Episode 2 Australia with Simon Reeve


Episode 2

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I'm on a journey around Australia.

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A country the size of a continent.

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This is a vast land, with extraordinary wildlife.

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A rich, booming country on the edge of Asia.

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It's not just cricket and kangaroos.

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-Thanks, ladies.

-You're welcome.

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If you think you know Australia, think again.

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On this leg of my journey,

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I travel from Darwin, in Australia's far north, across to the remote

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Cape York Peninsula and on to the Great Barrier Reef.

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In the far north, I go out on patrol with a unique military force,

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experts at surviving deep in the Australian bush.

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-Green ant tea.

-Green ant tea, yeah.

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Two green ants' nests we put in that.

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I have close encounters with some of

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the deadliest creatures on the planet.

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-Is that enough to kill a human?

-15 to 20 humans. No problems at all.

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And I discover how Australia's booming industry

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is threatening the world's greatest coral reef.

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It's really like something from a sci-fi film.

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Wow! Oh, my goodness.

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I'm starting this leg of my journey

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in what locals call the top end of Australia.

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This is the classic Aussie outback - remote, wild and beautiful.

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Down there is Kakadu National Park.

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It's one of the largest national parks in the world.

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Kakadu is just one of thousands of national parks

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and reserves in this vast country.

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It's the size of Wales - a home to spectacular rocky plateaus,

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four major river systems and huge flood plains.

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Conservationist Ian Morris

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has trained many of the rangers who protect the park.

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He knows its 8,000 square miles as well as anyone.

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Apart from being completely massive,

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what is it about Kakadu that makes it special?

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Here we've got a biodiversity hot spot.

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We've got a place where there are lots and lots of unique animals all

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living together, not found anywhere else in the world, just in Kakadu.

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-Just here.

-Endemics, yeah.

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What's this over here, Ian? Is that a croc in the water?

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Yes, that'll be a large male just cruising along.

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It's coming into their breeding season now,

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so the boy ones are getting a bit overloaded with testosterone.

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Ooh, he's looking... He's heading for the boat.

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-We're in his territory, so he's coming to have a look at us.

-Uh!

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-It's probably a ten-foot male.

-Ten foot? There's another one over here.

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They are everywhere around us.

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-Flipping heck!

-You put yourself in crocodile soup today.

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'There are more than 100 types of reptile here

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'and countless other species.'

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That is an incredible bird.

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'The park is a twitcher's paradise, A haven for an endless

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'variety of birds, including visitors from overseas.'

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We're quite close,

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we're very close to Southeast Asia and lots of these water birds

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out here have got aunties and uncles up that way.

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You do realise there are very strong connections between you,

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-the land here, and your Asian neighbours.

-Exactly.

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Kakadu has long been a spectacular sanctuary,

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but in recent years wildlife numbers here have been falling.

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Ten years ago, there used to be a lot more life here.

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There were goannas, which are whopping great monitor lizards,

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there were quolls in the trees around here.

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Quoll is a sort of marsupial, the size of a cat with a bushy tail

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and a lovely pink nose,

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and they have been wiped out by a strange, feral invader

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and Ian's going to take me to try and find it.

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Ian and I headed out of the park to hunt down the destructive creature.

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Is this Graeme here?

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This is Graeme, yes.

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So, this is Ian's mate, Graeme, up ahead,

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who's come to join us on this little mission.

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-You stop here?

-Yes, this will be fine.

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Lights out? And then we wait until dark.

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That's right.

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'The animal causing so many problems in Kakadu

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'and across much of Australia...'

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Just there. There you are.

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That's it.

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'..is called the cane toad.'

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Well, mid-sized female in not great condition...

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-Watch it.

-..can lay 20,000 eggs.

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I've got a thing about toads.

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I'm not mad on them, I must admit.

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Just looks like a harmless frog.

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-It does.

-Why is it so dangerous?

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It is these glands here, which contain this toxin

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which none of our native animals seem to be able to handle.

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So, it's a poisonous toad?

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Yeah, to our animals, it's deadly.

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'Native animals that feast on a cane toad rarely survive the meal.'

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-See that?

-And that's it, that's the poison.

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When the animals get it on their gums,

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that's enough to cause them death in a fairly short while.

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I mean, we've seen lots of big snakes, like king brown snakes,

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which are one of the biggest snakes up here,

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die so quickly, the toad's still stuck in their mouth.

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Good Lord. So they hadn't even swallowed it, just...

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No. Hadn't even got it down. The toxin just is that quick.

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'Cane toads were introduced into eastern Australia

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'from the Americas in the 1930s, in the hope they'd eat beetles

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'that were destroying fields of sugar cane.

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'It was a catastrophic mistake.

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'The cane toads completely failed to eat the beetles and, instead,

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'they became a massive pest.'

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'Just over 100 were introduced. There are now hundreds of millions.'

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See the little tadpoles here?

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They are newly-metamorphosed toad tadpoles.

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Oh, my goodness.

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-Yup.

-There's hundreds of them.

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'Even cane toad eggs and tadpoles contain enough poison to kill

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'fish and frogs that eat them.'

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A female toad can lay, on average, about 35,000 eggs.

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It has been recorded up to about 50,000.

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35,000?

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So, what we're looking at here,

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all these tadpoles are probably the product of one lady.

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Oh, I'm really losing my voice,

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or at least getting appropriately croaky, anyway.

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'Ian and Graeme are among thousands of volunteer conservationists

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'who have spent years hunting cane toads at night,

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'trying to stop the creatures from spreading across the country.'

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There's a big one.

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Yes.

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'When they've gathered up as many as they can find,

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'they cull them as painlessly as possible, using carbon dioxide.'

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One of the really sad things about this is that there's

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no real alternative to that.

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For us, they're the frog from hell.

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That's quite graphic. That's really how you see them.

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That's the sort of threat they are.

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They're more powerful than we are at the moment.

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They're winning and we're losing

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and we've got to turn that around, somehow.

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'Killing one species to protect another

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'is a last resort for any conservationist.

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'Here, experts believe it's the only option.'

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'In recent decades, Australia's wildlife has been hammered.

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'Hundreds of native species have been pushed towards extinction,

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'thanks, in part, to poisonous cane toads

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'and other introduced creatures.

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'Despite the best efforts of volunteers like Ian and Graeme,

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'tackling toads by hand can only have a limited impact

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'on the millions who are still hopping their way

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'across the country.'

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'The next morning, I left the outback.

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'I was on my way to the city of Darwin

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'and stopped first on Australia's northern coast.'

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'This part of the country is closer to Indonesia's capital

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'than it is to Australia's.'

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'In the past, that proximity to Asia has put northern Australia

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'on the front line, as I could see at this

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'World War II coastal bunker.'

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Ooh.

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This area feels cut off from the rest of Australia,

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but Asia's not far away.

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During the Second World War, Japanese war planes

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attacked Darwin, dropping more bombs and sinking more ships than they

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did at Pearl Harbor, which they'd attacked just a few weeks before.

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'And the remote top end of Australia is becoming

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'strategically vital again.'

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'Robertson Barracks is home to Australia's first armoured regiment.

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'I met up with commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Scott Winter.'

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-Colonel.

-Simon. Welcome to the home of Australia's armoured might.

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-Thank you very much, indeed.

-Welcome to Darwin.

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The home of Australia's armoured might. That's quite a line.

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Well, look, I think it's one we can live up to,

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given that we are the best tank regiment in the Australian army.

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We're the only tank regiment in the Australian army, as well.

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No, look, we're fiercely proud of the service that we've conducted

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up here and are very much at home here in the north.

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Do you want to come and have a look around?

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Let's go and have a look. Thank you.

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What is this?

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That's the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank,

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so that's been in service with the Australian army for about six years.

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One of the unique things about the Abrams tank is it

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doesn't have a normal engine in it.

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It's got a helicopter engine in it.

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Why does it have a helicopter engine?

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Is that some sort of top secret part of it?

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No. When they first made the tank, it was so big and so heavy that they

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couldn't physically make a diesel engine big enough

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-to actually move it.

-My goodness.

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Well, you certainly couldn't

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mistake these tanks for belonging to anybody else other than the

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Australian army, could you, really, with the kangaroo on the front?

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Absolutely.

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So a big part of the reason to be up here in Darwin is that this

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is almost Australia's front line.

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It's a fascinating area of the world, Asia.

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It has its unstable, sort of, corners

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and Australia plays a leading role, I guess, in providing stability.

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But Australia is an Asian nation and it makes sense that, you know,

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our capacity in the future is to be within the region.

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I find it really interesting that you say

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Australia is an Asian nation.

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Growing up, I thought of Australia as being a, sort of, well,

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it may sound terrible, but a European outpost.

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Our forebears certainly saw themselves as part of the greater

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Empire and, while many of us are still very proud

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of our European roots,

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there is a geographical reality to where Australia is.

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'We headed down to the training area

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'so that I could see what the tanks can do.'

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I think they're impressive when they're static, but it's not

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until you really see that helicopter engine push

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the 60 tonnes of steel around that you really get to appreciate it.

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I feel a little bit like it could move anywhere, it could do

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anything and there's nothing that's going to stop that, is there?

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-That just means it's working.

-Yeah. The ground shakes.

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When you've got 60-odd tonnes moving at 70km an hour,

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it has quite the unique presence.

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70km an hour, that can be propelled at?

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About 50mph.

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It's designed to make the enemy stand up, back against the tree

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and raise the white flag before you even fire a shot.

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Well, it's working on me.

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I mean, it's great fun.

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As much as we're military professionals and we take an

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enormous amount of pride in what we do, it's also extremely enjoyable.

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It's classic big boys' toys.

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I was about to accuse you of that, but you said it yourself.

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'As the world's focus shifts towards the Asia region,

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'the United States has recently announced it will be

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'shifting its military focus from the Middle East to Asia.

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'The US is also rekindling a long standing strategic friendship

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'with Australia, and over the next few years

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'Robertson Barracks will become a home for up to

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'2,500 elite US Marines.'

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So this is where the US Marines will be living.

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It's not bad, actually -

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simple, plain, but they each get their own room.

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This decision by the US government to shift its emphasis,

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its military emphasis, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean

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and Pacific, is really huge.

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It's momentous, in fact.

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It reflects, I suppose, a decision or an acceptance

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by the Americans that this century is very likely to be Asia's century.

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That's what people are calling it.

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And also that America's military competition in the future

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is very likely to come from the emerging Asian superpowers,

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particularly China.

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So, we're loading up and we're going to head off on patrol.

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'This is NORFORCE, a long-range surveillance regiment

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'that works in some of the toughest terrain on the planet.'

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'NORFORCE is said to have the largest area of operations of any

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'military unit in the world.'

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'The Northern Territory is six times the size of the UK.

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'But with a population of just 230,000 people,

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'vast areas are uninhabited.'

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'A unit of survival specialists,

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'these men are deployed to patrol Australia's front line with Asia.'

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'They were on the lookout for anything suspicious,

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'from drug smugglers to boatloads of illegal immigrants.'

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This a good spot?

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Not bad. What do you reckon, Woodsy?

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Not too bad.

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Lieutenant Noble-Harris was setting up an observation post.

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So, there's pretty clear views out to sea,

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so basically all your northern and western approaches can be

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seen here, any sea traffic or air traffic going past can be observed.

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We've still got a good line of sight through the foliage.

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And you've got a huge area of operations, but I suppose you can

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see anything that's passing through it and passing across there.

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We're here looking out to make sure that nothing untoward happens

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to Australia's coastline.

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Anything we see, we'll report up.

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To all intents and purposes, we're out in the middle of nowhere,

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but that is where...

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That is a gap which is often filled anywhere in the world by illegality.

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There's people out there, you just never know.

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You could be in the middle of nowhere, but you never know.

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'NORFORCE soldiers can survive in the outback for weeks at a time.

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'60% of the regiment are Aboriginal Australians,

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'many with an understanding of life in the bush that has been

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'passed down through generations.'

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Does it really feel like you're able to use

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those 40,000 years of accumulated knowledge?

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Yeah, yeah. I am using it to teach others, too.

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Do you reckon you blokes could survive out here indefinitely?

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Uh-huh.

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-I mean, that's...

-As long as I was hanging around him.

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THEY LAUGH

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'With their intimate knowledge of the land,

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'these soldiers can find nourishment in the unlikeliest of places.'

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As you can see, the green ant, it's...

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I've got one on me here, look.

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You can see the very green bum.

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That green part there is edible, OK?

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Are you just biting the bum of the snake?

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It's an ant.

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THEY LAUGH

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What are you doing?

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So, inside the nest there, we've got the eggs

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and we've got all the other green ants there.

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-Right.

-Basically, there's a lot of citrus in the ant, so what we do,

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we make a cup of tea, we'll boil that up.

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You boil the ants' nest up for a cup of tea?

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Yes, the ants, the whole show in there.

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Is this a wind up?

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No, no, serious.

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Green ant tea.

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Green ant tea, yeah. Two green ants' nests we put in there.

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It's smoky and citrusy. It's pretty tasty.

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Yeah.

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'The ants' nests were just a starter.

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'Wild magpie geese were on the menu for dinner.'

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'After they were roasted over a camp fire, we tucked in.'

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Look at that.

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Best bit, saved for you.

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Best bit?

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'On my travels in this country, I've seen that white Australians

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'and Aboriginals often live completely separate lives,

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'but among the soldiers of NORFORCE, things seem different.'

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The moment you join the Australian Defence Force,

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you wear these colours here and we're the one colour.

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We just feel like real brothers.

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Real brothers.

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It doesn't matter whether you're Aboriginal, European, Asian,

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we all stick together, fight together.

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(A couple of the guys are laid up doing their surveillance job.

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(The rest of the troop are just sleeping over there.

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(They've got a thicker skin than me, maybe.

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(Goodnight.)

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Morning.

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That was a long, sweaty night.

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And raining, as well, actually.

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I didn't sleep too badly. I did all right, actually.

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Anyway, I see everybody else is up, so I'd better get up.

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'Australia's coastline is now being monitored around the clock.'

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'Several thousand people are caught trying to get into Australia

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'illegally every year.

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'I wanted to see where some of them are taken.'

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Now, so, there we go. Look. There is Darwin.

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It's much bigger than I was expecting.

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I thought it would be a sleepy, out-of-the-way town.

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'Half of the Northern Territory's population live in Darwin,

0:20:530:20:56

'its capital city.'

0:20:560:20:58

'The rest of the state, like most of Australia, is sparsely populated.'

0:21:000:21:04

'Although so few people live in this country,

0:21:050:21:08

'there's surprising hostility to migrants arriving illegally.'

0:21:080:21:12

One of the biggest political issues in Australia at the moment

0:21:120:21:17

is asylum seekers and refugees.

0:21:170:21:21

And here, in Darwin, there are actually five detention centres

0:21:210:21:25

for people who've come here illegally.

0:21:250:21:27

'In Australia, illegal migrants and refugees face mandatory,

0:21:290:21:33

'indefinite detention while their cases are being considered.

0:21:330:21:36

'It's one of the toughest immigration policies of any

0:21:360:21:39

'democratic country in the world.'

0:21:390:21:42

-Hello.

-Hello. What's your name?

-Athari.

0:21:420:21:46

-Athari.

-Yes.

0:21:460:21:48

-Where did you come from, Athari?

-From Iraq.

0:21:480:21:51

-From Iraq?

-Yes.

0:21:510:21:53

-Hello.

-Hello. How are you?

-Yes.

0:21:530:21:57

-Where are you from?

-Afghanistan.

0:21:570:21:59

-Afghanistan?

-Yes.

-Iraq.

0:21:590:22:02

-From Iraq?

-Iraq.

0:22:020:22:05

Iraq, Iran, Burma, Afghanistan.

0:22:050:22:10

'I'd hoped we could film inside a detention centre.

0:22:100:22:14

'We were told we could, but on terms that

0:22:140:22:15

'would have allowed the immigration authorities

0:22:150:22:17

'to delete and censor any of our footage.

0:22:170:22:21

'So, instead, I stood outside this facility

0:22:210:22:24

'where families and children are held,

0:22:240:22:26

'and talked to detainees through the fence.'

0:22:260:22:28

How long have you been in here?

0:22:300:22:32

Two months.

0:22:340:22:35

-Kidnapped by them?

-Yeah.

0:22:480:22:49

Because you're Shia?

0:22:490:22:51

-Yeah.

-The Taliban are Sunni.

-Yeah.

0:22:510:22:54

'Most of these people have made perilous journeys

0:22:550:22:58

'of thousands of miles across land and sea.

0:22:580:23:01

'No doubt many of them wanted

0:23:010:23:03

'to get into Australia for economic reasons.

0:23:030:23:06

'They still have horrific stories.'

0:23:060:23:08

'Carl O'Connor is a lawyer who represents

0:23:090:23:12

'many of the detainees

0:23:120:23:13

'and campaigns against the government's policy on refugees.'

0:23:130:23:17

CHILDREN SHOUT

0:23:170:23:19

What's different about how Australia treats asylum seekers

0:23:200:23:23

and refugees compared to other countries?

0:23:230:23:25

Other countries will process refugees in centres

0:23:250:23:27

such as this, but not for as long as it takes in Australia.

0:23:270:23:31

So, they might be in there for a couple of days in Europe before

0:23:310:23:34

they're moved into the community and they can get on with their life.

0:23:340:23:37

'The government says its policy of mandatory detention, which can

0:23:370:23:40

'last for months or years, helps to discourage potential refugees

0:23:400:23:44

'from making the dangerous and often deadly journey from Asia by boat.

0:23:440:23:49

'They say that if they let people live outside detention centres

0:23:490:23:51

'while their claims are processed, as in many other countries,

0:23:510:23:54

'refugees could simply disappear and live illegally.

0:23:540:23:58

'Few countries have open borders, of course,

0:23:580:24:01

'but human rights groups and local protesters claim Australia's

0:24:010:24:04

'immigration policies breach their international obligations.'

0:24:040:24:08

One of the biggest tragedies of the whole debate, furore,

0:24:090:24:15

in developed countries about asylum seekers and refugees,

0:24:150:24:18

when we think of people as a mass,

0:24:180:24:21

as some sort of invading force, people find it frightening.

0:24:210:24:26

They worry about their jobs being taken,

0:24:260:24:28

their homes being taken, etc, etc.

0:24:280:24:30

But when you start meeting people and hearing their individual stories

0:24:300:24:33

and you realise you've got to be pretty desperate

0:24:330:24:36

to make the journey here.

0:24:360:24:38

Pretty determined, as well, but, ultimately, desperate.

0:24:380:24:43

'Most Australians support tough controls on illegal immigration,

0:24:440:24:49

'but like other wealthy countries Australia has, of course,

0:24:490:24:52

'been happy to cherry-pick and allow in millions of legal economic

0:24:520:24:55

'migrants to live in the country and boost the economy.'

0:24:550:24:58

'It was time for me to leave the Northern Territory.'

0:25:010:25:04

'I'd soon be visiting The Great Barrier Reef, to get up close

0:25:060:25:09

'with some of Australia's most beautiful wildlife,

0:25:090:25:12

'but first, I headed for Weipa,

0:25:120:25:14

'on the isolated Cape York Peninsula.'

0:25:140:25:16

So we've arrived, hired a car,

0:25:230:25:26

and we're in a very remote part of the country.

0:25:260:25:30

The Cape York Peninsula is about the size of England,

0:25:300:25:33

but has a population of less than 20,000.

0:25:330:25:37

This is the main town, the throbbing metropolis of Weipa.

0:25:370:25:42

'I'd come to meet Dr Jamie Seymour.'

0:25:440:25:46

-Morning.

-Morning.

0:25:460:25:48

'He's a scientist who studies some of the most lethal

0:25:480:25:50

'creatures on the planet.'

0:25:500:25:52

Jamie, it's looking stunning out here.

0:25:530:25:58

It's an amazing place, Weipa, but don't let the looks deceive you.

0:25:580:26:03

It's not the easiest place to get in and out of the water

0:26:030:26:05

and stay alive in, that's for sure.

0:26:050:26:07

Stay alive in?

0:26:070:26:08

-Well...

-What have we got out here?

0:26:080:26:10

Take us through what is in the water here.

0:26:100:26:12

Well, if you work from the top end, there's saltwater crocodiles,

0:26:120:26:14

there's some of them four, four and a half metre crocodiles...

0:26:140:26:17

-Right.

-..so they're liable to kill you.

0:26:170:26:19

You've got sea snakes, you've got sharks,

0:26:190:26:21

and then you've got box jellyfish, the world's most

0:26:210:26:23

venomous animal and, literally, we can find all of those things within

0:26:230:26:26

probably 200, 300 hundred metres of where we're standing.

0:26:260:26:29

So, not a place to take a dip?

0:26:290:26:31

No. You wouldn't get in the water here and swim out.

0:26:310:26:33

Something would probably get you before you got back to shore.

0:26:330:26:36

We haven't really said what we're here to do yet,

0:26:360:26:38

but the back of Jamie's T-shirt,

0:26:380:26:40

if you don't mind spinning round, gives you a hell of a clue.

0:26:400:26:43

Stinger Research Unit. Let's get out there.

0:26:430:26:46

-All right.

-I feel a bit apprehensive after that warning.

0:26:460:26:48

You'll be fine. You'll be fine. Trust me.

0:26:480:26:50

'I headed out with Jamie,

0:26:510:26:53

'his colleague, Richard, and boat skipper, Dave.

0:26:530:26:56

'We were looking for jellyfish.

0:26:560:26:59

'Many scientists believe that, because of our changing climate

0:26:590:27:02

'and the overfishing of their predators,

0:27:020:27:04

'global jellyfish numbers are increasing.

0:27:040:27:06

'Some even worry they could become one of the dominant

0:27:060:27:09

'life forms in our seas.'

0:27:090:27:11

Jamie, what on earth are we - or rather, you - out here to do?

0:27:110:27:14

It's basically one of their major settling sites,

0:27:140:27:17

where we come to chase box jellyfish.

0:27:170:27:18

This is one area where we find THE greatest density of these things.

0:27:180:27:22

There is nothing on the planet, animal-wise,

0:27:220:27:25

that kills as quickly as these animals.

0:27:250:27:27

There is nothing that even comes close.

0:27:270:27:29

'Jamie was planning to catch box jellyfish,

0:27:320:27:34

'but first we had to find them.

0:27:340:27:36

'Part of the reason they're so dangerous is that they're

0:27:360:27:39

'so hard to spot.'

0:27:390:27:40

There's lots of bait fish and things here that they'd be chasing.

0:27:470:27:51

What's that down there?

0:27:520:27:54

-No, that's...

-That's just white sand.

-No, that's white sand.

0:27:540:27:57

There's one. Deep in the water.

0:28:010:28:02

Big one. Big one. See him, just down here?

0:28:020:28:04

-Oh, yeah, yeah. Just a slight change in the colour.

-Yep.

0:28:040:28:08

I mean, I would not have noticed that.

0:28:080:28:10

The most venomous creature on planet Earth?

0:28:130:28:16

Yep. And look how far it is from shore.

0:28:160:28:19

Well, it's only about 12 feet, isn't it?

0:28:190:28:21

Yep. That's the problem. We know what we're looking for.

0:28:210:28:23

I've just shown you one just there, and you went, "I didn't see that."

0:28:230:28:26

Now, you imagine if you'd just come to the water to go for a swim,

0:28:260:28:29

you blunder into that animal.

0:28:290:28:32

It's all over.

0:28:320:28:33

So, you're going to try and catch that one?

0:28:330:28:35

Yeah, we need to get kitted up first.

0:28:350:28:37

You can't get in the water until we get kitted up.

0:28:370:28:39

And is that creature enough to kill a human?

0:28:390:28:42

That animal, that size, 15 to 20 humans, no problems at all.

0:28:420:28:46

-Could kill?

-Oh, absolutely. Without a shadow of a doubt.

0:28:460:28:50

In under two minutes.

0:28:500:28:51

Take it super-seriously.

0:28:510:28:53

Yeah. You screw up here, you only get one chance at it.

0:28:530:28:57

Oh, this sucks.

0:28:570:28:58

'We put on thin wet suits, as protection from the stingers.'

0:28:580:29:02

-Just jump in here?

-Yep.

0:29:020:29:04

Now, I want you, to stay between me and the shore.

0:29:050:29:08

OK. I'm happy with that.

0:29:080:29:10

So, swing in from here.

0:29:110:29:13

-My God, it's just in front of me.

-There.

0:29:130:29:15

I wouldn't have even seen that.

0:29:150:29:17

Basically, what you're looking at is...

0:29:170:29:19

-I'll just get him to the surface.

-Good God.

0:29:190:29:21

-So, there you are.

-There it is.

-That's about half-grown.

0:29:210:29:25

It looks completely harmless.

0:29:250:29:27

Now, if you have a look at the animal.

0:29:270:29:28

There you have, basically, a half-grown box jellyfish.

0:29:300:29:34

You can see it's still pulsing.

0:29:340:29:35

So, these are, basically, off here, you've got all the tentacles.

0:29:350:29:40

It feels like a, sort of, hard jelly.

0:29:400:29:44

Just feeling it, I mean, you don't whether it feels alive.

0:29:440:29:49

It doesn't even really feel particularly alive.

0:29:490:29:52

-Squidgy.

-Yep.

-Quite squidgy.

0:29:520:29:55

-Another one coming in behind it.

-Another coming in through here?

-Yes.

0:29:550:29:59

'Box jellyfish can move at almost 5mph,

0:29:590:30:03

'as fast as Olympic swimmers.

0:30:030:30:06

'Two metres of tentacle contact is enough to kill an adult human

0:30:060:30:09

'and even the tiniest sting can be agonising.'

0:30:090:30:13

It's getting to the stage where I want to get out of the water.

0:30:160:30:19

We need to get back in the boat, cos we've been here a bit too long

0:30:190:30:23

and they're worried that crocs are watching us all the time

0:30:230:30:26

and the window is, basically, sort of, 20-25 minutes before

0:30:260:30:30

a croc will come in and start to launch an attack,

0:30:300:30:32

which, as you can imagine, is quite a scary prospect.

0:30:320:30:36

-All right, Rich, let's get out of here.

-OK.

0:30:360:30:39

'Jamie has had several close shaves himself,

0:30:410:30:45

'but he's hunting for box jellyfish

0:30:450:30:47

'precisely because they are so dangerous.

0:30:470:30:50

'He's convinced their venom will be enormously useful

0:30:500:30:52

'for medical research.

0:30:520:30:54

'The venom has so much potential

0:30:540:30:56

'that drug companies are helping to fund his work.'

0:30:560:30:59

'You need to think of venom as a cocktail.'

0:30:590:31:01

So there's a heap of things in there

0:31:010:31:03

and they all target different components. So we know, for example,

0:31:030:31:07

in box jellyfish venom, there's a component that attacks the heart.

0:31:070:31:10

But then there's another 20, 30, 40 different compounds

0:31:100:31:13

that we haven't even started to look at, that we know don't cause death,

0:31:130:31:17

but they're in the venom. What do they do?

0:31:170:31:19

They could be there to help the drug get into a certain area quicker,

0:31:190:31:22

so, if we're looking at that, for example,

0:31:220:31:25

it may make it go quicker to the heart.

0:31:250:31:26

It's a matter of understanding what's going on.

0:31:260:31:28

So, by studying jellyfish venom, you can come up with new drugs

0:31:280:31:34

or a new way of treating people for ailments and problems

0:31:340:31:37

entirely unconnected with jellyfish.

0:31:370:31:39

The chances of finding a novel compound in here

0:31:390:31:41

that could save people's lives is enormous.

0:31:410:31:46

If there wasn't,

0:31:460:31:47

pharmaceutical companies would NOT be going down this track.

0:31:470:31:50

There's one, Simon.

0:31:500:31:51

'Research into the composition of venoms

0:31:510:31:54

'is already producing results.

0:31:540:31:56

'Scientists recently discovered a compound in the venom

0:31:560:31:59

'of an African snake that has potential as one of the world's

0:31:590:32:03

most powerful painkillers.

0:32:030:32:05

We want some tentacles from this guy,

0:32:050:32:07

because that's where the venom is,

0:32:070:32:08

so we're going to take the bottom end off this.

0:32:080:32:11

So lift that underneath there, Rich.

0:32:110:32:13

So we put the animal back in the water.

0:32:130:32:16

You can still see that he's got the vast majority of his tentacles.

0:32:160:32:19

The tentacles have got the venom in it.

0:32:190:32:20

He'll regrow those in such a rate that he'll

0:32:200:32:23

regrow something between 1-2cm of tentacle in 24 hours.

0:32:230:32:27

-Astonishing.

-Just take that top. That'll do. That'll do us.

0:32:270:32:31

I find it absolutely stunning that what you're doing here and now

0:32:310:32:35

could help to find new drugs,

0:32:350:32:37

new ways of treating some of the most intractable human ailments.

0:32:370:32:41

If, somewhere in the future. the work that I did

0:32:410:32:44

-saved somebody's life...

-Made a difference.

0:32:440:32:47

Let's be honest, just saying those things, at the moment,

0:32:470:32:50

I can just feel all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

0:32:500:32:53

One day it will happen. I know it will happen.

0:32:530:32:56

It's a matter of when.

0:32:560:32:57

I continued my journey across the remote Cape York Peninsula.

0:33:210:33:25

It's one of the least populated areas of Australia

0:33:250:33:28

'and most of the people who do live here are Aboriginals.'

0:33:280:33:32

I headed to the town of Aurukun.

0:33:320:33:35

After white settlers arrived in Australia,

0:33:350:33:37

the indigenous people suffered brutal treatment.

0:33:370:33:41

In some parts of the country, they were exterminated.

0:33:410:33:44

For decades, Australia treated its indigenous people appallingly.

0:33:450:33:49

There was abuse, almost apartheid.

0:33:490:33:52

Aboriginal communities now suffer

0:33:520:33:56

significantly lower life expectancy and higher unemployment than the

0:33:560:33:59

rest of Australia, and Aurukun is a town gripped by social problems.

0:33:590:34:03

I met up with Gina, who has first-hand experience

0:34:030:34:06

of the issues people here struggle with.

0:34:060:34:08

Gina, is this a community in crisis?

0:34:080:34:11

It's like a pressure cooker of social problems.

0:34:110:34:15

We still continue to endure very low socioeconomic standards,

0:34:150:34:19

compared to that of the mainstream Australia -

0:34:190:34:22

no businesses, no jobs,

0:34:220:34:25

most of the people in the community are on welfare benefits.

0:34:250:34:29

Most people?

0:34:290:34:30

Yes, the majority. Yes.

0:34:300:34:33

A lot of people are dying too young.

0:34:330:34:35

The average life expectancy here is still very, very low.

0:34:350:34:39

-My mother died, she was 42.

-How did your mother die?

0:34:390:34:42

My mother was murdered by her partner at the time.

0:34:420:34:47

I was 14 years old.

0:34:470:34:48

-God, I'm so sorry.

-That was alcohol-fuelled violence.

0:34:480:34:51

Blame for many of the problems affecting Aboriginal people today

0:34:540:34:58

can no longer all be pinned on the white establishment.

0:34:580:35:00

Many Aboriginal communities across the country have their own ingrained

0:35:010:35:06

problems with drug abuse, child abuse,

0:35:060:35:08

alcoholism and domestic violence.

0:35:080:35:10

And it can be shocking to discover just how many families are affected.

0:35:100:35:15

It's just really sad. Look at it.

0:35:190:35:23

This place is a classic example of what happens when people lose

0:35:250:35:29

their sense of purpose and meaning,

0:35:290:35:32

when they lose their role in life and become

0:35:320:35:34

welfare dependent and rely on sit-down money, as it's called here.

0:35:340:35:40

I've seen and I've felt, I think, that same sense of helplessness

0:35:400:35:45

and hopelessness in many other parts of the world,

0:35:450:35:48

but I've never felt it quite so strongly as I have in

0:35:480:35:52

any number of Aboriginal communities here in Australia.

0:35:520:35:55

Across Australia,

0:35:590:36:00

Aboriginal lands sit on top of huge deposits of minerals -

0:36:000:36:04

coal, copper and, here on the Cape York Peninsula,

0:36:040:36:07

the aluminium ore, bauxite.

0:36:070:36:09

A culture of welfare dependency in Aboriginal communities

0:36:120:36:15

has been fuelled by the fact that many receive royalty payments

0:36:150:36:18

from mining companies, to mine their land,

0:36:180:36:21

which have become little more than hand-outs or sit-down money.

0:36:210:36:24

But Gina wants to help end the dependence on these pay-outs.

0:36:240:36:27

We went to a mine owned by Rio Tinto,

0:36:270:36:31

a multi-billion pound mining giant, which hires bulldozers from Gina.

0:36:310:36:35

Over here is one of our dozers. It's called a D10 dozer.

0:36:350:36:41

-When you say it's one of our dozers...

-Aurukun Earthmoving.

0:36:410:36:45

So this bulldozer is actually owned by the people of Aurukun?

0:36:450:36:51

Yes. We're establishing businesses,

0:36:510:36:53

so that we can actually have economic participation -

0:36:530:36:56

and economic participation means jobs for our people.

0:36:560:36:59

It means wealth creation.

0:36:590:37:01

It is not just about receiving royalties. We don't want to just

0:37:010:37:04

get sit-down money from the companies who mine our land.

0:37:040:37:07

This is our land and we want to be involved in any developments

0:37:070:37:10

that happen on our land.

0:37:100:37:11

What's your involvement in the company?

0:37:110:37:14

I played a role in establishing the business and I've been

0:37:140:37:18

a company director, managing director, for the last eight years.

0:37:180:37:21

-Did you set the company up, then?

-Yes. 18, 19.

0:37:210:37:24

-You were a teenager...

-Yes.

0:37:240:37:28

-..when you... How many of these do you own?

-Four.

0:37:280:37:31

We started out with one dozer and we went knocking

0:37:310:37:33

on Rio Tinto's door and said,

0:37:330:37:35

"Please, would you give us some work?"

0:37:350:37:38

And here we are today.

0:37:380:37:39

We've got a five-year contract that was just recently signed,

0:37:390:37:42

so it's a fantastic result for all of us. We're very happy.

0:37:420:37:46

'Owning and renting out mining equipment

0:37:470:37:49

'is the start of Gina's plans.

0:37:490:37:51

'There are bauxite-rich deposits around her community at Aurukun.

0:37:510:37:56

'Even though it's in a wilderness area,

0:37:560:37:57

'it seems likely it'll be mined and Gina wants the people

0:37:570:38:00

'of her community to be the ones who mine it.'

0:38:000:38:02

We have spoken to the highest levels in government.

0:38:020:38:05

We have spoken to the Deputy Premier,

0:38:050:38:07

we have spoken to the Department of Infrastructure.

0:38:070:38:10

We want to be the owners of that resource.

0:38:100:38:13

We want to develop our own mine.

0:38:130:38:16

This is very exciting. Has this been done before?

0:38:160:38:19

Has an Aboriginal community in Australia

0:38:190:38:22

run their own mining operation?

0:38:220:38:24

Never. It's never happened.

0:38:240:38:27

We want to lift the bar. We'll be able to,

0:38:270:38:29

with our partners, of course,

0:38:290:38:34

we'll be able to show the world that this is how it should be done.

0:38:340:38:37

Aboriginal communities need strong, inspiring leaders, like Gina.

0:38:400:38:43

She's trying to get the people of Aurukun off welfare

0:38:430:38:48

and give them purpose and meaning again, through employment.

0:38:480:38:51

I'm on the move again

0:38:550:38:56

and I'm heading now to the airport, where I'm going to hop on a flight

0:38:560:39:01

which is going to take me to the east coast

0:39:010:39:03

and the Great Barrier Reef.

0:39:030:39:05

I headed to the city of Cairns,

0:39:110:39:12

a gateway to one of the greatest natural wonders on the planet.

0:39:120:39:17

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest natural structure on earth.

0:39:170:39:21

It extends for more than 1,500 miles

0:39:210:39:24

and is big enough to be seen from space.

0:39:240:39:26

Very excited about this. Trying to remain calm.

0:39:300:39:34

A chance to get onto The Great Barrier Reef is not one

0:39:340:39:37

you want to miss.

0:39:370:39:39

-Hello there.

-Hey, welcome on board.

0:39:390:39:41

-Are you Col?

-I'm Col, and pleased to have you in my work place.

0:39:410:39:44

-Thanks, Col. Oh!

-Right there. I got it.

0:39:440:39:46

'Col McKenzie represents tour operators

0:39:460:39:48

'who take tourists out on the reef.'

0:39:480:39:50

-Nearly made it into the water!

-Yup.

0:39:500:39:52

'He's also one of the people

0:39:550:39:57

'responsible for keeping the reef at its best.'

0:39:570:40:00

Col's kindly taking me out to see a beautiful bit of reef,

0:40:000:40:05

and I get to snorkel on it.

0:40:050:40:06

The sheer diversity of the reef is jaw-dropping.

0:40:130:40:18

It's a home to more than 130 types of sharks and rays,

0:40:180:40:23

1,800 species of fish

0:40:230:40:25

and every type of coral and colour the mind can imagine.

0:40:250:40:29

But coral reefs aren't just pretty to look at.

0:40:290:40:32

They're vital to the health of our oceans.

0:40:320:40:34

Reefs occupy less than 1% of the Earth's surface,

0:40:340:40:38

but they support more than 25% of all marine life.

0:40:380:40:42

But of all the life down here,

0:40:470:40:49

there's one creature in particular that Col is concerned about.

0:40:490:40:52

It's a type of starfish that is literally eating the reef.

0:40:520:40:56

You can actually see an area that's just been eaten.

0:40:560:40:59

It's been eaten in the last 24 hours.

0:40:590:41:01

It's a bright, white skeleton,

0:41:010:41:03

because all the animal has been dissolved and taken away.

0:41:030:41:06

'It was easy to see the dead white coral skeleton

0:41:060:41:10

'that Col was talking about.

0:41:100:41:12

'The creature responsible for the damage is a spiky starfish

0:41:120:41:16

'called the crown-of-thorns.'

0:41:160:41:18

While we were down, we could see one crown-of-thorns

0:41:180:41:21

that Col pointed out to me. And it is a monster of a creature.

0:41:210:41:27

Really like something from a sci-fi film.

0:41:270:41:30

Crown-of-thorns starfish are native to the reef

0:41:310:41:34

and they naturally eat fast-growing coral

0:41:340:41:37

and help give slower-growing coral a chance to thrive.

0:41:370:41:40

But if they reach plague proportions,

0:41:420:41:44

they can destroy the reef, leaving nothing

0:41:440:41:46

but algae-covered coral skeletons.

0:41:460:41:49

In recent years, that's exactly what's been happening

0:41:490:41:52

on large areas of The Great Barrier Reef.

0:41:520:41:54

They eat everything.

0:41:560:41:57

They eat all the hard coral, all the soft coral,

0:41:570:42:01

they eat the whole lot out. I've seen a reef go

0:42:010:42:03

from 55% live coral cover to 5% live coral cover

0:42:030:42:07

in less than six months. These things can really devastate a reef

0:42:070:42:11

and it's, unfortunately, human intervention that's caused it.

0:42:110:42:16

It's because of our farming and grazing practices.

0:42:160:42:19

It's because of the cities that are growing up along our coastline.

0:42:190:42:22

That's what's causing this problem.

0:42:220:42:24

Many scientists believe that increased use of fertilisers

0:42:260:42:29

in farming has led to more nitrogen and phosphorous being washed into

0:42:290:42:33

the seas off Australia's east coast.

0:42:330:42:35

They provide food for plankton which are, in turn,

0:42:350:42:38

the food of choice for crown-of-thorns larvae.

0:42:380:42:42

Crown-of-thorns plagues are linked directly to flood plumes

0:42:420:42:45

and to the water quality that's coming off our land.

0:42:450:42:49

So you get more baby starfish, more teenage starfish,

0:42:490:42:52

more adult starfish, etc, etc.

0:42:520:42:54

Three years after a flood plume,

0:42:540:42:56

we will have an outbreak of crown-of-thorns.

0:42:560:42:59

The Great Barrier Reef is in serious trouble.

0:43:000:43:03

A recent report revealed it's lost 50% of its coral cover

0:43:030:43:06

over the last 30 years.

0:43:060:43:08

Our changing climate is having a huge impact,

0:43:080:43:11

but so are crown-of-thorns. To protect the reef,

0:43:110:43:14

the starfish are being targeted by Col's team of divers.

0:43:140:43:19

I'm loving this Australian meal.

0:43:190:43:21

A proper Aussie barbecue.

0:43:210:43:23

There's basically ten kilos of steak, ten kilos of sausages.

0:43:230:43:27

Oh, no, look, that was unfair of me. I was going to say no veg.

0:43:270:43:31

Look at this. Pumpkin and tatties. Looks fantastic.

0:43:310:43:36

'The crown-of-thorns aren't only dangerous to coral.

0:43:360:43:40

'They can be tricky for a diver to deal with.'

0:43:400:43:43

The problem with handling these creatures is that

0:43:430:43:45

those spines on them have a neurotoxin poison

0:43:450:43:49

and this is what protects the crown-of-thorns.

0:43:490:43:52

Of course they've got a neurotoxin. This is Australia.

0:43:520:43:54

Everything is venomous or poisonous.

0:43:540:43:56

Well, I know of a case where a diver doing crown-of-thorns work

0:43:560:44:00

in the coral reef around Japan only two months ago

0:44:000:44:03

died from a crown-of-thorns sting.

0:44:030:44:06

-Really?

-They'll go through a 5mm wet suit, no trouble.

0:44:060:44:09

So the plan is we eat this fantastic meal, sleep,

0:44:090:44:14

and then tomorrow, we'll see what you're doing to tackle the starfish.

0:44:140:44:18

Absolutely. So far, you've seen some good sites

0:44:180:44:20

and some pretty bad sites. Now we'll show you how we protect it.

0:44:200:44:23

Beautiful little sharkies in the water.

0:44:490:44:53

I'm just cleaning my teeth and it's out here, down beneath us.

0:44:530:44:57

'After breakfast, Col and I went out to see his dive team at work.

0:45:090:45:13

'It wasn't long before the team found coral scars,

0:45:280:45:32

the telltale sign there were crown-of-thorns nearby.

0:45:320:45:35

'The starfish typically feed at night.

0:45:350:45:39

'During the day, they're often hidden away.'

0:45:390:45:41

Really bizarre.

0:45:510:45:53

There were almost a dozen of them, these multi-armed feeding machines.

0:45:530:45:59

I'm going to go back down and see how they deal with them.

0:45:590:46:03

As with the cane toads I saw earlier on my trip, and other feral and

0:46:050:46:09

invasive creatures that are damaging the environment in Australia,

0:46:090:46:13

the crown-of-thorns are just doing what comes naturally to them.

0:46:130:46:17

But human actions have seen their numbers explode

0:46:170:46:19

and so conservationists have decided the only way of protecting

0:46:190:46:22

the Great Barrier Reef is to cull the crown-of-thorns.

0:46:220:46:25

Originally, researchers tried cutting the starfish in half,

0:46:250:46:30

but, remarkably, each part survived, doubling the numbers.

0:46:300:46:35

Injecting them with chemicals is a slow, laborious process,

0:46:370:46:40

and Col's team are only protecting the parts of the reef

0:46:400:46:43

most visited by tourists.

0:46:430:46:45

The cynic in me wonders, I suppose, if tourists weren't coming

0:46:510:46:54

to these parts of the reef, whether there would be the incentive

0:46:540:46:58

and the pressure for you to proactively try and protect them.

0:46:580:47:02

High-value tourism and high tourism numbers give us

0:47:020:47:07

the financial clout to be able to invest in protecting the reef.

0:47:070:47:10

It's ironic, isn't it?

0:47:100:47:11

Everybody said, "Oh, tourism will be the death of places."

0:47:110:47:14

Here, it's actually contributing to the salvation of it.

0:47:140:47:17

Without tourism, we'd have no financial incentive to do a thing.

0:47:170:47:20

With all the different threats there are to coral reefs around the world,

0:47:200:47:26

what's your take on what the future is for The Great Barrier Reef?

0:47:260:47:31

If we don't get control of it, reef-wide, in the very

0:47:310:47:34

near future, we're going to lose an enormous amount of biodiversity.

0:47:340:47:38

Where we have a couple of hundred species of coral,

0:47:380:47:41

we could end up like the Caribbean or the Bahamas or off Florida,

0:47:410:47:44

where you can count the number of species on two hands.

0:47:440:47:47

So, see it while you can?

0:47:470:47:48

If people want to see the Reef in pristine condition,

0:47:480:47:51

they need to be out here right now and see it over the next five years.

0:47:510:47:55

The future of the Barrier Reef is going to be different

0:47:550:47:59

to what we see right now.

0:47:590:48:00

Two million tourists visit the Great Barrier Reef every year.

0:48:010:48:04

'Apart from anything else,

0:48:040:48:06

'it's an economic resource that Australia can't afford to lose.'

0:48:060:48:10

So, we're heading south from here,

0:48:180:48:21

down the magnificently-named Bruce Highway.

0:48:210:48:26

I'm sure there's a Sheila Street out there, as well.

0:48:260:48:29

This area is actually a bit of a Mecca for backpackers,

0:48:290:48:32

but, as you can see,

0:48:320:48:34

with all the camera equipment, we can't travel quite so lightly.

0:48:340:48:38

Let's get on the road.

0:48:410:48:43

There is a giant Wellington boot.

0:48:580:49:00

Got to stop and show you this.

0:49:040:49:06

So, as we head south, we pass through this town called Tully,

0:49:120:49:18

which... Well, it gets a bit wet here and so they put this boot here

0:49:180:49:23

to commemorate, I suppose, to celebrate, really,

0:49:230:49:27

just how wet it gets.

0:49:270:49:29

I have to say, the Australians do constantly, rather constantly,

0:49:310:49:36

go on about how it rains a little bit in Britain,

0:49:360:49:39

but never does it rain as much as it does here.

0:49:390:49:42

So, average rainfall -

0:49:420:49:43

I checked this. Thank you, internet -

0:49:430:49:47

average rainfall in the UK per year is about a metre. About a metre.

0:49:470:49:54

Here, in one year, almost eight metres of water fell.

0:49:540:50:00

And so, to celebrate that,

0:50:020:50:04

what better way than to put a giant Wellington boot in your town,

0:50:040:50:09

to let everybody know you are one of the wettest places in the world?

0:50:090:50:13

'I continue driving down Australia's east coast,

0:50:240:50:27

'along the seemingly-endless highway that runs parallel to the Reef.

0:50:270:50:31

'500 miles south of Cairns,

0:50:400:50:41

'I arrived at Hay Point, one of the largest coal ports in the world.'

0:50:410:50:46

Almost 10% of the world's

0:50:460:50:49

seaborne coal is exported from just this port.

0:50:490:50:54

It's astonishing, really.

0:50:540:50:56

It gives you a glimpse, I think, into the scale of Australia's

0:50:560:50:59

resources boom, which, in many ways, has been the biggest story

0:50:590:51:02

in this country over the last couple of decades.

0:51:020:51:05

In the vastness of this continent-sized country,

0:51:050:51:10

there are all manner of mines and quarries and seams

0:51:100:51:13

that churn out the raw materials that fuel the furnaces and feed

0:51:130:51:19

the resource-hungry economies of countries like China and India.

0:51:190:51:24

This is the final stage of the process.

0:51:270:51:30

The coal is being brought down through the nozzle over here

0:51:300:51:33

and loaded into the hold of this ship,

0:51:330:51:36

at the rate of up to two tonnes a second.

0:51:360:51:39

Out on the horizon over here, I can see any number of ships

0:51:390:51:43

just waiting to have their bellies filled.

0:51:430:51:46

Incredibly, before they can reach the open sea,

0:51:460:51:50

the huge ships are allowed to navigate their way

0:51:500:51:52

through the Great Barrier Reef.

0:51:520:51:55

Even this, one of the most fragile and threatened environments

0:51:550:51:58

on Earth, cannot stand in the way of the Australian resources boom.

0:51:580:52:02

Any collision in the maze of coral islands would be disastrous,

0:52:020:52:07

so the ships are guided by specialist reef pilots,

0:52:070:52:09

like Richard Tennant.

0:52:090:52:10

These ships have a draft of about 18 metres, when they sail.

0:52:100:52:13

It's a deep draft, so they haven't got very much water under the keel.

0:52:130:52:16

So, how far off the bottom is it?

0:52:160:52:18

The shallowest point would be about one metre off the bottom.

0:52:180:52:20

One metre off the bottom? So there are points when this ship,

0:52:200:52:25

loaded with 180,000 tonnes of coal is, what, that far off

0:52:250:52:31

the bottom of the seabed?

0:52:310:52:33

Yes, but they're not going very fast in that instance.

0:52:330:52:36

They're only going about walking pace that close to the bottom.

0:52:360:52:39

They don't stop very easily, though, do they?

0:52:390:52:41

When they're going full sea speed,

0:52:410:52:43

yeah, they take a long while to stop.

0:52:430:52:45

In fact, it would be quicker to turn it around than stop it.

0:52:450:52:49

'The helicopter flies Richard more than 100 miles out to sea

0:52:510:52:55

'and lands him on a moving ship.

0:52:550:52:57

'His job is then to guide the ship's captain through the shallow

0:52:570:53:00

seas of the Reef and into the coal port, to pick up its cargo.

0:53:000:53:04

A wrong turn would be catastrophic.

0:53:330:53:36

In 2010, a ship called the Shen Neng tried to navigate its way

0:53:360:53:39

through the reef without a pilot. It ran aground,

0:53:390:53:43

carving a two-mile gash in the coral

0:53:430:53:45

and leaking three tonnes of toxic oil and chemicals into the water.

0:53:450:53:49

There we go. We're here.

0:54:360:54:37

Magnificent flying.

0:54:370:54:39

-See you this afternoon, then.

-We wish you all the best of luck

0:54:390:54:42

-with your piloting.

-Thanks.

-Hope it goes safely.

0:54:420:54:46

He's gone off to the bridge to pilot the ship

0:54:480:54:51

and we're going to take off

0:54:510:54:53

and watch, as it travels through the tight passage of the Reef.

0:54:530:54:55

In a ship this size, which takes hundreds of metres to turn,

0:55:150:55:18

there's no margin for error.

0:55:180:55:20

Australia's resource boom shows little sign of slowing down.

0:55:220:55:27

The government here is keen to open more mines and export yet more coal.

0:55:270:55:32

It's already one of the country's top export earners.

0:55:320:55:35

So, despite the fact it's a protected marine park,

0:55:360:55:40

the number of ships passing through the Great Barrier Reef

0:55:400:55:43

is expected to increase up to five-fold.

0:55:430:55:45

But Richard's ship is in safe hands.

0:55:520:55:55

As he headed to shore,

0:55:550:55:56

the chopper pilot offered to show me a little patch of paradise.

0:55:560:56:01

So, we've landed on a coral cay.

0:56:340:56:38

It's a tiny one.

0:56:380:56:39

Look, the bits of the helicopter are hanging off over the water.

0:56:390:56:44

It's covered in coral. Look at this.

0:56:440:56:46

So, the ship's made it through safely. It's continuing its journey.

0:56:460:56:49

I'm ending this part of my journey here.

0:56:490:56:52

On the next leg, I'll be travelling down Australia's

0:56:520:56:55

bustling and beautiful east coast, towards the bright lights of Sydney.

0:56:550:57:00

Next time, I'll be visiting

0:57:000:57:02

Australia's beautiful coastal cities.

0:57:020:57:04

I'll encounter a side of Australia visitors rarely get to see...

0:57:040:57:09

Is it respect or fear?

0:57:090:57:10

If people fear us, they've got to fear us for a reason.

0:57:100:57:12

I'll get up close to Australia's iconic wildlife...

0:57:120:57:17

and to devastating bush fires.

0:57:170:57:19

Look at this! A line of flames here.

0:57:200:57:25

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