WALEED ALY: Australian Prime Ministers of course, it's hard to think of one who didn't like to think of themselves as a cricket tragic, I don't know about Acting Prime Ministers though. So we are going to find out. Here with us in our studio is Julia Gillard, Acting Prime Minister did you take in the excitement yesterday?
JULIA GILLARD: I took in the excitement but I am not going to pretend to be a cricket expert. I'm going to let you down on your analysis of prime ministers in the past, acting prime ministers must be a different category.
WALEED ALY: Does that disqualify you from office?
JULIA GILLARD: [laughs] Look I'm not sure, I'll leave that to others to judge but I take an interest in the cricket but compared with John Howard and Kevin Rudd I am not a cricket tragic.
WALEED ALY: Not in the same league.
JULIA GILLARD: No. Don't start quizzing me on test results from the past, you know, 20 years, I won't pass.
WALEED ALY: I'll try to avoid it. No I want to start with the story that's around today about unions because we understand that some unions are now calling for wage increases and trying to negotiate that and your argument seems to be that they need to be careful to do that because there could be economic damage that's done from that.
But isn't that sort of union boldness just the kind of thing that happens under Labor governments with astonishing regularity?
JULIA GILLARD: Our message to everybody, to union, to employers, is these are difficult times. After the global financial crisis, our economy is not going to be untouched and the most important thing is to make sure that Australians are still in work. We want to minimise any job losses and we're obviously asking people to take a responsible approach to that.
The Government's been doing everything it can to protecting jobs, invest in jobs, that is what our Economic Security Statement was about and certainly, the biggest thing on our mind as we move into 2009 is protecting Australian jobs. So my call is a fairly simple one, let's have that at the forefront of everybody's mind as we move into 2009.
WALEED ALY: We're talking about the mining sector largely here, which has been profiting handsomely and one of the companies involved Alcoa has said that Australian jobs will not go in the cuts, in the global cuts at least as far as its concerned. So doesn't that weaken the whole unemployment argument in this case?
JULIA GILLARD: What I think it says to all of us is obviously different businesses are in different positions. That's true. And that's why our new workplace relations system is going to be based on enterprise bargaining so that particular arrangements can be structured that are the best arrangements for that enterprise.
But we do know, looking across the economy overall, Alcoa has said that it isn't restricting jobs in this country, though of course there are job losses in that company in other countries. We know the mining industry is going to be facing a different era to the one it's been in, with prices for commodities coming down. So all of that has to be weighed in the balance; simple message - think about jobs first.
WALEED ALY: The mining sector has been enjoying unthinkable profits, what for probably close to a decade now. Surely, I mean why shouldn't the unions be trying to push to get some of that, those profits coming their way. Particularly given that some of the workers they're representing were earning a lot less than some of the people higher up in the organisation.
JULIA GILLARD: Of course it's the job of unions to represent their members and they're going to be there saying what they, their members want to employers. That, that's true.
What I'm asking unions to do and employers to do is to make sure that they are thinking as they structure new arrangements about maximising employment. And when we think about what is on the minds of working people and their trade unions, obviously keeping people in work is one of the big things that would be on their mind.
WALEED ALY: Just to move on to the situation in Gaza. We've done a lot about that over the course of the week, so we're not going to talk about it at length but I'm interested in Australia's response to this because initially it seemed Australia's response was almost, to say very, almost nothing really. And then the EU stepped in and tried to broker a ceasefire and Australia then jumped on board and said well yes we support that kind of diplomatic initiative. Why was Australia following rather than actually staking out a position of its own [inaudible]?
JULIA GILLARD: We've been commenting on this constantly as the situation has emerged. In the very early days of the resumption of violence we were there saying that we wanted to see a ceasefire, we supported the call of the UN Security Council for a ceasefire...
WALEED ALY: But you're initial response was to say that well, nearly that Hamas broke a ceasefire and Israel responded. It wasn't to call for a ceasefire straight away. The call for a ceasefire came after there had been calls from around the world, I guess is what I am saying.
JULIA GILLARD: Our position consistently was to call for a halt to violence from the earliest days of this conflict we were calling for a halt to violence. I did say in the early days and I would happily say it now that obviously there was Hamas shelling into Southern Israel and Israel responded.
We've seen an escalation of action since. We've said consistently that we want to see a ceasefire that is lasting and durable. We would welcome in that regard the initiatives of Egypt on trying to work on a ceasefire as well as the others who have been involved in discussions, of course the EU, the UN and the US have all been there trying to broker a ceasefire arrangement.
WALEED ALY: What role does Australia play in this sort of thing? What role can Australia play in an international crisis like this?
JULIA GILLARD: Well in this international crisis first and foremost we've provided and extra $5 million of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza. That comes on top of $45 million of assistance provided to the Palestinian people in 2008. I think people watching their TV screens would have been moved by the humanitarian circumstances facing the people there.
So we are there with more assistance, to provide food and medical supplies. That money is being made available through the UN, through the Red Cross, through the World Food Organisation.
Then of course as a member of the UN we have our voice heard in the UN Chambers and Councils as these issues are discussed. Indeed as recently as the last 24 hours we made a statement in the United Nations recording this nation's deep concern about the escalation of violence, our desire to see a lasting ceasefire arrangement, one that would have an end to shelling into Southern Israel by Hamas and other militant groups, an opening of borders and end of arms shipments into Gaza. We want to see a lasting arrangement that brings peace.
WALEED ALY: Well I think we all want to see a lasting agreement that brings peace, the question is how, I guess.
JULIA GILLARD: On the question of how, I think it is to be welcomed that Israel has said it would consider what is being put forward by Egypt and I that that does need to be welcomed and we will see what happens there in the coming few days.
WALEED ALY: One of my most enduring memories of question time last year was to see you standing in the parliament waving around...
JULIA GILLARD: Mouse pads.
WALEED ALY: Talking at nauseam about the paraphernalia with Work Choices that the Howard Government had created. Is it a little embarrassing now that is has been revealed that you've spent some 13.9 - your Government - has spent $13.9 million on advertising around climate change.
JULIA GILLARD: Look I think this is an incredibly different circumstance.
We look at the Work Choices campaign, it was $120 million that was spent on TV advertising, mouse pads, pens, fridge magnets, you name it - it had Work Choices all over it. And it was obviously a desperate attempt by the then Howard Government to shove down the throats of the Australian people extreme workplace relations laws that they found unacceptable and unfair. And the Australian people spoke on that in the 2007 election.
On the question of climate change, obviously dealing with climate change is about what the Government does and that is about our carbon pollution reduction scheme, our investments through our climate change [inaudible] new technologies and new ways of generating energy but it is also about what every individual in this country does. It is about new ways of living and consequently having advertising, having public information that helps people understand what climate change is and the way that we can all respond to it, I think is very important.
WALEED ALY: But there seems to be a disconnection though because you're talking about people acting to help reduce climate change yet the Government policy on climate change seems to have been fairly slow, [inaudible] the targets that the Government has put forward now on carbon emission cuts is much, far more modest than initially anticipated.
How do you resolve that gap that seems to be there, the expectations more on individuals than it seems to be on government policy?
JULIA GILLARD: Well I wouldn't agree with the premise of your question I'm sorry.
WALEED ALY: I suspected you wouldn't.
JULIA GILLARD: No, you suspected I wouldn't. In the earliest days of this Government, indeed on the same day that Kevin Rudd was sworn in as Prime Minister and I was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister we ratified Kyoto. One of the first things the Prime Minister did was to go to the Bali Climate Change Conference.
We spent the last year in intensive work on our Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. This is a huge transformation in our economy, it's a complicated issue, we wanted to work through it in a consultative way and we did that though a Green Paper-White Paper process where people get plenty of time to comment.
But we're talking about major change to deal with climate change. We've made huge new investments in clean coal technology, in greener motor vehicles, in renewable energy. All of this work has been done, is continuing to be done. Climate change is not going to be something that is a one year policy setting. It's going to be about the long term for this country. We've started and we've got policy settings in place.
WALEED ALY: I guess, with the advertising though. Don't you think that there is a risk that it just sounds like you're attempting to promote yourselves rather than actually take substantive action on the issue in a hurry?
JULIA GILLARD: The substantive difference here is we have guidelines, Auditor General Guidelines that are brought to bear on the question of Government advertising.
Of course in the Howard era, in the era of the Liberal Party it was an anything goes regime. Anything that they wanted to advertise on, they did advertise on and that is why you could see more than $120 million spent on advertising Work Choices -clearly party political propaganda.
We have got that independent set of guidelines now and we work to them and the Government advertising needs to pass those tests before it goes out there.
There are always going to be legitimate things for governments to advertise on, I would say that climate change advertising is part of that. Obviously when benefits change or arrangements change about individuals, individuals need to do things, they need to hear the information, they need to know about what to do when they go to Centrelink or fill in their tax return. Then it seems to me that is important material to get to the public and the kind of thing that you do advertise.
WALEED ALY: Just on an issue that's close to my heart at the moment, child care and the closure of a lot of child care centres because of the ABC collapse. This creates a fundamentally different marketplace for child care. Wouldn't it be a good idea for the Government to provide precisely the same rebates and, discounts and tax rebates for private nannies as it does for child care centres?
JULIA GILLARD: We provide child care benefit and the child care tax rebate, which of course we increased for approved care - it's not for private nannies, you're right about that. Obviously there are always debates here but in terms of the subsidies for child care, the subsidies are there for approved care and it's a considerable amount of money - I mean billions of dollars of Government funds go into subsidising child care.
WALEED ALY: But it's not the same. And the point I guess is, you're now going to get a lot of carers coming out of child care centres losing their jobs in that place and you're going to get increased demand for private nannies but it's just out of the reach economically for a lot of people. So isn't there an imperative to make, to bring that within people's grasp?
JULIA GILLARD: Well there are obviously distribution and equity issues here about where subsidies go and private nannying tends to be something that people will upper incomes can do and if you provided a subsidy you would have to look on the income scale, who that money is going to and whether you think that's the right distribution of it.
But can I just address the part of your question, which is about whether we will see increased demand for private nannies. What has happened with the shake out of ABC, the collapse of ABC, which was a big mess, I absolutely agree with that.
I mean we saw a circumstance where under the former Government the private market was allowed to rip, you had this huge company ABC that was the dominant player in many parts of the child care sector and it collapsed. We've stepped in to manage that, working alongside the receiver.
55 centres have closed, they did close on the 31st of December but the parents of children in those centres were offered alternate places at nearby centres either ABC centres or other child care centres. So people haven't been just left with the provision of no care. The receiver went through a process to make sure people were offered alternate places.
WALEED ALY: Can you guarantee that more centres won't close though?
JULIA GILLARD: Oh well I can't issue a guarantee about every child care centre in this country but I can tell you very forensically about ABC. Where we are with ABC is 55 centres closed, that's true. The receiver then identified several hundred centres, which are viable and ongoing, people know that they will be able to get their care there and the ABC receiver is managing the process of sale of those centres.
WALEED ALY: Have you found buyers for them?
JULIA GILLARD: Well that is a matter for the receiver of ABC. They are viable centres that the receiver of ABC is working on a sale process for.
Then there are around, just over 200 other centres that we have stepped in and said we would manage the process for. They are not commercially viable on the ABC management model but we believe that they are centres that local governments, community based organisations, maybe other for-profit providers, small providers will want to step in and take over and we're working on that process now. But those centres are guaranteed to be in operation to the 31st of March. So that process is being managed.
Overall, can people run childcare centres profitably and sustainably in this country? Yes they can and out there many private providers and not-for-profit providers do, so there is no reason to assume that there will be you know closures in childcare. The industry is a stable industry. ABC got itself into trouble and we are working strongly to manage the consequences of that.
WALEED ALY: You're on 774 ABC Melbourne, Waleed Aly and let's say eight minutes to nine. We're going to take a quick call here on something we've been discussing. Cliff is in Oakley. Good Morning. Cliff, are you there?
CLIFF: Good morning.
WALEED ALY: Good morning. You have a question for the Acting Prime Minister?
CLIFF: Good morning Julia. How are you?
JULIA GILLARD: I'm good thank you.
CLIFF: I actually, see when you were having a very good comment about electronic media and promotion and about everything about the weather and the climate change. Couldn't you be comfortable enough to send an email to every living Australian around and make it easier rather than spending those millions in the media? Technically it doesn't make the most easiest job and the most economical way to do it?
JULIA GILLARD: Well I don't think we've got the email address of every Australian but what we do of course is use the internet and websites to post up information about and you will find information climate change and you will find information about all sorts of government services and policy issues on the Australian Government website.
We've obviously just been talking about child care to take that one example, we have a website called www.mychild.gov.au where you can get on and you can look for child care centres in your area and you can get information about caring for children. So the Government does make full use of the web and that way of getting information to people.
WALEED ALY: Thanks very much for joining us today Julia Gillard. One question before you go, are you going to make an appearance at the Twenty 20 cricket on Sunday?
JULIA GILLARD: I'm going to make an appearance in the sense that I will be there watching it and presumably learning some more about cricket.
WALEED ALY: And by your previous admissions, there's a fair bit of that to do?
JULIA GILLARD: [laughs] there is a lot of that to do and I don't think I am ever going to catch the cricket tragic like Kevin Rudd in terms of depth of knowledge or John Faulkner I'd have to say. And our former Senator Robert Ray, they could easily take up commentating for a living but I don't think they'll be doing that.
WALEED ALY: Okay. Thanks very much for your time this morning.
JULIA GILLARD: Thank you.
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