HOST: Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time, thanks for joining us on Sky News.
Will you still honour your deal with Andrew Wilkie to introduce pre-commitment technology for poker machines in Australia?
PM: Well Kieran, happy new year and I can say I am in discussions with Mr Wilkie about poker machine reform and about problem gambling, and what lies behind all of this is I am very concerned about the damage done by problem gambling and I think my experience is probably the same as many other members of parliament. We see the consequences of problem gambling in our electorate offices, we see the numbers coming in looking for the emergency relief because the dad's got a problem with poker machine addiction and they literally can't feed the kids.
We've had circumstances where people have scrambled around to find someone a bed because they're not homeless because they weren't able to pay the rent or pay the mortgage, so I am very personally concerned about the damage that gets done to individuals, to families, to kids, because people can't control this addition. So, I want to see real reform here.
Now, this parliament, the parliament the Australian people voted for, is capable of some remarkable things, but in order to get big legislation through we need to get everybody on the same page - they're not on the same page now and that's what we're working on and I'm continuing my discussions with Mr Wilkie in that context.
HOST: But Rob Oakeshott and Tony Crook have both said that they're open to reform, they want to see the legislation first. What makes you sure or thinking that the numbers aren't there when Mr Wilkie's optimistic himself?
PM: Well I'll let individual members of parliament speak for themselves, but obviously working in this parliament and having discussions with people, I formed the view that there is an appetite for reform, but we do have to work on getting people on the same page and so to get change, to make change real, we need a piece of legislation to go through the House of Representatives and then into the Senate and I'm discussing poker machine reform with Mr Wilkie against that backdrop of this parliament.
And Kieran, if I can point pack to some of the big things that happened last year, we got carbon pricing through the parliament, we got the Minerals Resource Rent Tax through the Parliament, we got hundreds of pieces of legislation though the parliament.
In this parliament that required some cooperation and some collaborative work and that's the approach I'm going to take this year, including to addressing problem gambling.
HOST: People are questioning your commitment to this issue, because up until the last week or so you have been willing to re-state that you are committed to the idea that the Productivity Commission came up with, and that is the pre-commitment technology and again this morning and over previous news conferences you have not done that.
PM: Well Kieran, let's just get the history in sequence. We only have the Productivity Commission report because the Government was sufficiently concerned about problem gambling to ask for it.
And there shouldn't be any mystery about why we were concerned, people see the damage, as I have seen it done in Melbourne's west, and we're a Labor Government, we're Labor people, so of course our thoughts run to those most at need and most at risk in our society. And so we showed our concern by saying let's get the experts, the Productivity Commission, to give us a good piece of work on addressing problem gambling. That's why we have the report.
In terms of the things I've said over the last week, I am putting the appropriate respect to the discussions with Mr Willkie. I don't think it's appropriate when I am in discussions with him to have a running commentary on those discussions.
Now, of course we are both concerned about problem gambling, about people who can't control their playing of poker machines, lots of people - fine recreation, have a good night out, that's fantastic - but there are some people that do have these addiction problems that do so much harm.
HOST: Tony Abbott is making this an issue about your character. He says you've dudded the Australian people on a carbon tax and now you're preparing to dud Mr Wilkie. If you don't honour this commitment through either pre-commitment technology or dollar maximum bets, doesn't this become another question of your credibility?
PM: Well Kieran, if you're asking me to be surprised about Tony Abbott being negative, I'm not going to be surprised at all. We expect Mr Abbott to be negative every day and he never surprises us. So, another day, another statement of negativity.
On getting something done about problem gambling, I do want to see us get something effective done to assist problem gamblers and to make it less likely in the future that people will get themselves in a circumstance where they can't pay the rent, can't pay the mortgage, can't feed the kids.
To do that we need to get people working together so legislation can go through the parliament. What makes a difference in communities around the nation, in people's homes, in people's lives, is an effective change in the law.
HOST: Mr Wilkie says he's happy to support a trial, but any trial should not determine the fate of the reform, simply the shape or design of the reform. Is that still the Government's position as well?
PM: Well, once again, I'm not going to be drawn on the detail and that's because I don't think it's appropriate to do so when I'm in discussions with Mr Wilkie.
HOST: OK, well he's withdrawn his support for the means testing of the private health insurance rebate. This has been described as revenge over the pokies discussion. Do you see it as retaliation?
PM: Well, I've seen some reports today. I mean, Mr Wilkie can address those matters. I think his comments actually went to the nature of evidence about private health insurance reform. We, of course, are seeking private health insurance reform-
HOST: -It's posturing though, isn't it, in this debate?
PM: Well, we're seeking private health insurance reform because the evidence is very clear that when we've reformed private health insurance in the past we've seen all of these claims that it would be end of private health insurance and then when the evidence all comes in, more people hold private health insurance than have before.
And behind the reform that we are putting forward is a basic fairness proposition, which is I don't think an apprentice who is learning to become a brickie should end up subsidising my private health insurance. I can pay my own.
So that is the fairness proposition that we are obviously taking to the parliament and seeking to persuade people of. I think it's a pretty self-evident fairness proposition.
HOST: A couple of other issues that we need to discuss - the economy of course, the job numbers out yesterday confirming the worst calendar year for the labour market since the recession in the early ‘90s. How much of a worry is that, given it's likely that the worst of Europe, fall out of Europe, hasn't been felt here?
PM: Well, we have seen jobs growth slow and that's because there are some headwinds in the global economy. I've had a lot of say about what's happening in the Eurozone and the need for European leaders to get together and get it done, not just talk about it, but resolve the ongoing problems in the Eurozone.
We also have pressure on some parts of our economy because of our high Australian dollar. What that has meant is many employers have chosen to give their continuing employees more hours rather than put a new person on, but when you come back to the foundation stones here, we have low unemployment, Australians have amongst the best job prospects in the world and we as a Government will be working with those industries under pressure, including manufacturing and if you want one thing that's going to cost Aussie jobs - Mr Abbott taking half a billion dollars out of supporting our car industry will cost Australian jobs.
HOST: So the Mid-Year Economic Outlook released by Treasurer Swan, that's still on track, those forecasts, do you think?
PM: Well, we update forecasts periodically. We do it mid-year and we do it at the budget. We've seen one month of unemployment data come in and that's the information that you're referring to.
We are an economy with strong fundamentals, we've got growth, we've got low unemployment. Look around the world. We're talking about employment just over five per cent. In the Eurozone they're talking about it at 10 per cent, the Americans more an 8 per cent. So job prospects here are still solid for Australians.
But we will work with those industries that are under pressure. We're engaged in a lot of work now with the car manufacturing industry. It's the source of good jobs, high-paying jobs, it's a backbone of manufacturing overall, which is why I'm so disappointed that Mr Abbott has taken the position of cutting half a billion of support for those Aussie jobs away.
HOST: If it's not the right thing for the economy, are you willing to shelve you commitment to return to surplus?
PM: Well, our economy is growing. We have room to move on monetary policy. Obviously, that is in the province of the Reserve Bank.
One thing I'd say, Kieran, you can see from around the world, is this is the right time for governments to be clear about their fiscal strategies and we're clear about ours and we are determined to return the budget to surplus.
What also disappoints me is some of the ridiculous claims, dangerous claims, we've seen made by the Opposition about our position as a Government and as a nation. Global markets are skittish. It's the wrong time to be saying silly things. We are a nation that has got the coveted AAA rating from all three ratings agencies for the first time in our history. That's because markets are saying Australia is taking the right approach on fiscal discipline.
HOST: Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
PM: Thank you very much.