Transcript – Interview with Madonna King 612 ABC Radio, Brisbane

SUBJECTS: ABC science “Planet Slayer” website

MADONNA KING:

Would you be upset if your seven year old is told they’re a greenhouse pig and should die at the age of sixteen? A Victorian Liberal Senator says an ABC children’s science website has just gone too far in selling the environmental message. It’s the Planet Slayer site and it features this quasi life calculator that lets users compare their carbon output to the average Aussie ‘pig’ in their words, and estimates what age they should die so they don’t use more than their fair share of the earth’s resources. It also has a cartoon series that Senator Mitch Fifield says demonises loggers, meat-eaters and farmers who grow GM crops. Senator Fifield good morning and welcome to 612 ABC Brisbane.

SENATOR MITCH FIFIELD:

Thank you Madonna, good morning.

KING:

What do you find offensive about the website?

FIFIELD:

I don’t think anyone has any qualms with promoting people reducing the size of their greenhouse footprint. All of us want to do whatever we can for the environment and it’s important to educate kids about what they can do so that they can be responsible citizens. What I have a difficulty with though is the Planet Slayer website which puts to kids, as you mentioned, in Professor Schpinkee’s Greenhouse Calculator, a calculator which tells you when you should die once you’ve used your fair share of the earth’s resources. You plug in your particulars, your details, how much you spend, and then Professor Schpinkee’s Greenhouse Calculator tells you when you should die. I don’t think that’s an appropriate message to give to kids. I think it’s extreme. I think these days there’s a little bit of a Goth in all of us but I think this is going a step too far.

KING:

Kids are irreverent though, is this a way of addressing the issue with children?

FIFIELD:

Look certainly you want to have educational websites which are bright, colourful, interactive, that provoke, that are a bit irreverent, but this goes beyond irreverent. You plug in your details, how much money you spend, to determine your carbon footprint, a pig gets bigger and bigger and bigger until it finally explodes leaving blood and guts on the screen. This isn’t the sort of thing that we want our kids to be seeing. It sends the wrong message that if you are a good, ordinary, everyday Australian who’s going about their business and yes, consuming, that you’re an evil climate change pig.

KING:

And what offends you most, that operation of it or that taxpayer’s money is being used to fund it.

FIFIELD:

Oh look it’s both, but it’s also that the ABC is letting itself down. It was with a bit of a heavy heart that I went into Estimates to question Mark Scott yesterday because I think the ABC is a terrific organisation. But it’s letting itself down with this particular website which also goes further and demonises particular classes of Australians. It portrays a logger as a heavy guy smoking a cigar who chops trees down. Now I’m sure loggers chop trees down, but there’s no need to demonise people who are loggers by portraying them as cigar-smoking chainsaw wielders. The site also portrays genetically modified foods as though they’re some sort of Frankenstein-esque creation. Now there are a lot of farmers today doing it tough. They’re in drought. They’re looking for ways to increase their yields. GM crops is one way they seek to do that and I don’t think it’s appropriate that we demonise particular classes of Australians.

KING:

What age do you think it’s directed at Senator?

FIFIELD:

Well Mark Scott said it was directed at high school students, but from the graphics it looks very much like it’s targeted at primary school kids.

KING:

Have you played the game?

FIFIELD:

I’ve got on there, and I’ve gotta say I didn’t fare too well when I plugged in my particulars. I was a very fat pig that exploded.


KING:

What age did you deserve to die?

FIFIELD:

Well it was about at the age of three.

KING:

Well I lived slightly longer, I got to five. The ABC says it’s aimed at kids and the language and images the website uses is to appeal to kids to teach them this issue. Is any of the information on the site inaccurate?

FIFIELD:

Well you’ve got to be balanced. I don’t think it’s accurate that loggers are evil people. I don’t think it’s accurate that farmers who use GM crops are trying to hurt the environment. One of the areas where I think there are clear errors in fact is, if you plug in your details into the website it produces a result that an individual can only spend about $1,800 per year before they cause more carbon emissions than would be ecologically sustainable. Based on those figures, that would require every Australian to reduce their annual spending by 88% which just isn’t realistic.

KING:

Do you want this website shut down?

FIFIELD:

That would be the simplest thing, I’m not sure if you can reform Professor Schpinkee or reform Greena which is a character in one of the cartoons. It might be a case where we’ve just got to say look, it was a good attempt, good idea, but it didn’t work out and pull it down.

KING:

Senator Fifield thank you.

FIFIELD:

Great, thanks Madonna.

KING:

Senator Fifield, Victorian Liberal Senator who took Mark Scott the ABC Managing Director to task on this issue yesterday.

ENDS