Parliamentary Privilege

Questions for discussion

Parliamentary privilege

What did the BtN story mainly explain?
Think of three adjectives to describe the job of a politician.
Why are politicians able to speak more freely in parliament?
Do you think it is important that politicians have parliamentary privilege? Explain your answer.
It is the same power that ______give people so witnesses feel they can tell the truth safely.
What sorts of things has parliamentary privilege exposed in the past?
How has Craig Thomson used parliamentary privilege recently?
What if members of the public were able to say whatever they liked?
What questions do you still have about parliamentary privilege?
Explain to another person what parliamentary privilege is.

Post a message on the Behind the News Guestbook

Vaccinations

Discuss the issues raised in the Vaccinations story with another student.
Which vaccination Sarah get in the BtN story?
Whooping cough
Polio
Measles
What is a vaccine?
Who do vaccinations protect?
Name some diseases that vaccinations protect you from?
Getting vaccinated is compulsory. True or false?
Why do some people decide not to vaccinate their children?
What percentage of parents on the north coast of NSW, are choosing not to vaccinate their children?
What are some side effects of vaccinations?
What do you understand more clearly since watching the BtN story?

` Should some vaccinations be made compulsory?’ Vote in the BtN online poll

Fruit fly

Why are roadblocks set up on state borders to search for fruit fly?
About how many cars a year are found to have infected fruit?
Describe the damage fruit fly can cause.
What does the pest feed on?
Which two species of fruit fly are considered the most dangerous?
Describe the appearance of a species of fruit fly.
What is meant by a fruit growing area that is PFA?
What happens to fruit when there is an outbreak of fruit fly?
Why are backyard inspections done regularly?
What are growers doing to stop an outbreak of fruit fly?

Research the characteristics and life cycle of the fruit fly.

App kid

Explain the App kid story to another student.
What is an app and on which devices would you find them?
What sorts of things do apps let people do?
Which photo sharing app sold recently for a billion dollars?
Who created the popular game Angry Birds?
Describe the app that Zeryab has created.
What makes his app different to other taxi apps?
Who is helping Zeryab develop his app?
How has your thinking changed since watching the App kid story?
What are your three favourite apps? Why?

Survey kids and adults about what their favourite apps are.

Korfball

Retell the Korfball story in your own words.
Which two sports is korfball similar to?
How did korfball get its name?
When was it invented?
What is unique about korfball?
Korfball is an Olympic sport. True or false?
Which states in Australia is korfball played?
Briefly describe the basics of korfball.
Illustrate an aspect of the BtN story.
Why do you think korfball isn’t as popular as basketball or netball?

Create an advertising poster to promote the game of korfball. Include information about how to play the game and why it’s enjoyable.

Vaccinations

Focus Questions

Discuss the issues raised in the Vaccinations story with another student.
Which vaccination Sarah get in the BtN story?
Whooping cough
Polio
Measles
What is a vaccine?
Who do vaccinations protect?
Name some diseases that vaccinations protect you from?
Getting vaccinated is compulsory. True or false?
Why do some people decide not to vaccinate their children?
What percentage of parents on the north coast of NSW, are choosing not to vaccinate their children?
What are some side effects of vaccinations?
What do you understand more clearly since watching the BtN story?

Vaccinations

Students will investigate what vaccines are and how they work. Discuss the issues raised in the BtN Vaccinations story and record responses.

Ask students to find out what the following key words about vaccines mean:
immunity, virus, antibodies, vaccine, immune system, antigen

They will then think about key questions or issues relating to vaccines and vaccinations that they would like to investigate. As they go through their investigation, they will need to complete the following chart:

What do I know? / What do I want to know? / How will I find out? / What I have learnt.

Some key questions/issues to consider are:

How do vaccines work?
What impact have vaccines had on controlling disease?
Why are most vaccinations given in the early years of a person’s life?
What are the potential risks of vaccinations?
Why vaccinate against rare diseases?
What is the future of vaccinations? Predict what vaccines may be available during your lifetime.

To extend students understanding, they can research a vaccine such as Polio, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Hepatitis B or Chicken Pox. Describe the disease the vaccine prevents. What are the symptoms and who is most at risk of getting the disease? What are some possible side effects of the vaccine?

Students can demonstrate their learning in a number of ways. These include:

Create a `did you know?’ about vaccinations.
Using student’s key questions as a guide create a WebQuest about vaccinations. The following website explains how to do it
Create an illustrated glossary of scientific words about vaccines and vaccinations
Present research findings in a PowerPoint presentation or Microsoft Publisher.

Related Research Links

ABC Catalyst – Danger Zones

The history of vaccines - How vaccines work – animation

Department of Health and Ageing – Frequently asked questions about immunisation

App kid

Focus Questions

Explain the App kid story to another student.
What is an app and on which devices would you find them?
What sorts of things do apps let people do?
Which photo sharing app sold recently for a billion dollars?
Who created the popular game Angry Birds?
Describe the app that Zeryab has created.
What makes his app different to other taxi apps?
Who is helping Zeryab develop his app?
How has your thinking changed since watching the App kid story?
What are your three favourite apps? Why?

What’s your idea for an app?

Students will be designing their own app that they think there is a need for.

To get them thinking about designing their own app, students brainstorm a list of apps that are already available. What are the gaps in the app market? Students may find it useful to survey children and adults to determine this.

Students reflect on their own app use by responding to the following questions:

Which apps do you use? Why?
What are your three favourite apps?
What makes these apps better than others?
How often do you use apps?

Students share their responses and discuss the similarities and differences with their responses.

Design an app

Write a short description of your idea for an app and draw a sketch of the different elements of your app. Support your app idea by answering the following questions:

What does your app have to offer that the others don’t?
What problem does your app solve?
Who is the target audience?

Students present their app ideas to the class or a small group of students and ask them to give feedback.

Reflection

Ask students to consider the following:

What was successful about your app design?

What changes would you make? Why?

Related Research Links

ABC 370 – Australian student chases billion dollar appy-ness

ABC News – Facebook snaps up Instagram for $US1 billion

BtN: Episode 14 Transcript 29/5/12

On this week's Behind the News

They protect us from disease, so why are some people saying no to getting vaccinated?

We join the fight against the Fruit Fly to see what’s being done to tackle this pest.

And we meet a kid who’s trying to turn his bright idea into a big business.

Hi I'm Nathan Bazley, welcome to Behind the News. Also on the show today we introduce you to a sport that you probably haven’t played, or maybe haven’t even heard on. That’s later, but first.

Parliamentary Privilege

Reporter: Nathan Bazley

INTRO: A politician who's under investigation recently gave a speech in parliament where he accused people of deliberately trying to frame him. It's a big allegation, which they've denied. So why can't they sue him for what he said? It all comes down to something called 'parliamentary privilege'. Let's see what it is.

SARAH: I'm sorry teacher, I can't hand in my homework, because Harry stole it.

HARRY: No I didn't! Teacher, she should get in trouble for saying that!

TEACHER: I'm sorry, I can't get mad at Sarah, because she's in the invincibility chair.

HARRY: Oh.

NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: Invincibility in the classroom would clearly be pretty handy. But unfortunately, invincible students don't really exist. There are some people out there in our community that really do have a type of invincibility though.

This place may not look like all that much, other than a decorator's nightmare, but parliament house has a special power you can't see. Any politician that walks in here is granted a type of invincibility. It's called Parliamentary Privilege!

Okay so here's how it works. As long as I'm a politician and I'm talking in here, I can say pretty much whatever I want and not get in trouble for it. So right now I could claim that Justin Bieber once tried to pay One Direction to let him in the band, and Justin couldn't sue me for saying it even though it's pretty nasty. (and untrue!)

It all sounds a bit unfair though, doesn't it! I mean, why should pollies be able to say what they like about anyone they want? Well there is an important reason why these special powers were provided.

Politicians do have a tough job to do. Part of it is debating controversial topics and to do that properly, they have to be able to put their honest opinion forward, even if it could cause trouble. Parliamentary privilege has been used in the past to expose things like corruption. It's the same power that courts give people so witnesses feel they can tell the truth safely. So it's a pretty useful tool!

Politicians have used this special power heaps in the past. And the people on the receiving end of these comments could do little about it in return, whether they were guilty or innocent of what was said. But the latest example of its use was a little different.

You might have seen this man on the news a fair bit recently - Craig Thomson. He's a politician who's been accused of doing the wrong thing. So to try to clear his name, he gave a speech in parliament in which he accused these people of framing him and of doing some other bad things as well.

Normally, comments like that would get you in a lot of trouble if you didn't have facts to back it up. But because of where he said it, Craig is invincible!

MARCO BOLANO, HSU EAST: Any suggestion that I conspired to set up Mr Thomson as he has claimed from the shelter of Parliament, specifically the protection of his parliamentary privilege, is utterly false and an abuse of his parliamentary privilege.

Meanwhile back at school, the invincibility chair doesn't quite have the same legal power as Parliamentary Privilege does.

TEACHER: Wait a second, now what were you saying about that homework Sarah?

Presenter: Let's see what else is making the news. Here's Sophia with the Wire.

The Wire

A lot of investors have unliked Facebook after the company's disastrous entry to the stock exchange. Last week was the first time ordinary people could buy shares in Facebook and it had a lot of people excited, maybe too excited. Experts say the shares were sold for way too much. And while the price went up for a little while, it soon came crashing back down, which meant a lot of people lost a lot of money.

*****

Australian Schapelle Corby could be out of jail by the end of this year. The 35-year-old was arrested back in 2005 for trying to smuggle drugs into Bali. She said she was innocent and that someone else had planted the drugs in her body board bag. But an Indonesian court sentenced her to 20 years in a Balinese jail. Now the Indonesian President has reduced that sentence by 5 years and Corby can apply for parole this year.

*****

In Azerbaijan they're sweeping up the sequins after the country hosted this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Swedish singer Loreen was the big winner on the night while second prize went to some grooving grannies from Russia, the Buranovskiye Babushki. Ireland’s entry looked impressive, with some futuristic costumes and an onstage shower but Jedward failed to get a place. And neither did England's entry old-school crooner Engelbert Humperdinck.

Vaccinations

Reporter: Sarah Larsen

INTRO:Vaccines have helped wipe out some diseases and save millions of lives, but still some people refuse to get them. An outbreak of whooping cough in Tasmania has some doctors worried that the message to vaccinate isn't getting through. Here's Sarah.

SARHA LARSEN, REPORTER: It's that little jab most of us have felt before, as babies, or older, braver kids. People of all ages get vaccinations, even BtN reporters.

I've come to the clinic for a booster jab to protect me against a disease called whooping cough. It can make anyone sick but for little babies it can be fatal. So to make sure I can't pass it on I'm getting vaccinated.

That needle has a little bit of the whooping cough bacteria in it but it's been deactivated so it can't make me sick. What it will do is teach my body how to fight it so if the real thing comes along, I'll be ready. Vaccinations aren't just about protecting you from a disease, they're about protecting the people around us.

Some germs need people to live and breed in. And vaccinations make that difficult. So if enough people are protected it can stop the disease from spreading. Some diseases have been all but wiped out by vaccinations. When your grandparents were little Polio was a disease which affected tens of thousands of kids. Now it's almost unheard of in Australia. And medical experts say it's because so many people got vaccinated. But getting vaccinated is voluntary. It's up to parents and adults whether they get a jab and some decide against it.

If you look on the internet it's not hard to find people who don't agree with vaccination. Some say it cause serious side effects and that babies have died or been left with disabilities after being vaccinated. Nearly all doctors and scientists say that's not true and they're worried too many people are listening to the wrong advice.

WOMAN: And I really think that the vaccinations actually don't help with letting the body naturally build its own immune system.

WOMAN: I just feel that I don't really want to put anything unnatural in him, because I just don't feel it's natural, yeah.

TEENAGE GIRL: No, I haven't been vaccinated.

DR MARYANNE DEMASI: What's the reason for that?

TEENAGE GIRL: Um, well my parents did not believe in it

Here on the North Coast of New South Wales many parents are choosing not to vaccinate their kids and some are worried it's led to an increase in diseases like whooping cough. They say people are worried about side effects from vaccinations, even though they're usually very minor.

PROFESSOR ROBERT BOOY, IMMUNISATION SPECIALIST: It's common to get a bit of redness or swelling at the injection site. Bit of pain that lasts a couple of days, a fever, maybe for a day.

DOCTOR: Okay, all good.

MOTHER: Good girl.

PROFESSOR ROBERT BOOY, IMMUNISATION SPECIALIST: But they're minor and they go away quickly. Rare side effects are something in the order of one hundreds of thousands. An allergic reaction, for example.

Professor Booy says one of the problems is vaccinations have been too successful. People have forgotten how devastating diseases like polio were, so they're not getting vaccinated. But the majority of Aussies do get vaccinated both as babies and as older kids. With just a little jab, they're helping to keep themselves and others healthy.