BTN: Episode 6 Transcript 13/3/18

Hey, Amelia here. Thanks for joining me for a massive BTN.

Coming up today.

• We find out how Australia became home to more than 24 million people.

• We reveal what was written in the world's oldest message in a bottle.

• And join us for the launch of a special survey that aims to find out just how valuable Australian kids are.

Voting Age Experiment Reporter: Jack Evans

INTRO: All that and more soon. But we'll start today with a look at Australia's voting age. It's currently 18, but have you ever wondered what would happen if it was lowered? That's something that South Australia's Commissioner for Children and Young People is aiming to test out during the upcoming state election there. Take a look.

"Should Australia lower the voting age to 16?"

JAMES: I think that people who have enough knowledge and they feel confident in what they want to say and what they want to have a decision in should be given an opportunity to have a vote because their voices need to be heard as well.

GEORGIA: Personally, I think 16's a little bit young. I feel like people are still maturing and you know and working out who they are. We don't like... none of us really know anything about politics.

RHYS: I do believe that it should be lowered as it gives a voice to the younger students.

LALLA: I personally think that if it was lowered to 16 and 17 it would only work if it was voluntary, which means you’d get the people who are educated the people who are passionate about politics who are voting and not the people that don't care.

At the moment you have to be 18 years old to vote in Australia. Before 1973, it was actually much older, 21. But that's not the only time Australia's changed the rules around who can vote. Women weren't allowed to vote until 1902 and it wasn't until 1962 that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were allowed to have their say. Now some people think we should make another change and lower the voting age to 16.

It's something the South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young people has decided to test out. By seeing how local high school students like these guys at Scotch College would vote in the upcoming real South Australian state election, if they could. They've asked the students themselves to hold the elections.

©ABC 2018 LALLA: So next Tuesday we'll be holding a mock election for 16 and 17-year old’s. It will mean that students in year 11 and 12, 16 and 17, will get the chance to actually learn how to fill in a ballot paper.

Their votes won't actually be included in the official result. But they will be added after the results are released to see how they might have affected the outcome. It'll also help gauge how many young people actually want to vote and what issues they're most passionate about.

LALLA: I think it will have an impact definitely for the people involved with youth because it'll actually be able to pin point where the issues are and what the issues are that youth are passionate about.

RHYS: I'd say an issue that is important to me was like seeing how many jobs are offered in SA I see many people; many young people move out to interstate to get a job because we just unfortunately don't have enough jobs in SA. So, I would definitely enrol to go see if my voice counts towards what could happen in the future.

It might even encourage more young people to get interested in politics.

LALLA: I think a lot of the problems come from people assuming that 16 and 17-year olds aren't mature enough. But then again there’s so many adults that don't know anything about politics and what's to say the second you turn 18 you're all of a sudden going to have a scope of knowledge.

JAMES: I personally don't have enough experience within politics and I don't feel confident when I'm at the age of 18 and can vote that I won't have enough education and won't know how to do that.

For now though, we'll have to wait to find how these guys found their first voting experience. And we'll bring you the full results later this month.

Ask a Reporter

Have you got a question about our voting age? Ask me live on Friday during Ask A Reporter.

Head to our website for all the details.

Poll

And we'll also make that topic our poll this week.

Let us know what you think on our website.

©ABC 2018

Australia’s Population History Reporter: Ruby Cornish

INTRO: Okay, over the next two weeks BTN is joining the rest of the ABC in taking a special look at Australia's population. We'll talk about the impacts of population growth and the arguments for and against having more people here soon. But first, in part 1, let's travel back in time to witness our long journey to the more than 24 million people that we have today.

People. There are quite a few of them around. But like, where did they all come from? Our planet's gone from one billion to seven billion in a couple of hundred years, and that last billion’s happened in just one decade. So, things are definitely speeding up. Here in Australia we're approaching 25 million and predicted to hit 39 million by 2050. But it hasn't always been such a crowded place, and to understand how we got here we have to wind the clock back quite a bit. It's kind a hard to know what Australia's population was before the First Fleet arrived in the late 1700s, but most estimates tell us there were probably less than a million Aboriginal people living here. Things started slowly but in the 19th century the Gold Rush transformed Australia from a convict settlement into a hot destination and quickly attracted people from all over the world.

By the time of Federation in 1901 there were nearly four million people living in Australia and our population was rising steadily. Then in the 1940s the Baby Boom happened. You might've heard the term baby boomer. It's used to describe people born between the years of 1946 and 1961, so it probably includes your grandparents. After the war, soldiers came home and the economy was doing really well, so there was an explosion of, yep, babies.

After that things calmed down for a while but since the mid-2000s our rate of population growth's been on the up again. Our birth rates haven't really changed much. In fact, some politicians in the past have asked Aussie families to have more kids, which didn't really work. So why is our population rising faster now? The answer is immigration. Last year it accounted for nearly two thirds of our population growth and it's made us one of the fastest growing populations in the world.

So, there are gonna be some more people around. So what? The more the merrier, right? Well, not exactly. Extra people bring lots of benefits, but there can be issues too. You see, no matter where they live, people need all kinds of goods and services. And as our population gets steadily bigger the people providing those goods and services will struggle to keep up. Things like rubbish collection, water supplies, the availability of food, our hospitals and of course our schools. There all things that need to be taken into consideration.

So, how are we going to manage it? Can we even manage it? We'll explore the answers to those questions and more on part two of our population special on next week's episode of BTN.

Quiz

Time for our first quiz.

Is there

©ABC 2018

More males in Australia?

More females in Australia?

Or is it even?

The answer is: At last count there were just under 200,000 more women living here than men.

This Week in News

First up. The leaders of North Korea and the United States have announced they're planning to meet up. Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump have had some very public disagreements, trading insults and even threatening each other's countries with nuclear weapons.

But last week in a letter to the President Kim Jong Un said his country's willing to stop testing nuclear weapons and missiles and offered to organise talks between his country and America. President Trump accepted the invite and says it's good sign of progress. But others say people shouldn't get their hopes up.

Back home and more than 70 students and teachers have been rescued from a school camp after massive floods left them stranded in Northern QLD.

STUDENT: We got stuck at Echo Creek for four days more than we were supposed to be.

For 6 days these guys had to wait it out at an adventure park.

STUDENT: It was a bit boring because of the rain because we barely got to do any activities.

When there was finally a break in the bad weather rescue services were sent in and the students and teachers were taken home and reunited with their families. The clean-up is now underway for the 200 homes impacted by the floods but authorities say people still need to be really careful and stay away from floodwaters.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has sent back some unbelievable new photos of Jupiter's surface. It's been orbiting the gas giant for almost 2 years and has sent back huge amounts of data.

This latest batch of photos has already helped scientists discover some new things. Like these strange groupings of cyclones at the planet's north and south poles.

And finally, check out these curious emperor penguins and their attempt to take a selfie. A camera was left behind on the ice by a researcher from the Australian Antarctic Division and these penguins got a little nosy. I think they need to work on their pout.

©ABC 2018

Kids Contribute Reporter: Amelia Moseley

INTRO: Next up. How much good do you do in your home, your school or your community? That's exactly what we want to find out with our new 'Kids Contribute' survey. Soon, we'll tell you how you can share your good deeds with us. But first, take a look at this.

KEXIN, VOLUNTEER: Hi, I'm Kexin and I'm 14 years old. I like animals and nature, I like to see how they're going. I moved to Australia one year ago, I'm Chinese.

Kexin comes here on weekends to enjoy the parklands. She also comes here to help to restore them.

KEXIN: I volunteer with my mum at the parklands. We do some weeding and checking some bird boxes, I love that.

They work alongside Peter, a park ranger.

PETER BALDACCHINO, PARK LANDS RANGER: We're trying to recreate the original vegetation and habitat of this area, which was a Mallee box woodland. Look, you can even eat these wonderful fruits. Do you wanna have a go at that, it’s got a big seed in the middle. So, the main thing we do is plant species that would have been here prior to European settlement. How does it taste?

KEXIN: Well, it’s a little bit sweet.

PETER: Little bit sweet.

Today, Kexin's showing me how she contributes here.

AMELIA: Hi, how's it going? I'm Amelia.

KEXIN: I'm Kexin. We're doing some volunteering today, you might need this one.

AMELIA: Thank you. Alright, cool. Let's put this on. Hat, fits my head, that's good. High vis, alright. Where are we going?

KEXIN: We’re going that way.

AMELIA: Let’s do it.

AMELIA: So Kexin, what are we doing here?

KEXIN: We’re testing the water.

AMELIA: Okay. So, we’re testing the water, what are we testing it for?

KEXIN: We need some data. To make sure the water is safe and clean.

©ABC 2018 AMELIA: Kexin, why did you start volunteering?

KEXIN: Because I think I can help someone.

AMELIA: And a lot of animals, do you see any interesting animals?

KEXIN: Birds and spiders.

AMELIA: Spiders. Oh no. I'm scared of spiders.

KEXIN: Same.

AMELIA: You are, too?

KEXIN: Yeah, but I like to see them. But I don't want to touch them.

AMELIA: Maybe we can just stay away from spiders.

KEXIN: So, seven is normal pH.

AMELIA: Okay, so that's good.

Kexin loves being out here, and since she started volunteering, she's made some new friends. She wants to help people, and that's a feeling lots of kids around Australia share. Kids who help out in their community, at school, or at home.

A 20-14 survey found 42 per cent of kids between the ages of 15 and 17 are volunteers. So, helping people is clearly something that's very important to you guys. Which is why we want to find out a lot more about the different ways you all contribute. So, we’re launching the BTN Kids Contribute Survey. It asks you all the different ways you help out, whether it's doing chores at home, volunteering at school events, or getting involved in special projects. Like Kexin.

AMELIA: Okay, so what are we doing here?

KEXIN: We’re now collecting the seeds.

AMELIA: So why do we do this Kexin?

KEXIN: We need more seeds to plant in other places.

AMELIA: Okay cool.

KEXIN: Kids can do this now, they don't have to wait to grow up.

PETER BALDACCHINO, PARKLANDS RANGER: She's been terrific. We've only had her for about 5 or 6 months, but she's so enthusiastic, she wants to learn about all the Australian native plants and animals, and get her hands dirty, no problems there. Digging up weeds, climbing up ladders, looking at fauna boxes and getting very excited when she sees some interesting new animal, there’s no doubt about that. Having volunteers to help out really is fantastic.

KEXIN: Well, they can help out their parents, do some housework, or they can volunteer in any way.

Now as you heard there you can jump on our website right now to fill in our Kids Contribute survey. It looks like this and it's super easy to fill in. You can do it on a computer, tablet or mobile. It'll only take 5 or 6 minutes - and all of your details and answers are completely anonymous.

After the Easter holidays we'll crunch all the numbers to help tell Australia just how valuable you guys really are. Thanks for getting involved.

Plastic Ocean Campaigner Reporter: Jack Evans

INTRO: Okay now. We're going to introduce you to a 12-year old boy on a mission to reduce the amount of plastic in our oceans. Here's his story.

Watch out plastic there's a new hero in town and he's ready to take out the trash. Introducing Plastic Free Boy, a 12-year old on a mission to change the world. His real identity is Arlian. He lives here in NSW and as you can tell he's pretty passionate about plastic waste, well reducing it.

ARLIAN: A year ago I was on the beach with my friend and my mum and I saw three sea turtles getting released into the ocean and I thought to myself and I told my mum "why aren't these animals in the ocean already?" and she said "why don't we make a story about it and make a film about sea turtles". Which turned into the story of plastic. And I found out the reason they weren't in the ocean already was because of plastic and I thought wow this plastic pollution is having such a big impact on the sea animals and it might have a huge impact on us human beings and us children.

You see every year more than 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean and that can be a real problem for marine life. Turtles can mistake things like plastic bags for jellyfish and eat them. That can make them really sick or even kill them. Which is why Arlian has made it his mission to fight plastic pollution and now he's made his own documentary to help.

ARLIAN: Hey, my name is Arlian and I’m making a film about sea turtles and plastic.

Airlian made this film to help reach out to other kids and get them fired up about plastic too and recently he got to show it at Byron Community Primary School.

ARLIAN: There’s more life in the ocean than there is on land. We need to protect the ocean for the people in the future because if this ocean isn’t clean from this plastic pollution our water will not be clean.

Arlian says there are a few things we could be doing now to reduce the amount of plastic we use every day.

©ABC 2018 ARLIAN: The things that you can do to make things better for the environment is not use single use plastic bottles, not use single use plastic straws and not use single use plastic bags.

And he reckons if we work together we can make the world a cleaner and safer place for us and all the other amazing creatures that call it home.

Quiz

How long can it take for fishing line to break down in the ocean?

50 years

200 years

600 years

The answer is: 600 years.

Sport

After a final, nail biting round of basketball the NBL Grand Final teams have been decided. Melbourne United will face off against the Adelaide 36ers.

Both teams had really close wins. The Adelaide 36ers sixers in particular came from 18 points down to defeat the Perth Wildcats by just 1 point. The grand final series gets underway this Friday night in Melbourne.

The NRL is back for 2018 and round one kicked off with a bang.

The Gold Coast Titans started their season with a win against the Canberra Raiders after fighting back in the second half to convert this try with less than 15 seconds to go and champion Jonathon Thurston celebrated his 300th game with a 6-point win against the Cronulla Sharks.

To tennis and it looks like Roger Federer may have finally met his match. He was playing against American Jack Sock at a special fundraiser event when Sock called on a nearby ball girl to take over the next game.

She held up a pretty good rally before stealing the point with this awesome shot.

And finally, people in Melbourne took to the skies this weekend briefly for the birdman rally. If you've never heard of it before competitors use their fancy inventions to fly as far as they can off this platform.

Obviously, they don't get too far. Even Jimmy Giggle gave it a go. The winner, this guy, managed to fly 8 metres before he hit the water.

©ABC 2018

Oldest Message in a Bottle

Reporter: Matthew Holbrook

INTRO: Finally today. The world's oldest message in a bottle has been discovered in Western Australia, 132 years after it was dropped in the ocean. Take a look.

Have you ever gone to the beach, and dreamed of finding something incredible and mysterious washed up on shore? How about the world's oldest message in a bottle?

TONYA ILLMAN, BOTTLE OWNER: I got out to walk around and I noticed a lot of rubbish and my immediate thought was to pick some up, take it home and throw it out. I bent down, picked up that bottle that was at my feet and that was it. Simple as that.

It all started when Tonya’s family got bogged at this beach in Western Australia. If they hadn't, they might never have made the discovery. Obviously, they did, or this wouldn't be a story. Anyway, inside they found a small, damp scroll, tied up with string. They took the bottle home, put the scroll in the oven to dry out, and could just make out some of the faint writing.

KYM ILLMAN, BOTTLE OWNER: I had clues. I didn't have the whole story. We had the day, we had the month, we didn't have the year. We had half of the boat's name, we had the first initial of the captain, we had the coordinates. They were great.

See, the note wasn't just any old note, but part of an experiment by the German Naval Observatory to better understand global ocean currents and find faster, more efficient shipping routes. Basically, tossing notes like this one into the ocean, and seeing where they end up. On the back, the messages asked the finder to write when and where the bottle had been found and return it. Clearly, that took a lot longer than expected. In fact, experts here at the Western Australian Museum think it probably washed up a year or so later, but has been buried by sand this whole time.

DR ROSS ANDERSON, WA MUSEUM: We think it's the captain, Captain Deikman of the Paula who probably wrote on this message, put it in this little bottle, threw it overboard and also wrote in the journal that he had thrown the bottle overboard. So, it's quite stunning. I've never really experienced anything that corroborates so fully as this.

Of the thousands of bottles thrown overboard during the 69-year experiment, only 662 message slips were returned and none of the bottles. The last one was found in Denmark in 1934. Historians have confirmed this one is legit, which makes this a small, but record- breaking find. I wonder if there's any more. Hmm.

Closer

And that wraps us up for today. But we'd love to hear what you thought about today's stories on our website. And while you're there, please make sure you have a go at our Kids Contribute survey. Tell all your friends to do it too. Thanks, and I'll see you next week for more BTN.