NAPLAN gets underway, and tap water turn off in NT

0:00Can you hear that? That's the clock ticking on entries for our PM for a day competition. It's price here, reminding you that if you want the chance to win a trip for 2 to Canberra to meet the Prime Minister, spend a day exploring Parliament House with me, making a podcast along the way and meeting the Governor General, then you'd better get moving and send us a video by the close of business this Friday, March 13. Following us, what one thing you would do to make Australia a better place if you were Prime Minister for a day. See the SquizzKids website, squizzkids.com.au for details on how to enter. And a big shout out to all those who have already entered. You guys are awesome. SquizzKids acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we podcast, the terrible and combermary people.

1:02Hello and welcome to SquizzKids today. Your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you. I'm Bryce Corbin. It's Thursday, March 12. In SquizzKids today, Napland gets underway, tap water turn off in the Northern Territory. Tilly's do-or-die-match and satellite crashes to Earth. That's what's making news, kid style. The low down. You go to the tap, turn on the water, and you drink it. It's something we all do without thinking every day of the week. But after days and days of flooding rain, residents of the city of Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory were being warned not to drink the water coming out of their taps yesterday and instead being urged to boil it before drinking. That's because the big flood that has gripped the NT, usually one of the hottest and driest places in the country, had impacted the dam that supplies water to Darwin residents and

2:05its water treatment plant. The NT of course is not the only part of the country that was going underwater yesterday. The Queensland City of Bunderburg also had to break up the snorkel as the Burnett River broke its banks, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents. Boats were pulled from their mooring, cars and shops went underwater and schools were closed for the day as heavy rainfall in the region sent millions of litres of water into the river catchments. Mother Nature, eh? She sure is awesome. Speaking of awesome, how are those Napland tests going? Not fun. More than 1.3 million of you in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sat the first day of Napland yesterday, as warnings were issued by the Examination Authority not to freak out. The head of the Australian Curriculum Authority underscored yesterday that the tests are only for the government to work out what improvements need to be made to our education system.

3:06They're not a test on you, so relax. Do your best and don't put any unnecessary pressure on yourself. That is an order. Each day we give the world global spin and find a new story from wherever it stops. And today we've landed in orbit around the earth, about 250 kilometres above our heads. In fact, where a 13-year-old satellite is spinning around, about to burn through our planet's atmosphere and come crashing back down to earth. The 600kg Van Allen probe spacecraft was sent up into space in 2012 to conduct important scientific research. It has since completed its mission and it is now preparing to return. Now, NASA says most of the satellite will burn up and disintegrate in the atmosphere

4:07before it reaches earth. And while there's no real way of predicting exactly where it's going to fall, or exactly when it's going to fall, even though they think it's next Tuesday, they are saying that there's only a 1 in 4,200 chance of any human being honked on the head by a wayward bit of satellite. So no need to wear your bicycle helmet to bed. It's do or die time tomorrow night for the Matilda's in the Asian Women's Cup as they take on North Korea in a quarter final in Perth. The winner would advance to the semis, the loser will be sent packing. Come on Tilly's, the whole country is behind you. The Super Netball fans can whip out their pleated skirts this weekend too, as competition on the 2026 season gets underway. Proceedings will kick off on Saturday afternoon with the Mavericks and Giants facing off against one another, followed later that evening by the Thunderbirds and the Swifts.

5:11Contact! And a special squeeze kid shout out to Aussie Paralympian, Michael Milton. The Paralympian skier competed for Australia in Italy this week, only days after having surgery on a leg fracture. He only has one leg, mind you, and he uses that leg to ski at incredibly fast speeds down to winding mountain racecourse. Michael finished 23rd in his heat, so no medals on the horizon, but still at the age of 52 and at his 6th Paralympics and with 11 Paralympic medals already to his name, we reckon he can take a bow. This is Michael, you have done yourself and your country proud. New Towns Every Thursday, Squizy the New Town sticks his snout into Squiz Kids HQ to report back on fishy things he's sniffed out on the internet.

6:11And today, he's hiding in his kennel in the corner of the office, completely worn out after a week spent chasing down misinformation arising from the war in Iran. Kristi chatted a little bit about this last week, but it's just gotten so intense, Squizy is warning us all about it again this week. The problem? Generative AI has made it so easy to create fake videos. It's just so easy now to be tricked when we're online. You see, there's a thing called propaganda. It's when untrue information is spread by one side or another in a war to try to make it seem that they are doing better in the conflict than perhaps they are. Because as much as wars are fought with missiles and fighter jets, they are also fought with information, and especially misinformation and disinformation. Now if you've done New Towns, you'll know that both of these sorts of information are not to be believed. They are being created by people, or in this case countries, who want you to think or

7:14feel or react in a certain way, to suit their own purposes. And as New Towns, you know how important it is to stop, think, and check before believing everything you see online, be it on YouTube or Instagram or even on the TV news at night. We have to be careful not to believe influencers we might see online, people who might be popular on social media, but are not official news outlets, and people who sometimes let their opinion or their agenda sneak into their content. Phew. Now, wonder you're so tired, Squeezy. This news-hounding thing is a full-time gig. And teachers, if you'd like your class to become New Towns, head to squizzkids.com.au to sign up to our free media literacy classroom resource. You're welcome. Time for the squizz. This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening.

8:14Question number one, Aussie Paralympian Michael Milton competed in which event at the Paralympics in Italy. Was it a, Para Wheelchair Curling, B, Para Alpine Skiing, or C, Para Sailing? It was B, Para Alpine Skiing. Well done if you got that one. Question number two, name the capital city of the Northern Territory, where residents have been told to boil their water. Yep, well done if you said Darwin. Question number three, which country do the Matilda's play on Friday night in their do-or-die quarterfinal? Yeah, that's right, they're playing North Korea. Shout out. It's Thursday, March 12.

9:16On this day, way back in 1913, the foundation stone was laid in Canberra to mark the naming and the beginning of construction of the city of Canberra. So how about that? It's also a special day for these Squizz kids celebrating a birthday today. Kevin from Canberra, Lucas from Kalungor, Arthur and Eve from Rosewood, Aila from Tenil Babay, Harvey from Bellevue Hill, James from Belmont, April from Mount Evelyn, Alex from Deniston, Jet from Brighton, Hamish from Bangalow, and Howell from Alfred Cove. And belated birthday shout outs go to Ellie from Darwin, whose birthday was in January, but it's quite belated, isn't it? Very happy and belated birthday shout out to you, Ellie. And classroom shout outs today go to Class 3P with Mrs. McDonald at Southport State School. Class 3C with Minimba State School, Class 5C with Mr. Cogren at Casino Public School, Class 5A with Miss Louise or at Mark Ollifant College in Adelaide, Year 4, Banksyr with Mrs.

10:18Walcock at Mariam Catholic School in Townsville and Class 5C and Ms. Rao at Gindley State School. Don't forget if you've got a birthday coming up and you want a shout out, or if you're after a classroom shout out, drop us a line at squizzkidsatthesquizz.com.au or fill out the form on our website. Well, that's all we have time for, thanks for listening to Squizz Kids today, we'll be back again tomorrow with the Kids Versus Adults Weekly News Squizz. Your chance to prove who's being paying the most attention to the week that just was. In the meantime, get out there and have the most excellent day, over and out.