1 00:00:04,737 --> 00:00:06,736 I'm on a journey around Australia. 2 00:00:10,893 --> 00:00:12,892 A country the size of a continent. 3 00:00:18,449 --> 00:00:21,807 This is a vast land, with extraordinary wildlife. 4 00:00:28,924 --> 00:00:31,402 A rich, booming country on the edge of Asia. 5 00:00:36,959 --> 00:00:39,438 It's not just cricket and kangaroos. 6 00:00:42,436 --> 00:00:44,435 Thanks, ladies. You're welcome. 7 00:00:45,675 --> 00:00:48,433 If you think you know Australia, think again. 8 00:00:51,672 --> 00:00:52,771 On this leg of my journey, 9 00:00:52,871 --> 00:00:57,129 I travel from Darwin, in Australia's far north, across to the remote 10 00:00:57,229 --> 00:01:01,146 Cape York Peninsula and on to the Great Barrier Reef. 11 00:01:04,665 --> 00:01:08,403 In the far north, I go out on patrol with a unique military force, 12 00:01:08,503 --> 00:01:11,341 experts at surviving deep in the Australian bush. 13 00:01:12,780 --> 00:01:14,879 Green ant tea. 14 00:01:14,979 --> 00:01:17,438 Green ant tea, yeah. Two green ants' nests we put in that. 15 00:01:17,538 --> 00:01:19,357 I have close encounters with some of 16 00:01:19,457 --> 00:01:21,036 the deadliest creatures on the planet. 17 00:01:21,136 --> 00:01:25,513 Is that enough to kill a human? 15 to 20 humans. No problems at all. 18 00:01:25,613 --> 00:01:28,832 And I discover how Australia's booming industry 19 00:01:28,932 --> 00:01:31,730 is threatening the world's greatest coral reef. 20 00:01:34,329 --> 00:01:37,287 It's really like something from a sci-fi film. 21 00:01:49,441 --> 00:01:53,438 # ♪ 22 00:02:02,034 --> 00:02:05,792 Wow! Oh, my goodness. 23 00:02:14,467 --> 00:02:16,126 I'm starting this leg of my journey 24 00:02:16,226 --> 00:02:18,405 in what locals call the top end of Australia. 25 00:02:18,505 --> 00:02:24,042 This is the classic Aussie outback - remote, wild and beautiful. 26 00:02:24,142 --> 00:02:26,601 Down there is Kakadu National Park. 27 00:02:26,701 --> 00:02:29,379 It's one of the largest national parks in the world. 28 00:02:34,896 --> 00:02:37,635 Kakadu is just one of thousands of national parks 29 00:02:37,735 --> 00:02:40,273 and reserves in this vast country. 30 00:02:40,373 --> 00:02:44,631 It's the size of Wales - a home to spectacular rocky plateaus, 31 00:02:44,731 --> 00:02:48,369 four major river systems and huge flood plains. 32 00:02:55,165 --> 00:02:56,625 Conservationist Ian Morris 33 00:02:56,725 --> 00:03:00,103 has trained many of the rangers who protect the park. 34 00:03:00,203 --> 00:03:04,201 He knows its 8,000 square miles as well as anyone. 35 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,498 Apart from being completely massive, 36 00:03:08,598 --> 00:03:11,936 what is it about Kakadu that makes it special? 37 00:03:12,036 --> 00:03:14,255 Here we've got a biodiversity hot spot. 38 00:03:14,355 --> 00:03:17,094 We've got a place where there are lots and lots of unique animals all 39 00:03:17,194 --> 00:03:20,132 living together, not found anywhere else in the world, just in Kakadu. 40 00:03:20,232 --> 00:03:22,231 Just here. Endemics, yeah. 41 00:03:26,029 --> 00:03:29,367 What's this over here, Ian? Is that a croc in the water? 42 00:03:29,467 --> 00:03:33,005 Yes, that'll be a large male just cruising along. 43 00:03:33,105 --> 00:03:35,404 It's coming into their breeding season now, 44 00:03:35,504 --> 00:03:39,002 so the boy ones are getting a bit overloaded with testosterone. 45 00:03:39,102 --> 00:03:41,880 Ooh, he's looking... He's heading for the boat. 46 00:03:41,980 --> 00:03:44,759 We're in his territory, so he's coming to have a look at us. Uh! 47 00:03:44,859 --> 00:03:46,318 It's probably a ten-foot on the old scale. 48 00:03:46,418 --> 00:03:49,157 Ten foot? There's another one over here. 49 00:03:49,257 --> 00:03:50,716 They are everywhere around us. 50 00:03:50,816 --> 00:03:54,014 Flipping heck! You put yourself in crocodile soup today. 51 00:03:56,293 --> 00:03:59,071 There are more than 100 types of reptile here 52 00:03:59,171 --> 00:04:00,990 and countless other species. 53 00:04:01,090 --> 00:04:04,109 That is an incredible bird. 54 00:04:04,209 --> 00:04:08,066 The park is a twitcher's paradise, A haven for an endless 55 00:04:08,166 --> 00:04:11,485 variety of birds, including visitors from overseas. 56 00:04:12,564 --> 00:04:13,783 We're quite close, 57 00:04:13,883 --> 00:04:17,501 we're very close to Southeast Asia and lots of these water birds 58 00:04:17,601 --> 00:04:20,220 out here have got aunties and uncles up that way. 59 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,178 You do realise there are very strong connections between you, 60 00:04:24,278 --> 00:04:28,436 the land here, and your Asian neighbours. Exactly. 61 00:04:30,634 --> 00:04:33,813 Kakadu has long been a spectacular sanctuary, 62 00:04:33,913 --> 00:04:37,511 but in recent years wildlife numbers here have been falling. 63 00:04:40,229 --> 00:04:45,187 Ten years ago, there used to be a lot more life here. 64 00:04:45,666 --> 00:04:50,844 There were goannas, which are whopping great monitor lizards, 65 00:04:50,944 --> 00:04:54,282 there were quolls in the trees around here. 66 00:04:54,382 --> 00:04:58,919 Quoll is a sort of marsupial, the size of a cat with a bushy tail 67 00:04:59,019 --> 00:05:01,238 and a lovely pink nose, 68 00:05:01,338 --> 00:05:06,635 and they have been wiped out by a strange, feral invader 69 00:05:06,735 --> 00:05:09,973 and Ian's going to take me to try and find it. 70 00:05:11,573 --> 00:05:15,590 Ian and I headed out of the park to hunt down the destructive creature. 71 00:05:15,690 --> 00:05:16,870 Is this Graeme here? 72 00:05:16,970 --> 00:05:18,389 This is Graeme, yes. 73 00:05:18,489 --> 00:05:21,627 So, this is Ian's mate, Graeme, up ahead, 74 00:05:21,727 --> 00:05:25,005 who's come to join us on this little mission. 75 00:05:27,844 --> 00:05:30,023 You stop here? Yes, this will be fine. 76 00:05:30,123 --> 00:05:33,621 Lights out? And then we wait until dark. 77 00:05:33,721 --> 00:05:35,720 That's right. 78 00:05:46,834 --> 00:05:49,532 The animal causing so many problems in Kakadu 79 00:05:49,632 --> 00:05:51,631 and across much of Australia... 80 00:05:52,431 --> 00:05:54,130 Just there. There you are. 81 00:05:54,230 --> 00:05:55,369 That's him. 82 00:05:55,469 --> 00:05:56,808 ..is called the cane toad. 83 00:05:56,908 --> 00:05:59,367 Well, mid-sized female in not great condition... 84 00:05:59,467 --> 00:06:01,486 Watch it. .. can lay about 20,000 eggs. 85 00:06:01,586 --> 00:06:03,085 I've got a thing about toads. 86 00:06:03,185 --> 00:06:05,324 I'm not mad on them, I must admit. 87 00:06:05,424 --> 00:06:07,443 Just looks like a harmless frog. 88 00:06:07,543 --> 00:06:09,881 It does. Why is it so dangerous? 89 00:06:09,981 --> 00:06:13,679 It is these glands here, which contain this toxin 90 00:06:13,779 --> 00:06:15,878 which none of our native animals seem to be able to handle. 91 00:06:15,978 --> 00:06:17,757 So, it's a poisonous toad? 92 00:06:17,857 --> 00:06:20,276 Yeah, to our animals, it's deadly. 93 00:06:20,376 --> 00:06:24,034 Native animals that feast on a cane toad rarely survive the meal. 94 00:06:24,134 --> 00:06:25,913 See that? And that's it, that's the poison. 95 00:06:26,013 --> 00:06:27,872 When the animals get it on their gums, 96 00:06:27,972 --> 00:06:30,910 that's enough to cause them death in a fairly short while. 97 00:06:31,010 --> 00:06:33,629 I mean, we've seen lots of big snakes, like king brown snakes 98 00:06:33,729 --> 00:06:35,867 which are one of the biggest snakes up here, 99 00:06:35,967 --> 00:06:38,706 die so quickly, the toad still stuck in their mouth. 100 00:06:38,806 --> 00:06:41,065 Good lord. So they hadn't even swallowed it, just... 101 00:06:41,165 --> 00:06:44,063 No. Hadn't even got it down. The toxin just is that quick. 102 00:06:44,163 --> 00:06:46,742 Cane toads were introduced into eastern Australia 103 00:06:46,842 --> 00:06:50,380 from the Americas in the 1930s, in the hope they'd eat beetles 104 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,498 that were destroying fields of sugar cane. 105 00:06:53,598 --> 00:06:55,937 It was a catastrophic mistake. 106 00:06:56,037 --> 00:06:59,295 The cane toads completely failed to eat the beetles and, instead, 107 00:06:59,395 --> 00:07:01,394 they became a massive pest. 108 00:07:02,433 --> 00:07:07,610 Just over 100 were introduced. There are now hundreds of millions. 109 00:07:07,710 --> 00:07:09,130 See the little tadpoles here? 110 00:07:09,230 --> 00:07:11,448 They are newly-metamorphosed toad tadpoles. 111 00:07:11,548 --> 00:07:12,808 Oh, my goodness. 112 00:07:12,908 --> 00:07:15,426 Yup. There's hundreds of them. 113 00:07:16,586 --> 00:07:20,364 Even cane toad eggs and tadpoles contain enough poison to kill 114 00:07:20,464 --> 00:07:22,562 fish and frogs that eat them. 115 00:07:22,662 --> 00:07:26,640 A female toad can lay, on average, about 35,000 eggs. 116 00:07:26,740 --> 00:07:29,719 It has been recorded up to about 50,000. 117 00:07:29,819 --> 00:07:31,278 35,000? 118 00:07:31,378 --> 00:07:32,797 So, what we're looking at here, 119 00:07:32,897 --> 00:07:36,815 all these tadpoles are probably the product of one lady. 120 00:07:39,374 --> 00:07:41,192 Oh, I'm really losing my voice, 121 00:07:41,292 --> 00:07:44,771 or at least getting appropriately croaky, anyway. 122 00:07:47,089 --> 00:07:50,428 Ian and Graeme are among thousands of volunteer conservationists 123 00:07:50,528 --> 00:07:53,066 who have spent years hunting cane toads at night, 124 00:07:53,166 --> 00:07:56,804 trying to stop the creatures from spreading across the country. 125 00:07:58,243 --> 00:07:59,823 There's a big one. 126 00:07:59,923 --> 00:08:01,062 Yes. 127 00:08:01,162 --> 00:08:03,421 When they've gathered up as many as they can find, 128 00:08:03,521 --> 00:08:07,399 they cull them as painlessly as possible, using carbon dioxide. 129 00:08:08,598 --> 00:08:11,456 One of the really sad things about this is that there's 130 00:08:11,556 --> 00:08:13,555 no real alternative to that. 131 00:08:20,152 --> 00:08:22,171 For us, they're the frog from hell. 132 00:08:22,271 --> 00:08:26,009 That's quite graphic. That's really how you see them. 133 00:08:26,109 --> 00:08:27,927 That's the sort of threat they are. 134 00:08:28,027 --> 00:08:30,206 They're more powerful than we are at the moment. 135 00:08:30,306 --> 00:08:32,205 They're winning and we're losing 136 00:08:32,305 --> 00:08:34,724 and we've got to turn that around, somehow. 137 00:08:34,824 --> 00:08:37,243 Killing one species to protect another 138 00:08:37,343 --> 00:08:40,081 is a last resort for any conservationist. 139 00:08:40,181 --> 00:08:42,540 Here, experts believe it's the only option. 140 00:08:43,739 --> 00:08:47,157 In recent decades, Australia's wildlife has been hammered. 141 00:08:47,257 --> 00:08:50,036 Hundreds of native species have been pushed towards extinction, 142 00:08:50,136 --> 00:08:52,314 thanks, in part, to poisonous cane toads 143 00:08:52,414 --> 00:08:55,273 and other introduced creatures. 144 00:08:55,373 --> 00:08:58,391 Despite the best efforts of volunteers like Ian and Graeme, 145 00:08:58,491 --> 00:09:01,829 tackling toads by hand can only have a limited impact 146 00:09:01,929 --> 00:09:04,968 on the millions who are still hopping their way across the country. 147 00:09:14,203 --> 00:09:16,202 # ♪ 148 00:09:18,081 --> 00:09:20,999 The next morning, I left the outback. 149 00:09:21,599 --> 00:09:23,538 I was on my way to the city of Darwin 150 00:09:23,638 --> 00:09:26,476 and stopped first on Australia's northern coast. 151 00:09:29,794 --> 00:09:32,533 This part of the country is closer to Indonesia's capital 152 00:09:32,633 --> 00:09:34,632 than it is to Australia's. 153 00:09:36,711 --> 00:09:40,089 In the past, that proximity to Asia has put northern Australia 154 00:09:40,189 --> 00:09:42,248 on the front line, as I could see at this 155 00:09:42,348 --> 00:09:44,487 World War Two coastal bunker. 156 00:09:44,587 --> 00:09:46,585 Ooh. 157 00:09:49,184 --> 00:09:52,962 This area feels cut off from the rest of Australia, 158 00:09:53,062 --> 00:09:57,620 but Asia's not far away. 159 00:09:59,139 --> 00:10:02,717 During the Second World War, Japanese war planes 160 00:10:02,817 --> 00:10:07,554 attacked Darwin, dropping more bombs and sinking more ships than they 161 00:10:07,654 --> 00:10:12,112 did at Pearl Harbour, which they'd attacked just a few weeks before. 162 00:10:12,212 --> 00:10:14,990 And the remote top end of Australia is becoming 163 00:10:15,090 --> 00:10:17,089 strategically vital again. 164 00:10:24,645 --> 00:10:28,943 Robertson Barracks is home to Australia's first armoured regiment. 165 00:10:29,043 --> 00:10:32,841 I met up with commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Scott Winter. 166 00:10:33,161 --> 00:10:36,379 Colonel. Simon. Welcome to the home of Australia's armoured might. 167 00:10:36,479 --> 00:10:38,458 Thank you very much, indeed. Welcome to Darwin. 168 00:10:38,558 --> 00:10:41,256 The home of Australia's armoured might. That's quite a line. 169 00:10:41,356 --> 00:10:43,295 Well, look, I think it's one we can live up to, 170 00:10:43,395 --> 00:10:46,333 given that we are the best tank regiment in the Australian army. 171 00:10:46,433 --> 00:10:49,612 We're the only tank regiment in the Australian army, as well. 172 00:10:49,712 --> 00:10:52,930 No, look, we're fiercely proud of the service that we've conducted 173 00:10:53,030 --> 00:10:55,409 up here and are very much at home here in the north. 174 00:10:55,509 --> 00:10:57,208 Do you want to come and have a look around? 175 00:10:57,308 --> 00:10:59,766 Let's go and have a look. Thank you. 176 00:10:59,866 --> 00:11:01,285 What is this? 177 00:11:01,385 --> 00:11:04,884 That's the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank, 178 00:11:04,984 --> 00:11:09,001 so, that's been in service with the Australian army for about six years. 179 00:11:09,101 --> 00:11:11,560 One of the unique things about the Abrams tank is it 180 00:11:11,660 --> 00:11:13,279 doesn't have a normal engine in it. 181 00:11:13,379 --> 00:11:14,878 It's got a helicopter engine in it. 182 00:11:14,978 --> 00:11:16,877 Why does it have a helicopter engine? 183 00:11:16,977 --> 00:11:19,356 Is that some sort of top secret part of it? 184 00:11:19,456 --> 00:11:22,434 No. When they first made the tank, it was so big and so heavy that they 185 00:11:22,534 --> 00:11:24,993 couldn't physically make a diesel engine big enough 186 00:11:25,093 --> 00:11:27,651 to actually move it. My goodness. 187 00:11:29,291 --> 00:11:30,870 Well, you certainly couldn't 188 00:11:30,970 --> 00:11:33,948 mistake these tanks for belonging to anybody else other than the 189 00:11:34,048 --> 00:11:37,466 Australian army, could you, really, with the kangaroo on the front? 190 00:11:37,566 --> 00:11:39,025 Absolutely. 191 00:11:39,125 --> 00:11:43,023 So a big part of the reason to be up here in Darwin is that this 192 00:11:43,123 --> 00:11:45,062 is almost Australia's front line. 193 00:11:45,162 --> 00:11:48,140 It's a fascinating area of the world, Asia. 194 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,018 It has its unstable, sort of, corners 195 00:11:52,118 --> 00:11:56,056 and Australia plays a leading role, I guess, in providing stability. 196 00:11:56,156 --> 00:12:00,094 But Australia is an Asian nation and it makes sense that, you know, 197 00:12:00,194 --> 00:12:02,693 our capacity in the future is to be within the region. 198 00:12:02,793 --> 00:12:05,051 I find it really interesting that you say 199 00:12:05,151 --> 00:12:07,370 Australia is an Asian nation. 200 00:12:07,470 --> 00:12:11,168 Growing up, I thought of Australia as being a, sort of, well, 201 00:12:11,268 --> 00:12:14,326 it may sound terrible, but a European outpost. 202 00:12:14,426 --> 00:12:17,445 Our forebears certainly saw themselves as part of the greater 203 00:12:17,545 --> 00:12:20,643 Empire and, while many of us are still very proud 204 00:12:20,743 --> 00:12:21,962 of our European roots, 205 00:12:22,062 --> 00:12:25,221 there is a geographical reality to where Australia is. 206 00:12:26,940 --> 00:12:28,799 We headed down to the training area 207 00:12:28,899 --> 00:12:30,918 so that I could see what the tanks can do. 208 00:12:31,018 --> 00:12:33,636 I think they're impressive when they're static, but it's not 209 00:12:33,736 --> 00:12:36,794 until you really see that helicopter engine push 210 00:12:36,894 --> 00:12:40,492 the 60 tonnes of steel around that you really get to appreciate it. 211 00:12:44,570 --> 00:12:47,069 I feel a little bit like it could move anywhere, it could do 212 00:12:47,169 --> 00:12:49,867 anything and there's nothing that's going to stop that, is there? 213 00:12:49,967 --> 00:12:53,086 That just means it's working. Yeah. The ground shakes. 214 00:12:58,203 --> 00:13:04,060 When you've got 60-odd tonnes moving at 70 kilometres an hour, 215 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:05,939 it has quite the unique presence. 216 00:13:06,039 --> 00:13:09,137 70 kilometres an hour, that can be propelled at? 217 00:13:09,237 --> 00:13:10,376 About 50 miles an hour. 218 00:13:10,476 --> 00:13:13,255 It's designed to make the enemy stand up, back against the tree 219 00:13:13,355 --> 00:13:16,173 and raise the white flag before you even fire a shot. 220 00:13:16,273 --> 00:13:18,172 Well, it's working on me. 221 00:13:18,272 --> 00:13:20,571 I mean, it's great fun. 222 00:13:20,671 --> 00:13:24,169 As much as we're military professionals and we take an 223 00:13:24,269 --> 00:13:27,527 enormous amount of pride in what we do, it's also extremely enjoyable. 224 00:13:27,627 --> 00:13:29,626 It's classic big boys' toys. 225 00:13:31,305 --> 00:13:34,544 I was about to accuse you of that, but you said it yourself. 226 00:13:37,782 --> 00:13:40,880 As the world's focus shifts towards the Asia region, 227 00:13:40,980 --> 00:13:43,479 the United States has recently announced it will be 228 00:13:43,579 --> 00:13:47,756 shifting its military focus from the Middle East to Asia. 229 00:13:47,856 --> 00:13:51,435 The US is also rekindling a long standing strategic friendship 230 00:13:51,535 --> 00:13:54,393 with Australia and over the next few years 231 00:13:54,493 --> 00:13:56,792 Robertson Barracks will become a home for up to 232 00:13:56,892 --> 00:13:59,250 2,500 elite US Marines. 233 00:14:00,929 --> 00:14:05,067 So this is where the US Marines will be living. 234 00:14:05,167 --> 00:14:07,026 It's not bad, actually - 235 00:14:07,126 --> 00:14:09,845 simple, plain, but they each get their own room. 236 00:14:11,244 --> 00:14:15,622 This decision by the US government to shift its emphasis, 237 00:14:15,722 --> 00:14:19,659 its military emphasis, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean 238 00:14:19,759 --> 00:14:22,338 and Pacific, is really huge. 239 00:14:22,438 --> 00:14:25,256 It's momentous, in fact. 240 00:14:25,356 --> 00:14:29,734 It reflects, I suppose, a decision or an acceptance 241 00:14:29,834 --> 00:14:35,411 by the Americans that this century is very likely to be Asia's century. 242 00:14:35,511 --> 00:14:37,730 That's what people are calling it. 243 00:14:37,830 --> 00:14:44,086 And also that America's military competition in the future 244 00:14:44,186 --> 00:14:48,624 is very likely to come from the emerging Asian superpowers, particularly China. 245 00:14:56,940 --> 00:15:01,137 So, we're loading up and we're going to head off on patrol. 246 00:15:03,656 --> 00:15:07,234 This is NORFORCE, a long-range surveillance regiment 247 00:15:07,334 --> 00:15:11,172 that works in some of the toughest terrain on the planet. 248 00:15:12,331 --> 00:15:16,909 NORFORCE is said to have the largest area of operations of any 249 00:15:17,009 --> 00:15:19,408 military unit in the world. 250 00:15:24,165 --> 00:15:27,063 The Northern Territory is six times the size of the UK. 251 00:15:27,163 --> 00:15:30,422 But with a population of just 230,000 people, 252 00:15:30,522 --> 00:15:33,680 vast areas are uninhabited. 253 00:15:37,118 --> 00:15:38,937 A unit of survival specialists, 254 00:15:39,037 --> 00:15:42,755 these men are deployed to patrol Australia's front line with Asia. 255 00:15:47,832 --> 00:15:50,131 They were on the look-out for anything suspicious, 256 00:15:50,231 --> 00:15:53,169 from drug smugglers to boatloads of illegal immigrants. 257 00:15:53,269 --> 00:15:54,329 This a good spot? 258 00:15:54,429 --> 00:15:56,208 Not bad. What do you reckon, Woodsy? 259 00:15:56,308 --> 00:15:57,407 Not too bad. 260 00:15:57,507 --> 00:16:00,645 Lieutenant Noble-Harris was setting up an observation post. 261 00:16:00,745 --> 00:16:02,564 So, there's pretty clear views out to sea, 262 00:16:02,664 --> 00:16:06,562 so basically all your northern and western approaches can be 263 00:16:06,662 --> 00:16:10,860 seen here, any sea traffic or air traffic going past can be observed. 264 00:16:12,059 --> 00:16:15,837 We've still got a good line of sight through the foliage. 265 00:16:15,937 --> 00:16:19,835 And you've got a huge area of operations, but I suppose you can 266 00:16:19,935 --> 00:16:23,633 see anything that's passing through it and passing across there. 267 00:16:23,733 --> 00:16:27,591 We're here looking out to make sure that nothing untoward happens 268 00:16:27,691 --> 00:16:29,230 to Australia's coastline. 269 00:16:29,330 --> 00:16:31,229 Anything we see, we'll report up. 270 00:16:31,329 --> 00:16:33,948 To all intents and purposes, we're out in the middle of nowhere, 271 00:16:34,048 --> 00:16:35,467 but that is where... 272 00:16:35,567 --> 00:16:39,984 That is a gap which is often filled anywhere in the world by illegality. 273 00:16:40,084 --> 00:16:43,063 There's people out there, you just never know. 274 00:16:43,163 --> 00:16:46,381 You could be in the middle of nowhere, but you never know. 275 00:16:46,481 --> 00:16:51,338 NORFORCE soldiers can survive in the outback for weeks at a time. 276 00:16:51,438 --> 00:16:54,776 60% of the regiment are Aboriginal Australians, 277 00:16:54,876 --> 00:16:57,335 many with an understanding of life in the bush that has been 278 00:16:57,435 --> 00:16:59,434 passed down through generations. 279 00:17:01,553 --> 00:17:03,852 Does it really feel like you're able to use 280 00:17:03,952 --> 00:17:09,449 those 40,000 years of accumulated knowledge? 281 00:17:09,549 --> 00:17:14,446 Yeah, yeah. I am using it to teach others, too. 282 00:17:14,546 --> 00:17:17,604 Do you reckon you blokes could survive out here indefinitely? 283 00:17:17,704 --> 00:17:19,703 Uh-huh. 284 00:17:20,143 --> 00:17:22,442 I mean that's... As long as I was hanging around him. 285 00:17:22,542 --> 00:17:24,321 (THEY LAUGH) 286 00:17:24,421 --> 00:17:26,400 With their intimate knowledge of the land, 287 00:17:26,500 --> 00:17:30,237 these soldiers can find nourishment in the unlikeliest of places. 288 00:17:30,337 --> 00:17:32,956 As you can see, the green ant, it's... 289 00:17:33,056 --> 00:17:34,555 I've got one on me here, look. 290 00:17:34,655 --> 00:17:37,913 You can see the very green bum. 291 00:17:38,013 --> 00:17:41,831 That green part there is edible, OK? 292 00:17:41,931 --> 00:17:44,550 Are you just biting the bum of the snake? 293 00:17:44,650 --> 00:17:46,549 It's an ant. 294 00:17:46,649 --> 00:17:48,148 (THEY LAUGH) 295 00:17:48,248 --> 00:17:50,627 What are you doing? 296 00:17:50,727 --> 00:17:55,064 So, inside the nest there, we've got the eggs 297 00:17:55,164 --> 00:17:57,023 and we've got all the other green ants there. 298 00:17:57,123 --> 00:18:02,300 Right. Basically, there's a lot of citrus in the ant, so what we do, 299 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:04,459 we make a cup of tea, we'll boil that up. 300 00:18:04,559 --> 00:18:06,738 You boil the ants' nest up for a cup of tea? 301 00:18:06,838 --> 00:18:08,577 Yes, the ants, the whole show in there. 302 00:18:08,677 --> 00:18:10,056 Is this a wind up? 303 00:18:10,156 --> 00:18:11,415 No, no, serious. 304 00:18:11,515 --> 00:18:13,454 Green ant tea. 305 00:18:13,554 --> 00:18:16,793 Green ant tea, yeah. Two green ants' nests we put in there. 306 00:18:19,871 --> 00:18:23,969 It's smoky and citrusy. It's pretty tasty. 307 00:18:24,069 --> 00:18:26,068 Yeah. 308 00:18:27,707 --> 00:18:30,525 The ants' nests were just a starter. 309 00:18:30,625 --> 00:18:33,144 Wild magpie geese were on the menu for dinner. 310 00:18:39,301 --> 00:18:42,019 After they were roasted over a camp fire, we tucked in. 311 00:18:43,738 --> 00:18:45,517 Look at that. 312 00:18:45,617 --> 00:18:47,036 Best bit, saved for you. 313 00:18:47,136 --> 00:18:48,236 Best bit? 314 00:18:48,336 --> 00:18:51,034 On my travels in this country, I've seen that white Australians 315 00:18:51,134 --> 00:18:54,392 and Aboriginals often live completely separate lives, 316 00:18:54,492 --> 00:18:57,511 but among the soldiers of NORFORCE, things seem different. 317 00:18:57,611 --> 00:19:00,429 The moment you join the Australian Defence Force, 318 00:19:00,529 --> 00:19:03,987 you wear these colours here and we're the one colour. 319 00:19:04,087 --> 00:19:05,826 We just feel like real brothers. 320 00:19:05,926 --> 00:19:07,026 Real brothers. 321 00:19:07,126 --> 00:19:11,583 It doesn't matter whether you're Aboriginal, European, Asian, 322 00:19:11,683 --> 00:19:13,922 we all stick together, fight together. 323 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:22,977 A couple of the guys are laid up doing their surveillance job. 324 00:19:23,077 --> 00:19:25,376 The rest of the troop are just sleeping over there. 325 00:19:25,476 --> 00:19:28,894 They've got a thicker skin than me, maybe. 326 00:19:28,994 --> 00:19:30,993 Goodnight. 327 00:20:03,256 --> 00:20:05,255 Morning. 328 00:20:06,534 --> 00:20:10,692 That was a long, sweaty night. 329 00:20:12,571 --> 00:20:14,570 And rainy as well, actually. 330 00:20:16,009 --> 00:20:19,487 I didn't sleep too badly. I did all right, actually. 331 00:20:21,686 --> 00:20:26,483 Anyway, I see everybody else is up, so I'd better get up. 332 00:20:29,562 --> 00:20:33,240 Australia's coastline is now being monitored around the clock. 333 00:20:34,759 --> 00:20:37,937 Several thousand people are caught trying to get into Australia 334 00:20:38,037 --> 00:20:39,896 illegally every year. 335 00:20:39,996 --> 00:20:42,335 I wanted to see where some of them are taken. 336 00:20:42,435 --> 00:20:46,053 Now, so, there we go. Look. There is Darwin. 337 00:20:46,153 --> 00:20:48,052 It's much bigger than I was expecting. 338 00:20:48,152 --> 00:20:51,230 I thought it would be a sleepy, out-of-the-way town. 339 00:20:55,348 --> 00:20:58,166 Half of the Northern Territory's population live in Darwin, 340 00:20:58,266 --> 00:21:00,265 its capital city. 341 00:21:01,944 --> 00:21:06,102 The rest of the state, like most of Australia, is sparsely populated. 342 00:21:07,301 --> 00:21:09,640 Although so few people live in this country, 343 00:21:09,740 --> 00:21:13,598 there's surprising hostility to migrants arriving illegally. 344 00:21:13,698 --> 00:21:19,155 One of the biggest political issues in Australia at the moment 345 00:21:19,255 --> 00:21:22,673 is asylum seekers and refugees. 346 00:21:22,773 --> 00:21:26,751 And here, in Darwin, there are actually five detention centres 347 00:21:26,851 --> 00:21:29,090 for people who've come here illegally. 348 00:21:31,409 --> 00:21:34,667 In Australia, illegal migrants and refugees face mandatory, 349 00:21:34,767 --> 00:21:37,905 indefinite detention while their cases are being considered. 350 00:21:38,005 --> 00:21:40,424 It's one of the toughest immigration policies of any 351 00:21:40,524 --> 00:21:43,422 democratic country in the world. 352 00:21:43,522 --> 00:21:48,339 Hello. Hello. What's your name? Athari. 353 00:21:48,439 --> 00:21:49,699 Athari. Yes. 354 00:21:49,799 --> 00:21:52,577 Where did you come from, Athari? From Iraq. 355 00:21:52,677 --> 00:21:54,616 From Iraq? Yes. 356 00:21:54,716 --> 00:21:58,574 Hello. Hello. How are you? Yes. 357 00:21:58,674 --> 00:22:00,813 Where are you from? Afghanistan. 358 00:22:00,913 --> 00:22:03,571 Afghanistan? Yes. Iraq. 359 00:22:03,671 --> 00:22:06,450 From Iraq? Iraq. 360 00:22:06,550 --> 00:22:11,767 Iraq, Iran, Burma, Afghanistan. 361 00:22:11,867 --> 00:22:15,485 I'd hoped we could film inside a detention centre. 362 00:22:15,585 --> 00:22:17,164 We were told we could, but on terms that 363 00:22:17,264 --> 00:22:19,323 would have allowed the immigration authorities 364 00:22:19,423 --> 00:22:22,961 to delete and censor any of our footage. 365 00:22:23,061 --> 00:22:25,959 So, instead, I stood outside this facility 366 00:22:26,059 --> 00:22:28,038 where families and children are held, 367 00:22:28,138 --> 00:22:30,177 and talked to detainees through the fence. 368 00:22:31,496 --> 00:22:33,575 How long have you been in here? 369 00:22:36,014 --> 00:22:38,013 Two months. 370 00:22:49,607 --> 00:22:51,306 Kidnapped by them? Yeah. 371 00:22:51,406 --> 00:22:53,265 Because you're Shia? 372 00:22:53,365 --> 00:22:56,123 Yeah. The Taliban are Sunni? Yeah. 373 00:22:57,283 --> 00:22:59,421 Most of these people have made perilous journeys 374 00:22:59,521 --> 00:23:03,259 of thousands of miles across land and sea. 375 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:04,859 No doubt many of them wanted 376 00:23:04,959 --> 00:23:07,817 to get into Australia for economic reasons. 377 00:23:07,917 --> 00:23:09,996 They still have horrific stories. 378 00:23:11,355 --> 00:23:13,494 Carl O'Connor is a lawyer who represents 379 00:23:13,594 --> 00:23:15,053 many of the detainees 380 00:23:15,153 --> 00:23:18,651 and campaigns against the government's policy on refugees. 381 00:23:18,751 --> 00:23:20,750 (CHILDREN SHOUT) 382 00:23:22,069 --> 00:23:24,888 What's different about how Australia treats asylum seekers 383 00:23:24,988 --> 00:23:26,807 and refugees compared to other countries? 384 00:23:26,907 --> 00:23:29,246 Other countries will process refugees in centres 385 00:23:29,346 --> 00:23:32,644 such as this, but not for as long as it takes in Australia. 386 00:23:32,744 --> 00:23:35,442 So, they might be in there for a couple of days in Europe before 387 00:23:35,542 --> 00:23:38,960 they're moved into the community and they can get on with their life. 388 00:23:39,060 --> 00:23:41,999 The government says its policy of mandatory detention, which can 389 00:23:42,099 --> 00:23:46,196 last for months or years, helps to discourage potential refugees 390 00:23:46,296 --> 00:23:50,474 from making the dangerous and often deadly journey from Asia by boat. 391 00:23:50,574 --> 00:23:53,233 They say that if they let people live outside detention centres 392 00:23:53,333 --> 00:23:56,271 while their claims are processed, as in many other countries, 393 00:23:56,371 --> 00:23:59,589 refugees could simply disappear and live illegally, 394 00:23:59,689 --> 00:24:02,828 but life inside a detention centre can be tough. 395 00:24:02,928 --> 00:24:06,506 Unfortunately, in Darwin detention centres we've seen large 396 00:24:06,606 --> 00:24:08,904 numbers of asylum seekers self-harm, we've seen some 397 00:24:09,004 --> 00:24:11,823 asylum seekers sew their lips together as a form of protest. 398 00:24:11,923 --> 00:24:13,662 Sew their lips together? 399 00:24:13,762 --> 00:24:16,300 Tragically, yes. Tragically, yes. 400 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,139 It's not uncommon that men will sew their lips together. 401 00:24:19,239 --> 00:24:22,577 It's really to indicate, "I have no voice, there is nothing I can do." 402 00:24:22,677 --> 00:24:26,375 That's appalling. Do the children witness it? 403 00:24:26,475 --> 00:24:29,133 The children aren't self- harming, as well, are they? 404 00:24:29,233 --> 00:24:34,211 Only three weeks ago, a 17-year-old child in there slit his throat 405 00:24:34,311 --> 00:24:37,769 and it was quite catastrophic, by all accounts. 406 00:24:37,869 --> 00:24:39,648 There was a large amount of blood spilt, 407 00:24:39,748 --> 00:24:43,526 so he not only went through that, but these kids here behind us, 408 00:24:43,626 --> 00:24:45,625 they also witness these sort of incidents. 409 00:24:47,104 --> 00:24:48,323 Thousands of adults 410 00:24:48,423 --> 00:24:52,481 and children are being held in Australian immigration facilities. 411 00:24:52,581 --> 00:24:55,439 Few countries have open borders, of course, 412 00:24:55,539 --> 00:24:58,398 but human rights groups and local protesters claim Australia's 413 00:24:58,498 --> 00:25:02,496 immigration policies breach the country's international obligations. 414 00:25:04,255 --> 00:25:09,872 One of the biggest tragedies of the whole debate, furore, 415 00:25:09,972 --> 00:25:13,070 in developed countries about asylum seekers and refugees, 416 00:25:13,170 --> 00:25:15,709 when we think of people, as a mass, 417 00:25:15,809 --> 00:25:20,426 as some sort of invading force, people find it frightening. 418 00:25:20,526 --> 00:25:22,225 They worry about their jobs being taken, 419 00:25:22,325 --> 00:25:24,664 their homes being taken, etc, etc. 420 00:25:24,764 --> 00:25:27,862 But when you start meeting people and hearing their individual stories 421 00:25:27,962 --> 00:25:30,381 and you realise you've got to be pretty desperate 422 00:25:30,481 --> 00:25:32,859 to make the journey here. 423 00:25:32,959 --> 00:25:37,277 Pretty determined, as well, but, ultimately, desperate. 424 00:25:39,196 --> 00:25:43,534 Most Australians support tough controls on illegal immigration, 425 00:25:43,634 --> 00:25:46,372 but like other wealthy countries Australia has, of course, 426 00:25:46,472 --> 00:25:49,970 been happy to cherry-pick and allow in millions of legal economic 427 00:25:50,070 --> 00:25:53,628 migrants to live in the country and boost the economy. 428 00:25:55,587 --> 00:25:58,426 It was time for me to leave the Northern Territory. 429 00:26:00,585 --> 00:26:03,723 I'd soon be visiting The Great Barrier Reef, to get up close 430 00:26:03,823 --> 00:26:06,921 with some of Australia's most beautiful wildlife, 431 00:26:07,021 --> 00:26:08,840 but first, I headed for Weipa, 432 00:26:08,940 --> 00:26:11,139 on the isolated Cape York Peninsula. 433 00:26:17,296 --> 00:26:20,354 So we've arrived, hired a car, 434 00:26:20,454 --> 00:26:24,272 and we're in a very remote part of the country. 435 00:26:24,372 --> 00:26:27,590 The Cape York Peninsula is about the size of England, 436 00:26:27,690 --> 00:26:31,788 but has a population of less than 20,000. 437 00:26:31,888 --> 00:26:36,286 This is the main town, the throbbing metropolis of Weipa. 438 00:26:38,324 --> 00:26:40,983 I'd come to meet Dr Jamie Seymour. 439 00:26:41,083 --> 00:26:42,742 Morning. Morning. 440 00:26:42,842 --> 00:26:45,061 He's a scientist who studies some of the most lethal 441 00:26:45,161 --> 00:26:47,240 creatures on the planet. 442 00:26:48,039 --> 00:26:53,017 Jamie, it's looking stunning out here. 443 00:26:53,117 --> 00:26:57,214 It's an amazing place, Weipa, but don't let the looks deceive you. 444 00:26:57,314 --> 00:26:59,573 It's not the easiest place to get in and out of the water 445 00:26:59,673 --> 00:27:01,132 and stay alive in, that's for sure. 446 00:27:01,232 --> 00:27:02,611 Stay alive in? 447 00:27:02,711 --> 00:27:04,211 Well... What have we got out here? 448 00:27:04,311 --> 00:27:06,289 Take us through what is in the water here. 449 00:27:06,389 --> 00:27:09,088 Well, if you work from the top end, there's saltwater crocodiles, 450 00:27:09,188 --> 00:27:11,727 there's some of them four, four and a half metre crocodiles... 451 00:27:11,827 --> 00:27:13,446 Right. ..so they're liable to kill you. 452 00:27:13,546 --> 00:27:15,365 You've got sea snakes, you've got sharks, 453 00:27:15,465 --> 00:27:17,563 and then you've got box jellyfish, the world's most 454 00:27:17,663 --> 00:27:20,562 venomous animal and, literally, we can find all of those things within 455 00:27:20,662 --> 00:27:23,320 probably two, three hundred metres of where we're standing. 456 00:27:23,420 --> 00:27:25,239 So, not a place to take a dip? 457 00:27:25,339 --> 00:27:27,558 No. You wouldn't get in the water here and swim out. 458 00:27:27,658 --> 00:27:30,317 Something would probably get you before you got back to shore. 459 00:27:30,417 --> 00:27:32,875 We haven't really said what we're here to do yet, 460 00:27:32,975 --> 00:27:34,514 but the back of Jamie's tee shirt, 461 00:27:34,614 --> 00:27:38,072 if you don't mind spinning round, gives you a hell of a clue. 462 00:27:38,172 --> 00:27:40,231 Stinger Research Unit. Let's get out there. 463 00:27:40,331 --> 00:27:42,750 All right. I feel a bit apprehensive after that warning. 464 00:27:42,850 --> 00:27:44,849 You'll be fine. You'll be fine. Trust me. 465 00:27:46,008 --> 00:27:47,387 I headed out with Jamie, 466 00:27:47,487 --> 00:27:50,986 his colleague, Richard and boat skipper, Dave. 467 00:27:51,086 --> 00:27:53,584 We were looking for jellyfish. 468 00:27:53,684 --> 00:27:56,543 Many scientists believe that, because of our changing climate 469 00:27:56,643 --> 00:27:58,621 and the over fishing of their predators, 470 00:27:58,721 --> 00:28:00,980 global jellyfish numbers are increasing. 471 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,379 Some even worry they could become one of the dominant 472 00:28:03,479 --> 00:28:05,338 life forms in our seas. 473 00:28:05,438 --> 00:28:09,016 Jamie, what on earth are we, or rather, you, out here to do? 474 00:28:09,116 --> 00:28:11,255 It's basically one of our major sampling sites, 475 00:28:11,355 --> 00:28:12,974 where we come to chase box jellyfish. 476 00:28:13,074 --> 00:28:16,172 This is one of the areas where we find THE greatest density of these things. 477 00:28:16,272 --> 00:28:19,091 There is nothing on the planet, animal-wise, 478 00:28:19,191 --> 00:28:21,529 that kills as quickly as these animals. 479 00:28:21,629 --> 00:28:23,628 There is nothing that even comes close. 480 00:28:27,666 --> 00:28:30,005 Jamie was planning to catch box jellyfish, 481 00:28:30,105 --> 00:28:32,323 but first we had to find them. 482 00:28:32,423 --> 00:28:34,482 Part of the reason they're so dangerous is that they're 483 00:28:34,582 --> 00:28:37,061 so hard to spot. 484 00:28:42,738 --> 00:28:46,416 There's lots of bait fish and things here that they'd be chasing. 485 00:28:47,895 --> 00:28:49,434 What's that down there? 486 00:28:49,534 --> 00:28:52,733 No, that's... That's just white sand. No, that's white sand. 487 00:28:56,651 --> 00:28:58,030 There's one. Deep in the water. 488 00:28:58,130 --> 00:28:59,989 Big one. Big one. See him, just down here? 489 00:29:00,089 --> 00:29:03,267 Oh yeah, yeah. Just a slight change in the colour. Yep. 490 00:29:03,367 --> 00:29:05,446 I mean, I would not have noticed that. 491 00:29:09,284 --> 00:29:11,862 The most venomous creature on planet Earth? 492 00:29:11,962 --> 00:29:14,581 Yep. And look how far it is from shore. 493 00:29:14,681 --> 00:29:16,420 Why, it's only about 12 feet, isn't it? 494 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:18,819 Yep. That's the problem. We know what we're looking for. 495 00:29:18,919 --> 00:29:21,737 I've just shown you one just there, and you went, "I didn't see that." 496 00:29:21,837 --> 00:29:24,855 Now, you imagine if you'd just come to the water to go for a swim, 497 00:29:24,955 --> 00:29:27,254 you blunder into that animal. 498 00:29:27,354 --> 00:29:28,773 It's all over. 499 00:29:28,873 --> 00:29:30,932 So, you're going to try and catch that one? 500 00:29:31,032 --> 00:29:32,531 Yeah, we need to get kitted up first. 501 00:29:32,631 --> 00:29:34,690 You can't get in the water until we get kitted up. 502 00:29:34,790 --> 00:29:37,649 And is that creature enough to kill a human? 503 00:29:37,749 --> 00:29:41,766 That animal, that size, 15 to 20 humans, no problems at all. 504 00:29:41,866 --> 00:29:45,524 Could kill? Oh, absolutely. Without a shadow of a doubt. 505 00:29:45,624 --> 00:29:47,083 In under two minutes. 506 00:29:47,183 --> 00:29:49,082 Take it super-seriously. 507 00:29:49,182 --> 00:29:52,800 Yeah. You screw up here, you only get one chance at it. 508 00:29:52,900 --> 00:29:54,120 Oh, this sucks. 509 00:29:54,220 --> 00:29:57,358 We put on thin wetsuits, as protection from the stingers. 510 00:29:57,458 --> 00:29:59,497 Just jump in here? Yep. 511 00:30:01,176 --> 00:30:04,034 Now, I want you, to stay between me and the shore. 512 00:30:04,134 --> 00:30:06,213 OK. I'm happy with that. 513 00:30:07,213 --> 00:30:09,032 So, swing in from here. 514 00:30:09,132 --> 00:30:11,151 My God, it's just in front of me. There. 515 00:30:11,251 --> 00:30:12,670 I wouldn't have even seen that. 516 00:30:12,770 --> 00:30:14,989 Basically, what you're looking at is... 517 00:30:15,089 --> 00:30:17,147 I'll just get him to the surface. Good God. 518 00:30:17,247 --> 00:30:20,306 So, there you are. There it is. That's about half grown. 519 00:30:20,406 --> 00:30:22,265 It looks completely harmless. 520 00:30:22,365 --> 00:30:24,364 Now, if you have a look at the animal. 521 00:30:26,203 --> 00:30:29,341 There you have, basically, a half-grown box jellyfish. 522 00:30:29,441 --> 00:30:31,100 You can see it's still pulsing. 523 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:35,618 So, these are, basically, off here, you've got all the tentacles. 524 00:30:35,718 --> 00:30:40,135 It feels like a, sort of, hard jelly. 525 00:30:40,235 --> 00:30:44,613 Just feeling it, I mean, you don't whether it feels alive. 526 00:30:44,713 --> 00:30:47,451 It doesn't even really feel particularly alive. 527 00:30:47,551 --> 00:30:50,570 Squidgy. Yep. Quite squidgy. 528 00:30:50,670 --> 00:30:54,847 Another one coming in behind it. Another coming in through here? Yes. 529 00:30:54,947 --> 00:30:58,725 Box jellyfish can move at almost five miles an hour, 530 00:30:58,825 --> 00:31:01,484 as fast as Olympic swimmers. 531 00:31:01,584 --> 00:31:04,962 Two metres of tentacle contact is enough to kill an adult human 532 00:31:05,062 --> 00:31:08,580 and even the tiniest sting can be agonising. 533 00:31:11,738 --> 00:31:14,637 Seriously guys, it's getting to the stage where I want to get out of the water. 534 00:31:14,737 --> 00:31:17,195 We need to get back in the boat, cos we've been here a bit too long 535 00:31:17,295 --> 00:31:20,873 and they're worried that crocs are watching us all the time 536 00:31:20,973 --> 00:31:25,551 and the window is, basically, sort of, 20-25 minutes before 537 00:31:25,651 --> 00:31:28,010 a croc will come in and start to launch an attack, 538 00:31:29,209 --> 00:31:31,228 which, as you can imagine, is quite a scary prospect. 539 00:31:31,328 --> 00:31:34,366 All right, Rich, let's get out of here. OK. 540 00:31:37,165 --> 00:31:40,663 Jamie has had several close shaves himself, 541 00:31:40,763 --> 00:31:42,302 but he's hunting for box jellyfish 542 00:31:42,402 --> 00:31:45,220 precisely because they are so dangerous. 543 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:47,699 He's convinced their venom will be enormously useful 544 00:31:47,799 --> 00:31:49,418 for medical research. 545 00:31:49,518 --> 00:31:51,697 The venom has so much potential 546 00:31:51,797 --> 00:31:54,415 that drug companies are helping to fund his work. 547 00:31:54,515 --> 00:31:56,614 You need to think of venom as a cocktail. 548 00:31:56,714 --> 00:31:58,613 So there's a heap of things in there 549 00:31:58,713 --> 00:32:02,091 and they all target different components. So we know, for example, 550 00:32:02,191 --> 00:32:05,170 in box jellyfish venom, there's a component that attacks the heart. 551 00:32:05,270 --> 00:32:08,048 But then there's another 20, 30, 40 different compounds 552 00:32:08,148 --> 00:32:12,326 that we haven't even started to look at, that we know don't cause death, 553 00:32:12,426 --> 00:32:14,445 but they're in the venom. What do they do? 554 00:32:14,545 --> 00:32:17,483 They could be there to help the drug get into a certain area quicker, 555 00:32:17,583 --> 00:32:20,162 So, if we're looking at that, for example, 556 00:32:20,262 --> 00:32:21,841 it may make it go quicker to the heart. 557 00:32:21,941 --> 00:32:23,960 So, it's really a matter of understanding what's going on. 558 00:32:24,060 --> 00:32:29,517 So, by studying jellyfish venom, you can come up with new drugs 559 00:32:29,617 --> 00:32:32,515 or a new way of treating people for ailments and problems 560 00:32:32,615 --> 00:32:34,234 entirely unconnected with jellyfish. 561 00:32:34,334 --> 00:32:36,913 The chances of finding a novel compound in here 562 00:32:37,013 --> 00:32:41,270 that could save people's lives is enormous. 563 00:32:41,370 --> 00:32:42,470 If there wasn't, 564 00:32:42,570 --> 00:32:45,548 pharmaceutical companies would NOT be going down this track, trust me. 565 00:32:45,648 --> 00:32:47,507 There's one, Simon. 566 00:32:47,607 --> 00:32:49,626 Research into the composition of venoms 567 00:32:49,726 --> 00:32:51,745 is already producing results. 568 00:32:51,845 --> 00:32:54,383 Scientists recently discovered a compound in the venom 569 00:32:54,483 --> 00:32:57,622 of an African snake that has potential as one of the world's 570 00:32:57,722 --> 00:32:59,860 most powerful pain killers. 571 00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:03,658 We want some tentacles from this guy, because that's where the venom is, 572 00:33:03,758 --> 00:33:06,257 so we're going to take the bottom end off this. 573 00:33:06,357 --> 00:33:08,616 So lift that underneath there, Rich. 574 00:33:08,716 --> 00:33:10,735 So we put the animal back in the water. 575 00:33:10,835 --> 00:33:13,853 You can still see that he's got the vast majority of his tentacles. 576 00:33:13,953 --> 00:33:15,652 The tentacles have got the venom in it. 577 00:33:15,752 --> 00:33:17,931 He'll regrow those in such a rate that he'll 578 00:33:18,031 --> 00:33:22,208 regrow something between 1-2cm of tentacle in 24 hours. 579 00:33:22,308 --> 00:33:26,126 Astonishing. Just take that top. That'll do. That'll do us. 580 00:33:26,226 --> 00:33:30,404 I find it absolutely stunning that what you're doing here and now 581 00:33:30,504 --> 00:33:32,643 could help to find new drugs, 582 00:33:32,743 --> 00:33:36,441 new ways of treating some of the most intractable human ailments. 583 00:33:36,541 --> 00:33:39,119 If, somewhere in the future. the work that I did 584 00:33:39,219 --> 00:33:41,918 saved somebody's life... Made a difference. 585 00:33:42,018 --> 00:33:45,196 Let's be honest, just saying those things, at the moment, 586 00:33:45,296 --> 00:33:48,354 I can just feel all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. 587 00:33:48,454 --> 00:33:50,433 One day it will happen. I know it will happen. 588 00:33:50,533 --> 00:33:52,532 It's just a matter of when. 589 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:20,537 I continued my journey across the remote Cape York Peninsula. 590 00:34:20,637 --> 00:34:23,056 It's one of the least populated areas of Australia 591 00:34:23,156 --> 00:34:27,134 and most of the people who do live here are Aboriginals. 592 00:34:27,234 --> 00:34:30,052 I headed to the town of Aurukun. 593 00:34:30,152 --> 00:34:32,611 After white settlers arrived in Australia, 594 00:34:32,711 --> 00:34:35,969 the indigenous people suffered brutal treatment. 595 00:34:36,069 --> 00:34:39,507 In some parts of the country, they were exterminated. 596 00:34:40,747 --> 00:34:44,205 For decades, Australia treated its indigenous people appallingly. 597 00:34:44,305 --> 00:34:46,803 There was abuse, almost apartheid. 598 00:34:46,903 --> 00:34:49,882 Aboriginal communities now suffer 599 00:34:49,982 --> 00:34:53,360 significantly lower life expectancy and higher unemployment than the 600 00:34:53,460 --> 00:34:57,957 rest of Australia, and Aurukun is a town gripped by social problems. 601 00:34:58,057 --> 00:35:00,836 I met up with Gina, who has first-hand experience 602 00:35:00,936 --> 00:35:03,154 of the issues people here struggle with. 603 00:35:03,254 --> 00:35:05,913 Gina, is this a community in crisis? 604 00:35:06,013 --> 00:35:09,951 It's like a pressure cooker of social problems. 605 00:35:10,051 --> 00:35:14,309 We still continue to endure very low socio-economic standards, 606 00:35:14,409 --> 00:35:16,947 compared to that of the mainstream Australia - 607 00:35:17,047 --> 00:35:19,866 no businesses, no jobs, 608 00:35:19,966 --> 00:35:25,223 most of the people in the community are on welfare benefits. So, Centrelink. 609 00:35:25,323 --> 00:35:28,021 Most people? Yes, the majority. Yes. 610 00:35:28,121 --> 00:35:30,020 A lot of people are dying too young. 611 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,858 The average life expectancy here is still very, very low. 612 00:35:33,958 --> 00:35:37,256 My mother died, she was 42. How did your mother die? 613 00:35:37,356 --> 00:35:43,373 My mother was murdered by her partner at the time. I was 14 years old. 614 00:35:43,473 --> 00:35:44,412 God, I'm so sorry. 615 00:35:44,512 --> 00:35:46,551 That was alcohol-fuelled violence. 616 00:35:49,630 --> 00:35:52,808 Blame for many of the problems affecting Aboriginal people today 617 00:35:52,908 --> 00:35:56,606 can no longer all be pinned on the white establishment. 618 00:35:56,706 --> 00:36:00,844 Many Aboriginal communities across the country have their own ingrained 619 00:36:00,944 --> 00:36:03,122 problems with drug abuse, child abuse, 620 00:36:03,222 --> 00:36:05,601 alcoholism and domestic violence. 621 00:36:05,701 --> 00:36:10,219 And it can be shocking to discover just how many families are affected. 622 00:36:12,537 --> 00:36:14,276 That car at the back is my sister's car. 623 00:36:14,376 --> 00:36:18,034 She got her compensation money because she'd been stabbed 624 00:36:18,134 --> 00:36:20,873 many, many times by her partner. 625 00:36:20,973 --> 00:36:24,271 She actually got stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver by him 626 00:36:24,371 --> 00:36:26,750 and she got compensation money. 627 00:36:26,850 --> 00:36:32,087 She bought a vehicle and it was trashed, you know, after two weeks. 628 00:36:35,045 --> 00:36:37,364 It's just really sad. Look at it. 629 00:36:40,403 --> 00:36:44,980 This place is a classic example of what happens when people lose 630 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,739 their sense of purpose and meaning, 631 00:36:47,839 --> 00:36:49,817 when they lose their role in life and become 632 00:36:49,917 --> 00:36:55,374 welfare dependent and rely on sit-down money, as it's called here. 633 00:36:55,474 --> 00:37:00,092 I've seen and I've felt, I think, that same sense of helplessness 634 00:37:00,192 --> 00:37:03,850 and hopelessness in many other parts of the world, 635 00:37:03,950 --> 00:37:07,488 but I've never felt it quite so strongly as I have in 636 00:37:07,588 --> 00:37:10,986 any number of Aboriginal communities here in Australia. 637 00:37:14,184 --> 00:37:15,164 Across Australia, 638 00:37:15,264 --> 00:37:19,162 Aboriginal lands sit on top of huge deposits of minerals - 639 00:37:19,262 --> 00:37:22,120 coal, copper and, here on the Cape York Peninsula, 640 00:37:22,220 --> 00:37:24,219 the aluminium ore, bauxite. 641 00:37:27,178 --> 00:37:30,036 A culture of welfare dependency in Aboriginal communities 642 00:37:30,136 --> 00:37:33,114 has been fuelled by the fact that many receive royalty payments 643 00:37:33,214 --> 00:37:36,153 from mining companies, to mine their land, 644 00:37:36,253 --> 00:37:39,711 which have become little more than hand-outs or sit-down money. 645 00:37:39,811 --> 00:37:42,709 But Gina wants to help end the dependence on these pay-outs. 646 00:37:42,809 --> 00:37:46,387 We went to a mine owned by Rio Tinto, 647 00:37:46,487 --> 00:37:50,905 a multi-billion pound mining giant, which hires bulldozers from Gina. 648 00:37:51,005 --> 00:37:56,462 Over here is one of our dozers. It's called a D10 dozer. 649 00:37:56,562 --> 00:38:00,420 When you say it's one of our dozers... Aurukun Earthmoving. 650 00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:06,057 So this bulldozer is actually owned by the people of Aurukun? 651 00:38:06,157 --> 00:38:07,736 Yes. That's why we're establishing businesses, 652 00:38:07,836 --> 00:38:11,894 so that we can actually have economic participation 653 00:38:11,994 --> 00:38:14,892 and economic participation means jobs for our people. 654 00:38:14,992 --> 00:38:16,571 It means wealth creation. 655 00:38:16,671 --> 00:38:19,130 For us it's not just about receiving royalties. We don't want to just 656 00:38:19,230 --> 00:38:21,568 get sit-down money from the companies who mine our land. 657 00:38:21,668 --> 00:38:25,486 This is our land and we want to be involved in any developments 658 00:38:25,586 --> 00:38:26,766 that happen on our land. 659 00:38:26,866 --> 00:38:29,284 What's your involvement in the company? 660 00:38:29,384 --> 00:38:33,082 I played a role in establishing the business and I've been 661 00:38:33,182 --> 00:38:36,880 a company director, managing director, for the last eight years. 662 00:38:36,980 --> 00:38:39,839 Did you set the company up, then? Yes. 18, 19. 663 00:38:39,939 --> 00:38:43,317 You were a teenager... Yes. 664 00:38:43,417 --> 00:38:46,355 .. when you... How many of these do you own? Four. 665 00:38:46,455 --> 00:38:48,874 We started out with one dozer and we went knocking 666 00:38:48,974 --> 00:38:50,793 on Rio Tinto's door and said, 667 00:38:50,893 --> 00:38:52,952 "Please, would you give us some work?" 668 00:38:53,052 --> 00:38:54,191 And here we are today. 669 00:38:54,291 --> 00:38:57,309 We've got a five-year contract that was just recently signed, 670 00:38:57,409 --> 00:39:01,167 so it's a fantastic result for all of us. We're very happy. 671 00:39:02,367 --> 00:39:04,106 Owning and renting out mining equipment 672 00:39:04,206 --> 00:39:06,544 is the start of Gina's plans. 673 00:39:06,644 --> 00:39:10,982 There are bauxite-rich deposits around her community at Aurukun. 674 00:39:11,082 --> 00:39:12,661 Even though it's in a wilderness area, 675 00:39:12,761 --> 00:39:15,300 it seems likely it'll be mined and Gina wants the people 676 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,419 of her community to be the ones who mine it. 677 00:39:17,519 --> 00:39:20,377 We have spoken to the highest levels in government. 678 00:39:20,477 --> 00:39:22,616 We have spoken to the Deputy Premier, 679 00:39:22,716 --> 00:39:25,254 we have spoken to the Department of Infrastructure. 680 00:39:25,354 --> 00:39:28,053 We want to be the owners of that resource. 681 00:39:28,153 --> 00:39:31,291 We want to develop our own mine. 682 00:39:31,391 --> 00:39:34,649 This is very exciting. Has this been done before? 683 00:39:34,749 --> 00:39:37,048 Has an Aboriginal community in Australia 684 00:39:37,148 --> 00:39:39,247 run their own mining operation? 685 00:39:39,347 --> 00:39:42,245 Never. It's never happened. 686 00:39:42,345 --> 00:39:44,724 We want to lift the bar. We'll be able to, 687 00:39:44,824 --> 00:39:49,122 with our partners, of course, 688 00:39:49,222 --> 00:39:52,300 we'll be able to show the world that this is how it should be done. 689 00:39:55,658 --> 00:39:58,796 Aboriginal communities need strong, inspiring leaders, like Gina. 690 00:39:58,896 --> 00:40:02,994 She's trying to get the people of Aurukun off welfare 691 00:40:03,094 --> 00:40:06,452 and give them purpose and meaning again, through employment. 692 00:40:10,410 --> 00:40:11,470 I'm on the move again 693 00:40:11,570 --> 00:40:16,027 and I'm heading now to the airport, where I'm going to hop on a flight 694 00:40:16,127 --> 00:40:18,026 which is going to take me to the east coast 695 00:40:18,126 --> 00:40:20,565 and the Great Barrier Reef. 696 00:40:26,082 --> 00:40:27,701 I headed to the city of Cairns, 697 00:40:27,801 --> 00:40:32,099 a gateway to one of the greatest natural wonders on the planet. 698 00:40:32,199 --> 00:40:36,016 The Great Barrier Reef is the largest natural structure on earth. 699 00:40:36,116 --> 00:40:39,095 It extends for more than 1,500 miles 700 00:40:39,195 --> 00:40:41,434 and is big enough to be seen from space. 701 00:40:45,232 --> 00:40:49,289 Very excited about this. Trying to remain calm. 702 00:40:49,389 --> 00:40:52,248 A chance to get onto The Great Barrier Reef is not one 703 00:40:52,348 --> 00:40:54,127 you want to miss. 704 00:40:54,227 --> 00:40:56,246 Hello there. Hey, welcome on board. 705 00:40:56,346 --> 00:40:59,604 Are you Col? I'm Col, and pleased to have you in my work place. 706 00:40:59,704 --> 00:41:01,603 Thanks, Col. Oh! Right there. I got it. 707 00:41:01,703 --> 00:41:03,602 Col McKenzie represents tour operators 708 00:41:03,702 --> 00:41:05,681 who take tourists out on the reef. 709 00:41:05,781 --> 00:41:07,859 Nearly made it into the water! Yup. 710 00:41:10,698 --> 00:41:12,077 He's also one of the people 711 00:41:12,177 --> 00:41:15,156 responsible for keeping the reef at its best. 712 00:41:15,256 --> 00:41:20,193 Col's kindly taking me out to see a beautiful bit of reef 713 00:41:20,293 --> 00:41:22,292 and I get to snorkel on it. 714 00:41:28,808 --> 00:41:33,106 The sheer diversity of the reef is jaw-dropping. 715 00:41:33,206 --> 00:41:38,103 It's a home to more than 130 types of sharks and rays, 716 00:41:38,203 --> 00:41:40,462 1,800 species of fish 717 00:41:40,562 --> 00:41:43,980 and every type of coral and colour the mind can imagine. 718 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:47,258 But coral reefs aren't just pretty to look at. 719 00:41:47,358 --> 00:41:49,657 They're vital to the health of our oceans. 720 00:41:49,757 --> 00:41:53,095 Reefs occupy less than 1% of the Earth's surface, 721 00:41:53,195 --> 00:41:56,953 but they support more than 25% of all marine life. 722 00:42:01,991 --> 00:42:04,089 But of all the life down here, 723 00:42:04,189 --> 00:42:07,248 there's one creature in particular that Col is concerned about. 724 00:42:07,348 --> 00:42:11,086 It's a type of starfish that is literally eating the reef. 725 00:42:11,186 --> 00:42:14,044 You can actually see an area that's just been eaten. 726 00:42:14,144 --> 00:42:17,882 It's been eaten in the last 24 hours. It's a bright, white skeleton, 727 00:42:17,982 --> 00:42:21,440 because all the animal has been dissolved and taken away. 728 00:42:21,540 --> 00:42:25,478 It was easy to see the dead white coral skeleton 729 00:42:25,578 --> 00:42:27,437 that Col was talking about. 730 00:42:27,537 --> 00:42:31,555 The creature responsible for the damage is a spiky starfish 731 00:42:31,655 --> 00:42:33,434 called the crown-of-thorns. 732 00:42:33,534 --> 00:42:36,472 While we were down, we could see one crown-of-thorns 733 00:42:36,572 --> 00:42:42,349 that Col pointed out to me. And it is a monster of a creature. 734 00:42:42,449 --> 00:42:45,727 Really like something from a sci-fi film. 735 00:42:46,767 --> 00:42:49,465 Crown-of-thorns starfish are native to the reef 736 00:42:49,565 --> 00:42:52,144 and they naturally eat fast-growing coral 737 00:42:52,244 --> 00:42:55,362 and help give slower-growing coral a chance to thrive. 738 00:42:57,121 --> 00:42:59,100 But if they reach plague proportions, 739 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,099 they can destroy the reef, leaving nothing 740 00:43:01,199 --> 00:43:03,618 but algae-covered coral skeletons. 741 00:43:03,718 --> 00:43:05,896 And in recent years, that's exactly what's been happening 742 00:43:05,996 --> 00:43:09,195 on large areas of The Great Barrier Reef. 743 00:43:11,154 --> 00:43:12,293 They eat everything. 744 00:43:12,393 --> 00:43:15,371 They eat all the hard coral, all the soft coral, 745 00:43:15,471 --> 00:43:17,410 they eat the whole lot out. I've seen a reef go 746 00:43:17,510 --> 00:43:21,608 from 55% live coral cover to 5% live coral cover 747 00:43:21,708 --> 00:43:26,325 in less than six months. These things can really devastate a reef 748 00:43:26,425 --> 00:43:30,363 and it's, unfortunately, human intervention that's caused it. 749 00:43:30,463 --> 00:43:33,721 It's because of our farming and grazing practices. 750 00:43:33,821 --> 00:43:37,080 It's because of the cities that are growing up along our coastline. 751 00:43:37,180 --> 00:43:39,618 That's what's causing this problem. 752 00:43:40,658 --> 00:43:44,236 Many scientists believe that increased use of fertilisers 753 00:43:44,336 --> 00:43:47,954 in farming has led to more nitrogen and phosphorous being washed into 754 00:43:48,054 --> 00:43:50,073 the seas off Australia's east coast. 755 00:43:50,173 --> 00:43:52,951 They provide food for plankton which are, in turn, 756 00:43:53,051 --> 00:43:56,549 the food of choice for crown-of-thorns larvae. 757 00:43:56,649 --> 00:44:01,507 Crown-of-thorns plagues are linked directly to flood plumes 758 00:44:01,607 --> 00:44:03,645 and to the water quality that's coming off our land. 759 00:44:04,445 --> 00:44:07,543 So you get more baby starfish, more teenage starfish, 760 00:44:07,643 --> 00:44:09,163 more adult starfish, etcetera, etcetera. 761 00:44:09,243 --> 00:44:11,022 Three years after a flood plume, 762 00:44:11,122 --> 00:44:14,000 we will have an outbreak of crown-of-thorns. 763 00:44:15,559 --> 00:44:18,058 The Great Barrier Reef is in serious trouble. 764 00:44:18,158 --> 00:44:21,736 A recent report revealed it's lost 50% of its coral cover 765 00:44:21,836 --> 00:44:23,735 over the last 30 years. 766 00:44:23,835 --> 00:44:26,333 Our changing climate is having a huge impact, 767 00:44:26,433 --> 00:44:29,332 but so are crown-of-thorns. To protect the reef, 768 00:44:29,432 --> 00:44:34,089 the starfish are being targeted by Col's team of divers. 769 00:44:34,189 --> 00:44:35,848 I'm loving this Australian meal. 770 00:44:35,948 --> 00:44:38,167 A proper Aussie barbecue. 771 00:44:38,267 --> 00:44:42,445 There's basically ten kilos of steak, ten kilos of sausages. 772 00:44:42,545 --> 00:44:46,762 Oh, no, look, that was unfair of me. I was going to say no veg. 773 00:44:46,862 --> 00:44:51,640 Look at this. Pumpkin and tatties. Looks fantastic. 774 00:44:51,740 --> 00:44:55,118 The crown-of-thorns aren't only dangerous to coral. 775 00:44:55,218 --> 00:44:57,996 They can be tricky for a diver to deal with. 776 00:44:58,096 --> 00:45:00,515 The problem with handling these creatures is that 777 00:45:00,615 --> 00:45:03,953 those spines on them have a neurotoxin poison 778 00:45:04,053 --> 00:45:07,112 and this is what protects the crown-of-thorns. 779 00:45:07,212 --> 00:45:08,851 Of course they've got a neurotoxin. This is Australia. 780 00:45:08,931 --> 00:45:11,749 Everything is venomous or poisonous. 781 00:45:11,849 --> 00:45:15,307 Well, I know of a case where a diver doing crown-of-thorns work 782 00:45:15,407 --> 00:45:18,545 in the coral reef around Japan only two months ago 783 00:45:18,645 --> 00:45:21,304 died from a crown-of-thorns sting. 784 00:45:21,404 --> 00:45:24,502 Really? They'll go through a 5ml wetsuit, no trouble whatsoever. 785 00:45:24,602 --> 00:45:29,260 So the plan is we eat this fantastic meal, sleep, 786 00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:32,898 and then tomorrow, we'll see what you're doing to tackle the starfish. 787 00:45:32,998 --> 00:45:35,137 Absolutely. So far, you've seen some good sites 788 00:45:35,237 --> 00:45:38,075 and some pretty bad sites. Now we'll show you how we protect it. 789 00:46:04,861 --> 00:46:08,039 Beautiful little sharkies in the water. 790 00:46:08,139 --> 00:46:12,177 I'm just cleaning my teeth and it's out here, down beneath us. 791 00:46:24,370 --> 00:46:28,928 After breakfast, Col and I went out to see his dive team at work. 792 00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:46,858 It wasn't long before the team found coral scars, 793 00:46:46,958 --> 00:46:50,156 the tell-tale sign there were crown-of-thorns nearby. 794 00:46:51,955 --> 00:46:53,894 The starfish typically feed at night. 795 00:46:53,994 --> 00:46:56,753 During the day, they're often hidden away. 796 00:47:06,228 --> 00:47:08,227 Really bizarre. 797 00:47:08,587 --> 00:47:14,783 There were almost a dozen of them, these multi-armed feeding machines. 798 00:47:16,662 --> 00:47:19,621 I'm going to go back down and see how they deal with them. 799 00:47:20,500 --> 00:47:24,118 As with the cane toads I saw earlier on my trip, and other feral and 800 00:47:24,218 --> 00:47:28,076 invasive creatures that are damaging the environment in Australia, 801 00:47:28,176 --> 00:47:31,834 the crown-of-thorns are just doing what comes naturally to them. 802 00:47:31,934 --> 00:47:34,273 But human actions have seen their numbers explode 803 00:47:34,373 --> 00:47:37,471 and so conservationists have decided the only way of protecting 804 00:47:37,571 --> 00:47:40,270 the Great Barrier Reef is to cull the crown-of-thorns. 805 00:47:40,370 --> 00:47:45,467 Originally, researchers tried cutting the starfish in half, 806 00:47:45,567 --> 00:47:50,004 but, remarkably, each part survived, doubling the numbers. 807 00:47:52,523 --> 00:47:55,461 Injecting them with chemicals is a slow, laborious process 808 00:47:55,561 --> 00:47:58,620 and Col's team are only protecting the parts of the reef 809 00:47:58,720 --> 00:48:01,518 most visited by tourists. 810 00:48:07,355 --> 00:48:10,254 The cynic in me wonders, I suppose, if tourists weren't coming 811 00:48:10,354 --> 00:48:13,892 to these parts of the reef, whether there would be the incentive 812 00:48:13,992 --> 00:48:17,770 and the pressure for you to proactively try and protect them. 813 00:48:17,870 --> 00:48:22,687 High-value tourism and high tourism numbers give us 814 00:48:22,787 --> 00:48:25,645 the financial clout to be able to invest in protecting the reef. 815 00:48:25,745 --> 00:48:27,045 It's ironic, isn't it? 816 00:48:27,145 --> 00:48:30,243 Everybody said, "Oh, tourism will be the death of places." 817 00:48:30,343 --> 00:48:33,241 Here, it's actually contributing to the salvation of it. 818 00:48:33,341 --> 00:48:36,240 Without tourism, we'd have no financial incentive to do a damn thing. 819 00:48:36,340 --> 00:48:41,797 With all the different threats there are to coral reefs around the world, 820 00:48:41,897 --> 00:48:46,794 what's your take on what the future is for The Great Barrier Reef? 821 00:48:46,894 --> 00:48:49,752 If we don't get control of it, reef-wide, in the very 822 00:48:49,852 --> 00:48:53,630 near future, we're going to lose an enormous amount of biodiversity. 823 00:48:53,730 --> 00:48:55,789 Where we have a couple of hundred species of coral, 824 00:48:55,889 --> 00:49:00,227 we could end up like the Caribbean or the Bahamas or off Florida, 825 00:49:00,327 --> 00:49:03,065 where you can count the number of species on two hands. 826 00:49:03,165 --> 00:49:04,425 So, see it while you can? 827 00:49:04,525 --> 00:49:07,343 If people want to see the Reef in pristine condition, 828 00:49:07,443 --> 00:49:11,181 they need to be out here right now and seeing it over the next five years. 829 00:49:11,281 --> 00:49:14,399 The future of the Barrier Reef is going to be different to what we see right now. 830 00:49:17,198 --> 00:49:20,336 Two million tourists visit the Great Barrier Reef every year. 831 00:49:20,436 --> 00:49:22,215 Apart from anything else, 832 00:49:22,315 --> 00:49:26,393 it's an economic resource that Australia can't afford to lose. 833 00:49:34,429 --> 00:49:37,327 So, we're heading south from here, 834 00:49:37,427 --> 00:49:42,204 down the magnificently-named Bruce Highway. 835 00:49:42,304 --> 00:49:45,163 I'm sure there's a Sheila Street out there, as well. 836 00:49:45,263 --> 00:49:48,041 This area is actually a bit of a Mecca for backpackers, 837 00:49:48,141 --> 00:49:50,000 but, as you can see, 838 00:49:50,100 --> 00:49:54,178 with all the camera equipment, we can't travel quite so lightly. 839 00:49:57,057 --> 00:49:59,055 Let's get on the road. 840 00:50:13,208 --> 00:50:16,086 There is a giant Wellington boot. 841 00:50:19,724 --> 00:50:21,723 Got to stop and show you this. 842 00:50:27,240 --> 00:50:32,897 So, as we head south, we pass through this town called Tully, 843 00:50:32,997 --> 00:50:39,034 which... Well, it gets a bit wet here and so they put this boot here 844 00:50:40,233 --> 00:50:42,292 to commemorate, I suppose, to celebrate, really, 845 00:50:42,392 --> 00:50:45,631 just how wet it gets. 846 00:50:46,270 --> 00:50:50,928 I have to say, the Australians do constantly, rather constantly, 847 00:50:51,028 --> 00:50:54,006 go on about how it rains a little bit in Britain, 848 00:50:54,106 --> 00:50:57,164 but never does it rain as much as it does here. 849 00:50:57,264 --> 00:50:58,564 So, average rainfall - 850 00:50:58,664 --> 00:51:01,962 I checked this. Thank you, internet - 851 00:51:02,062 --> 00:51:08,918 average rainfall in the UK per year is about a metre. About a metre. 852 00:51:09,018 --> 00:51:15,854 Here, in one year, almost eight metres of water fell. 853 00:51:17,174 --> 00:51:18,993 And so, to celebrate that, 854 00:51:19,093 --> 00:51:24,030 what better way than to put a giant Wellington boot in your town, 855 00:51:24,130 --> 00:51:28,248 to let everybody know you are one of the wettest places in the world? 856 00:51:39,842 --> 00:51:42,500 I continue driving down Australia's east coast, 857 00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:47,118 along the seemingly-endless highway that runs parallel to the Reef. 858 00:51:54,993 --> 00:51:57,532 500 miles south of Cairns, 859 00:51:57,632 --> 00:52:01,170 I arrived at Hay Point, one of the largest coal ports in the world. 860 00:52:01,270 --> 00:52:04,049 Almost 10% of the world's 861 00:52:04,149 --> 00:52:09,326 sea-borne coal is exported from just this port. 862 00:52:09,426 --> 00:52:10,925 It's astonishing, really. 863 00:52:11,025 --> 00:52:13,683 It gives you a glimpse, I think, into the scale of Australia's 864 00:52:13,783 --> 00:52:17,641 resources boom, which, in many ways, has been the biggest story 865 00:52:17,741 --> 00:52:19,940 in this country over the last couple of decades. 866 00:52:21,459 --> 00:52:25,277 In the vastness of this continent-sized country, 867 00:52:25,377 --> 00:52:28,236 there are all manner of mines and quarries and seams 868 00:52:28,336 --> 00:52:34,592 that churn out the raw materials that fuel the furnaces and feed 869 00:52:34,692 --> 00:52:39,090 the resource-hungry economies of countries like China and India. 870 00:52:42,568 --> 00:52:45,746 This is the final stage of the process. 871 00:52:45,846 --> 00:52:48,705 The coal is being brought down through the nozzle over here 872 00:52:48,805 --> 00:52:51,303 and loaded into the hold of this ship, 873 00:52:51,403 --> 00:52:54,502 at the rate of up to two tons a second. 874 00:52:54,602 --> 00:52:58,140 Out on the horizon over here, I can see any number of ships 875 00:52:58,240 --> 00:53:00,938 just waiting to have their bellies filled. 876 00:53:01,038 --> 00:53:05,216 Incredibly, before they can reach the open sea, 877 00:53:05,316 --> 00:53:07,695 the huge ships are allowed to navigate their way 878 00:53:07,795 --> 00:53:09,973 through The Great Barrier Reef. 879 00:53:10,073 --> 00:53:13,611 Even this, one of the most fragile and threatened environments 880 00:53:13,711 --> 00:53:17,449 on Earth, cannot stand in the way of the Australian resources boom. 881 00:53:17,549 --> 00:53:22,087 Any collision in the maze of coral islands would be disastrous, 882 00:53:22,187 --> 00:53:24,486 so the ships are guided by specialist reef pilots, 883 00:53:24,586 --> 00:53:25,725 like Richard Tennant. 884 00:53:25,825 --> 00:53:28,443 These ships have a draft of about 18 metres, when they sail. 885 00:53:28,543 --> 00:53:31,522 It's a deep draft, so they haven't got very much water under the keel. 886 00:53:31,622 --> 00:53:33,841 So, how far off the bottom is it? 887 00:53:33,941 --> 00:53:35,720 The shallowest point would be about one metre off the bottom. 888 00:53:35,820 --> 00:53:39,797 One metre off the bottom? So there are points when this ship, 889 00:53:39,897 --> 00:53:46,474 loaded with 180,000 tons of coal is, what, that far off 890 00:53:46,574 --> 00:53:48,513 the bottom of the sea bed? 891 00:53:48,613 --> 00:53:51,471 Yes, but they're not going very fast in that instance. 892 00:53:51,571 --> 00:53:54,310 They're only going about walking pace that close to the bottom. 893 00:53:54,410 --> 00:53:56,468 They don't stop very easily, though, do they? 894 00:53:56,568 --> 00:54:00,506 When they're going full sea speed, yeah, they take a long while to stop. 895 00:54:00,606 --> 00:54:04,364 In fact, it would be quicker to turn it around than stop it. 896 00:54:06,203 --> 00:54:09,541 The helicopter flies Richard more than 100 miles out to sea 897 00:54:09,641 --> 00:54:12,380 and lands him on a moving ship. 898 00:54:12,480 --> 00:54:15,618 His job is then to guide the ship's captain through the shallow 899 00:54:15,718 --> 00:54:19,676 seas of the Reef and into the coal port, to pick up its cargo. 900 00:54:48,461 --> 00:54:51,439 A wrong turn would be catastrophic. 901 00:54:51,539 --> 00:54:55,557 In 2010, a ship called the Shen Neng tried to navigate its way 902 00:54:55,657 --> 00:54:58,115 through the reef without a pilot. It ran aground, 903 00:54:58,215 --> 00:55:00,354 carving a two-mile gash in the coral 904 00:55:00,454 --> 00:55:04,492 and leaking three tons of toxic oil and chemicals into the water. 905 00:55:50,827 --> 00:55:52,406 There we go. We're here. 906 00:55:52,506 --> 00:55:54,245 Magnificent flying. 907 00:55:54,345 --> 00:55:57,644 See you this afternoon, then. We wish you all the best of luck 908 00:55:57,744 --> 00:56:01,542 with your piloting. Thanks. Hope it goes safely. 909 00:56:03,221 --> 00:56:06,399 He's gone off to the bridge to pilot the ship 910 00:56:06,499 --> 00:56:07,758 and we're going to take off 911 00:56:07,858 --> 00:56:11,416 and watch, as it travels through the tight passage of the Reef. 912 00:56:29,846 --> 00:56:32,905 In a ship this size, which takes hundreds of metres to turn, 913 00:56:33,005 --> 00:56:35,004 there's no margin for error. 914 00:56:37,562 --> 00:56:42,020 Australia's resource boom shows little sign of slowing down. 915 00:56:42,120 --> 00:56:47,057 The government here is keen to open more mines and export yet more coal. 916 00:56:47,157 --> 00:56:50,196 It's already one of the country's top export earners. 917 00:56:51,235 --> 00:56:55,013 So, despite the fact it's a protected marine park, 918 00:56:55,113 --> 00:56:58,171 the number of ships passing through The Great Barrier Reef 919 00:56:58,271 --> 00:57:01,350 is expected to increase up to five-fold. 920 00:57:07,306 --> 00:57:09,885 But Richard's ship is in safe hands. 921 00:57:09,985 --> 00:57:11,044 As he headed to shore, 922 00:57:11,144 --> 00:57:16,022 the chopper pilot offered to show me a little patch of paradise. 923 00:57:49,284 --> 00:57:53,142 So, we've landed on a coral cay. 924 00:57:53,242 --> 00:57:54,341 It's a tiny one. 925 00:57:54,441 --> 00:57:58,739 Look, the bits of the helicopter are hanging off over the water. 926 00:57:58,839 --> 00:58:01,218 It's covered in coral. Look at this. 927 00:58:01,318 --> 00:58:04,416 So, the ship's made it through safely. It's continuing its journey. 928 00:58:04,516 --> 00:58:07,334 I'm ending this part of my journey here. 929 00:58:07,434 --> 00:58:10,373 On the next leg, I'll be travelling down Australia's 930 00:58:10,473 --> 00:58:15,310 bustling and beautiful east coast, towards the bright lights of Sydney.