HOST: Hello, and welcome to 612 ABC Brisbane.
PM: Good morning, Madonna.
HOST: Does Kevin Rudd want your job?
PM: Look, I know there's been a lot of media reporting of Kevin appearing on Q&A, an ABC show, on Monday night. What I think has got less reporting is on that show Kevin was making the same points as a Government we're making right all round country, which is we've got to get on with a big reform agenda, and no bigger reform than pricing carbon, which is what I was doing yesterday in Queensland, as well as meeting flood-affected Queenslanders and seeing how they're going with recovery. I had the opportunity to go the Darling Downs power station and talk about putting a price on carbon with people who work generating the electricity you and I rely on.
HOST: But the reason people are talking about it is that Kevin Rudd said that some people around that Cabinet table wanted to abandon it, to kill it off. Were you one of those people?
PM: Well, Madonna, I'm consistently on the public record as saying I don't believe in talking about confidential discussions between Cabinet colleagues. Perhaps let's judge by what the Government's doing - the Government is determined to put a price on carbon. The Government is determined to get this nation to an emissions trading scheme. We'll get there via a fixed price for carbon for a period, effectively like a tax, but we will get to that carbon pricing emissions trading scheme I talked about in the 2010 election and Kevin and the team campaigned on in 2007.
HOST: But here you are selling it, and you're up here in Queensland selling it, wanting voters to support you with it. Don't you think they have right to know where you've stood in this issue?
PM: Oh, I can tell you where I've stood, Madonna, absolutely-
HOST: -So are you saying, though, can you just say, put this to rest and just say around that Cabinet table you were supporting it, you did not want it killed off?
PM: Madonna, I'm not going to talk about confidential Cabinet discussions. If you're asking me what I believe in, I'm certainly prepared to talk about that.
I believe climate change is real, and I've always believed that the best way of tackling climate change was by pricing carbon through an emissions trading scheme, and having always believed that, Madonna, I am now determined that this nation enacts this big reform, starting on 1st July next year.
HOST: But do you concede by not answering that question-
PM: -I just have.
HOST: But you're leaving open the perception that-
PM: -Madonna, I've just said to you, listen to the words, I've always believed climate change is real and I've always believed that the best way of tackling climate change, the most efficient way of cutting carbon pollution and creating a clean energy future for this country was through an emissions trading scheme.
As Prime Minister, I am travelling round the country advocating that we price carbon, that we get to that emissions trading scheme. That's what I'm doing, that's what the Government's committed to doing, and we will do that from 1st July next year - price carbon, and get our way to that emissions trading scheme.
HOST: Alright, moving on to another issue but staying with Kevin Rudd for a moment, the former Prime Minister went on to say that the ALP was fundamentally failing because factional leaders intimidate many in the Party, preventing it from being politically effective.
How do you, as the leader of the Party, address that issue?
PM: Well, I believe parliamentarians come to the parliament wanting to do the best for their constituency and the future of this country. That's what Labor members do - they come, they put forward their views in Labor Caucus, we make a decision and we go out and fight for what we think is the best future for this country. That's why we're out there, fighting for a price on carbon now.
HOST: That is not answering my question, though. Do you think the factions have too much of a say, too much of a role?
PM: Look, I think there will always be people who meet together who've got common views in political parties. It would be a bit odd if we didn't have that system. People get into political parties because they're interested in ideas-
HOST: -But their influence. How big is their influence on what you say and what you-
PM: -Well, if I can answer your question, Madonna, the only thing that ever influences me is what I believe is in the best interests of this nation. Nothing else influences me as our Cabinet deliberates on what matters for the country. The only thing we've ever got our eyes on is what is going to make this nation more prosperous in the future, fairer in the future, ready to tackle the challenges of the future.
People come to parliament; people join political parties, because they're desperately interested in ideas. There's no mystery that they reach out to friends with common views, that'll happen, but in terms of the Government's decision making, nothing drives me or influences me other than my judgement call about the best interests of this country.
HOST: Have you spoken to Kevin Rudd since Monday night?
PM: We have our regular meetings on foreign affairs. We had one on Monday itself, actually., so we regularly catch up-
HOST: - But not since Monday night?
PM: Oh, look, Madonna, if rang Cabinet colleagues or political colleagues every time there was a media flurry I wouldn't get anything else done.
What I meet with Kevin Rudd about is foreign affairs. We have regular catch ups. The most recent of them was Monday.
HOST: How does the job differ from what you thought it would?
PM: I understood what this job was going to be about. I'd had some experience doing it as acting Prime Minister, so I understood the weight of it, the responsibility of it, but also the opportunity that it gives you to shape this nation's future, and I came into politics to make a difference. I particularly came into politics to make this country a country where opportunity is fairly distributed and every Australian, every child, gets a fair go at a great life.
HOST: Now, you've been up meeting victims of the flood, including the family of little Jordan Rice, and can I just remind everyone who's listening he was 13, he was frightened of water, and when rescuers came to get him he told them to take his little brother first, and then he died. How's his family going?
PM: It's pretty tough, Madonna, as you would imagine. Lovely people in an unimaginably hard situation, a great dignity about them but a lot of pain in their eyes.
HOST: Does it make you feel sometimes that what you do, what I do, isn't really important in the big scheme of things, or when you meet a family like that does it make you more determined to go back to Canberra and change things?
PM: Life is composed of those intensely personal things, grieving, loss of a loved one, and let's be frank Madonna, there's nothing that a government sitting in Canberra can do about that, when you lose someone you love in such dramatic circumstances, and that family is actually coping with two deaths. That is always going to be there, that human loss, human suffering.
What a government can do is we can't take away those human emotions, but we can help support families and communities to recover, and I'm determined to do that.
HOST: Then one of the ways you can, with respect, is on insurance, and we heard Bill Shorten, your minister, say yesterday that you're going to change the definition of flood, and we've heard this before. Maybe it will happen this time, but shouldn't a Government have the power to say ‘stop, pay up and quit playing games with people's lives'?
PM: Well, we are working hard to fix this problem for the future, and that does need to be done. That people can be struggling with the definition of the word ‘flood' and whether or not they're covered is something we want to fix for the future, and that's what Bill Shorten, the Assistant Treasurer, was dealing with yesterday.
Madonna, we don't live in a command and control economy, where from Canberra you can dictate to businesses around the country what they're going to do next, but what we can-
HOST: -But you do in many other areas.
PM: Well, we have laws and rules, but I don't sit in Canberra and say I'm going to take it into my head today to issue an edict that a particular business has to do a particular thing. We live in an open, competitive economy. That's what makes our economy strong, but Madonna, we are certainly using the pressure of government to name and shame insurance companies who do the wrong thing, and that's what Bill Shorten was doing yesterday.
HOST: So, which ones have been doing the wrong thing?
PM: Well, you would see Bill Shorten put a challenge out to all insurance companies yesterday to come and have a direct exchange with the people of Queensland to get the bouquets, if there were any being given away, to take the brickbats if that was what people were throwing, and they didn't stump up, didn't have the courage to go, and we are very, very critical of that lack of courage and ability to sit with Queenslanders and work their issues through.
HOST: What adjective would you use to describe the insurance companies and how they've treated many Queenslanders?
PM: Well, the performance yesterday was a cowardly one, and I think there's evidence that around Queensland individual claims have been treated in a callous way, and that should not be happening.
HOST: Certainly, the reconstruction effort will be front and centre this year here in Queensland, as is the change in Queensland politics. Being honest, does Campbell Newman make it easier or harder for Anna Bligh, do you think?
PM: Oh, look, I'm not a commentator on State politics. Obviously, there is a lot of commentary here about the unusual arrangement that has brought Campbell Newman to the leadership of his political party.
What I would say is Anna Bligh is doing a great job. She was a fantastic leader of this State during the desperate days of the natural disasters. She is showing that same fantastic leadership now as the State recovers.
HOST: Do you think Campbell Newman showed that same leadership of Brisbane during the floods?
PM: Look, I think Campbell, as a civic leader here in Brisbane, played his part working alongside Anna Bligh as this city faced the floods. Now we're in the recovery phase and I think Anna is doing a remarkable job leading the State in recovery, and of course she's doing it in circumstances where she's open to scrutiny, including parliamentary scrutiny, every day that parliament sits, and I think that's appropriate.
HOST: And by that you're saying Campbell Newman's not.
PM: Well, Anna's in the parliament. Campbell's not. That's true.
HOST: What do you say, though, to people who're listening who say ‘look, she's been in the job too long', that Labor has had its go and now it is time for a change?
PM: People will make their judgements about Queensland and its politics at the next State election, and I think when they come to make that judgement they will look at performance, they will look at what a government has delivered, and that is as it should be.
What I can do today is I can give you my view, and my view is I'm very happy to be working alongside Premier Bligh in the reconstruction efforts in this State.
HOST: Are you disappointed Anthony Chisholm isn't making the move to Canberra as the ALP National Secretary?
PM: Look, Anthony Chisholm, I think, is a very able man, a very able party campaigner, and as a political party we value people who are good at campaigning. He's made a decision about his family. I can understand that. Our National Secretary position is vacant, and just like when jobs are vacant in the community you get a few people throwing their hats in the ring and applying. We're going through that process now, and it'll be sorted through by the National Executive.
HOST: Just before I let you go, Kevin Rudd has invited the biggest diplomatic mission in Australian history into Queensland. 70 foreign envoys have taken up the invitation to see Queensland. What message would you like them to leave the State with?
PM: I'd like them to leave the State with the message that Queensland is open for business - never been a better time to come and visit Queensland and to see its delights, and to have a chat with its community.
HOST: Julia Gillard, thank you.
PM: Thank you very much