1
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:05,840
Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily os. It's Wednesday,

2
00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:08,800
Speaker 1: the fourteenth of April. My name is Zara Seidler, and

3
00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:11,760
Speaker 1: helping me make sense of today's news is Sam Koslowski.

4
00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:18,680
Speaker 1: Making news today, Christine Holgate's evidence or astrosenica drama, contaminated

5
00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:19,880
Speaker 1: water in Japan.

6
00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:23,160
Speaker 2: And some good news about the Rhino. Here is today's

7
00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:24,080
Speaker 2: Daily Digest.

8
00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,000
Speaker 1: A second case of the rare blood clotting disorder likely

9
00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,440
Speaker 1: linked to the astrosenica vaccine, has been confirmed by an

10
00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,919
Speaker 1: expert medical panel in Australia. The woman in her forties

11
00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,840
Speaker 1: is in hospital, but she does remain in a stable conditions.

12
00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,319
Speaker 1: The TGA released a statement yesterday saying there have been

13
00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:45,680
Speaker 1: about seven hundred thousand doses of astrosenica administered in Australia

14
00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,519
Speaker 1: to date, so while numbers are small, two cases of

15
00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,320
Speaker 1: the blood clotting equates to a frequency of one in

16
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,400
Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty thousand. If you want more info

17
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:56,880
Speaker 1: on this, head to our instagram because we uploaded an

18
00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,120
Speaker 1: explainer on this very topic yesterday.

19
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,480
Speaker 2: Former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate, during a Senate committee

20
00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,759
Speaker 2: hearing yesterday, said she was humiliated by Prime Minister Scott

21
00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:10,319
Speaker 2: Morrison and alleged she lost her job at his direction.

22
00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:12,959
Speaker 2: She said, I lost a job, a job I loved

23
00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:15,600
Speaker 2: because I was humiliated by our Prime Minister for committing

24
00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,319
Speaker 2: no offense, and then bullied by my chairman who unlawfully

25
00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,080
Speaker 2: stood me down under public direction of the PM. The

26
00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,959
Speaker 2: Senate inquiry comes after Holgate gifted staff Kartier watches worth

27
00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:26,560
Speaker 2: five thousand dollars last year.

28
00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,200
Speaker 1: Over to International News, and Japan is set to release

29
00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,720
Speaker 1: over one million tons of contaminated water from the Fukashima

30
00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,680
Speaker 1: nuclear site into the ocean, almost a decade after the

31
00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:41,480
Speaker 1: nuclear disaster. The fishing industry has been quick to oppose

32
00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,000
Speaker 1: the proposal, claiming that there's already a reluctance from Japanese

33
00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,600
Speaker 1: residents to eat fish from the Fukashima area. The decision

34
00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,520
Speaker 1: is also likely to anger Japan's neighboring countries like South Korea, China,

35
00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,240
Speaker 1: and Taiwan, after each country previously voiced opposition.

36
00:01:55,800 --> 00:02:00,480
Speaker 2: To the move. And today's good news, Nepal's rhino population

37
00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,680
Speaker 2: has increased sixteen percent since twenty fifteen. Ghana Garung, a

38
00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,679
Speaker 2: country representative of WWF Nepal, commented on the ongoing efforts,

39
00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,880
Speaker 2: saying the overall growth in population size is indicative of

40
00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:16,320
Speaker 2: ongoing protection and habitat management efforts by protected area authorities

41
00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:21,000
Speaker 2: despite some challenging contexts in these past years. Every five years,

42
00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,240
Speaker 2: Nepal conducts account of rhinos to monitor their status in

43
00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,720
Speaker 2: the wild. There's a particularly interesting opinion piece in The

44
00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:30,880
Speaker 2: New York Times. Will put a link in the notes

45
00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:34,800
Speaker 2: of this episode. It's titled It's time to rethink the Olympics.

46
00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:36,880
Speaker 2: And what we thought would do today is have a

47
00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:39,120
Speaker 2: look at where the Olympics are at. They're really soon

48
00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,880
Speaker 2: and some of the dramas surrounding the twenty twenty one games.

49
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 1: Given where where at the moment as a country with

50
00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:49,560
Speaker 1: our vaccine rollout and generally where foreign countries are with

51
00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,160
Speaker 1: dealing with tech and third even fourth waves, having a

52
00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,079
Speaker 1: massive international event with travelers from all over the world

53
00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,920
Speaker 1: just seems wildly idealistic. What are the chances of it

54
00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:01,600
Speaker 1: actually going ahead at this point?

55
00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,040
Speaker 2: Well, the first thing to note is that game organizers

56
00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:06,360
Speaker 2: have been very clear that there is no Plan B.

57
00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:08,680
Speaker 2: It's either going to happen in July or they're going

58
00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:12,040
Speaker 2: to skip until twenty twenty four. But things in Japan

59
00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,840
Speaker 2: are not good. The coronavirus rates are creeping up, and

60
00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:19,640
Speaker 2: the nation's vaccine rates are lagging behind where the government

61
00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,079
Speaker 2: expected them to be at this point. Organizers in Japan

62
00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,120
Speaker 2: actually had to reroot the Torch relay this week to

63
00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:28,760
Speaker 2: prevent it from going through areas that are currently facing

64
00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,400
Speaker 2: a mini outbreak. It does seem a bit far fetched

65
00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,160
Speaker 2: that eleven thousand athletes from all over the world are

66
00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:37,960
Speaker 2: going to descend on one place in only six or

67
00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:38,640
Speaker 2: eight weeks time.

68
00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:40,760
Speaker 1: I mean, they made the Australian Open happen.

69
00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,360
Speaker 2: It's a good point, and there's some similar public sentiment

70
00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,080
Speaker 2: around the Tokyo Olympics as there was in Australia before

71
00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:49,840
Speaker 2: the Aussie Open. I remember you and I had a

72
00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,400
Speaker 2: big chat about public sentiment and the role that should

73
00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,560
Speaker 2: play well. It's worth considering that a recent Kyoto News

74
00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,000
Speaker 2: poll showed that seventy two percent of Japanese people don't

75
00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,120
Speaker 2: want the games to occur. To go deeper into that poll,

76
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,240
Speaker 2: forty percent of people thought the games should be canceled altogether,

77
00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,320
Speaker 2: while thirty percent thought they should be rescheduled to a

78
00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,680
Speaker 2: much later date. According to the Wall Street Journal, only

79
00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:16,600
Speaker 2: one percent of Japan's population is currently vaccinated against COVID nineteen.

80
00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:19,760
Speaker 2: Despite all of this, as of right now, the opening

81
00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:22,919
Speaker 2: ceremony is scheduled for July twenty three, and the closing

82
00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,839
Speaker 2: ceremony is scheduled for August eight. An interesting semantic point,

83
00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,640
Speaker 2: we're still going to call the Olympics Tokyo twenty twenty

84
00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:32,040
Speaker 2: even though they're happening in twenty twenty one, So we're

85
00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:33,880
Speaker 2: going to have to get used to that in the programming,

86
00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:36,359
Speaker 2: and there's going to be a few major differences with

87
00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:38,960
Speaker 2: how we see it on our TVs this year. There's

88
00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:44,520
Speaker 2: obviously no overseas spectators, and while specifics around capacity of

89
00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,680
Speaker 2: venues is yet to be finalized, we can safely assume

90
00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,159
Speaker 2: that they're going to be a far away from full stadiums.

91
00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:53,520
Speaker 2: So Kurt Streeter from The New York Times basically argued

92
00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,360
Speaker 2: that the game should be canned for a number of reasons,

93
00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,760
Speaker 2: but primarily apart from the obvious health risks, is the

94
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,159
Speaker 2: massive cost at a time of such economic uncertainty for

95
00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:05,839
Speaker 2: most of the world. The fact that fifteen point four

96
00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,960
Speaker 2: billion dollars have been spent on the games, which includes

97
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,560
Speaker 2: three billion dollars on actually rescheduling the games from this

98
00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,680
Speaker 2: time last year is really hard for a lot of

99
00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:21,120
Speaker 2: people to get their heads around. Interestingly, he suggests a

100
00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,120
Speaker 2: new model of Olympic Games for a post COVID world,

101
00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,320
Speaker 2: and that's a decentralized model, so actually there being no

102
00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:31,280
Speaker 2: host city, but rather individual events throughout the world that

103
00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:35,440
Speaker 2: are simultaneously held. This could allow more flexibility in the

104
00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,000
Speaker 2: scheduling and events could be held in some way like

105
00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:42,120
Speaker 2: Australia where we have relatively low case numbers and hopefully

106
00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,159
Speaker 2: by then a bit more of our population vaccinated. A

107
00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,799
Speaker 2: similar piece popped up in The Guardian where they said

108
00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:50,919
Speaker 2: that ultimately the Olympics are still happening only because of

109
00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:54,040
Speaker 2: the huge dollars at stake for the IOC, the International

110
00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:56,880
Speaker 2: Olympic Committee and the sponsors involved.

111
00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,040
Speaker 1: So over the last week we've discussed the these massive

112
00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,120
Speaker 1: second and third waves that have hit countries like India,

113
00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:08,039
Speaker 1: like Brazil. Are we expecting to see them send a

114
00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,360
Speaker 1: delegation to the Olympics. It's very difficult to see how

115
00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,000
Speaker 1: that could possibly happen given the current circumstance.

116
00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,760
Speaker 2: It's an odd discussion to have when Brazil is having

117
00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:20,320
Speaker 2: four thousand deaths a day, and India's having one hundred

118
00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,080
Speaker 2: and twenty five thousand new cases. It does seem odd

119
00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:25,760
Speaker 2: to me that countries would even have to consider what

120
00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,760
Speaker 2: they do for a major sporting event. Nonetheless, what experts

121
00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,560
Speaker 2: think will happen is that some countries will be asked

122
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,320
Speaker 2: not to attend the Games if they have particularly high

123
00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:38,159
Speaker 2: infection rates. That caused the entire notion of the World

124
00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,560
Speaker 2: Olympics into question. It's no longer going to be representative

125
00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,240
Speaker 2: of every country on the planet, which is what makes

126
00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,719
Speaker 2: the Olympics so unique. Since the beginning of the pandemic,

127
00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:49,800
Speaker 2: the Olympics have been held up now as this light

128
00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:51,920
Speaker 2: at the end of the tunnel, this moment that the

129
00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,240
Speaker 2: world can celebrate being past the pandemic. But I think

130
00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:56,719
Speaker 2: we all have to get used to the idea that

131
00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,000
Speaker 2: this is not how it's going to work. And the

132
00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,120
Speaker 2: Tokyo Olympics of two twenty twenty one, if they go ahead,

133
00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:04,760
Speaker 2: which it looks like they will, are not going to

134
00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:06,880
Speaker 2: feel like the Olympics that we know and love.

135
00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:09,720
Speaker 1: That's all the sport we have time for today and

136
00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,680
Speaker 1: hopefully for the rest of the week. But in the meantime,

137
00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,840
Speaker 1: we'd really appreciate if you could like and subscribe to

138
00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,920
Speaker 1: our podcast and even leave a comment if you'd like.

139
00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:21,680
Speaker 1: We'd depend on these for the podcast to grow, and

140
00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:29,880
Speaker 1: we'd really really appreciate your support. Have a fab day,