Friday, 25 November, 2022
Victoria goes to the polls; all about the ARIAs; Queensland’s spider invasion; and an expensive can of ham.
LINKS
Huntsman interrupts press conference: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/huntsman-spider-and-insect-influx-set-to-hit-queensland-homes-as-perfect-conditions-persist/news-story/0eeccd6bef2399d04ab6cbb04c488f97
Birdlife photography award winners: https://www.birdlifephotoaward.org.au/gallery-winners-2022
Newshounds: Get started on our free media literacy resource for classrooms www.squizkids.com.au/newshounds
Squiz Kids + Lego ‘Build To Give’ Christmas Campaign
Help Lego give away Lego sets to families in need this Christmas.
- Build something using Lego
- Share your creation to Instagram (a story or a post)
- Tag @ squizkids and #buildtogive
We’ll re-share your post on our Instagram, and on December 9, reveal just how generous Squiz Kids are …
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
THE LOWDOWN
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If you’re in Victoria, it’s likely that your school P&C is gearing up for a sausage sizzle tomorrow! That’s because Saturday is state election day— and when there’s an election, schools are often used as polling stations—places where people go to vote. Which is a great opportunity to sell a few democracy sausages, as they are called, and raise a bit of money for your school.
Of course, there’s more to the Victorian election than sausages… and this will be the first time Victorians have gone to the polls since the Coronavirus epidemic. Premier Dan Andrews and his Labor colleagues are hoping to win for the third time in a row, and are campaigning with the slogan “Doing What Matters”. They’ve promised that, if elected, they’ll build schools and hospitals, provide free TAFE education, and help the state get on top of rising energy prices.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy, who belongs to the Liberal Party, has the slogan “Real Solutions for All Victorians”. He’s also promised big changes for healthcare, including new hospitals, as well as no new taxes, and ways to make it easier for people who are buying a house for the first time.
The two men who want to be Premier only debated each other once, and they did not do it on free-to-air TV… meaning that only people who pay for cable TV could watch. Both sides thought they won the debate, of course—but there’ll only be one winner tomorrow! Tune in on Monday, and Bryce will tell you what Victoria decided.
SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day, we give the world globe a spin, and find a news story wherever it stops. And today we’ve landed in America, where the smash-hit product of the Christmas season appears to be Spam Figgy Pudding. Now, if the adults you’re listening with look horrified, that’s because they already know what Spam is. I’m not talking about unwanted computer messages, but spiced ham in a can. Put the sp- from spiced and the -am from ham together and you get spam, which has been around since the 1930s and was very popular during World War II, when times were hard and many people couldn’t afford fresh meat.
For reasons I cannot explain, the canned spiced ham has remained popular in many places around the world. And last week, the people who make Spam released a limited-edition seasonal variety called Spam Figgy Pudding, that adds the flavours of Christmas pudding – like fig, orange, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger – to the canned ham. And as of this week, it’s completely sold out at Spam.com, Amazon, and the gigantic American superstore Walmart. So if you really want some… and I guess plenty of people do… you’ll have to head to eBay, where prices have already quadrupled – to more than $65 Australian dollars for a can of ham!
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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Residents of Queensland have been told to prepare for an invasion this summer—not of soldiers, thankfully, but of creepy-crawlies. Apparently, the hot, steamy weather has created the perfect breeding conditions for huntsman spiders, in particular, but also cockroaches, termites, and ants. And, because the huntsmans have a lot of insects to feed on, there aren’t just more of them… they are bigger than usual, too. I’ll put a link in your episode notes to a video of a huntsman interrupting a press conference by the Queensland Health Minister … I particularly love the look on the Auslan interpreter’s face when he explains what all the fuss is about!
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In much more pleasant animal news, the Birdlife Photography Award winners have been announced. More than 5,600 entries were received in the annual competition, which raises money and awareness for bird conservation. Now, as a Mum and a teacher I’m probably biased, but I think some of the best of the bunch are the photos in the youth photographer category. I’ll put a link in your episode notes… but I want to give a special shoutout to Finnian Bissell, who took a stunning photograph in his grandma’s garden of her favourite bird, the olive-backed sunbird, on the day that she was moving out after 50 years. Finnian waited 40 minutes for the bird to arrive, and almost missed going to the airport with his gran! If you ask me, the stunning picture he captured would have been worth missing a plane.
POP CULTURE CORNER
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Last night, the Australian music industry’s ARIA awards were held, and indigenous rapper Baker Boy cleaned up. Not only did he win Album of the Year, Solo Artist of the Year, AND Best Hip Hop Release… but his debut album, Gela, also won ARIAS for best cover art and the best mixed album. Baker Boy, also known as Danzal Baker, won Young Australian of the Year in 2019. He gave his album of the year acceptance speech in his indigenous language, and dedicated his award to family and young people back at home.
It was Baker Boy’s first time accepting an ARIA… while the Wiggles added another two to their very large collection. Their OG Wiggles Reunion / Fruit Salad TV Big Show Tour won best live act, and they won their FIFTEENTH best children’s album ARIA for “Rewiggled”. Fifteen! I wonder where they put them all?
THE S’QUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- What is the name of the state leader seeking a third term in office this weekend? Bonus points if you can name the opposition leader who wants his job.
- Which two words have been put together to make “spam”?
- Which kind of spiders are invading Queensland at the moment?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s November 25 .. Black Friday. It’s an American institution, there are big sales after Thanksgiving, which was yesterday. And for some reason, Australia has adopted it.
It’s also a Friday – and you know what that means .. lots of birthday shout outs for today and the coming weekend … for which we’re going to need to crack out the ol’ birthday reggae tune … hit it …
And it’s a happy birthday today to… Ivy from Forest Lake, Lachy from Belmont, Jeremy from Epping, Toby from Wahroonga, Josie from Frenchs Forest, Frank from Albury, Drishti from Sydney, Francis from North Bondi, Claire from Naremburn, Matilda from Warragul, Zoe from Preston, Leah-Rose from North Rothbury, Cecilia from Newmarket, Noah from Yorketown, Timothy from Lilli Pilli, Tilly and Annie listening in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Alice from Brazil and Myrtle in Phuket, Thailand.
Belated birthday shout outs go to… Lachlan in Bray Park, Ethan in Exeter and Mila listening in Belmopan City, Belize.
Not forgetting the Squiz Kids who are celebrating a birthday over the coming weekend … Oscar from Erskineville, Georgina from Hurlstone Park, Nicola from Adelaide, Eric from Belmont, Alric from St Leonards, Ciara, from Wavell Heights, Mischa, Taivas and Bella from NSW, Ross from Bexley, Alexander from Bella Vista and Suri, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
And a couple of special classroom shoutouts this Friday go to ..
Class LA22 at Atwell Primary School and farewell to their teacher Mr Elms, who is leaving the school; class 1S at Blayney Public School and thank you to their prac teacher Mrs Sutton on her last day; and lastly a shout out to grade 3/O at Ivanhoe Primary School, from your teacher Mr O’Callaghan, who is travelling in the U.K at the moment and looks forward to seeing you upon his return!
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Daniel Andrews and Matthew Guy
- Spiced ham
- Huntsman spiders