HOST: Mr Rudd, welcome to AM.
PM: Thanks for having me on the program.
HOST: You've now had two opinion polls showing Labor's primary vote falling to the mid-30s. Today's poll shows you'd be swept from office if an election was held now. How much is that the fault of decisions you've taken?
PM: Well, Lyndal, the truth is if these polls were reflected on election day, Mr Abbott will become the Prime Minister. So the challenge for me and for the Government is to work harder into the future. I've got a huge amount of work to do to explain my plans as opposed to Mr Abbott's plans.
Remember what an election is - an election is about alternatives, and our plan's clear on the economy, on health, on hospitals. Mr Abbott's is reasonably clear now in terms of Work Choices, bringing back Work Choices and cuts to education and cuts to health. An election is all about alternatives, but I have a huge amount of work to do and I intend to get on with the job.
HOST: But haven't you let voters down? You've put your emissions trading scheme on hold, you've ditched election promises on childcare and insulation, you've proposed a new tax with no consultation and sidelined your own advertising guidelines. As I said, haven't you let voters down?
PM: Lyndal, I believe that the key challenge for the Government is to explain very plainly what our plans are for the future. We can-
HOST: -Have you not been doing that well enough?
PM: We can rake over the coals of the past. My challenge and my responsibility as Prime Minister - is to lay out plainly our challenges for the future. We were elected with a very ambitious program for government and we've made some progress. We've made some real progress. We've got rid of Work Choices. We've kept the economy strong. We've also increased our health expenditure by some 50 percent. We've increased the training of nurses by 1,000 places, 5,500 new GPs coming online over the decade ahead.
These are important changes, but you know something? We've also had to deal with real challenges which have hit us amid ships as well. When the global financial crisis hit, we had to do what was necessary to save the Australian economy.
HOST: But on other things you have broken promises and ditched commitments which you previously said you were very passionate about.
PM: Lyndal, the Australian people will hold me to account for the record of what we have achieved, that which we have fallen short of, and our plans for the future. I'm determined to get on with our plans for the future, and part of those plans for the future also lie in keeping the economy strong, bringing the budget back to surplus in three years' time, three years ahead of time in very uncertain global economic circumstances, as well. And remember many families across Australia are doing it tough as we speak, but our job is to get on with the task of government. It's a difficult task, it's a hard task, challenging global economic circumstances, but our plans are clear. But I think the plans of our opponents are clear as well - bringing back Work Choices, which I think fundamentally affects working families and their take home pay and their working conditions, big cuts to health, big cuts to education. It's about alternatives. That's-
HOST: -But one of the plans you have, which is the mining tax, which is leading to some of your fall in support in the polls, that that plan is far from clear. When are you going to finalise the details of this tax. Can you afford to wait the weeks you said last week it would take?
PM: I think the bottom line is this: this proposal for a resource super profits tax is good for the Australian economy. I believe it is an important reform for the Australian economy.
HOST: But that message clearly isn't getting out, is it?
PM: Well, let's go to the heart of it - it's about making all of our companies in the Australian economy more competitive globally. You see, we've kept the economy strong by keeping it out of recession. The key thing is to build on that for the future. How do you do that? It's by making sure that our companies are globally competitive by bringing down the company tax rate, giving small business a tax boost, but also the other big national economic reform is boosting our level of national savings. Let me just focus on that for one second.
Right now, when people look at Greece and they look at Europe and they see huge levels of sovereign indebtedness. In Australia, one of the ways in which we've been able to keep the economy strong is by having this large pool of national savings. Now, that will be added to by the increase in superannuation for working families that we plan. It boosts our national savings by something up to $100 billion, which puts us in a very strong position, globally, for the future - on top of bringing our budget back to surplus in three years' time, three years ahead of time. We intend to get on with this.
HOST: But you can't do any of the things you want to do with the proceeds from the mining tax until you have the details finalised. Are you going to sit down personally and talk to mining industry leaders and negotiate with them in the next few weeks?
PM: Well, Lyndal, I began talking directly to mining company leaders, I think a day or two after the Government announced its plans, back on the 2nd of May. I sat down at dinner with a whole group of them in Perth-
HOST: -But that's different to negotiating with each company individually about what they want.
PM: Secondly, I also sat down with a group of them last week in Canberra and will continue to do so as is necessary, but the reason for this reform, the reason for this big reform, is to keep our economy strong and globally competitive for the future. That is why we are doing it.
The other reason, of course, is to ensure that all Australians get a fair share from the resources which they, the Australian people, ultimately own.
HOST: Are you prepared to move on the tax? Are you prepared to move on the 40 percent rate in order to strike a deal?
PM: What I've said repeatedly, Lyndal, is that we believe we've got the overall design of this tax right. We've said we've got the rate right. We've said we'd consult with industry on the question of detail, on implementation and generous transition arrangements.
The easy thing to do is simply to assume that our economy in the future will just continue to grow without continuing reform. That's not our view. Part of the reform we need for the future of our economy is to make sure it remains globally competitive, and part of that means getting extra revenue from the mining companies on the one hand and using that to bring down everyone else's taxation rates on the other, so that those companies which are affected by a higher Australian dollar remain globally competitive and boost our national savings.
HOST: The reality also is that you're a Prime Minister, you're facing an election in a few months' time. Can you afford to drag this-
PM: -You can name the date for me.
HOST: I'd love to. Can you afford to drag this fight out through the election?
PM: Because these economic reforms are deeply in the national interest, it's important that we get our consultations with the industry right. Obviously, these are difficult, hard-fought negotiations-
HOST: -But should you have started earlier? Should you have prepared the ground better?
PM: Well, it's a bit like saying 'could you have altered the timing of the global financial crisis?' Not entirely. There are certain things which affect you at different times. Last year, 2009, we were wrestling with the biggest economic crisis the world had seen since the great depression. Therefore, we could just have put the entire program of economic reform and tax reform on the backburner. We could have done the same on the base of health and hospitals reform, but we haven't done that, either. We've got on with the business of health and hospitals reform, the biggest reform since the introduction of Medicare, and those changes start from 1 July.
We have also got a responsibility in the national interest to continue economic reform, because if I look to the future we have a job to deliver here, which is to keep the economy strong and to deliver a fair share for working families for the future. We've made progress so far. There's some important reforms we've achieved so far, but there's still much more to be done. I'm determined to do it.
HOST: Both opinion polls, the Newspoll last week and the Neilsen poll today, show a quarter of voters, nearly a quarter of voters, would prefer anyone other than the major parties. What does that tell you about disillusionment in the electorate?
PM: What it points to very much, Lyndal, is that I have a huge amount of work to do. I don't underestimate that. This is a very difficult task ahead, but I'm absolutely determined to execute that task. You see, keeping our economy strong is not easy. It's not just like clicking your fingers. There's a huge amount of work each day in doing that.
Similarly, getting on with the business of implementing health and hospitals reform. This is a massive reform involving every hospital in the country, starting from 1 July this year, ensuring we've got better hospitals, better health services, more doctors, more nurses, better performance at accident and emergency, better performance in our elective surgery, better performance in terms of patient-controlled electronic health records.
These are very difficult tasks, but you know something? We'll be judged on what we've done and our plans for the future and I go back to the question of what are polls about. What's an election about? It's about an alternative: my plans versus Mr Abbott's plans. Mr Abbott's plans, we would argue, are extreme - cuts to hospitals, cuts to health, bringing back Work Choices. Our plans are very clear, by contrast, and we believe better for Australia's future.
HOST: The journalist David Marr has written an essay about you where he's argued you're driven by anger. Do you have an angry heart?
PM: I'll leave all the commentators to sort that one out. I mean, I think there have been about 1,000 pieces written on me in recent times. People can make their own judgement. At the end of the day, Lyndal, what I'll be judged on is what we've been able to achieve for Australia: have we been able to keep the economy strong; have we been able to deliver for families seeking a fairer share for their future; and the alternative, which is Mr Abbott's, and I believe those alternatives are pretty clear, but I go back to where we began our discussion this morning. These polls, if they are reflected on election day, Mr Abbott would be the next prime minister. I have a huge amount of work to do ahead of me.
HOST: Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time.
PM: Thanks for having me on the program.