

Now that all that party voting stuff is over the hard work starts for PM Morrison. One of his first jobs was choosing the Cabinet.

That's the group of ministers who'll look after important areas

Deputy Leader Josh Frydenberg will also be Treasurer.

Foreign affairs, will be handled by .

Christopher Pyne will look after defence.

Melissa Price is in charge of the environment.

Dan Tehan will look after education.

And will be minister for health.

Meanwhile, with our old PM Malcolm Turnbull no longer, well our PM, and on Monday he announced that he's leaving parliament altogether by the end of the week.

That means there will have to be a by-election in his seat of Wentworth in Sydney so people who live there can choose a new representative even though the next election might only be 6 months away.

©ABC 2018 All this drama hasn't exactly been a hit with voters. The latest Newspoll had support for the down a fair bit.

We asked you guys what you thought about it all too.

KID 1 I think that all Australians should have a say in the decision.

KID 2 A way they could maybe solve the problem would be making sure the Prime Minister has to stay in their full terms.

KID 3 I think they could solve this problem by bringing in a new law where you have to serve 4 years as a Prime Minister like they do in the United States with their Presidents. I just think that would make it a lot more organised and stable.

In other news, the ABC's done a study for Bookweek looking at one hundred of the top selling kids picture books from last year.

It found that 51 of them had a male as the lead character, 26 had no lead or a lead with no gender, and only 23 feature a female character.

It also found that there were a lot more books written by male authors.

Finally, to the world air guitar championships in Finland!

Japan's Nanami Nagura took out this year’s top prize with her acrobatic routine and expert air-playing.

Part of her prize is an actual guitar which seems slightly insulting to the entire concept, to be honest.

Great Barrier Reef Problems Reporter: Matt Holbrook

INTRO: Okay. Moving right away from Canberra now and all the way up to ! We're going to take a special two-part look at one of Australia's natural wonders - the Great Barrier Reef. It's the biggest reef in the world but experts are really worried about how it's going. Later on, we'll find out what can be done to fix the reef. But first here's a look at its biggest threats.

You'd have to be living under a rock, or many rocks actually, not to have heard that this big ole thing, the Great Barrier Reef, is in a spot of trouble. But, from pictures like this that may seem hard to believe. The reef covers two and a half thousand kays off the coast of Queensland, and two million people flock to it every year. All keen to check out the super colourful coral, and the more than 1,600 species of fish that call it home!

But all of this prettiness isn't the whole story. In some parts there's hardly any life left at all. So, what's to blame? Well, the biggest issue here is coral bleaching. That can happen when water gets too warm. See, what we know of as coral is actually cities, if you will, of

©ABC 2018 tiny animals called polyps. Algae live in the polyps, and polyps feed off the algae. Working together, they're happy and pretty and colourful. Yay!

CHARLIE VERON, RESARCHER: The very, very essential thing about corals, is they build their own place to live. Corals, have got together with algae, to build things that nothing on earth could possibly rival. That’s how they live, and I reckon that’s as fascinating as biology can get.

But if the sea gets too warm, the algae's forced out, and the coral turns white. And if the sea stays warm for too long, algae never come back, and the coral can die. Bacteria and seaweeds take over. End of friendship.

Coral can recover if sea temps drop in time, but if it keeps happening, and happening too frequently, that becomes much less likely. And that's exactly what scientists believe is happening right now because of climate change...

TERRY HUGHES, MARINE BIOLOGIST: So, the interval, between pairs of, repeated bleaching events globally is shrinking.

So, climate change is a huge threat. But it doesn't just raise temperatures either. Another issue is ocean acidification. Oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. If there is more of it in the air, more ends up in the ocean which makes it more acidic. That can affect sea life, as this again colourful, but slightly sad cartoon illustrates.

There are many more things being thrown at the Reef. Run off from the land can carry nutrients and sediments into the Reef, along with farm chemicals. That can lead to outbreaks of these little guys, crown of thorn starfish. They can eat their body weight worth of coral every day and have worked through large areas of the reef already. Another issue is cyclones and storms. They're not just damaging on land, they can destroy coral in shallow water, which can take hundreds of years to grow back.

So, they're just some of the threats facing the reef. And scientists say more needs to be done to address them as soon as possible. For us, and for the creatures that call it home.

Quiz

Which of the following is NOT true of the Great Barrier Reef?

It can be seen from space.

It's home to 100% of the world's species of fish.

It's one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

The answer - it's not true that the reef is home to 100% of the world's fish species. It's actually about 10%.

©ABC 2018 Great Barrier Reef Solutions Reporter: Amelia Moseley

INTRO: Okay. Now it's time for part 2 of our special look at the Great Barrier Reef. This one is all about what needs to change to make sure the reef is still around for centuries to come. Take a look.

How do we save the Great Barrier Reef? It's a question a lot of Australians have been asking for years now and the good news is there are some ideas about how we might be able to turn things around.

Experts say pollution is one of the biggest issues affecting the water around the reef. Farmers can help by using less pesticides and fertilisers and trying to reduce run-off from their farms. That's the water that flows over the ground and into streams and creeks and eventually out to sea. Many farmers are already trying to do that. But developments and other industries operating around the reef impact the water quality too, and some reckon more needs to be done to protect it from these pollutions.

These prickly pests like nothing more than to chomp down on tasty coral. But studies show where ever there are certain kinds of pollution there are more of these little greedy guts around. So, keeping the water clean and healthy helps coral thrive and stops these things from thriving so much. Researchers are also getting hands on injecting the crown of thorns with a special poison that kills them. It works, but it's also time consuming and not exactly a long-term solution.

Finally, the biggest issue of all is also the hardest to stop - bleaching. This one's so tough because scientists say it's caused by climate change.

TERRY HUGHES, MARINE BIOLOGIST It's the number-one driver of the rapid decline of the Great Barrier Reef. We can't fix everything else and ignore climate change. It's not going to work.

So! How do you solve a problem as big as climate change? Great question. Ah, well, governments around the world are still trying to work that one out too. Most experts say the biggest issue to tackle is where we get our energy from. Scientists say burning fossil fuels like coal and gas is a big part of the global warming problem and that making the switch to renewable energies like wind and solar would help to fight it.

But many countries, including Australia, still mostly rely on fossil fuels and making the switch isn't always an easy process. Plus, we aren't a big fish in the pollution pond, so for big improvements to be seen other countries would have to cut back as well.

There you have it - a few ways we could improve things for the Great Barrier Reef and all of the living things that call it home from the tiniest algae to the biggest sharks. It's not hard to see why so many people care so much about this incredible place.

Ask a Reporter

Do you have a question about the Great Barrier Reef? Ask me live on Friday during Ask a Reporter. Just head to our website for all the details.

©ABC 2018 Podcast Promo

BTN has a brand-new podcast. We’re bringing you the hard hitting, quirky, and just plain weird news stories of the day. A survey has found, one in three Aussie kids doesn’t brush twice a day. That’s a bit gross.

There’s a new episode out every weekday. You can get it as a podcast, on the BTN website and, if you’ve got one, on your smart speaker. Tune in and we’ll brush up on the news together.

Cystic Fibrosis Drug Reporter: Ruby Cornish

INTRO: Okay next up. Young people living with cystic fibrosis have just been given some really good news. An incredibly important, but incredibly expensive medicine has just been made heaps cheaper by the Government. Here's more.

EVIE: Hi BTN, my name's Evie Marshall, I'm 12 years old and I live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. I also have cystic fibrosis.

Evie is one of about 3 thousand Australians who are living with cystic fibrosis, or CF and she's never known a life without it.

EVIE: CF is something I was born with. It means my lungs and digestive system don't work very well. They hate me.

CF is a genetic disorder. It affects the respiratory system, which is what we use to breathe, and the digestive system, which is what we use to process food. EVIE: Living with cystic fibrosis is like being really sick 24/7. I have to go to hospital a tonne and I have to take a lot of tablets.

People living with CF often cough a lot and get lung infections, so Evie has spent a lot of her life in hospital.

EVIE: There are some challenges with living with cystic fibrosis. It's really, really boring being isolated in a hospital all the time without any friends. I also have to miss out on a lot of things that my friends get to do because I am too unwell.

There is no cure for CF, although researchers are working hard to find one. In the meantime, people with CF need to take medications to keep their organs healthy. One of those medications is called Orkambi. But Evie and other people with CF have had a hard time getting their hands on it.

EVIE: The problem with the medicine was definitely the cost. It was really expensive. It cost about the same as buying a house each year.

So, Evie and her mum started going to protests and petitioning Government for help. They asked for Orkambi to be put on a list of medicines in the PBS, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which would bring the price way down, making it affordable for everybody.

©ABC 2018 EVIE: My mum and I started pushing for this medication because it would make a whole lot of CF-ers, including me, feel a lot better. It would also keep us out of hospital.

And now finally their wish has come true.

EVIE: Last week the said we could have this medication and it wasn't going to cost the price of a house. Turns out it's only going to cost 6 dollars 40 a month and that is great news.

It means Evie's life has completely changed.

EVIE: This medication is going to extend my life by 20 years. Now that Orkambi is on the PBS it means my life expectancy is no longer 37, it's now 57 and that is amazing because I have never been able to think of a future before and now I can.

And when it comes to the future, Evie's got big plans.

EVIE: In the future I really want to travel all around Australia and get some great photography shots.

Did you know?

It's estimated that there are about 100,000 people around the world living with Cystic Fibrosis. 3/4 of them find out they have it before they turn 2.

Sport

The Sunshine Coast have won back to back Super Netball grand finals!

They faced the West Coast Fever in Perth yesterday in front of a record-breaking crowd of 13 thousand, 700 hundred people.

It was a close match, but the Lightning came out on top in the final few minutes winning the match 59 to 62 and the championship for the second year in a row!

Now to the AFL and it's finals time!

Demons fans are pumped to see their team playing in September for the first time in 12 years while Richmond fans are quietly confident their team can go all the way again after securing their first minor premiership since 1982.

Speaking of Richmond, Jack Riewoldt has been awarded the Coleman medal for kicking the most goals in a season 65.

It's the third time Jumping Jack's won the award.

Now to France where the Mountain Bike World Cup was held over the weekend.

©ABC 2018

Riders had to fly through this messy, muddy, hilly course as fast as possible and this veteran competitor did exceptionally well.

Her name is Rachel Atherton and she won the women's event for the sixth time!

RACHEL ATHERTON: Oh my gosh, that is hands down probably one of the hardest races I've ever, ever done.

And finally, a furry field invader had fans all excited at the Asian Games on the weekend.

The stands were packed for the women's hurdles when this guy appeared on the track!

He had some serious trouble staying in his lane though.

Hot Air Balloon Pilot Rookie Reporter: Ella

INTRO: Finally today. Being a pilot would be a pretty cool job but how about being a hot air balloon pilot? It turns out there's a job shortage in the hot air balloon industry, so instructors are trying to train up the next generation. Here's pilot-in-training Ella to tell us what it takes to take to the skies!

ELLA: It's really awesome. It's a bit like riding on the clouds. I'm really, really scared of heights and a lot of people tell me I couldn't go up there, I wouldn't be able to cope with the height. But for me it’s so surreal, you don't actually realise you're that high!

I'm Ella Tregale, I'm a student hot air balloon pilot, and I am 16. I started out when I was 3. My mum became a pilot before my dad around 2010, then my dad joined in and became a pilot, too. Before that we used to crew and chase balloons.

We love going around and seeing different types of animals and different types of birds. It's the same world you look at, it's just a birds' eye views. We look along and there's rows of kangaroos and different paddocks and I love looking at the colour variation in the different seasons of the paddocks, just the beauty of it.

The balloon has no engine and no steering wheel, unlike many other forms of aviation. So, we go up and down at a rate, most of the time, about 200 feet a minute. It can be anything, anything the wind is!

PETE, INSTRUCTOR: It is relatively simple to learn how to fly a balloon but you need to go through the steps. We are very methodical in the way we learn. It's one of those things where if you play by the rules, there's no problem at all, and it's a heap of fun.

BALLOONIST: The mental challenge to work out what altitude gets me left or right to get to where I want to go is really fascinating. But then the physical ability to do it, to not burn too much or too little, to stay within that layer of air and move along perfectly level to get to where you want to go.

©ABC 2018 ELLA: I'll probably start by trying to get my hours up. It's really a hobby for us and our family. I love going up with my family. I'll probably go up with my brother and he’ll probably follow in my footsteps after he's 12.

I'm not sure where it'll take me. I might try to do a few competitions. Our ballooning community is really, really small. There's not many people in Australia who fly balloons. I love just being in the air and the serenity of it and the peace. Also, the social side of it, we have such a tight community. That’s really awesome, we're like one big family.

Closer

Thanks for that, Ella! Well that wraps us up for another week! But as always, there's plenty to see and do on our website. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next week for more BTN.

©ABC 2018