Today FM
KYLE: We've had a special phone call from the office of the Prime Minister!
JACKIE O: She is still the Prime Minister.
KYLE: And so she should be.
JACKIE O: Julia Gillard.
KYLE: Are you sitting behind the big desk this morning Prime Minister?
PM: I'm not behind the big desk right now Kyle, I'm sorry, but I did want to say good morning to you and to Jackie O and to say we've got to go Easter egg hunting, don't we?
KYLE: Oh, last time we spoke to you we said we had the idea of the Easter egg hunt. And you said you'd get back to us. Is this the official confirmation?
PM: This is it. I've actually got some time on Sunday so let's go and look for some Easter eggs, and I can't wait to see you in a rabbit outfit!
JACKIE O: You promised you would be in a rabbit outfit.
KYLE: She's a woman of her word.
JACKIE O: That's fantastic, so we can do that Easter egg hunt! When we asked you about this originally we had in mind that we would treat a bunch of children and their families from Bear Cottage this lovely privilege to go to Kirribilli and do this big Easter egg hunt.
And we were so hoping that you would say yes. And that is just fantastic news because I know the guys down at Bear Cottage who give end-of-life care to young children and their families-
KYLE: They do an amazing job.
JACKIE O: They do do an amazing job. And I just feel like they need some joy in their life and this would be incredible for them.
KYLE: Yeah but forget them, I'm going to Kirribilli!
JACKIE O: Something you've always wanted to do!
PM: Kyle, it's not all about you, it's about those kids from Bear Cottage and I've heard about Bear Cottage too, and they do seem like amazing people.
And it will be a real delight to invite some kids around and we'll hide some Easter eggs and we'll go hunting.
And of course to see Kyle dressed up as the Easter Bunny - that will be a moment to savour and remember for a lifetime.
KYLE: Hang on, need to get through a few things. Can I drive? Because it has always been my fantasy to drive my car with a flag on the front through the gates of Kirribilli. So have I got a spot?
PM: We can organise that, no problem.
KYLE: Good, I'm getting car spots all over the place this week.
PM: You can only have your car there Sunday, Kyle. I don't want you to think that somehow this is now your parking spot in Kirribilli.
JACKIE O: He has already got one at Channel Nine apparently.
KYLE: Now congratulations about yesterday. That was a big out of the blue sort-of thing that happened and you were so - man I don't know - the girls around here and the boys this morning have all been talking about-
JACKIE O: We've all been talking.
KYLE: That you were very inspiring yesterday and we thought you were slick, you were powerful and you were the winner at the end of it, which I thought was incredible and just a brilliant move.
PM: Thank you very much. We did have a big day in politics yesterday. But on with it all today, getting on with the business of governing and of course honouring promises like the Easter egg hunt.
JACKIE O: So how did you feel Prime Minister yesterday when you first heard about this call for a leadership spill? You were angry?
KYLE: I would have been spewing.
PM: Well my focus for the morning was actually on delivering the apology for Australians who have been put through forced adoption.
So we planned this for a long period of time. And we had the Great Hall filled with people who have just lived through such trauma: mothers having their children taken away, kids growing up not knowing who their parents were or whether their parents loved them or whether their parents gave them up voluntarily.
Often sold stories that the child was dead or the mother was dead, so just horrible things have happened.
And I really wanted to make that a moment for those people, and a moment of healing.
So that was my focus in the morning and then it quickly became-
JACKIE O: But then Simon Crean ruined it all, didn't he?
PM: Increasingly transparent we were going to have a big day and I thought, well you get on with it and you meet head on - so that's what I did.
JACKIE O: I want to play you something - this, I loved this moment yesterday when Question Time-
KYLE: She's been talking about it all morning.
JACKIE O: Let's play it. Take a listen.
KYLE: Jackie's favourite bit of the Prime Minister yesterday.
PM GRAB: For the information of the House I have determined that there will be a ballot for the Leadership and Deputy Leadership of the Labor Party at 4.30 today. In the meantime, take your best shot.
JACKIE O: Take your best shot!
KYLE: I love that. And they gave it their best shot and they failed.
JACKIE O: Yes.
PM: They did.
JACKIE O: Is it bad that I love it when you get angry?
PM: No I don't think so. I think a lot of women who know what it's like in male-dominated workplaces - not suggesting that your workplace has got big male characters in it or anything like that.
KYLE: No, we're very in the background here.
PM: Very in the background! But I think a lot of women in male-dominated workplaces like to see a woman pushing through and getting on with it. And that's how I feel as I do this job, and sometimes it shows more than others. But I certainly feel that every day.
JACKIE O: Well you definitely would have to be a strong woman to do that job. Is it difficult where a lot of the time you just don't know who you can trust, people stabbing you in the back. That's a tough job.
PM: It is a tough job, but it has got such amazing reward in the sense that you get to look at our nation and think about its future and see the problems and say “I can fix that” and then design the policies and implement them and see it being fixed.
So that privilege of leadership outweighs anything else.
KYLE: I loved the big pimp walk at the end where all the guys were in black suits and you were pimping up the front in the white suit, strutting down the hall.
And it was just a power shot, it's on the front of the Telegraph this morning, it looks brilliant. I'm glad. I'm glad all the infighting is finished because it must have been hard for you to run the country while that was going on.
JACKIE O: Well has it finished though? I mean, that's the big question.
KYLE: It was finished yesterday.
PM: It was definitely finished yesterday. So it's over and we're moving on and getting on with the big policies we've got coming out between now and the Budget.
And one I've been working on literally for years is our new funding system for schools. So that's what's happening next.
JACKIE O: When you went home last night after such a big day, were you that exhausted you could just fall asleep. Did this keep you up all night? Do you talk to Tim about this? Who do you let off steam to?
PM: Well Tim's actually away at the moment, so it was me and Reuben the dog, so he was full of wise words.
JACKIE O: Oh Julia that makes me sad that you were just home alone with the dog after such a brutal day!
KYLE: Jackie's fishing for friends. She wants to be the one you phone.
PM: I'd have to say I spent some time with people into the evening, and then got back here and had a few telephone calls to make and all the rest of it.
But at the end of a long hard day I was happy enough to hang out, pat the dog, and then get some sleep.
KYLE: Did President Obama ring up and say yeah good one, yeah that's it.
PM: I think he's a bit busy at the moment. He has been in Israel as you might see in the newspapers, so he's got very big issues on his mind.
KYLE: I see Simon Crean has gone; he was the Arts Minister. Here we go, I want to offer my services - free of charge - to be the new Arts Minister.
Because I've hung out with people like Snoop Dogg, Guy Sebastian, I've been in Priscilla Queen of the Desert - I was an Asian prostitute. So I'm across the arts. I'm your man.
And if you have that guy from Midnight Oil there, I thought it's a good chance I could get this. For free!
PM: Let me think about that Kyle. There's a couple of problems like you can't be a minister unless you are a member of parliament. But what I might be able to do is when I appoint the new Arts Minister I will tell them - get straight on the phone to Kyle and work it all out.
KYLE: Oh great, so I could be like a shadow - oh no shadow's the opposition.
JACKIE O: Every time we've got the Prime Minister on you're always hitting her up for a personal favour, rather than asking her the questions we want to ask!
PM: He gets away with it, doesn't he?
JACKIE O: I don't know how, and somehow you've agreed to doing one of them, which is fantastic.
KYLE: I think it's lovely because it's for the kids, the Easter Bunny thing. Are we going to do the egg and spoon race?
PM: We can do an egg and spoon race, we can be out in the garden - hopefully it will be a beautiful afternoon - looking for Easter eggs.
KYLE: Do I get to see inside?
PM: Oh, of course absolutely you can see inside, and I've got an image of you hopping up and down the stairs in Kirribilli - it will be fantastic.
JACKIE O: I've got an image of him tripping actually.
KYLE: Thank you.
JACKIE O: Before you go Prime Minister, just a couple more questions I wanted to ask. Did it surprise you when Kevin Rudd didn't stand in the leadership spill? Or did you always feel that he would stand by his word?
PM: I was a bit surprised given all of the build-up that Kevin didn't stand. But having chosen not to stand that does underline that this is all definitely over.
JACKIE O: How stable is the Labor Party now, because that's the big question?
PM: People can be reassured that all of this is done and dusted now. So they don't have to worry about that anymore. And we'll just be getting on with the big things that really matter for governing and for the future of the country.
So it's definitely - yesterday was it.
JACKIE O: So you think yep, Kevin no more, that's it.
PM: Correct. Correct. He'll be serving in his capacity as his local member - the Member for Griffith - so that's a big job and he'll be out there doing all of those things as a Labor backbencher.
But in terms of all of these issues we've seen internally, they're all over and done with.
JACKIE O: I know you come across as a very, very strong woman and there's no doubt about that. But there must be a part of you that - do you have a little cry every now and again because of all this craziness?
KYLE: A cry!
JACKIE O: Who wouldn't, in your shoes, with so much-
KYLE: Do you think I have a cry every now and then Jackie?
JACKIE O: Yeah I do.
KYLE: Strength comes from within.
PM: Well I kind of agree with Kyle. I did get a bit teary yesterday, but it was as I was being hugged and mobbed by people who had received the apology for forced adoptions. And these people had suffered so much and it was such a big moment for them.
And many of them were crying and they just wanted to hug me and thank me for delivering the apology. And it's that kind of thing that makes me feel emotional and teary - not things about myself.
KYLE: When you can make a difference to people's lives - that's a nice thing to cry about.
PM: It did have a real sense of healing about it. One of those times when it's kind of good tears; it's helping people get through some pain.
JACKIE O: Yeah. Well, congratulations on yesterday Prime Minister. We're glad to be able to talk to you this morning and so glad that you're giving the families at Bear Cottage something very joyful in their lives, and they need it right now, so they will love this.
KYLE: What time is this thing on Sunday?
PM: I think we're on in the mid-afternoon, so I will see you there.
KYLE: That ruins the whole day then. Couldn't we have done it early or late?
JACKIE O: We're just appreciative that you're doing it.
KYLE: Oh yeah, you're right.
PM: I didn't want you in a bunny suit in the heat of the day.
KYLE: Thank you Prime Minister, you're lovely. And congratulations, I'm glad you're in charge. I'm glad it's back to business as normal and the election is on September 14.
And I tell you what, two of the ladies I've spoken to on the way to work this morning both said, “well you know what, I wouldn't have voted for Julia Gillard before, but after yesterday she has got my vote”.
JACKIE O: I think this will do very well for you in the polls, what do you think Julia?
PM: I don't ever worry about polls. We've got a press gallery full of reporters who do very little else. So I leave that to them.
JACKIE O: Thanks for talking to us.
KYLE: See you Sunday.
PM: See you Sunday.
KYLE: I've got a fleet of cars bringing me too; it's not just the one car. It's a big thing for me!
PM: Righto, I'll be organising that fleet of parking spots.
KYLE: Let the feds know I'm on the way darl. Okay, see you later.
JACKIE O: Bye.
PM: Bye bye.