BtN: Episode 32 Transcript 08/11/11

Transcription

1 BtN: Episode 32 Transcript 08/11/11 On this week's Behind the News. Why homeowners were the biggest winners on Melbourne Cup day. 7 billion and rising. What does a growing population mean for you? And is it a migraine or just a headache? We check out the difference. Hi I'm Nathan Bazley, welcome to Behind the News. Also on the show today I get my pads on to check out one of the most important jobs in cricket. But before all that. Qantas Brand Reporter: Nathan Bazley INTRO: Qantas has been all over the news during the last couple of weeks because of its very public feud with unions. It all came to a head last week when the CEO of Qantas grounded the entire fleet all over the world. It seems like a pretty harmful thing to do to your own company's brand, so why do it? And what will all this drama mean for the flying kangaroo in the future? NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: It started with one plane back in the 1920's and grew to be Australia's biggest and most successful airline. Qantas has a place in Australian history as the airline most Aussies grew up with. And because of that, this flying kangaroo is estimated to be worth $1.1billion as a brand alone. But how can a simple picture be worth such a huge amount of money? Brands are everywhere, and there is a reason for that. Having a trustworthy brand name on a product means you'll sell more, because people believe in your quality and service. Building up a brand to be that popular can take many decades of hard work. But damaging a brand can happen in the blink of an eye. And how much damage is done all depends on how many customers are affected and how badly. About four years ago, this video was made by the Chaser after almost half of Qantas was sold to a group overseas. At the time, there were fears jobs and profits would head offshore. But it took more than that to really damage the brand, because people were still getting the same experience when they flew, so customers weren't directly affected. Then last year, there were some dramas in the air. An engine exploded on a Qantas aircraft. So would that damage the brand? 1

2 Well maybe a little bit, because the few hundred passengers on that flight might have thought twice before booking tickets with Qantas next time. But it all died down fairly quickly, because most people realised that the problem was really the engine maker's fault and that Qantas was still one of the safest airlines around. Now, Qantas has hit its worst turbulence yet. Angry unions threatened and then went on strike. And last week, Qantas grounded its whole fleet worldwide to protest against the union's demands. And that left tens of thousands of customers really frustrated and willing to tell everyone why. After the experience, these people shared their stories with friends and family. And vented their frustration on websites like Twitter. After all of that, you could have hundreds of thousands of people avoiding Qantas for their next trip. So that's how a brand can be damaged. But is the damage permanent? Well not necessarily, because Qantas will have a plan to repair its reputation. Some people say the man at the top of Qantas, Alan Joyce, has been very careful to make sure everyone knows the grounding was his call. So customers are more likely to get angry at him, than at the Qantas brand. If that works, then they would just have to find a way to encourage people to give Qantas a go again. And they've already started giving away tickets to lure people back. The company hopes eventually people will start trusting the brand again. But when it takes nearly 100 years to build a good reputation, how long will it take to earn it all back? Let's see what else is making the news. Here's Tash with the Wire. The Wire Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has made a surprise visit to Afghanistan. She spent some time with Aussie troops as a guest at a barbecue. She also met Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, and opened a new Australian embassy. Meanwhile, the bodies of the three Aussie soldiers killed in Afghanistan last month have been returned home. **** In Thailand, Flooding has spread in the capital Bangkok. At least twenty per cent of the city is now under water. It's the country's worst flooding in fifty years and more than five hundred people have now died. Authorities say they're worried about disease spreading as the flood water mixes with waste. **** Back home now, and environmentalists say the Great Barrier Reef could be under threat because of new development along the Queensland coast. 2

3 At least six major ports are being expanded and some areas will be dredged. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority doesn't want that to happen. It says too much development could cause problems for wildlife on the reef but the government says there are guidelines to protect animals as well as water quality. Interest Rates Reporter: Sarah Larsen INTRO: You might ask why should we be interested in interest rates. It was one of the biggest stories in the news last week. The Reserve Bank announced it was going to lower rates which was good news for homeowners. Still not interested though, are you? Well, let's see how it actually affects you. Here's Sarah. SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: Last Tuesday was a big day for jockeys and horses and fashionistas and home owners. Mum and Dad: Come on, come on! Yes! Woo Hoo! Kid: Are you watching the Melbourne Cup? Mum: No, interest rates just went down! So, it's not exactly the race that stops the nation but this is a decision that affects the nation. Lower interest rates means people have more cash to spend on things like fancy suits and funny hats and more important things like groceries and school uniforms and your allowance. Interested? Interest rates are all about banks and loans. You probably know a bit about how they work but let s have a look anyway. Take your parent's house for example. It was expensive, really expensive! Your mum and dad don't earn nearly that much. It would take them years and years and years to save up enough to buy it and in the meantime where do you live? So they go into a bank and get a loan. But banks don't give out loans for free, they charge interest. Interest rates go up and down, usually by just a little bit at a time, but when you're talking about home loans even a tiny rise can make a lot of difference. This interest rate fall was just a quarter of a percent but that will mean almost $50 a month for average families. That didn't just happen because some banks were feeling nice. The decision to drop the interest rate was made by the Reserve Bank of Australia. That isn't like a normal bank, it's their special job to set interest rates and keep our economy running smoothly. 3

4 REPORTER: You could think of them as kind of like the gas burner on a stove that has to keep the economy simmering away at just the right temperature. Turn things down and not much happens, turn it up too much and the soup bubbles over. Lately the economy's been cooling off. Even with Christmas coming up, shop owners and other businesses say people haven't been spending enough. That means they can't afford to hire new people and everything slows down. Lowering interest rates turns up the gas. By giving people extra cash to spend it gets the economy bubbling away nicely. But it can go the other way too. If people spend too much then it can get out of control you get something called inflation which makes things more expensive so sometimes the reserve bank raises interest rates, which is a way of turning down the gas on all that spending. It's a really delicate balancing act. But everyone's hoping that this latest move leaves a good taste in everyone's mouths. Quiz 1 OK, time for our first quiz of the show. The question is: What is another name for a housing loan? Mortgage Stamp duty Interest rate Answer: Mortgage The average size of a mortgage in Australia is around 350 thousand dollars. And we'll need to keep building more of those houses if our population continues to grow. World Population Reporter: Matthew Holbrook INTRO: Last week we reached a significant point when the number of people on the planet reached 7 billion. It's a big number and it's going to get bigger still. Matt finds out what it could mean for you. 4

5 KID 1: Seven billion. KID 2: Seven billion. KID 3: Seven billion. KID 4: Seven billion. KID 5: Seven billion people. That's how many of us are living on this planet. If we were to all link hands we could wrap around the world 175 times. We could even reach to the moon and back eighteen times. The number of people on our planet is increasing all the time. MATTHEW HOLBROOK, REPORTER: Imagine this grain of rice is one new person added to the planet. And each day our world's population grows by this much. That's 200,000 extra people in a single day. It's a huge number, but it's only in recent history that our population's really taken off. At first, the world grew really slowly. Scientists reckon it took tens of thousands of years to reach the million mark. Over time, things started to speed up. So in the past few years you can see there's been huge growth in a short space of time. That growth is likely to continue towards ten billion by the end of the century. So why is our population getting so high? Well, we have better healthcare and hygiene now than in the past. We've learnt to deal with some dangerous diseases, and more of us are living longer. Australia is growing, too. In the last 50 years our population has more than doubled to twenty two million people. So what's it likely to mean to you if our population keeps getting a lot bigger? By 2050, our population is expected to grow to thirty six million people. REPORTER: It might sound like a tight squeeze and you could imagine us being crammed together like sardines in a can. But in a country as big as Australia, space isn't going to be the biggest issue. There are other things we could run out of first. The big issues are food and water, and whether there will be enough for everyone. There are already a lot of people in the world who don't have the basic necessities. And as the world gets bigger, problems like drought and famine could become much worse. Poorer countries are likely to be the most affected, but we're not immune here in Australia. We live on the world's driest inhabited continent, where drought is a 5

6 problem. So it's likely that water restrictions will continue to be a big issue for a country like Australia. So will we get to a point where our planet just can't cope with more people? Well, scientists say we have to be smarter about how we use our resources. And we have to look after the environment, because it gives us everything from food to the air we breathe. While the earth's population is growing, some experts reckon that it will eventually stop. In the meantime, no-one's really sure just how big our population will get. But for now, it does mean we'll all have to get used to sharing a bit more of our planet. Online Poll OK let's have a poll about our growing population. The question is: Should people be allowed to have as many children as they want? To vote, just head to our website. Now to the results of last week's poll. We asked you if a shark should be killed if it bites a human. Just 24 per cent said, yes. And 76 per cent said no a shark should not be killed if it bites a human. Thanks for taking part. Migraine Vs Headaches Reporter: Sarah Larsen INTRO: We're going to talk about headaches and migraines next. They're a common reason that people are sick from school but why do we get them? And how do you know if your pain is a full-on migraine or just a bad headache? Well, as Sarah found out, there are some big differences between them. SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: You are about to enter a place where everyday activities become almost impossible, where lights appear from nowhere and sounds make you scream in pain, where objects are surrounded by an inexplicable aura of light. You are now entering the migraine zone. Most of us have had a headache before; you know, that feeling like someone's stretching a rubber band over your head and has you reaching for the pain killers. But have you ever had a headache like Isobel's? 6

7 Isobel: Your vision goes really blurry at the start then after about 20 minutes your head really starts to throb then about 20 minutes later you start to vomit and it's not nice at all. Isobel suffers from migraines and she's not alone. About one in 10 Australians get them, including kids as young as 5. They're not like regular headaches which you can get from having a cold or straining your eyes or not getting enough sleep. Isobel: Oh yeah, it's way, way more painful and you just feel like you're going to faint. Migraines are a result of swollen blood vessels in your brain. They send out signals that your brain interprets as pain. Often the first sign of a migraine is seeing lights behind your eyes, or a fuzzy ring of light around things called an "aura". They can make you feel sick or dizzy and they can last for a few hours or even a few days. Isobel: It lasted for 24 hours so pretty much a day then I just stopped the next day. People often feel migraines on one half of their head and that's where the name comes from. Hemi is the Greek word for half and crania is the word for head. That gives you hemicrania, which eventually became migraine. Not everyone gets migraines, and if you do get them then it's likely that someone in your family does too. Not long ago scientists figured out that migraines can be caused by a faulty gene. Genes are what makes us who were are; like the body's recipe book that determines what colour your hair is, how tall you are, whether you're a boy or a girl or even how your brain works. Scientists reckon that a faulty gene in some people causes the nerves in their brain to over-react and feel more pain. Dr Alessandro Zagami, Brain Scientist: Things that aren't normally perceived as being painful are during a migraine attack because of a change in the control mechanisms. At the moment there's no cure. There are drugs which can help to prevent them, but most migraine sufferers have to rely on pain killers and rest. Isobel: As soon as you see the lights you just take a tablet, a Nurofen or something and lie down in a dark room. By understanding them better, scientists are hoping to find a way to stop migraines all together. So kids like Isobel can hope for a future that's not full of headaches. PRESENTER: Let's find out how closely you were listening to that story and see if you can work out the answer to this quiz question. 7

8 Quiz 2 The question is: What's the medical term for your skull? Cranium Posterior Capita Answer: Cranium OK, let's head onto the sport next. Here's Tash with some of the best action in the Score. The Score Aussie surfer Kelly Slater has officially been crowned world champion for real this time. Slater had been awarded the title last Thursday but later on the organisers realised they'd done their maths wrong and he needed to win another heat! Well, a few days later he managed to win that heat and with it picked up his 11th World title. **** Australian world champion, Casey Stoner, has won the final race of the MotoGP season. It came right down to the wire.he edged out American, Ben Spies, on the line to claim victory! **** And in the A League the stand-out game was Sydney's amazing come-from-behind win against Gold Coast United. Gold Coast looked to be heading clear leading two nil at half time. But in the second half, Sydney scored two goals in three minutes to level the scores. And then an injury time penalty gave Sydney a dramatic win! 8

9 Cricket Wicket Reporter: Nathan Bazley INTRO: Summer means a few things: sun, sand and surf. But it also means another thing in Australia long days of cricket! The cricket season is ramping up again but what does it take to get prepared? To find out I went to meet a guy who can influence the outcome of a whole match. NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: Cricket is a national summer obsession. Each year, thousands of people crowd into stadiums right through the hotter months for a glimpse at the Aussie cricket team, as they take on players from around the globe. NATHAN: Okay so with the first games for the summer under a month away, I've left my run pretty late to push for selection in the Aussie team. But there is a star right here already getting prepared for the season. He can make or break a game, but he doesn't get a lot of credit. He is the groundsman. This is Damien and it's his job to look after the grounds of the Adelaide Oval, one of the most famous cricket pitches in the world. But trust me, there's a lot more to it than just mowing. NATHAN: How important is a pitch to a cricket game? What effect can it have on the game? DAMIEN: Oh look, if we don't get it right, and touch wood we do, but if we don't get it right; it can really decide the result of the game on the coin toss. So how can a pitch go bad? Well amazingly, pitches in test matches are designed to go bad. So going bad is actually good! Bowlers can use the cracks or wear marks to their advantage, because it's a lot harder to bat when you can't quite be sure where the ball is going to go. DAMIEN: We do want it to wear and we do want the bowler s footmarks to come into play. And we also want it to, I suppose, get some of the inconsistent bounce so the fast bowlers might hit a spot through here, it's had water now but there was a reasonable crack in there, and they might hit that crack and it might just stay low, or it might move one way or another. And that can mean the difference between winning and losing. So that's why the job of preparing a pitch such an important one. And the pressure to get it right is pretty intense. DAMIEN: It's such a big stage and having a small part to play in it, the nerves and heart do pound quite a bit I know that. For many players, looking up at the Adelaide Oval scoreboard produces similar feelings. It's where their stories of success or failure are shown for all to see. And at 9

10 Adelaide Oval, they've been using the same one for a hundred years! That's way before modern technology like big screens and computers, so everything in here is all manual. The numbers have to be changed by hand and the names of the players all made up by hand as well. But one thing I can vouch for, is that they do certainly have a zero on hand ready to go. Hopefully the Aussie team will trouble the score board operators this summer for a lot longer than I did. Closer That's it for the show. You can jump onto our website if you want to get more info on any of the stories. You can send us your comments and don't forget to vote in this week's poll. And I'll see you next time. 10