CHRISTENSEN: Julia Gillard, good morning.
PM: Good morning, Julia.
CHRISTENSEN: Very nice. The Julia and Julia show.
PM: That's right.
CHRISTENSEN: You've barely been in the- not been in the job for two weeks. Your first visit to Darwin, and I believe you're coming back on Saturday for a funeral, sadly.
PM: That's correct, yes I will.
CHRISTENSEN: Why have, why have you prioritised Darwin?
PM: Well, I've always loved coming to Darwin. I'm here today to look at our patrol boats. We do of course have our Border Protection Command working from Darwin. We have 18 patrol boats and aircraft that are patrolling our borders. We've never had more assets out there patrolling our waters than we do now, but we are intending to add 8 new patrol boats. So, I thought it was a good opportunity to come and look at them now and how they're performing, and to confirm that we will be having 8 more.
CHRISTENSEN: And of course you announced an asylum seekers policy yesterday involving a new immigration processing centre to be built in East Timor. We're on to that in just a moment because first of all, I wanted to ask you - you're not in favour of gay marriage, but a local gay nightclub has already held a Julia Gillard tribute night.
PM: Really?
CHRISTENSEN: Complete with drag queens impersonating your good self. Are you honoured?
PM: Well, I'm sure that that's a form of flattery. I'd like to see some of the photographs. Maybe they could get sent in?
CHRISTENSEN: Well, they did one for former Chief Minister Clare Martin and she went to the show and loved it, so there is actually an invitation from Throb nightclub. If you can fit it into your busy schedule, they will schedule the show specially for you.
PM: You know, the problem is I would go and I would feel comparatively underdressed. That would be the problem.
CHRISTENSEN: Robyn's on the line from Palmerston. Robyn, good morning.
CALLER: Good morning.
CHRISTENSEN: You're through to the Prime Minister.
CALLER: Thank you, thank you ma'am. Thank you very much for taking my question here. I'd just like to say that I've heard you say that you're proudly your own person and with your recent coming to the floor as the PM that you won't be swayed by Labor's factions or their heavies, and I commend you for this, but I'd like to know your personal definition - not necessarily the community's view - of marriage. As, for example, do you believe that it's between one man and one woman, or two people who love each other?
PM: My definition of marriage is the same definition as the Marriage Act that we have now, which is that marriage is between a man and a woman.
Obviously, we live in an age where there are all sorts of committed relationships which are not marriages. I'm in a committed relationship of that nature myself with my partner Tim, so I think this all boils down to personal choices. Obviously, we want every individual treating others with decency and respect, but it does boil down to personal choices.
I don't believe as Prime Minister it's my job to preach. That's not what I'm here for, and so people will make their own choices for their own reasons.
CHRISTENSEN: Robyn, thanks for your call. It's twenty six minutes to nine, 105.7 ABC Darwin. Julia Christensen with you with our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, in the studio.
Julia Gillard you, as I said, announced your asylum seekers policy yesterday. You could call it the East Timor solution. What's the difference between that and John Howard's Pacific Solution? These are some comments that you made back in 2002.
PM ARCHIVE AUDIO: Labor's always said that it thinks the so-called Pacific Solution was more about getting John Howard through the election campaign than truly being a lasting solution to any problem Australia might face with asylum seekers. Our view would therefore be that we doubt the sustainability of the solution in the long term. We're particularly anxious to return to Parliament in order to get the Government to tell us what the price tag is. We still don't know what the so-called Pacific Solution is costing.
CHRISTENSEN: Julia Gillard, why would it work now when it wouldn't work then?
PM: Well look, I'd stand by every word of the statement that you've just replayed about the Pacific Solution. The difference here is we are not acting unilaterally, and we are not doing something quickly for political effect the way the Pacific Solution was done.
What I am laying out is what I believe is a policy solution that would be durable, and I've been very frank with people that it's not a quick fix. We are going to have to talk to our regional neighbours. We're going to have to work it through, but it would be better for the region if we had a regional processing centre where asylum seekers who are moving in the region can go and have their claims processed and nations like our own could take a fair share of those found to be genuine refugees.
I mean, there is nothing - nothing - humane about having a system that gets people with their families on boats in dangerous seas. That's not a humane solution. We don't want to be there. We also don't want to have the people smugglers profiting from other people's desperation.
So, this would be a model that would basically take away the product that the people smugglers are selling, because no matter how you moved you would end up in the regional processing centre being assessed in a comprehensive and fair way by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
CHRISTENSEN: You said this is not a political solution, but you're about to go into election mode. You've rushed this out without the full support of the East Timorese Government.
PM: Well, we've been very clear that this is about the region talking and working together. Now, these ideas, these policy questions have been discussed within Government for a period of time. They've been discussed in the region for a period of time. There's been a process known as the Bali process for talking about some of these issues.
What I think is new is my determination to relentlessly pursue this as a lasting solution for the question of asylum seekers and border protection, which I think meets the needs - meets the needs of taking away the product people smugglers are selling.
CHRISTENSEN: Catherine's on the line from Nightcliff. Morning, Catherine.
CALLER: Morning Julia, Julia.
PM: Good morning.
CALLER: I'd like to ask a question about self-maintenance, not about policy. Julia, I run a business and I'm really passionate about that business, but I often find myself working very long days, sometimes 20 hours a day, and that can take its toll on my health, and therefore my ability to perform well and my ability to make good decisions. So, what I want to know is you, as Prime Minister, running the country - which is quite a bit big bigger than my business - what do you do to ensure that you don't find yourself working 20 hours a day? What do you do to maintain your physical and mental health so that you can, as Prime Minister, continue to perform well and make good decisions in the best interests of Australia?
PM: That's a good question, and I'm used to working hard. I think I come from pretty hardworking stock. Both my mother and father are hard workers, but everybody needs down time, and everybody needs rest and moments to reflect. So, the way I've tried to organise myself as Deputy Prime Minister, which was a pretty busy job, too, and now as Prime Minister, is to, you know, get some sleep and also just have that little moment of pause where you're perhaps reading a book you're interested in or just, you know, sitting and thinking rather than always being on the move.
It's not easy to get the balance, but I agree with you - you do need some balance in it. We're not machines. We're human beings, and so we need that up time and a bit of down time.
CHRISTENSEN: Reports say that you had a manicure yesterday - a bit of down time?
PM: That was a bit of down time, exactly. I'm a woman who needs to get her nails done the same way that lots of women around the country would need to get these things done. So, that's a very nice bit of down time.
CHRISTENSEN: Interesting that it was reported, though. Cass has facebooked us from Holland. She's listening this morning. She wants to know if the PM is bothered that there are so many news articles about her hair, and your dress, and maybe your manicures, compared to your male counterparts?
PM: I expected it to be part of what would happen. I mean, it's obviously a great privilege to be Prime Minister of this country. People are interested in the fact I'm the first woman Prime Minister, so I expected all of that.
At the end of the day, I hope that people judge me on the work I do rather than the way I wear my hair or the clothes on my back, and I think Australians are pretty practical about their politicians. There might be some curiosity about these questions, but I think people will judge me on my abilities to do the job as Prime Minister.
CHRISTENSEN: Reports in the newspapers this morning that you're gearing for an August the 21st election - yes or no?
PM: Now, if I was going to give anybody an election scoop it would be someone called Julia. You would expect that, but I'm not in the position today to give anyone a scoop.
Look, I am in the business, day by day, of - in my own methodical way - going about the tasks I need to do as Prime Minister. That's why I'm here today. Obviously, I'll be looking at our patrol boats with our Labor Member here, Damian Hale, who's just a fantastic human being, taking some time to take some soundings from him about what's on the minds of the local community.
CHRISTENSEN: Jocelyn is a young woman from Numbulwar in the Top End. She wants to talk to you about the intervention. Jocelyn, good morning.
CALLER: Good morning, Julia. Good morning, Prime Minister.
PM: Good morning, Jocelyn.
CALLER: I live in one of the prescribed Indigenous communities, Numbulwar, which is situated in south-east Arnhem Land, and I just wanted to ask you a question about what is actually happening with the intervention and how long is that going to continue to roll out?
PM: Well, my colleague Jenny Macklin is obviously directly oversighting policies for Indigenous Australians, including the intervention. We had some legislation go through the Parliament when the Parliament last sat about income management, welfare management, and what we have done is we've put that on what we believe to be a proper footing. That is, it is no longer in contradiction with the Racial Discrimination Act. But, as a Government, we do have powers to make sure that there is income management and that welfare is used for its proper purpose, and that is primarily to ensure people are supported and children are supported. So, you should expect that to be a continuing feature, not only here in the Northern Territory, but introduced in other communities around the country.
CHRISTENSEN: What about the prescribed areas act, will that be removed any time soon?
PM: Well, the feedback I have from Jenny Macklin about the intervention is that there has been a lot of good done and a lot of evidence that there is better attendance at schools, you know, more food in homes, better ability to deal with some of the service delivery issues. So, we will continue to be focused on that.
CHRISTENSEN: Thanks for the call Jocelyn. It's seventeen minutes to nine, 105.7 ABC Darwin, 783 Alice Springs, and right around the Territory on ABC Local Radio, Prime Minister Julia Gillard our guest in the studio taking your calls this morning on 1300 057 222.
Julia Gillard, I expect you've had time to catch up with our Chief Minister, Paul Henderson. Has he asked you to review the decision to locate the nuclear waste facility at Muckaty Station?
PM: I'll actually see Paul Henderson during the course of today. I wasn't in a position to see him last night given the time we arrived, so I'll have any discussion with Paul that he wants to have when we meet.
CHRISTENSEN: But he has gone on the record saying that's what he wants you to do. Will you review that decision?
PM: Well, we're in a process here, and I think it's very well known that for a long period of time, and it's not just been under the Government since 2007, it was also the period of time under Prime Minister Howard, to identify a site that could take low- and medium-level waste, the kind of waste that comes from nuclear medicine. We're in a process now about Muckaty Station. Obviously, there are some issues about traditional owners that are being worked through. Every step of the way we're going to be guided by scientific assessments.
CHRISTENSEN: But the scientific assessment says that Woomera in South Australia is the best option.
PM: Well, we are working through this, and the scientific assessment has also indicated that Muckaty Station is an appropriate site. There are some issues about land management, traditional ownership that are being worked through in the Federal Court.
CHRISTENSEN: Housing - obviously a key issue in Indigenous Australia and the Territory. The Australian reported at the weekend that more SIHIP houses are being built under local contracting schemes rather than under the cumbersome Government-private alliance partnership. Is it time to completely ditch that model and simply contract out to local operators experienced in remote housing in the Territory, some of them Indigenous business organisations?
PM: I think the aim here was to get the houses constructed, but also to get them in a way that provided local employment and training, provided some long-lasting benefits from the construction. Jenny Macklin's taken a fair degree of personal control and charge of this. We were obviously concerned about lack of progress, and I believe that Jenny's on the right path to ensure that we see more progress. So, you know, my view is that Jenny as the Minister on the spot is in the best position to make the judgments about the right management model for the right parts of the Territory to get the houses up, but also to get the lasting benefits from training and job opportunities.
CHRISTENSEN: Do you like fishing, Julia Gillard?
PM: No, I'm not someone who goes fishing.
CHRISTENSEN: It's a big topic in the Top End.
PM: I'm sure it is, and many, many people are very expert in it, but I'm not one.
CHRISTENSEN: Very expert. Well, when you come for a longer visit we might be able to take you out, but Territory fishers are having to pay for a permit to fish around the Tiwi Islands as a result of the Blue Mud Bay decision. Damian Hale, the Labor Member for Solomon - as you say, a good bloke - said the feds were looking at paying for those permits. Will you?
PM: Well look, I'm going to have to talk to Damian Hale about that. I'm not going to pretend an expertise in fishing issues in the Top End, but I'll be guided by a great local advocate in any decision that's made.
CHRISTENSEN: David's on the line from Gray. Good morning, David.
CALLER: Good morning. I'd just ask Julia - just tell her I love redheads. I'm a redhead fan from way back.
PM: A man of great taste.
CALLER: Yeah, redheads rock, OK? Yeah, I was just wondering, if I vote for you - I suffer from mental illness - I'm just wondering, will that be one of your priorities? Or when, in your governing style, or not?
PM: Well, what I can say is I think I grew up with some understanding of the challenges of mental illness. My father was a psychiatric nurse at Glenside Psychiatric Hospital in Adelaide for, you know, most of his working life, for more than 20 years of his working life.
Nicola Roxon, the Minister for Health, has indicated that in our big suite of health reforms - and we're focusing on making our health system sustainable for the future, getting people the doctors and nurses they need, training more GPs, 1,300 of them, training more nurses - but in the big suite of health reforms she wants to work on and have something more to say about the question of mental health. So, I'm going to agree with you that more needs to be done, and we will be working in this area, and I hope I bring some understanding of it from my family background.
CHRISTENSEN: David, stay tuned. Julia Gillard, a listener who says they're a self-funded retiree relying on mining shares says they're worried their income is being jeopardised by the new mining tax. Will it be?
PM: Well, there's no need to be concerned at all, and as you would've seen, I last week with our biggest miners - BHP and Rio and others - struck a breakthrough agreement that I think takes the mining industry forward, takes mining communities forward, takes the nation forward. The mining industry has responded well to that. Any threats or concerns that projects might not be going ahead have now been removed. It's back to business, back to new exploration, new projects, so that's good for mining, mining companies, mining communities, and also for those who invest in mining.
CHRISTENSEN: 1300 057 222 is our number this morning for talkback with the Prime Minister. I've got quite a few listeners who want me to ask you about the proposed internet filter: time to get rid of it, or at least an opt-in or opt out system?
PM: Well look, I know that there is some concern here, and I believe that the Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, has been trying to work through to get a resolution, and I think the competing tensions are we obviously want, you know, a fast internet that meets people's needs, that's why we're rolling out the National Broadband. We're committed to it, obviously Tony Abbott's committed to taking it away.
But there's also a set of concerns about the dark side of the new technology, if I can use that expression, and, you know, clearly you can't walk into a cinema in Australia and see certain things and we shouldn't on the internet be able to access those things either. So, Stephen Conroy is working to get this in the right shape.
CHRISTENSEN: Are you comfortable, though, with that filter? I mean, Stuart has emailed and said it's hard not to draw parallels between what China conducts on its internet accessibility and what the Government's doing here.
PM: Look, I'm happy with the policy aim, and the policy aim is, you know, if there are images of child abuse, child pornography, they are not legal in our cinemas. You would not be able to go to the movies and watch that, and you shouldn't. I mean, no-one should want to see that, but you're not able to go to the movies and see those kinds of things. Why should you be able to see them on the internet? I think that that's the kind of, you know, moral, ethical question at the heart of this.
But I understand that there's a set of concerns about, technical concerns about internet speed, and also concerns that somehow this accidentally doesn't move into taking away legitimate use of the internet, and it's not my intention that we in any way jeopardise legitimate use of the internet, but I think all of would share repulsion for some of the things that can be accessed through the internet.
CHRISTENSEN: A question from Adam Lampe from the NT Education Union - currently the Federal Government's funding 200 extra teachers in Territory remote schools. Will the funding for these staff become recurrent?
PM: Well, we're a Government that's put a lot more resources into education under my leadership as Education Minister-
CHRISTENSEN: We can't afford to lose these teachers.
PM: No, no we can't, I agree with that, and we are actually working through with the Northern Territory, not only on the question of the 200 teachers but on education generally, and a new Indigenous education action plan.
So, I think, on education, I can say to people I have brought as Prime Minister a driving passion about education. One of the single biggest motivators of me ever getting involved in public advocacy or activism was my profound belief that to be a genuine, fair go country we need to be able to say to each other we give every child a great education. We've got more to do to get there, including in the Northern Territory, and as Prime Minister that will be unbelievably close to my heart.
CHRISTENSEN: One more little local test for you, Julia Gillard. The former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, had a few problems on national TV with the pronunciation of one of our towns.
[CLIP PLAYS]
CHRISTENSEN: Do you want to have a go at it?
PM: Borroloola.
CHRISTENSEN: Very good. Mel's on the line from Darwin. Morning, Mel. Let me just try that again.
CALLER: Welcome to the Top End.
PM: Thanks, Mel.
CALLER: If you don't believe in God Julia, how do you think you're going to be the next Prime- you know, elected Prime Minister?
PM: Mel, we've had Prime Ministers in the past - longest-running Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke for example - who did not have an active belief in God and was very well known for it. You know, people will make their own decisions about what's going to motivate their vote.
For me, I just think it's best to be honest about these things. I don't believe in, you know, I don't believe in pretending a faith I don't feel, so it would be, I suppose, the easier and in some ways less controversial choice to go through the rituals in the hope that that would make people believe I have an active faith, but I don't think that's right. I don't think it's right for me to pretend a faith I don't feel, so I've just told people the truth about that.
CALLER: One last question. Ramos- Jose Ramos-Horta said this morning said he didn't want East Timor to be a prison for asylum seekers. When are you- will you be going over there any time soon to negotiate?
PM: Well, we're going to be taking this a step at a time with the countries in our region. It's not, you know, I said yesterday it's going to take time. I asked the Australian people for their patience and consideration was we take that time. There have been some earlier processes, the Bali process. We'll build on that.
Our aim here is to have a regional processing centre within our region, which means that we take away the incentive for people to get on boats, to potentially lose their lives at sea, and take away the incentive to pay money to people who are plying a trade in misery - the people smugglers.
CHRISTENSEN: Julia Gillard, thanks for your time this morning.
PM: Thanks, Julia.