HOST: Prime Minister thanks for coming in.
PM: Thanks Mike, it's good to be here.
HOST: I appreciate your time. I guess the most negative thing that you're facing constantly is what we might call ‘rats in the ranks'. You've got people in your team trying to destabilise your leadership. Does that churn your stomach?
PM: I wouldn't say churn my stomach, no, and I'm not sure I'd even agree with the characterisation of your question, though, of course, it's a very famous saying.
My view about the Government is we have faced and continue to face some tough times politically. That is because we've done some big hard things and yes that does mean that politically it's been tough.
HOST: That's good Prime Minister, but you've run away from the question. You've got a problem. You've got people in your party moving to oust you from the leadership. I mean, the fact is you've got the Kevin Rudd circus, if you like. It's very debilitating to your leadership and to the Government and I really want to ask you - why have you allowed it to go so long?
PM: I think Kevin's doing a good job as the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I understand that in the political situation the Government finds itself, that people are going to talk about these questions and I understand that for Kevin that means when he is doing something publicly, whether its involving himself in the Queensland election campaign or talking about his work as Foreign Affairs Minister, that he too is going to be subject to these questions.
But Mike, I don't get up in the morning thinking about all of this. I get up in the morning thinking about what I need to do leading this nation today to make a difference today and make a difference for tomorrow.
So I know it's endlessly fascinating to others but to me it's, kind of, dead set boring.
HOST: It doesn't have to be endlessly fascinating. You could stop it. He's after your job and you could stop it.
PM: Look, I'm not agreeing with your questions Mike and so no reformulation of them is going to get me to agree with them.
HOST: I'll be direct - in '68 Whitlam had a situation like this, in '91 Hawke - they went into the Caucus and said ‘I quit, the position of leadership is open' and it was resolved. Why don't you do that?
PM: Because I believe Kevin's doing a good job as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I'm very confident in my leadership of the Labor Party.
HOST: Is he doing a good job of destabilising your leadership?
PM: Mike, once again, I'm not agreeing with the premises of your question.
HOST: Let me just push you for one direct answer. Why don't you just call a showdown in the Caucus?
PM: Because there's no need. I'm very confident in my leadership of the Labor Party.
HOST: The daily headlines are so debilitating and so bad for your Government.
PM: Look, I'm not going to determine what I do as Prime Minister because of headlines in newspapers. I'm going to determine what I do as Prime Minister for what's right for the nation.
HOST: I'm sure you're sick of hearing about the ‘Julia who' factor, they're really talking about you and who you really are behind that wall and you've referred yourself to your innate style of holding back a fair bit. Is that going to change?
PM: I'm not, with the greatest respect Mike, I'm not a talk show host, I'm not on breakfast TV, I'm not appearing in a drama on Australian television, I'm the Prime Minister.
HOST: But you're a Prime Minister facing a little defeat and one of the factors is you have a low approval rating.
PM: Well, I think it's a question of expectations of leadership and if we look across Australia'a political history when Bob Hawke was there or Paul Keating was there or John Howard was there, I don't actually recall there being constant demands for them to show more personality. I don't remember people -
HOST: -Well Bob Hawke didn't need that call.
PM: No, he probably didn't and he did the leadership in a different way than Paul Keating, who did it differently from John Howard. But I don't remember people looking at John Howard and saying ‘gee I wish he'd be warmer and cuddlier and more humorous and more engaging in his press conferences'.
They looked at him and said ‘well, he's the bloke running the country' and I think the same standard should apply to me. I'm a woman running the country, I don't ask people to come to the view that they want to have me round for dinner on Saturday night, that's not what I'm here to do. What I'm here to do is to do some tough things, some hard things that make a difference.
HOST: You say you're a woman - would it be easier if you were a man?
PM: Look, I think it's different and I'm not surprised about that. I mean I grew up watching the Prime Ministers of this country and if you'd asked me then ‘close your eyes and imagine a Prime Minister' I would have imagined a bloke in a suit.
Now I'm the first person to not be a bloke in that suit, exactly the same sort of suit as you're wearing.
It's a different image of leadership. So I'm not surprised that it's kind of taking a bit of time for that to settle with the Australian public. It is different, but it also speaks of how great a nation we are that we can have truly equal opportunity and one of things that is most joyful in my job is I get any number of young girls or dads in crowds pushing their young daughter forward to get a photo with me. I don't know whether they support me, I don't know whether they're going to vote for me, but me being here has given them the sense that it is possible for a woman to do anything in this country and that's a great thing.
HOST: You tough it out?
PM: Well, that's kind of who I am. I'm not someone who wilts under pressure. I'm not someone who obsesses or agonises, I'm someone who gets things done.
HOST: Someone who gets petty like Kevin Rudd saying you and Tim live in ‘Bogan-ville' meaning you're bogans.
PM: Well, one, that was reported so we need to just be a bit careful about assuming everything that is written is true.
Two, I am who I am, if you want someone with a crusty, upper class accent who went to the most elite private school, well that's not me.
HOST: Bob Hawke especially, like so many Prime Ministers, but especially, was forgiven for his mistakes. You seem to wear your mistakes; they don't go away - like broken promises.
PM: You're referring obviously to the words I said about a carbon tax during the election campaign and when I said those words, I meant every one of them. I talked about having an emissions trading scheme, I talked about putting a price on carbon and that decision by me, I can do nothing or do something - right I'm going to do something, that has been met by a relentlessly negative campaign, one of the most negative campaigns I can recall in Australian politics.
So yes I am wearing some damage from that but outcomes matter and the outcome here will be on 1 July we'll start our journey to a clean energy future and a lot of people will benefit by having more money in their pocket than they otherwise would have through their pensions and tax cuts.
HOST: Prime Minister, people talk about your lack of emotions and they're only talking about seeing you in public. Are you a very emotional person when you go home?
PM: Look, I'm someone who likes to have a laugh and crack a joke. I think I am warm with people when I meet them, I like meeting people, I like hearing their stories.
When I present for media interviews and press conferences and all the rest of it, I don't view it as my job to be there emoting. I'm a very calm person, I take life as it comes, I'm a very stable person - I don't easily get knocked off course.
But of course my personal life is full of all of the loves and joys and circumstances of family life that everybody else's is full of.
HOST: Do you cry much?
PM: I'm not someone who's a big person for - no I don't. I'm not someone who would spend a lot of time with tears in my eyes. Does that mean that I don't feel emotions and sadness? Of course it doesn't, everybody's different.
HOST: Australia Day. A horrible mess and you behaved very well. But it turned out badly. Why?
PM: Well we had a staff member who made a very bad decision, very bad judgement call. He made it himself, he didn't consult anybody else about it and of course he's paid a very big price for that now. He offered his resignation and I accepted it, so he's out of a job.
HOST: Just for the record Prime Minister, did you have anything to do with tipping off the demonstrators?
PM: No.
HOST: Prime Minister, something has to change, seriously, for your Government to stay in power. Can you see what that change could be?
PM: If you're asking me do I think we can win the 2013 election, yes I do.
HOST: Will you be leading the party?
PM: Yes, I will.
HOST: Before you lead your party to the next election, the fact is you have to deal with Kevin Rudd.
PM: Well Mike, that's your analysis.
HOST: Come on, Prime Minister, come one. You've ducked it beautifully, very well, but he's the elephant in the room.
PM: Mike it's not a question of duck, I've got a different view from you. You've obviously got one, I've got another.
HOST: No, but you can answer the question?
PM: And I am answering the question Mike. I'm leading the Government that of course has been under a lot of political pressure and will continue to be under a lot of political pressure.
HOST: That's the Government; I'm talking about you - leadership.
PM: And I'm talking about my leadership of the Government. But I'm not going to define what I do as Prime Minister, about the politics around the Government, I'm going to define what I do around what really matters in the nation and ultimately - if I can channel Paul Keating from way back when, he'd be the first to say - good policies, good politics in the end, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time.
HOST: Prime Minister, what did you want to achieve out of this interview?
PM: Mike, I thought it would be good to celebrate your return to television and I thought it would be good to start the year talking about the Government, the nation and what the year's going to be about.
HOST: Prime Minister, I really appreciate your time. Thank you.
PM: Thank you.