NATALIE BARR:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is with me now live from Canberra. Prime Minister, thanks for your time, good morning. Is this damage control for a government in crisis?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. This is a good way to end the year after a year of considerable achievement. The carbon tax has gone, the boats have all but stopped, the road building has begun and we have made a good start to the issue of budget repair. Now, there is a lot more to be done. We inherited a mess. We’ve made a good start, there is a lot more to be done and front and centre to the work that needs to be done is strengthening our economy and that means getting the Budget back under control because the Labor Party left us with a disastrous fiscal situation, debt and deficit stretching out as far as the eye can see. The vital challenge of Government next year is more jobs, more prosperity for families, but the way to achieve that is to build a stronger economy and that means continuing our work to get the Budget back under control and we are bringing the Budget back under control. Labor is doing its best to sabotage that. They are doing their best to sabotage our efforts to fix the problem that Labor created.
NATALIE BARR:
Ok. Sussan Ley becomes the second female in your Cabinet. With 30 per cent of women in Parliament, is there a part of you that is a little bit embarrassed that you only have two women on your frontbench.
PRIME MINISTER:
We have actually seven women on the frontbench. We have got two Cabinet Ministers, two Outer Ministry Ministers and we’ve got three Parliamentary Secretaries. So look, there are women in the corridors of power. This is going to become more and more the case. The challenge for all of us, Nat, is to get more women into public life, more women into the parliament, because once we have got more women in the parliament, we will have more women in the ministry and more women in the cabinet.
NATALIE BARR:
Mr Abbott, you came in, Labor was on the nose. There was such hope for your Government. Then the Budget happened and whether people agree or not, you didn't sell it properly, your Government. What is the one thing as you reflect over Christmas that you think I really messed that up, I should have done that this year?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Nat, it's not about me and my reflections as it were. It's about the Australian people and how we can do a better job. Now, the most important thing for us is to ensure that we are not engaged in an act of intergenerational theft. And frankly, under the former government, that's what this generation was doing. We were ripping off our children and our grandchildren through Labor's spending spree. We have got to get that under control and that task continues.
NATALIE BARR:
You've obviously had, you know, your go for a while though. It's just not going down well. The polls are pretty bad. I think you know, anyone in your Government would admit that. So, surely you sit back and think, we have stuffed that bit up. What do you want to change next year?
PRIME MINISTER:
Nat, if something has to be done, you just have to keep doing it. You just have to keep doing it. And Nat, you know what it's like when you've maxed out the credit card. You've just got to reduce your scale of expenditure. You know what it's like when you've increased your mortgage based on overtime payments and the overtime suddenly dries up but the mortgage payments continue. You've just got to find ways to reduce your spending, to boost your income and that's what this Government is doing. We are doing what every family, what every business understands is absolutely necessary. We are living within our means and that sometimes means painful decisions but the people who created the problem, the Labor Party are now trying to sabotage the repair. That's what we will be dealing with in the New Year.
NATALIE BARR:
Ok. Look, just while we have got you, a topic that is around this morning nationally. The New South Wales government has announced plans to trial medicinal marijuana. Other states are reviewing whether they should do this. Do you support some kind of federal trial?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we support the New South Wales trial.
NATALIE BARR:
But what about a federal trial?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we have got a New South Wales trial. In the end, it is more state law than federal laws that govern this. And look, we have already got medicinal marijuana which has been approved for use under certain circumstances by the federal regulator. Now New South Wales wants to put a practical trial in place and I've supported this all along, as do the other premiers.
NATALIE BARR:
Ok, look thanks very much for you time. Have a Merry Christmas and we’ll see you in the New Year.
PRIME MINISTER:
And Nat, a Merry Christmas to you and to all your viewers. And yes, I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.
[ends]