HOST: Prime Minister Julia Gillard, good morning.
PM: Good morning Neil.
HOST: I've got to ask you, meeting the Queen last night, did you consider curtseying?
PM: Look, we do get protocol advice, Neil. I mean it's great to have the Queen here. I'm delighted she's here and it was a fantastic reaction from the kids and the crowd. It was really nice to watch.
The protocol advice to us was you either curtsey or you bow your head. You should do what you feel comfortable with. I felt most comfortable with bowing my head and the Queen extended her hand and so of course I shook her hand.
HOST: So it's all within protocol, but did you think about curtseying?
PM: Look, no I didn't. Obviously I felt most comfortable doing what I did.
HOST: Do you feel curtseying is a bit demeaning or something?
PM: Look Neil, some things are you, some things aren't.
HOST: It's just not you?
PM: No, look it's not. I made a choice and I thought I would feel most comfortable with bowing my head. Obviously when she extended her hand to have me shake her hand I certainly did that with enthusiasm, so Neil the advice was do what comes most comfortably and naturally.
HOST: Perhaps you can advice me on this too - wearing a hat. Are you supposed to wear a hat?
PM: I think that's a completely personal choice too.
HOST: Oh that wasn't a matter of- I remember, Michelle Obama got into trouble for not wearing, oh no that's silly, was criticised for not wearing a hat, but the protocol said that was alright too did it?
PM: Yeah, absolutely, so some people chose to, some people didn't.
HOST: Now, I know you're a republican but you're an admirer of the Queen, aren't you?
PM: Look, I am an admirer of the Queen. I think many Australians hold her in a great deal of affection and respect and so do I. I mean what a life, what an incredible life she's lived over so many generations of change and to see someone play such a steadfast role over so much change I think is remarkable.
HOST: How do you sense the future? Do you think this could be the last tour of Australia by a British Monarch who is actually Queen of our, or King of our country as well?
PM: Look, I'm not making any predictions Neil. I just think people will be wanting to enjoy the moment when the Queen is here, and because she's travelling large numbers of Australians will get the opportunity to see her.
HOST: One would hope there's no protests or anything, wouldn't you?
PM: Well, I certainly don't get any sense of that. I get a sense of welcome and enjoyment and delight that she's here and watching the school kids yesterday, I mean people with bunches of flowers and things to give her and just very excited. It was very heart warming.
HOST: Can I ask you about another matter? Alan Joyce from Qantas says jobs of innocent parties are about to go in that dispute. Are you close to intervening yet?
PM: I am concerned about this dispute. Qantas has put a new offer on the table to get the dispute resolved, so the parties are still negotiating and my message continues to be that parties have to get around a table and get this fixed. So, with Qantas making a new offer yesterday, parties should come together and get this resolved in the interest of Qantas, in the interest of people who work for Qantas, in the interest of the travelling public and all of the businesses that rely on Qantas and our airlines doing everything they do to get people to tourist locations.
HOST: Alan Joyce has suggested that effectively the future of Qantas is on the line here, and the future is the company to run itself. Do you think it's that important, the future of Qantas is on the line?
PM: I don't think it's for me to second guess Alan Joyce's words. I think for me, under the Fair Work system, what is the best thing I can do is say to the parties our Fair Work system is about people having a safety net at work, we've made sure that's there and then for conditions above the safety net people need to get together, bargain it through, get a solution and that is what's needed to happen here.
HOST: The boy in Bali on the drug charges, have you heard anything further on him on just where that stands now?
PM: I've stayed in touch with our Ambassador in Indonesia. The news continues to be that prosecutors are working through what they consider would be the appropriate charge. This is obviously a delicate matter where we are being very careful and very methodical in our work with the family and our work with Indonesian authorities. It's obviously Indonesian law that applies and so we're carefully working through in the best interests of this boy.
HOST: Given the reports now that he did have an issue with cannabis, in fact, in Australia and was having some treatment. Does that change your mind on the way he should be dealt with?
PM: I'm certainly- I'm not going to be drawn on any of that Neil and it wouldn't be in the best interest of this boy if I was drawn on any of it.
HOST: OK, and any regrets about speaking to him on the phone?
PM: Neil, what happened there was I was talking to our Ambassador. I've spoken to him regularly about this matter to get continuous updates and reports. He was with the boy's father and asked if I would like the phone handed over to the father to say hello and that the father was very happy to say hello to me, so I had a chat to the father, a man obviously under a great deal of pressure with his son in these circumstances, and then the father said ‘well, I'll hand the phone over to the young boy at the centre of it'. So of course I said yes to that just as a human gesture to say hello.
HOST: No regrets?
PM: No, well, I mean in those circumstances Neil I was hardly going to say to a father under that degree of pressure when he asked me whether I would like to speak to the son and he wanted to hand the phone over to the son, that I wouldn't speak to him. I certainly wouldn't do that.
HOST: Now, I know cabinet shouldn't leak. I know cabinet does leak at times, they all do. But I know a Prime Minister can make an authorised statement for the Cabinet. Did you give them a bit of a spray this week for leaking?
PM: Neil, Cabinet's confidential.
HOST: Ah, OK. Do you know who leaked?
PM: Neil, Cabinet's confidential.
HOST: No, I'm not asking what happened - I'm asking what's happened outside Cabinet. Are you aware who leaked?
PM: Look, I'm not going to speculate on any of that and Cabinet is confidential and should be kept confidential.
HOST: OK, does what happened change the nature of Cabinet discussions?
PM: I believe it's very important that we have a proper Cabinet system of government; that we do have people coming round the table giving their full view, their frank view, and able to do that in an environment of confidentiality, so I'm going to continue to have a proper Cabinet system and continue to say that obviously the right to come around that table and have your frank say comes with the responsibility of confidentiality.
HOST: Do you believe the leak was designed to undermine you?
PM: Look Neil, not going to be drawn on any of it.
HOST: Are you investigating it?
PM: Neil, I've made my views clear about Cabinet being confidential and-
HOST: -I'm not talking about what happened in Cabinet. I'm talking about what's happened since.
PM: Yeah, but as far as I'm concerned, Neil, that's the only thing I'm intending to do - to remind people that Cabinet is confidential and obviously I've done that talking to you today and I've done it publicly this week.
HOST: It's not a good sign though, is it, when something like this happens?
PM: Look Neil, I'll let commentators deal with that.
We'll get on with the job of doing the important things that are necessary for our nation's future in these days of economic change where we want to make sure that we're fostering opportunity and jobs right around the country and getting the economy to work in the interests of working people.
HOST: Is it true you've lost confidence in the Ombudsman, Alan Asher?
PM: I've indicated my concerns about the conduct of the Ombudsman and said I think it is a matter for him to explain how this conduct fits with the values that drive the office of Ombudsman of impartiality and independence.
HOST: Has he offered his resignation?
PM: Look Neil, I'm certainly not aware of that. I've said that I have concerned and indicated those concerns to the Secretary of my Department, who subsequently spoke to the Ombudsman.
HOST: Do you want his resignation?
PM: Neil, the view I've just put to you is the limit of my view. I've indicated concern. I've had those concerns conveyed. I believe there are some matters there for the Ombudsman to deal with and explain.
HOST: There are reports today the New South Wales Police have widened an enquiry into your backbencher Craig Thomson and his time as a union official. Do you still stand by him?
PM: Look, Craig Thomson is a member of the team. He's doing his job representing his electorate. On any questions about police investigations, the police will do what they properly do and I don't think it's appropriate for people to be commenting on the matter under investigation and we should wait until the outcome is known.
HOST: I agree with you on the commenting on the investigation, but do you stand by Craig Thomson as a member of your team?
PM: I certainly do.
HOST: The asylum seekers, it's reported today the head of the Navy is concerned about the possibility of turning back boats, see them as a danger. Do you agree that's a danger?
PM: Oh there are very clear risks here, and we've just got to separate sloganeering from some simple facts in this matter. The chief of the Navy has made it very clear the risks involved to Australian personnel in turning boats around, and Indonesia has made it very clear that it won't take these boats back, so you can sloganeer all you like but they're the facts of the matter.
HOST: So once we get asylum seekers to this country how quickly can we get them into the community?
PM: We are very committed to mandatory detention and to making sure that if people arrive unauthorised they are detained, and during that period of detention health checking is done, security checking is done, identity checking is done. We obviously want those things to happen as efficiently as possible.
The amount of time they take varies a great deal from case to case and depends very much on the circumstances of it. We have operated a system of community detention. That was to respond to real community concern that they didn't want to see kids in high-security detention facilities living their lives behind razor wire, so we've moved to community detention models to make life better for kids and for families, and we do use bridging visas for asylum seekers. They've been used for asylum seekers who've arrived by plane and that is another tool that we can use to assist.
HOST: Just quickly, Tony Abbott says perhaps Japan is more important than China in terms of a free trade agreement, which seems to be a change in what the John Howard approach was. Where do you stand - Japan or China?
PM: Well, we have free trade negotiations with both China and Japan. With Japan, the negotiations did get set back by the need for the Japanese Government to put all of its energy and all of its focus into recovering from the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami, and I saw that with my own eyes so we very much understood that the Japanese Government would be absolutely focused on that.
But on these musing from Tony Abbott, I suspect the purpose of the musings is he wants to send a populist message to manufacturing workers, but at the same time he is selling those workers out. He came into the parliament and voted against assistance for the steel industry, so he voted against steel workers' jobs, and he's committed to taking half a billion dollars of support out of manufacturing and that would cost manufacturing jobs.
HOST: Thank you for your time. Polls not much better, are you sure you're going to last til the next election?
PM: Yes Neil, I am.
HOST: Unequivocally, you will be leading them at the next election?
PM: Absolutely right, Neil.
HOST: Have you told Cabinet?
PM: Well, I'm telling you as well.
HOST: Thank you for your time.
PM: Thanks Neil, bye-bye.