BTN Episode 19, 2025
Defence Spending
Reporter: Justina Ward
INTRO: But first, we're going to take a look at a big military exercise that's happening in Australia right now. It's called Talisman Sabre, and it involves thousands of defence workers from around the world but it's also drawing attention to some big questions around the future of Australia's military. Take a look.
JUSTINA, REPORTER: On the ground, in the air and on the water.
BRIG. TIM ORDERS, AUSTRALIAN ARMY: You're gonna see an increase in military vehicle traffic in and around the roads in Darwin and Katherine but, uh, citizens shouldn't be alarmed.
So, what's this for exactly?
Welcome to Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025.
It's a joint military exercise that's run by Australia and the US every couple of years.
It's an honor to join you.
And this year it's the biggest it's ever been with 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations taking part that's all about.
VICE ADMIRAL JUSTIN JONES, AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE: Operating together, training and rehearsing our war fighting.
It's also a chance to show off our cool weapons and build relationships with our neighbours. But organising exercises like this and keeping our forces in tip top shape doesn't come cheap. At the moment, Australia spends around $56 billion a year on defence. That pays for things like weapons, vehicles, machinery and paying wages for people working in defence. And the government says it's planning to spend even more.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: $57 billion over 10 years, we are increasing our defence spending and investment by more than $10 billion.
That might sound like a lot, and it is, but it's still only about 2.3% of our GDP, or gross domestic product, which is basically the value of everything the country produces in a year. Meanwhile the US spends almost 1.5 trillion dollars which is about 3.4 per cent of its GDP. All of that money has helped to make America's defence force one the most, if not, the most powerful in the world. It's why since the end of the Second World War, Australia has relied on its alliance with the US, knowing that if we need help, America would be there. And it's not just Australia. Lots of other countries have military alliances with the US that they rely on to keep them safe. But recently US President Donald Trump has questioned whether or not that's fair.
DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: If you're not going to pay your bills, we're not going to defend you.
He's pressured European allies to increase their defence spending.
DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: The NATO allies committed to dramatically increase their defence spending to that 5% of GDP. This is a big win for Europe and for actually Western civilization.
His government has also asked Australia to up its defence spending to 3.5% of GDP.
PETE HEGSETH, US SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: A long standing, incredibly important relationship with our friends in Australia.
That would be $40 billion extra a year. So, a lot and our prime minister wasn't exactly on board.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: They announced an amount of money they couldn't say where it was coming from, and they couldn't say what it was for. That makes no sense.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: We determine our defence policy here, we're a sovereign nation.
But some say we do need to have a serious think on defence spending, right now more countries are fighting each other than at any point since the 2nd world war, we've got growing tensions between the world's superpowers. And our most powerful ally wants to put…
DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: America First. We will always put America first. I'm putting America First.
We've also seeing some big changes in the way technology is used to fight wars. For now, our military says our alliance with the US is going strong.
BRIG. GEN. SHANNON SMITH, US AIR FORCE: The reason we're here today is our commitment to our alliance with Australia our commitment to the region.
As our soldiers continue to show off the best they've got.
News Quiz
What big change has the UK made to its electoral system? Has it introduced compulsory voting, lowered the voting age to 16, or made elections every three years instead of five? It's lowered the voting age to 16. It means around 1.6 million young Brits will be able to vote at the next election.
DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: We're very, very unhappy with them and we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days.
Which country was US President Donald Trump talking about? China, Russia or Israel? It was Russia. Mr Trump wants the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine. He's agreed to sell billions of dollars' worth of weapons to NATO countries, which they'll give to Ukraine to help it fight Russia.
Tasmania had an election on the weekend. Do you know when its last state election was? Four years ago, three years ago or last year? It was only last year. So, they weren't really due for another one but before the holidays the parliament passed a no-confidence motion against the premier Jermey Rockliff meaning they didn't support him. Mr Rockliff refused to quit so the state went to an election which the Liberal Party won, just. They didn't get enough seats to govern on their own, so they'll have to team up with minor parties.
Why was a band called Velvet Sundown in the news recently? Because they reformed after 20 years to play at Glastonbury, because they stole a song from another artist or because they're AI generated? They're entirely AI. Despite that, the band has racked up more than a million monthly listeners. Cool.
And do you know what's happening here on the River Thames? Is it a boat race, an historic bridge inspection or a swan census? It's a swan census. The official swan count is a ceremony that's been going since the 12th century. Basically, all unmarked swans on the Thames are the property of the King, who has the official title Seigner of Swans and to make sure no-one was pinching them for dinner officials would do a swan head count. These days it's more about conservation and making sure the swans are happy and healthy.
Age Verification Rules
Reporter: Tatenda Chibika
INTRO: Recently, Australia became the first country in the world to make internet search providers check your age when you log in. The new rules are designed to make sure kids aren't seeing harmful stuff online. But will they work? Tatenda found out more.
PERSON: I feel like on Google I just look up like whatever comes to my mind, like if I'm curious about something, I'll search it up and see if there's an answer for it.
PERSON: Chat GPT. That's what I search up.
PERSON: Sometimes I go online shopping on Google and then I also like to help me with my homework and stuff.
TATENDA, REPORTER: Yeah, for a lot of us it's kind of hard to imagine a world without search engines.
But along with all that useful information, entertainment, recipes and the name of that one annoyingly catchy song you heard at the shops but couldn't memorise all the lyrics to, there's also some stuff that you probably shouldn't be seeing.
PERSON: Just like there's sometimes weird ads and stuff
PERSON: it's just, like naked people. It's like everything's out there, which is too much exposure, too much exposure
PERSON: it's been a lot of inappropriate things sometimes.
That's why from December, search engines run by companies like Google and Microsoft will have to check the ages of anyone who logs in.
It's among a whole heap of changes being introduced under the Online Safety Act.
JULIE INMAN GRANT, ESAFETY COMMISSIONER: Very few of these technologies and platforms were created with children in mind or with safety as a primary goal.
If you're under 18 search results will filter out things that are inappropriate like gambling, violence or other stuff that's not meant for kids. And the eSafety Commissioner's making the industry itself come up with the solutions.
So, how exactly are they going to check your age well the government has given them a few options. For example, they might check other forms of ID like credit cards or licenses. They might get your parents to give permission, they might rely on other platforms that have already checked your age, or they might use technology that uses your face to guess your age. But as these guys found out recently, when they tried out some face scanning software, that doesn't always work.
STUDENT: I'm getting yeah 23
STUDENT: I've just scrunched up my face all angry like this and the thing gave me 41 years old.
STUDENT: It went from 15 to 14, to 13 getting younger by the minute.
These are the type of things tech companies will use to check your age once the governments social media ban comes into effect later this year, so the clocks ticking to figure out what works. Although, some people think nothing will be totally effective.
LISA MAE GIVENS, RMIT PROFESSOR: At the end of the day, where there's a will there's a way, people can definitely still access this content by not logging into an account they could also use a VPN to get around it by pretending to not be in Australia for example.
There are also some concerns that the new rules will risk people's privacy. Companies will need to store all that data and that can make them a target for cyberattacks. And some people think it's more important to teach young people how to use the internet responsibly instead of shielding them from some parts of it.
So, what do you think?
PERSON: There's some things that are on the internet that people my age shouldn't like, really see and I think that age verification is a good way to stop that.
PERSON: I know kids that like, don't really use it for what they're really meant to. So, yeah, I think filtering should happen.
PERSON: As a child I grew up and I could choose what I was exposed to a certain degree, whereas now that choice is taken away. So, yeah, I think it's important.
PERSON: I think it's really hard to shelter anyone from what the world is.
PERSON: Education and educating your child is the main thing, but also those restrictions being put in place is definitely like a good add on to that.
Quiz
Do you know what the most searched-for word is? Weather, YouTube or Google? It's YouTube. More than a billion people type it into Google's search bar every month.
UNESCO Rock Art
Reporter: Jack Evans
INTRO: Now to Australia's brand-new World Heritage Site and when I say new, I mean incredibly ancient. The rock art at Murujuga in Western Australia is up to 50,000 years old and it's now joined the likes of Stonehenge and the pyramids on a very special list.
On the northwest coast of Western Australia, you'll find the Murujuga Cultural Landscape, home to the biggest and most diverse collections of rock art engravings in the world. Some of which date back more than 50,000 years and include carvings of extinct species and the earliest depiction of the human face.
PETER JEFFERIES, MURUJUGA ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: They tell the story of our ancestors and what they've done over tens of thousands of years.
That's why at a meeting in Paris the United Nations Heritage Committee decided to add this sacred site to the World Heritage List.
UNESCO: Let me congratulate Australia on behalf of the entire committee.
BELINDA CHURNSIDE, MURUJUGA ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: We have all come here together and from far away from the Murujuga lands. This has been a long-awaited journey and a fight for our elders, our old people and we are thankful to receive this recognition from a global scale. Thank you everyone.
PETER HICKS, MURUJUGA ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: We were very, very happy that, you know. That word probably can't describe it, you know, to the full extent of it.
Murujuga, alongside 25 other sites from around the world, will now join a long list of famous sites, like the Taj Mahal in India, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Stonehenge in the UK, Machu Picchu in Peru and the Great Wall of China in, well, China.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation or UNESCO started the World Heritage List in 1978 as a way to protect sites that had "outstanding universal value to humanity". Today the list includes 1223 sites from 170 countries. Here in Australia, we have 21 on the list including the Sydney Opera House, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, the Blue Mountains, the Great Barrier Reef and now Murujuga.
Being heritage listed is a big honour and helps to boost tourism, but it also means governments are put under more pressure to protect sites and have to regularly report to UNESCO. So, Traditional Owners are hoping the heritage listing helps to keep Murujuga safe. They say nearby mining and gas projects cause damage and erosion to the rock art.
RAELENE COOPER, MARDATHOONERA TRADITIONAL CUSTODIAN: You cannot have industry. And culture coexist.
MURRAY WATT, ENVIRONMENT MINISTER: In the end, what persuaded the committee was both the scientific evidence but also the genuine passion from the traditional owners to see this World Heritage listing be secured.
They're hoping that by showing the world how special this site is they can make sure it's still there for future generations.
PETER JEFFERIES, MURUJUGA ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: We start a new journey or a new story that we created in the rocks today and we will continue to manage culture and country as our ancestors have already done or have done prior to or previous to us.
BELINDA CHURNSIDE, MURUJUGA ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: This is a testament to the true dedication and commitment. Our resilience of Aboriginal people. Thank you all.
Quiz
Which of these Australian sites has been on the World Heritage List for the longest? Uluru, Kakadu National Park or the Melbourne Royal Exhibition building? It's Kakadu National Park. It was one of three Australian sites to make the list in 1981, along with Willandra Lakes and the Great Barrier Reef.
Moa De-extinction
Reporter: Justina Ward
INTRO: Now, have you ever seen one of these. It's a moa and you probably haven't because they've been extinct for hundreds of years. But an American bioscience company wants to bring them back and so does Peter Jackson. Here's Justina.
NARRATOR: Some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for 500 years, the moa passed out of all knowledge, until.
HOBBIT 1: What's that?
HOBBIT 2: It looks like an emu.
WIZARD: I think it's a moa.
JUSTINA, REPORTER: Yeah, meet the moa. It's a 3.5 metre wingless bird that once roamed the plains of Middle-Earth, I mean, New Zealand. Moa disappeared around 500 years ago possibly because of human hunters, but now an American bio-tec company says they can bring them back.
BETH SHAPIRO, COLOSSAL BIOSCIENCES: The process of de-extinction is that we extract DNA from ancient bones, and we sequence that DNA and assemble ancient genomes.
DNA is like blueprint that exists inside the cells of all living things determining how they look and act. Sometimes you can also find DNA preserved in dead things.
BETH SHAPIRO, COLOSSAL BIOSCIENCES: To de-extinct the moa we are collecting DNA from all nine species of moa. We'll be comparing the genome sequences to genomes of living birds to identify what it is that made moa unique, and using the tools of genome editing to make those changes in the DNA sequence of the living close relatives.
And it's got a lot of moa fans excited, especially the Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson who's invested around 23 million dollars for the project.
PETER JACKSON, FILMMAKER: You know, in the hope that within a few years we'll get to see a moa back again. I mean, that to me, it's given me more enjoyment and satisfaction than any films ever have.
WIZARD: Oh.
Colossal Biosciences is using similar techniques to try to bring back other species, like the woolly mammoth, and Tassie tiger. Then there were these guys which Colossal Biosciences claimed were the first dire wolves to be born in more than 10,000 years. Although some were sceptical.
STUART PIMM, DUKE UNIVERSITY: The claim that they have created the dire wolf is just simply rubbish. You know they've put a few, you know, dire wolf genes to create a big white dog.
Yeah, some scientists say they're not really creating an extinct animal, instead they're just making existing species look more like their long-lost relatives.
NIC RAWLENCE, OTAGO PALAEOGENETICS LABORATORY: Scientists can create genetically engineered animals like what they did with the grey wolf and dire wolf. But we're definitely not at the point of bringing back a 100% genetically engineered emu to look genetically look like a moa.
There are also some people who say it's not right to try to bring back extinct species. For starters, keeping these new creatures alive takes specialised knowledge and a lot of money. Plus, some reckon all this effort could be better spent protecting species that are still alive.
WIZARD: Do not be too eager to deal out de-extinction. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.
Yes, thank you Gandalf, others say we should bring back species that we helped send into extinction and thanks to things like climate change and habitat loss, species extinctions are happening faster than ever, some reckon it might be good to have a backup plan.
PETER JACKSON, FILMMAKER: Yeah, it's uniquely a New Zealand bird, so it's something that we've always been very fascinated with and proud about. So, it's a big thing here. The moa is a big thing.
In any case, Colossal says it'll be about 5 to 10 years before we see any moa hatching, until then these amazing creatures will remain a fantasy.
WIZARD: Hang on, that's definitely an emu, I don't think we're in New Zealand anymore.
Sport
COMMENTATOR: Australia wins their first ever Asia Cup Championship.
Yep, the Opals have done it, winning the 2025 Championship in China. While they led at every break Japan narrowed the lead to 8 points at the final change. But the Opals came back strong.
COMMENTATOR: Big start to fourth from Issy Bourne.
Japan levelled the scores twice. But it wasn't enough to stop the Aussies who won eighty-eight to seventy-nine and locked in a ticket to next year's World Cup in Berlin.
Now to the Tour De France. In the 15th stage of this 3000-kilometre race, Tim Wellens finished in front but this guy in third place hadn't noticed.
COMMENTATOR: He doesn't think he's won. Surely not.
COMMENTATOR: Please tell me someone's told him.
Julian Alaphilippe said he couldn't hear his radio after a crash.
JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE, FRENCH CYCLIST: You have to take in on a funny way you know it's part of the game.
And Australia has taken out the Frank Worrell trophy after an eventful third test. They knocked the West Indies over for just 27 the second lowest test innings total ever. Mitchell Starc became the fastest player to take five wickets in an innings.
COMMENTATOR: That's 400 hundred test match wickets for Mitchell Starc.
And Scott Boland became the first Aussie in 15 years to take a test hat-trick.
Charity Flights
Reporter: Wren Gillett
INTRO: Now if you're from the bush, you'll know that there are a lot of great things about growing up away from the city. But there are also some down sides, especially if you need a lot of medical care. Winnie and Raffy are going to tell you how a medical flight charity has helped their family.
WINNIE: My name is Winnie, and I am 9 years old. I live in NSW Coonabarabran. Yeah.
RAFFY: I'm Raffy, 15, from Coonabarabran. Yeah.
Winnie and Raffy are siblings, and as you heard, home for them is here, in Coonabarabran. It's a rural town in New South Wales, and fewer than 3,500 people live here.
WINNIE: I'll describe my town as fairly good, but it doesn't have much in it. But yeah, I could live here for the rest of my life.
RAFFY: Living in a small country town, nearly everyone knows you, so you know, you always, every time you think you're gonna go downtown for like 10 minutes, ends up going half an hour because you're talking to nearly every person you see.
But while living in a small town might mean you're closer to your community, it's common to be far from other things.
RAFFY: Some of the harder aspects living here is, I suppose, medical facilities, schooling, you know if you want, and especially for the things I've experienced with farming, that if you want a part or something like that, you got to drive more.
For Winnie, that distance really matters. She has a medical condition that means she has to constantly monitor her blood sugar.
WINNIE: I'll describe it as just like if all my sugars go low, there's some possible risks that could happen. I might have to get rushed to the hospital if they're like, really, really low.
RAFFY: It does get hard in Coonabarabran because yeah, there are not many facilities here that can help her or stuff like that.
It's why she sometimes needs to fly for treatment.
GLEN BRIDGLAND, LITTLE WINGS: My job entails flying sick kids to and from hospital visits from towns in Outback NSW to the larger hospitals in Sydney and Newcastle.
Glen is a volunteer pilot for Little Wings, A charity that's been helping Winnie for a long time.
WINNIE: I feel like I've flied like a lot of times because I've been flying with them since I was like 3, I think. They have, like tiny teddies in there and I like, eat them because I'm hungry.
GLEN BRIDGLAND: If you live in the larger cities, access to medical treatment is taken as granted. But if you're in the bush that's not as easy, and for people with serious medical issues, the only way they can reach treatment is if they travel a long way. That's where we help.
RAFFY: People should be able to get the treatment they need when they need it and how much they need because everyone has the right to it no matter who they are.
WINNIE: The other kids that have my condition, I just want to tell them never give up, and you can be whoever you want to be, and Little Wings can help you no matter what.
Closer
Well, that's all we've got for you today. We'll be back next week with more. But if you can't wait till then you can head to our website there's plenty to see and do there. You can also catch Newsbreak every weeknight. Have an awesome week and I'll see you next time. Bye.
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- ABC News
Albanese wants childcare to be his legacy but the problem is bigger than access
It was during the election campaign, at the ABC's leaders' debate, that Anthony Albanese declared the political achievement he'd most like to be remembered for: "the universal provision of affordable childcare." For parents facing the frustration of trying to find a childcare place and the money to pay for it, elevating this issue to the stuff of prime ministerial legacy-building was no doubt welcome. A sign of Labor's seriousness. Albanese described his vision for a world in which "it is as natural to have your child have access to childcare as it is to have access to a public school". But this was also a limited goal. The focus on improving access is only one part of the problem when it comes to childcare, as the government has discovered. Improving safety and quality standards has now become an even bigger immediate concern. The ABC's Adele Ferguson has been exposing systemic failures in childcare standards for months, but it was the case revealed three weeks ago involving shocking allegations of abuse by a childcare worker in Victoria that finally spurred state and federal governments into urgent action. In the first Question Time of the new parliament yesterday, there was a concerted show of bipartisanship to lift standards. One of the first bills introduced aims to strengthen powers to carry out spot checks and strip funding if centres aren't meeting minimum standards. Further steps will be taken next month when the Commonwealth, states and territories meet to discuss a national register of childcare workers, mandatory child safety training, and the roll-out of CCTV cameras. Details are still to be thrashed out, but there's now widespread acceptance the system is broken, regulation has been too loose, and a range of steps must be taken. Spot checks, funding threats, and greater transparency around the work history of staff will all help. But will it be enough to fix a sector that's evolved (or devolved) into a confusing mess of not-for-profit and stock-exchange-listed operators, regulated by different state and federal bodies, and largely funded by taxpayer-funded subsidies? "They will likely have a positive short-term impact on safety and quality, but they won't address the deeper, systemic problems that got us to this point," says Andrew Hudson, CEO of public policy think tank the Centre for Policy Development, which was chaired by Sam Mostyn until her appointment as governor-general last year. Hudson gives the government credit for its efforts to guarantee families three days of subsidised care, improve the pay of childcare workers, and provide $1 billion to expand services where they're needed. But ultimately, he says, the government must "stop treating early learning as a market — and start building it as a universal public service". That means "directly funding providers" rather than relying on subsidies to parents that "inflate costs without improving outcomes". It means "stepping in to establish public or not-for-profit options in communities where access is limited". The idea is not to completely ban on private operators. Rather, it's about the government playing a much more direct role in funding low-fee, high-quality providers. But the think tank isn't the only one identifying the profit motive as a problem in childcare. The government's own newly appointed Minister for Early Education Jess Walsh agrees, at least in part. "There are some repeat offenders who continue to put profit ahead of child safety," the minister said yesterday. Indeed, Walsh has repeatedly made this point since taking the portfolio. She is acknowledging the profit motive is, in some cases, putting child safety at risk. Education Minister Jason Clare, who's responsible for childcare at the cabinet level, says "overwhelmingly higher levels" of quality are found in the not-for-profit sector. But he's not yet flagged any move to push profit makers out of the industry. More than 90 per cent of the centres opened over the past decade are run by providers trying to make a profit, chasing taxpayer funds now worth $16 billion every year. This is what makes the childcare sector nothing like the public school system. The prime minister wants improving access to childcare to be his legacy. Andrew Hudson from the Centre for Policy Development reckons he could be far more ambitious. "This is the moment to transform early learning from a patchy, profit-driven market into a universal system — one that delivers affordable, high-quality care for every child, in every community". David Speers is national political lead and host of Insiders, which airs on ABC TV at 9am on Sunday or on iview.
