Subject:
education; workplace reform; Telstra; executive remuneration; baby Catherine
E&OE...
UHLMANN:
Prime Minister good afternoon and welcome to The World Today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks Chris.
UHLMANN:
Now people apparently like your Budget but they still say they're not going to vote for you, if you believe the polls, is it a case of it's just too early to tell or are they going to take the money and run?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I never expected to get an immediate bounce in the polls as a result of the Budget, but I'm a realist. We are a very long way behind and any Liberal Party supporter around the country who doesn't recognise that is deluding himself or herself. So I'm a realist. How do I react? Well I certainly don't start introducing irresponsible measures. We'll continue to govern well. In the end, good policy is good politics. One of the reasons why the people liked the Budget was that it was economically responsible. They saw a Budget that still left us handsomely in surplus and therefore providing a buffer against higher interest rates. The real threat to interest rates now comes from Labor state governments which are going into deficit spending. I mean they're adding to pressure on interest rates, Labor governments are adding to pressure on interest rates and I'll be making the point that if that's happening at a state level, why won't it be a risk that it will happen at a federal level as it happened in the past. I think the other explanation, frankly Chris, is that there are too many people out there who think that it won't matter for the economy if there's a change of government. Well it will matter, it'll matter a lot, and we saw an illustration this morning with this 'risk of Rudd' clause being inserted in building contracts. I mean this is a live practical example of the consequences of electing a Labor government.
UHLMANN:
That's one way at looking at it, but if you look at the polls again, that even after the Labor's Party had some fairly torrid weeks when it comes to industrial relations people are still saying that they like the look of the Labor Party's policy better then they like yours?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look Chris I can read polls, I can assure you, I've been reading them for years and they are very bad for us at the present time and I'm explaining to you how I will respond. I'm certainly not going to embrace stupid policy. I'm going to go on candidly responding to the situation. But there's one thing I'm not going to do, I'm not going to go on...I'm not going to spend like Labor state governments have done, and federal Labor governments have done in the past, I'm not going to spend...send the Budget into deficit in some kind of desperate attempt to buy favour. But I will point out the risk of electing a Rudd Labor government and the Master Builders Association are saying that if we go back to the bad old days, which Labor will take us back to in industrial relations, then building costs are going to go up and that's going to sock every person in the country because it all ripples through, hospitals, schools, office blocks, the whole thing, it ripples through. And there is a risk to the economy of a Labor government and one of the things that I'll be doing and the Treasurer will be doing over the months ahead is pointing out the risk of Rudd to the economy.
UHLMANN:
But isn't what bothers people when it comes to industrial relations, their own selves, their own families....
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes...
UHLMANN:
....are we going to see any more changes to your industrial relations policy, we've seen one back flip already?
PRIME MINISTER:
We have made a very significant change and I have listened to people's concerns, they were concerned and this Fairness Test that will guarantee that if you trade away things like penalty rates and overtime loadings you've got to get fair compensation in return. Now that is a very significant recognition of the concern that people have had. I have listened on that, and I acknowledge that people were concerned, and I've done something about that and the legislation will be introduced when Parliament resumes after the post-Budget week. And that is a very important guarantee that if people do trade-off penalty rates and overtime loadings they will get fair compensation, either monetary or something in kind, in return, very simple proposition. It was never intended that that become the norm and I'm just making certain that people can rest easy that it won't become the norm.
UHLMANN:
On education you've been speaking about that since the Budget, isn't that a sign that this is an area that you've neglected for the last 11 years?
PRIME MINISTER:
No well it isn't. There's been a burgeoning of choice in education in the last 11 years. I have been talking about standards in education. Eight or nine years ago David Kemp, the then education minister, began pressuring the states to have literacy and numeracy tests. Now everybody accepts those as norms. Eight or nine years ago they didn't. And when David first started talking about it and said we would tie Federal Government funding, the states said,