HOST: Prime Minister Julia Gillard at the evacuation centre, I know you've been here the last couple of days, when you look around the crèche, the stack of clothes, the books, all of the things that have been organised, Salvation Army, is it a humbling experience for you?
PM: It's a really heart-warming experience. I was here yesterday and let me tell you kid's corner has really kicked on since yesterday because of the work of volunteers.
I've been in three other evacuation centres today and the message in all of them is that volunteers have just stepped forward, Australians of all walks of life, from the smallest contributions to the biggest contributions, all pulling together. It really is tremendously heart-warming.
HOST: You think back obviously the last time a capital city was hit by a disaster of this scale was Darwin in 1974, here we are in 2011, it's Brisbane now. For you what does it mean to be Prime Minister at a time like this?
PM: What it means to be Prime Minister is I've got an obligation to lead in difficult times and that means direct assistance to the people that I'm seeing in these evacuation centres, making sure that our Centrelink system, our payment system is working for people and we've paid out more than $24 million and that's just the first emergency money in people's pocket, there's going to be lots of payments and support to come. It means working with our Defence Force to get the assets of our Defence Force out, we've got helicopters doing searches, we've got aircraft and helicopters moving the things that people need, resupplies that are vital to communities, and all of that expertise of the Defence Force in water purification that comes in so vitally needed at a time like this.
So it's important to be making sure all of that is running well for the people who need the assistance, it's important to be here offering reassurance and it's going to be important to be here for every step of the rebuilding.
HOST: Have you been stung by the scale of this, seemingly it's gotten worse and worse day after day?
PM: Size, scale, the dimensions of the loss, the loss of Australian life, the loss of children's lives, the flash flooding that we've seen with the powerful destruction of the wall of water, all of that has been startling. And then scenes like this one are amazing in their own way, Aussies coming together, doing it tough but at the same time looking after each other, it's fantastic.
HOST: I noticed you were just given a finger-painting by one of the young kids, have you worked out which way's up and which way's down?
PM: When I studied it closely it does have a signature in the bottom, like all great works of art it has a signature in the corner.
HOST: Just finally I noticed your boot's mud spattered, it's almost become the calling card of Queensland hasn't it?
PM: Yes this is Ipswich mud, I was out in the CBD of Ipswich today which was inundated by water, but the water has cleared in some parts and people are down to the painful task of trying to hose that mud out and get their shops back up and running. But even in doing that task, volunteers have come forward to help businesspeople who are literally sweeping filth out of their stores. I met a lady today and there's an arcade of shops there, they've had volunteers working with them all day to clean those shops, help those businesspeople and those employees get their businesses back running, get those employees back to work. I mean that's a real spirit of volunteerism right round the nation, people here in Queensland looking after each other, people around the nation sending in their donations, it's just wonderful.
HOST: Another busy day ahead for you tomorrow, I wish you well, thank you Prime Minister.
PM: Thank you very much.