HOST: Good morning, Julia Gillard good morning.
PM: Good morning.
HOST: We, obviously, won't have too many minutes with you. We want to, obviously, start with the carbon package. With now maybe one in four voters voting for the Labor Party, do you have to face the fact that perhaps the messenger is on the nose and therefore it's going to be difficult to get it across?
PM: Well, I'm determined to do this because it's the right thing for the country's future. We've got to cut carbon pollution and protect our environment; we've also got to make sure that we see the clean energy jobs of the future.
HOST: But that doesn't address the issue Prime Minister, of the messenger, is that something you've got to face up to?
PM: Look, I will continue to provide the leadership which will enable us to get this done and, obviously, I will be around the country, I'm in Newcastle today, I was in South Australia on the weekend, talking to people about any fears and concerns that they might have about putting a price on carbon.
HOST: You know there's a vehemence about the issue of the messenger, we've just had a text recently that says ‘how do you feel about accomplishing that which the Liberals have tried to do so often but failed, killing off the Labor Party for all time?' I mean is that, are we at the point where really, the future of the Labor Party is at stake here as well?
PM: Oh look, no, of course not. The Labor Party is more than a hundred years old and we will be here for long, long, long time to come in the future, as long as there are Australians that believe in fairness and decency and opportunity for all, there will be people attracted to joining the Labor Party and putting their shoulder to the wheel.
Look, this is a tough reform; I always expected it to be tough. I said that it would get tougher; we're in a period now where there's been a lot of fear raised, a lot of anxiety, a lot of false claims. I mean, South Australia's suffered from that almost more than anywhere else in the nation, being told that Whyalla is going to be wiped off the map, and Port Pirie is finished; none of these things are true.
And I will just keep working through, talking to people, answering questions and, ultimately, people will make their own minds up and they'll vote in the 2013 election. But by then people will have experienced exactly what carbon pricing means to them and their families.
HOST: Prime Minister, the government is spending millions of dollars in an information campaign, as you're calling it, but is there yet another problem? This is complex reform; it can't be done in 30 second grabs.
PM: I do think it's appropriate to get people the facts, and so we are providing information through advertising and also through the cleanenergyfuture.gov.au website, where people can get on a household estimator and see exactly what kind of tax cuts they're going to get, what family payment benefits they're going to see, what pension increases they're going to see. And, many people will be able to get on there and work out that they're going to come out in front.
HOST: Prime Minister, a listener question, just on how the scheme works. They ask ‘what happens when polluters, the big polluters, reduce their carbon emissions and therefore their tax impost is reduced; where does the compensation money come from then?'
PM: We certainly worked all of this out on the basis that people will reduce their carbon pollution, so that's already factored in to the scheme and to all of the figures that we've put out there. We believe that by putting a price on carbon, and our Treasury has provided all the expert advice we need on this, by putting a price on carbon from 1 July next year, we will see carbon pollution cut by at least 160 million tonnes in 2020. That's the equivalent of taking 45 million cars off the road, and all of the figures for the scheme have been worked out, with that kind of cut in carbon pollution being achieved.
HOST: Julia Gillard, the industry groups are now warning in the Fin Review today that companies with long term supply contracts may not be able to pass on the cost, and that's the theory isn't it, that you pass on the cost. If they've got long term supply contracts that don't allow them to do that, they then become susceptible, do they not, and jobs become susceptible?
PM: Well, we have factored all of this in, in the scheme design, but let's be really frank here, I mean this nation has been talking about putting a price on carbon for a decade. Prime Minister Howard went to the 2007 election saying he wanted to have an emissions trading scheme, then of course, we had the work in the last parliament, me in the last election talking about pricing carbon and an emissions trading scheme, and we will get this job done from 1 July next year.
When I talk to business people, and I had the opportunity to meet with a large number at a breakfast meeting yesterday, what they talked to me about is how relieved they are to have the certainty of knowing what the price will be and how the scheme will work.
These are people who make very long lived investments, they can only do that if there is certainty, and so giving them that certainty is going to help us get the investment we need for the future, particularly in clean energy.
HOST: If they can't pass it on though, they're stuck with it and therefore jobs could be at risk, couldn't they?
PM: No, I'm certainly not going to agree with that, and no advice to me has ever said that. Jobs are going to continue to grow in this country, we are coming to this path with an unemployment rate with a four in front of it; less than five per cent and as we price carbon we will create 1.6 million jobs in this country by 2020, half a million of them in the next two years.
That's against a proud track record of having created more than 750,000 jobs since the government was first elected, even during the darkest days of the global financial crisis.
HOST: Given that we're in, obviously, campaign mode, it's the subject of every day; are there now other very important tasks of government at risk of going on the back of the stove?
PM: Certainly not, I am out and about talking to Australians and the work of government continues at the same time.
HOST: We've got to finish, Prime Minister, with a question which I am sure you know is coming, you might have read this morning that the ABC is planning a four part comedy series which is about you at home. First of all, a reaction to that, are you looking forward to it?
PM: Well, I have read those reports this morning, I have seen the actress involved, Amanda, impersonate me in the past and I think she's been pretty funny as she's done it. So, I will sit at home when it's on the TV screens and I am sure Tim and I will have a laugh as it rolls through.
HOST: And the producer said, if you could somehow manage to hang around for a couple of months he'd be very grateful.
PM: Well, I'll be there, and out and about, talking to Australians, obviously, providing leadership as Prime Minister and we'll work our way through to the 2013 election, where I'll be talking to Australians about continuing to implement the changes we need to achieve the vision I have for this country's future of a strong economy and opportunities for all Australians, right around this great nation; and we will achieve a clean energy future as part of that.
HOST: Thanks for joining us this morning.
PM: Thank you.