BtN: Episode 9 Transcripts 27/04/10
On this week's Behind the News:
· Asylum seekers why do they risk everything to reach Australia?
· The school test that isn't too popular with teachers.
· And the champion footy team found guilty of cheating.
Hi I'm Nathan Bazley welcome to Behind the News.
Also in today’s show a look at a big sporting event that's as much about having fun as it is winning medals.
Asylum Seekers
Reporter: Nathan Bazley
INTRO: But first, there's a whole lot happening in the world of immigration. This month the government decided to change how they treat some asylum seekers and they've also re-opened two old detention centres.
They're decisions that might not mean much to you at all but for thousands of asylum seekers on Australian shores, it makes a huge difference.
Let's find out who asylum seekers are why they are trying to come here and how the changes might affect them?
Christmas island it's a tropical paradise and sounds like a pretty fun place to live.
But this Australian island isn't like any other.
For one thing, it's a long way away. It's 2600ks from Perth but only 450ks from Indonesia.
But the main reason that it’s different is that on this island way out to sea is a huge detention centre holding over 2000 people from other countries.
And right now it's pretty much full.
So why are all these people here?
To find out these answers, we first have to trace their journey back to their home countries.
Most have grown up amid violence, poverty or war.
They fear for their lives because of their race or their religion.
And it's this fear that encourages them to pay huge amounts of money climb aboard overcrowded, unsafe boats and set course for Christmas Island.
So why come to this tiny island?
The first reason is all location, location, location.
Despite being Australian soil, Christmas Island is really close to Indonesia, meaning it's much easier to sail to in rickety boats.
The second reason is that once they make it here these desperate people officially become 'Asylum seekers'.
The term means 'people looking for a safe place to live' and by coming here they are applying to be allowed to stay in Australia for good.
But not everyone who asks, can stay so that's where the detention centre itself comes in.
Asylum seekers are held here while their stories are checked because if they aren't genuinely in need of protection they are usually sent back home again.
But if their stories check out the successful asylum seekers are transferred to the mainland where they become genuine refugees.
And that means they are allowed to stay here, for good!
The government only lets a certain number of people in, depending on how many they think we can support. That's around 14-thousand a year.
The huge majority of those people come by plane.
Only a few thousand come by boat but the government is trying to stop people coming to the country this way because it's dangerous and the people running the boats called people smugglers are breaking the law.
But rather than boat arrivals slowing the last few years has seen a rise in boats heading this way.
Many of the asylum seekers are from the troubled countries of Sri Lanka and Afghanistan so the government has now decided to stop processing their claims for asylum for a while.
They say the situation in their countries might not be as bad as it used to be but not everyone agrees.
VOX: We need to understand that these people are fleeing very ligitiment fear of persecution
But the government is sending the message that people coming here by boat can't expect to be automatically assessed anymore.
But whether that will stop desperate people seeking a new home in Australia, remains to be seen.
Presenter: The treatment of asylum seekers is a controversial issue, so is our next story.
School Tests
Reporter: Sarah Larsen
INTRO: Next month a whole lot of Aussie school kids are set to do the NAPLAN tests.
It’s a funny name but chances are you've heard it before.
Every Aussie school kid is expected to do them in year 3,5,7,and 9.
But this year there's been a lot of debate over how the results of the NAPLAN tests are used.
It's not the kids that are getting stressed out but the adults!
Here's Sarah to explain.
What's your favourite subject?
KID 1: I really love Art!
KID 2: reading of course
KID 3: I love science
KID 4: It would have to be maths
KID 5 I really really love music
We all have our favourites but there are a few things everyone needs to learn at school no matter what they do afterwards.
Reading, writing and understand numbers are seen as really important basic skills so to make sure you're learning what you need to every kid in years 3,5,7 and 9 gets a set of tests at the same time every May.
They're the NAPLAN tests; the National Assessment Plan - Literacy and Numeracy.
You'll get tested on your reading, your writing, spelling, language skills and your numeracy (that's maths)
But don't stress, you're results won't be used against you.
So what?
Your parents get a report which shows your score, the range of scores that 60 percent of kids got, and the national average
So for example, your spelling might be better than most kids but your numeracy might be lower than expected which lets your parents and your teachers know you need a bit of extra help there.
But this year a lot of Aussie teachers say they won't be giving out NAPLAN tests!
KID: Why?
KID: Yeah, why wouldn't teachers want us to do a test?
It’s all because of this: a government run website called My School.
Here you can type in the name of any school and find out how the kids there went in their NAPLAN tests
Don't worry your score isn't there!
What they do is add together the score of all the kids in your year then divide that by the number of kids there are. That gives an average
They compare that to a national average and an average of similar schools.
There are also stats on your school like how many kids go there, what abilities they have and what sort of backgrounds they come from.
The government says that's all important information for parents and anyone interested in what's going on in Aussie schools.
But some teachers and principals are worried it's being used to create league tables
KID: What are they?
Ok let’s say each of your guys represents a school. Here's your average NAPLAN score for, say, spelling. A league table would list you guys from the best school to the worst.
KID: Hey - I'm good at spelling
It's just pretend
Now some people say there's nothing wrong with that it just lets you know you’re doing well and you know that you've got some work to do.
But others say it’s not fair to say a school’s worse than others just because of one test. They say NAPLAN was designed to test individual kids, not schools and sometimes averages don't tell the whole story.
Let’s say one school only has nine kids in year seven and three of those kids have learning problems. Three low score would bring the average down even if the rest of the kids did really well.
Teachers worry parents will unfairly blame them or pull their kids out of schools that don't rank very highly.
Kids with frogs
Plus, some say school should be about much more than doing well in one test.
But others say the government is only telling the truth... and everyone agrees the most important thing is making sure every Aussie kid can read and write. Teachers have been ordered to go ahead with the tests if they won't do it the government will find another way to make them happen.
So while the adults argue for you kids, it'll probably be business as usual.
Quiz 1
Time for a quiz and we know that schools come in all different shapes and sizes
but where would you find the world's biggest school?
- China
- India
- United States
Answer: India
It's the Montessori school in Lucknow which has around 35-thousand students.
That's one school where you wouldn't want to be stuck in the canteen queue.
Storm Scandal
Reporter: Nathan Bazley
INTRO: Now to a story that's shocked the world of sport.
The Melbourne Storm were the reigning rugby league premiers but they've been sent to the bottom of the competition ladder.
Let's find out exactly what they did wrong and what's happening now.
They've been the club to beat for most of their short history.
Some of the best and most exciting players in the comp have pulled on the purple jersey and their performances on the field certainly showed it.
Over the last five seasons they won 3 minor premierships, made 4 grand finals, and won 2 of them.
But after tasting the ultimate success of Rugby League the Melbourne Storm are paying the ultimate price.
The best, have been caught cheating.
JOHN HARTIGAN, NEWS LIMITED CEO, STORM OWNERS: I certainly feel angry. I feel very disappointed and quite frankly, I feel sick in my stomach about it.
Let's take a look at exactly what they did and how they did it.
All NRL teams pay their players and some are on a fair bit of cash.
But to keep things fair the NRL has a salary cap.
Each team is allowed to spend a maximum of around four-point-six million dollars on their top 25 players.
It's up to them how they spend it. They could give each player 184 thousand dollars each or they could pay their best players more, and their inexperienced players less, as most clubs do.
But as long as they stay under the cap, everything is fine!
Like other codes, The NRL does this so rich clubs can't just buy up all the good players.
Clubs can only afford to keep a few of their best players so it spreads out the talent amongst everyone.
The aim is to keep the playing field a little more even for each and every club in the comp.
This is exactly the rule that the Melbourne Storm broke.
They wanted to keep all their best players but that would have put them well over their salary cap.
So for the last five years, the bosses of the club organised extra secret payments to players totalling one-point-seven million dollars. Whilst making it look like they were doing the right thing.
DAVID GALLOP, NRL CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Over the last few weeks it's come to light that the storm has engaged in a long term system of operating what might be conveniently be called two sets of books.
So in punishment for the secret payments book the NRL threw the book at them.
DAVID GALLOP: The penalty will be the stripping of three minor premierships and two premierships, the return of $1.1 million in prize money - that will be distributed to the other 15 clubs evenly - a fine of $500,000.
Yep, you heard correctly, the Storm's two grand final flags and three minor premierships will be wiped from the record books.
The clubs that lost those grand finals to Melbourne: Manly and Parramatta won't be awarded them back again either.
Also, the Storm will be banned from winning any points for the rest of the current season meaning they'll be guaranteed wooden spooners for 2010.
It's no wonder fans are devastated.
Midday report
VOX: Look it's really disappointing to me, because what's the point of watching the game against the warriors on the weekend?
Go to warriors and storm match from Sunday night
Well as it turns out, there was a point actually there were forty of them even if none would be added to the ladder.
But the big question is, can the Storm survive this crisis and bounce back to again be a force in the NRL .
Let's make that story this week's poll question.
Online Poll
Do you think the Melbourne Storm's punishment is too harsh?
To vote just head to our website.
Special Olympics
Reporter: Kirsty Bennett
INTRO: It seems like we've had Olympics fever lately
We've seen the Winter Olympics, the Paralympics and now Australia has hosted the Special Olympics.
So what's so special about the Special Olympics?
Well it's a national competition for athletes who have an intellectual disability.
KIRSTY BENNETT, REPORTER: It could be any other Olympic Games. There's an opening ceremony, a medal podium and let's not forget some tough competition!
KIRSTY: So what makes the Special Olympics unique? Well all of these athletes have an intellectual disability.
That's when people find it hard to do some things without support or extra time to learn. These Olympics give people with such a disability the opportunity to compete in their favourite sport. For 11 year old Ben - that's sailing! Ben's been on the water since he was 5 years old and this is his first Special Olympics. He had a brain tumour when he was really young. And ever since then he's had loads of operations: once he had to have surgery ten times in just one year! He sails with his Dad and there's a bit of competition over how many trophies they've each won!
KIRSTY: How many does your Dad have? Is there a bit of a competition going on?
BEN, SAILOR: Five. He's got the same! And I hope I'm going to beat him!
SHANE, BEN'S DAD: Ben's going to end up with more trophies than I got as a kid!