BtN: Episode 5 Transcript 8/3/11

On this week's Behind the News:

·  Another uprising against a dictator, we look at what's going on in Libya.

·  From the egg to the plate, we examine the industry behind Australia's favourite meat.

·  And why this talented boy could one day be making Hollywood blockbusters.

Hi I'm Nathan Bazley. Welcome to Behind the News.

Also on the show, Tash hits the right note as she joins up with a youth marching band.

But first today:

Milk War

Reporter: Nathan Bazley

INTRO: There are two liquids sold by the litre that people everywhere always worry about the price of fuel and milk.

But while fuel prices have been going up milk prices have dropped at two of our biggest supermarkets.

It sounds like awesome news but there is a catch.

Saving yourself 30 odd cents could cost you more in the long run.

Let's find out how.

NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: Two supermarkets are at war for your business.

The bombs they use are lower prices, and they've been lobbing them at each other for years.

But now, one weapon might have gone too far.

It's a missile of low milk prices.

And while it might sound like a good thing, it's got some thinking there could be a lot of people hurt in the crossfire.

Milk is a very important product, because as Coles' TV ads say, we all buy milk!

And in the last few weeks, both Coles and Woolworths supermarkets have dropped the price of their home brand milk to a dollar a litre.

That's a huge saving of somewhere between 20 - 40 cents a litre!

MOTHER: My kids drink a lot of milk and it's just cheaper for the amount we consume.

But at that low cost, there is a good chance they'd be making a loss on it!

So why would a business do that?

Well, if you go into their supermarket to pick up milk, there is a good chance you'll buy some other items while you're there.

So overall, they are hoping to make more money on everything else, by charging you peanuts for milk!

REPORTER: It all sounds like a great deal really. We get cheaper milk, they make more money and everyone's happy, right? Well not exactly because if you look down the chain, there are a lot of people who might end up wearing the cost.

This is where milk starts its life, and farmers work very hard to get their cows milked every morning.

They get roughly 38 cents a litre for their efforts and that price is mostly locked in for now.

But farmers are really worried that with the price of milk being slashed, their pay packets could also be slashed in the future.

Next up the supply chain are dairy processors, which are big plants where milk is treated and prepared for sale.

They say their profit margins are already really small, and cheap milk could make things worse.

They're paid extra for processing the more expensive brands of milk.

If customers turn away from those brands, the profits of the processors will be hit too.

Finally, there's the last stop in the supply chain - stores!

Smaller shops can't sell cheap milk like the big supermarkets can, so they are worried fewer people will buy milk from them.

If people don't come in for it regularly, many stores say they might hit the wall.

REPORTER: Of course, all of this plays right into the hands of the supermarkets. If they can pay farmers less for their milk from cows like Bessie here; and they can crowd out other milk brands from the processors; and they can close down their competition from local stores; then it will mean more money for them in the long run.

Dairy groups are asking buyers to stop that from happening, by refusing to buy the cheap milk.

But the company that started it all, Coles, says they are absorbing all the costs, so they are the only ones at risk.

And as they remind us - "we all buy milk".

So everyone will be affected by the outcome of this war between milk and money.

Presenter: OK there are views on both sides there.

Let's find out what you think with this week's poll.

Online Poll

The question is:

Would you buy cheap supermarket milk?

To vote just head to our website.

Libya

Reporter: Kirsty Bennett

INTRO: The other week we told you about violent protests in Egypt aimed at removing the country's dictator.

Well now Egypt's neighbour, Libya is pushing for a similar change in its government.

Many people want Libya's current leader to step down but he's not leaving without a fight.

Kirsty checked out what's going on.

KIRSTY BENNETT, REPORTER: With his extravagant fashion sense and an entourage of female bodyguards, this is one world leader who sure knows how to stand out. He prefers to sleep in a tent at international meetings and has paid pop stars like Nelly Furtado to perform for his family. He's Colonel Moamar Gaddafi also known as the Mad Dog of the Middle East and the country that he leads seems to have had enough of him.

This uprising is in a country called Libya, which sits up at the top of Africa between Tunisia and Egypt. About six million people live here and the country has some of the largest oil reserves in Africa. Colonel Gaddafi has been the leader of Libya for more than forty years and rules the country as a dictator. That's a person who has total control of the government and the country's citizens don't get any say. Many Libyan people aren't happy with the way the country's being run. It's quite a rich nation because of all the oil and the people want the money to be shared out more fairly.

But Colonel Gaddafi has brutally hit back against the protestors. He's even ordered the military to shoot some of them and armed his supporters with weapons to fight. But not all of the military are prepared to carry out such harsh orders. Some Libyan fighter pilots who were sent to bomb protestors refused to do so and instead parked their jets in neighbouring countries. Even so, more than a thousand people have been killed already, and some think it could be much more.

The violence has forced lots of people to escape to neighbouring countries for safety. The UN estimates about 15,000 people are crossing the border each day. It's got aid organisations struggling to keep up with the demand for food, water and shelter.

HOVIG ETYEMEZIAN, UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: Yesterday I know that there were more than 2,000, 3,000 people who slept here without blankets, and even more people at the border who slept even without tents. So it's just an incredibly difficult situation.

But while many Libyans are voting with their feet and heading to the border, there are also those who are loyal to Colonel Gaddafi and are prepared to do anything to keep him in power. So what can the international community do to stop all this violence?

World leaders have called on Colonel Gaddafi to step down. Some are also trying to ban aircraft from flying over Libya to stop the Colonel from bombing his own people. The United Nations has put a freeze on his foreign bank accounts and has banned Gaddafi, his family and close supporters from travelling. The International Criminal Court is also going to investigate the Libyan leader for possible crimes against humanity.

SUSAN RICE, US AMBASSADOR TO THE UN: This is a clear warning to the Libyan government that it must stop the killing.

But none of these measures have deterred Colonel Gaddafi, they seem to have only made him more determined. He's warned that thousands of Libyans will die if outsiders interfere. The ultimate solution is for countries like the US to use force to protect Libyans from their own leader. But that's a last resort, for now it's Libya's people who are risking their lives to end Gaddafi's reign.

Presenter: Let's catch up on some of the weeks other news stories in the Wire.

The Wire

Julia Gillard has arrived in Washington for her first visit as Australia's Prime Minister.

She will meet the U-S president Barack Obama, as well as many other important people.

Ms Gillard will also be speaking to both houses of the US parliament - she'll be only the fourth Australian Prime Minister to get the chance.

******

And in Brazil the annual 'Carnival' is on again with thousands of costumed revellers flooding the streets of Rio de Janeiro's city centre for the Boitata block party!

250 kilometres away was this bizarre mud party it doesn't quite have the same costume requirement. All that's needed here is a layer of thick, dark, sticky mud!

It's the 25th anniversary of the tradition.

Another highlight of the carnival is the street parade in Ipanema where dressing "normally" is a big no-no!

The carnival runs until Wednesday, and is expected to draw 756-thousand visitors from Brazil and around the world.

Tastes like Chicken

Reporter: Natasha Thiele

INTRO: Now to a story about chicken which has recently moved ahead of beef to become Australia's favourite meat.

It's a growing industry not least because there's a lot involved in getting the chicken to your plate.

We thought we'd take a look at what goes on behind closed doors at one of Australia's biggest chicken companies.

Here's Tash

NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: This chick is just starting out on life's journey.

Like more than a million other chicks born in Australia every day, its journey will be a short one from the egg to the dinner table in just 7 weeks.

So what happens in the life of a chicken that's bred for its meat?

It all starts at huge chicken breeding farms like this one in Queensland.

Now, these chickens won't end up as dinner.

Their job is to pop out as many fertilised eggs as they can and they do a good job of it.

In just one of these sheds, they get around 6,000 eggs every day.

Although these may just look like trays of eggs you might see at the supermarket, inside each one a chick will grow so they're handled with great care.

Next stop on our journey is the 'hatchery'.

The fertilised eggs go into these devices called 'incubators' they'll stay there for 21 days.

The temperature needs to be exactly right, so the embryo inside each egg can grow.

Once the chicks break out, they're showered with vaccines to make sure they don't pick up any nasty diseases.

And they're sent on a wild ride along conveyor belts until they are fired through shoots, ending up in these crates ready for the next part of their journey.

The day-old chicks end up here to live the rest of their life.

They aren't kept in cages, and they aren't fed growth hormones, just a constant supply of food and water.

In less than two months they end up looking like this and are big enough to be eaten.

And that's when the chickens are moved to a meat processing plant.

160-thousand chickens pass through this plant every day.

They can be sold as whole or chopped up and packed to be sold as raw meat.

There are other factories where they cook the chicken first and cut it to make nuggets and burgers for fast food shops.

The whole industry is massive, and getting bigger.

Chicken has recently become Australia's most popular meat, ahead of beef and lamb.

Why? Well, it's cheaper for a start.

Chickens are relatively easy to mass-produce and that saving can be passed on to the customer.

Also, the quality of chicken meat is considered to be fairly consistent, so shoppers know what they're getting when they hand over money.

Whereas many red meats will vary in quality and price.

And then there's the health aspect too. White meat, like chicken and fish are thought to be healthier than some fatty red meat.

Industry experts reckon the amount of chicken we eat will DOUBLE within a decade, so we could see more even more chicks making the journey from one conveyor belt to the next.

Quiz 1

OK, let's see how much you know about eggs with a quiz.

The question is:

How long does it take for a chicken to produce one egg?

5 hours

10 hours

25 hours

Answer: 25 hours

Movie Magic

Reporter: Kirsty Bennett

INTRO: So a chicken will usually only lay one egg per day.

Next to a story about movie special effects.

They take a long time to make and can cost millions of dollars.

But there's one kid who's learning the same kind of techniques without the huge budget.

And he's getting such a reputation that he's just been invited to spend some time with a famous Hollywood filmmaker.

Here's Kirsty

KIRSTY BENNETT, REPORTER: Whether it's wizards on broomsticks or a war in space. It all explodes onto our screens because of something called special effects. They can be used to create scenes that wouldn't be possible in real life. Or when stunts like blowing up a building would be too expensive and dangerous. These effects can take months and sometimes years to create. And let's not forget millions of dollars.

The bright lights of Hollywood are where many big blockbusters are made. But the special effects can be put together anywhere in the world. Some scenes in this Harry Potter movie were made in Australia. To be good at special effects it helps to be creative, with a good science brain. And even at 9 years old, filmmaker Joshua Langman has shown he has both.

JOSH LANGMAN, FILMMAKER: Well I first got into filmmaking when I watched a film and I went to bonus features because I thought what's on that then I saw the making of the movie and that got me really interested in it so I thought maybe I could make my own movies.

Since then, he's been making films with a particular interest in special effects. When he's not blowing himself up, he's busy making detailed clay models like Murray the Magpie.