HOST: Prime Minister Julia Gillard joins us now from Canberra. Prime Minister, good morning to you. We're running a phone poll this morning asking our viewers the question whether they feel safer now that bin Laden is gone. 71 per cent are saying no. What advice are you getting on whether bin Laden's death makes us any more or less of a terrorist target?
PM: Well, this has hurt al Qaeda and that's a good thing. It's a good thing for the world, it's a good thing for Australia, but it hasn't ended al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is a resilient network and so we've still got to take proper and prudent preparation against the potential for a terrorist attack and we are advising Australians overseas to not get involved in any mass demonstrations that there may be about this matter, any mass demonstrations of support, to stay right away from that and to be vigilant about their personal safety. HOST: So you're obviously concerned. I mean, words this morning being used include reprisals, sleeper cells, retaliation, there is obviously a fear. PM: I can understand that Australians are a little concerned, a little anxious, wondering what this means. My answer to that question would be as follows: first, we should welcome the fact that Osama bin Laden has been killed. That is a good thing in the sense that it's hurt al Qaeda and this man was a combatant in the war on terrorism. He'd taken a lot of innocent lives, including Australian lives. But we also need to recognise the death of bin Laden is not the death of al Qaeda, so people just have to take commonsense preparations. We should still go about our ordinary lives in Australia, the way we did yesterday and the day before that and we will continue to take the kind of preparations and remain vigilant, the way we have been over a number of years now, for the potential of a terrorist attack. HOST: Alright, is it time for our troops to leave Afghanistan? PM: Certainly not. We've got a mission to see through there, and that mission will take us through training the Afghan National Army. We have a timeframe there of 2014, where we are looking towards Afghan nationals being in charge of the security of their own country, but we need to stay the course in Afghanistan and to make sure that it does not again become a safe haven for terrorists. Once again I would say bin Laden is dead, but al Qaeda is a resilient terrorist network. We've got to get the job done in Afghanistan - and we will - and I think one message we should take from all of this is persistence pays. HOST: Prime Minister Julia Gillard, thank you for your time this morning. PM: Thank you.