Scarn On: Djokovic, Western Australia Radioactive Alert, Australia Day
12:40PM Jan 31, +0000
Speakers:
Glen Speering
Keywords:
australia
january
capsule
year
land
inflation
australians
australian
celebrations
celebrate
holiday
date
novak djokovic
claimed
banned
day
public
anniversary
equipment
western australia
Scarn On guys and welcome to the first Scarn On of 2023. Your source of accessible and understandable news and explanations. You need to understand what's going on in Australia. Not just the what's going on in Australia, but the why as well. This week has been dominated by a few big stories in the Australian news. In the general news we have a missing radioactive capsule in the outback in Western Australia. Our economy remains in a precarious position because of inflation. In sport, Novak Djokovic wins the Australian Open again. And in today's explainer, we see why Australia Day is such a controversial holiday, and why there are calls to change the date. In our main story in Western Australia, a radioactive cesium 137 capsule, which is about the size of a small coin, only six millimeters in diameter, and eight millimeters long, was reported missing on January 25. In WA there are a lot of mines and mineral processing facilities and this capsule would be used to measure the density of some of these extracted materials in one of the processing plants. It was lost in transit being transported somewhere between a Rio Tinto mine in WA's north, some 1400 kilometers north east of Perth and a depo in a Perth suburb of Malaga sometime between January early January 11 and January 16. This is a huge area of land, and it is believed to have fallen off or through the back of a truck somewhere along the Great Northern Highway. Specialist equipment has been brought in to search for the capsule, and the public is being warned to check their car tires and equipment to see if they have unknowingly picked up the object. Close contact with this capsule may result in serious health problems, including radiation sickness. So if you have been along the Great Northern Highway in recent weeks, I would be checking my tires and my car to see if there is anything unusual. In the economic news in financial news, inflation in Australia rose to a new 32 year high of 7.8% in the final quarter of 2022. This is its steepest pace since March 1990. Economists had expected inflation to be only 7.5% Most of the world is experiencing difficulty with inflation but for Australia it is a particular problem. In many countries, the inflation rate is much much higher than in Australia. But in Australia, most Australians keep their wealth in home ownership and they have a lot of debt. So the higher inflation goes, the higher interest rates go and that means people have to pay more for their loans on their homes and other debt as well. In sport the Australian Open was completed in Melbourne as it is each year and Novak Djokovic won his 10th Australian Open title. It has been a very controversial two years for Novak Djokovic, last year he was deported from the country for having lied on his immigration forms. He claimed to have been vaccinated against COVID-19 but had not, he is a known anti Vaxxer and as such, he was given a three year ban from entering Australia. However, this was overturned last year, which angered many considering how strict Australia has been throughout the pandemic. And for most normal people, if you lie on your immigration forms coming into Australia, well bad luck. You're probably never gonna come back again. On top of this, Novak Djokovic's dad was seen celebrating with Russian protesters and fans waving the Russian flag. Russian and Belarusian flags have been banned from the Australian Open and Australia is actively helping Ukraine in its fight to remove Russia from its territory. It is actively financing and supplying equipment and ammunition to Ukraine because of this, Novak Djokovic's dad chose not to be present at the final. But it is possible that he may have been banned anyway. And on to today's explainer, which is why Australia Day is so controversial, and why when I say, well, we don't celebrate Australia Day when I get messages of happy Australia Day and so on.
I say, well, we don't really celebrate it like other people might expect. And there are some reasons for this. So unfortunately, when we celebrate or we recognize Australia Day, it only really includes one perspective, and doesn't take into account what happened in 1788, and the ongoing impact of colonization on First Nations people and the lasting impacts in today's society. Australia Day, January 26, is our National Day, which is thought to mark the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet in Australia. However, it does not it actually marks the day that Australia was claimed for the British Crown. In 1770, James Cook was on his voyage to observe the transit of Venus through the Pacific Ocean. And he was ordered at this time to find new land for the British Crown. Cook, discovered this new land, which we now realize is Australia, and claimed it terra nullius, or land of no one. So the British Crown denied that there had been people living here even though indigenous people have been living here for 60,000 years. So anyway, in the following decade, eleven convict ships sailed from Great Britain and landed or entered Botany Bay on January 20. They couldn't live here, there were no there was no fresh water. And so they decided to look for other places. They went around the corner literally around the corner to what we call Sydney Harbor now, Port Jackson on January 26 1788. And shortly after their arrival, Captain Philip made his way to the shore and raised the British flag claiming the land in the name of King George the Third. The raising of the Union Jack signaled the beginning of British colonisation, and the taking of that land that First Nations people had lived on and cared for for many 1000s of years. You might think that Australia Day has always been celebrated on January 26, but it has not. Prior to the Federation of Australia, which was in 1901, New South Wales was the only colony that celebrated the anniversary of January 26. Calling this date various names such as Anniversary Day, First Landing day and Foundation Day. The first nationally accepted date took place on 30th of July 1915. And this was to raise funds for soldiers in the war effort in the Gallipoli campaign in World War I. In 1935, all States and Territories agreed to celebrate Australia Day together, observing a public holiday on the Monday closest to January 26. It was only in 1994. That Australia Day became a national public holiday with all States and Territories earmarking January 26 for the celebration. Other people commemorate January 26, as a day of mourning, recognizing the violence of the frontier wars as well as, as well as trauma caused by government policies of assimilation and separation, and the stolen generation and so on. The first day of mourning and protest was organized by Jack Patton, William Ferguson, William Cooper and the Australian aboriginies league in 1938. And this was held during Sydney's 150th anniversary celebrations. And so Day of Mourning protests have actually been held every January 26 since 1938. You might also hear it called Invasion Day and Survival Day as well. It is becoming clear that the date will eventually be changed. Quintessential Australia Day celebrations like the Triple J Hottest 100 has already moved the day in which it is held. Other local ceremonies at a government, local government level are beginning to change as well. So it is really just a matter of time. Every year the protests in Australia they get bigger. And the awareness of why this date is problematic, is becoming bigger in the public conscious as well. So one of the biggest challenges that we have with Australia Day and why it might be difficult to move this public holiday is that Australia officially became a country on January 1, 1901, not January 26, 1788. But we already have a public holiday on January one New Year's Day. And in Australia, we have very few public holidays in summer. And Australians love their summer holidays. So there are other options such as having the last Friday in January as a public holiday, maybe to take the negative connotations away from January 6, but to still have a public holiday in summer, but there probably isn't an easy solution in terms of the actual date. But I'm sure that it will change in future. So thank you for listening to another episode of Scarn On, your weekly review of what's going on in Australia in an accessible and informative and contextual manner. So from us here at the Australians Teach English Institute, it's us saying goodbye.
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