The Australian Bite

Space, Chinese medicine & outback veggie gardens

13 August 2009

Listen and download: MP3

It’s a real mixed bag on this week’s Bite. You’ll take a tour of Canberra’s Deep Space communication complex, and travel up north to Western Australia’s remote Kimberley region, where the people of Wangkatjungka are out in their gardens growing fresh fruit and vegetables.  You’ll also hear about new rules regarding the practice of Chinese medicine and acupuncture in Australia.

Chinese Medicine to have official regulation

The Ministerial Council, a body comprised of the federal, state and territory health ministers, recently announced the inclusion of Chinese medicine and acupuncture in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for the Health Professions – the scheme that already covers dentists, nurses, medical practitioners and osteopaths. That means that from 2012, Chinese Medicine and acupuncture practitioners will need to prove a certain level of training, experience and qualifications before they are able to practice. So what will this new registration system mean for both the profession and the public?  I put those questions and more to Dr Sean Walsh, a Chinese Medicine practitioner, and senior lecturer at the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Wangkatjungka hooked on growing veggies

There’s a vegetable patch craze going on in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, in the remote community of Wangkatjungka – and that’s got to be a good thing when the nearest greengrocer is in Fitzroy Crossing , 120km away. It all began with a school project to get the kids interested in nutrition, but it has inspired the entire community to start growing its own fresh fruit and vegetables. Reporter Matt Brann visited Wangkatjungka, and found out more from school teacher Peter Crawford, and local resident Olive Knight.

You can read more and see pictures of Matt Brann’s visit to Wangkatjunka (see map below) on the ABC Rural website.

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Canberra keeps an ear on Deep Space

Did you know that planets make distinctive sounds? Well that’s just one thing that reporter John Barrington found out when he visited Canberra’s Deep Space Communication Complex – one of three NASA Deep Space network stations based around the world, that support interplanetary spacecraft missions and conduct radio astronomy research. Glen Nagle took him on a tour of the complex, which is based at Tidbinbilla, about 35 kilometres  southwest of the city of Canberra.

You can see pictures of the complex, and listen to John’s story again on the Triple J Hack website

Music (not in podcast)

Artist: King Tide

Track: Hot Chips

Album: Roots Pop Reggae (2009)