NEWSREADER: Australia's Prime Minister says she expects the Aussie dollar will hold its own against the US currency. Julia Gillard spoke to Bloomberg's editor-in-chief Matt Winkler.
PM: We've got to understand where our economy is now. We have record terms of trade at 140 year high, we have a resources sector that is turbocharged by the growth in our region, we've got more than $400 billion of investment in the pipeline. That does mean that our currency is very strong, very strong against the US dollar, I mean we first hit parity against the US dollar in November last year and now as far as the eye can see in terms of predictions we will be very strong against the US dollar. That is putting pressure on other parts of the economy - manufacturing, tourism - and so the Minerals Resource Rent Tax is really about taking a fair share of taxation from the highly profitable companies in the sector of the economy that is turbocharged and using some of that to bolster growth in other sections of the economy.
HOST: What do you expect to achieve with this just announced inquiry into Australian media?
PM: Our ways of getting information, the media industry is changing, and like any major industry in a phase of change it's appropriate to look at how regulation best works as the industry changes.
HOST: Do you see Australia as being under a similar threat as the UK because of the recent hacking scandals in that country?
PM: No I think things are different here, there is no evidence available to me or indeed to any Australian to suggest that we have had telephone hacking by journalists in the country or by newspaper organisations, so I don't believe we're seeing any of that kind of problem here. What I do believe is happening here and is comparable to what is happening in the rest of the world, whether it be the UK, the US or anywhere else, is that the economic model which has supported newspapers is changing.
HOST: You know in that context, you said that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has, your words ‘hard questions to answer', how much of a concern is News Limited's 70 per cent ownership of the nation's newspapers here for you?
PM: I think it is something that people have talked about over a long period of time now, media concentration, media ownership, but the truth is we can't go back in time and reengineer the ownership of newspapers in this country today. So we're not in the business of trying to unpack media ownership.
HOST: What is the one thing that you wish to be remembered for?
PM: If I had to pick one thing I would hope it would be the work in Australian education because my life is explained, how I got here, is explained by a strong, loving family but a great quality education and if you don't have access to that, whether you come from the most humble of origins or the most privileged of origins then everything else about your life will be different and will be poorer and we can change those things and make sure everybody gets that opportunity.