hear that?
That's the clock ticking on entries for our PM for a Day competition.
It's Bryce here reminding you that if you want the chance to win a trip for two 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, telling us What one thing you would do to make Australia a better place if you were Prime Minister for a day.
See the SquizKids website, squizkids.com.au for details on how to enter.
And a big shout out to all those who have already entered.
You guys are awesome.
Squiz Kids!
It's your daily news fix, fun, free, fresh.
Hello and welcome to Squiz Kids today, your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
I'm Bryce Corbin.
It's Thursday, March 12th.
In Squiz Kids today.
Napland gets underway.
Tap water turn off in the Northern Territory.
Tillies do or die.
Match and satellite crashes to Earth.
That's what's making news, kids style.
The Lowdown.
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 its water treatment plant.
The NT, of course, is not the only part of the country that was going underwater yesterday.
The Queensland city of Bundaberg also had to break out the snorkel as the Burnett River broke its banks, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents.
Boats were pulled from their moorings, 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 NAPLAN tests going?
What fun!
More than 13 million of you in years 3 5, 7 and 9 sat the first day of NAPLAN 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.
They're not a test on you.
So relax, do your best and don't put any unnecessary pressure on yourself.
That is an order.
Spin the globe.
Each day we give the world globe a 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 before 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 4200 chance of any human being conked 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 Matildas in the Asian Women's Cup, as they take on North Korea in a quarterfinal in Perth.
The winner will advance to the semis, the loser will be sent packing.
Come on Tillies, the whole country's behind you.
And 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.
Contact!
And a special Squiz Kids shout-out to Aussie Paralympian Michael Milton.
The para-alpine skier competed for Australia and 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 a 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 sixth Paralympics, and with 11 Paralympic medals already to his name, we reckon he can take a bow.
Thanks, Michael.
You have done yourself and your country proud.
News Hounds!
Every Thursday, Squizzy the News Hound sticks his snout into Squizz Kids HQ to report back on fishy things he's sniffed out on the internet.
And 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.
Christie chatted a little bit about this last week, but it's just gotten so intense.
Squizzy 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.
That'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 newshounds, 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 feel or react in a certain way to suit their own purposes.
And, as newshounds, 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 influences 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, no wonder you're so tired, Squizzy.
This newshounding thing is a full-time gig.
And teachers.
If you'd like your class to become newshounds, head to squizzkidscomau to sign up to our free media literacy classroom resource.
You're welcome.
Time for the quiz.
This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening.
Question number one.
Aussie Paralympian Michael Milton competed in which event at the Paralympics in Italy?
Was it...
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 Matildas play on Friday night in their do-or-die quarterfinals?
Yeah, that's right.
They're playing North Korea.
Shout out.
It's Thursday, March 12.
On 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 Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today.
Kevin from Canberra, Lucas from Calangor, Arthur and Eve from Rosewood, Ayla from Tenilba Bay, Harvey from Bellevue Hill, James from Belmont, April from Mount Evelyn, Alex from Deniston, Jet from Brighton, Hamish from Bangalow and Hal from Alfred Cove.
And belated birthday shoutouts go to Ellie from Darwin, whose birthday was in January.
So that is 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 Menimba State School.
Class 5C with Mr Coghran at Casino Public School.
Class 5A with Miss Louisa at Mark Oliphant College in Adelaide.
Year 4 Banksia with Mrs Woolcock at Marion Catholic School in Townsville.
And Class 5C and Ms Rao at Jindalee 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 squizkids at thesquizcomau, or fill out the form on our website.
Well, that's all we have time for.
Thanks for listening to Squiz Kids today.
We'll be back again tomorrow with the Kids vs Adults Weekly News Squiz your chance to prove who's been paying the most attention to the week that just was.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent day.
Over and out.
