LAURIE OAKES:
Ms Gillard, welcome to the program.
JULIA GILLARD:
Good morning, Laurie.
LAURIE OAKES:
Malcolm Turnbull is on a winner isn’t he, in demanding that the banks pass on in full any cut in official interest rates this week?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well Malcolm Turnbull might be playing some cheap politics here Laurie, but the Government is determined to act in the national interest. We obviously want to see Australians benefit from a rate cut, we know how far they have suffered. We’ve seen them suffer through ten interest rates increases in a row under the Howard Government. So we obviously want to see them benefit from a rate cut should the Reserve Bank determine to cut rates.
But we also know these are difficult times around the world. We want to make sure that our banking sector stays strong and we are going to listen to the advice of the regulators. So we are going to act in the national interest, no cheap politics for us, we will leave that to Malcolm Turnbull. But we are going to make the decisions and say the things publicly, we think need to be said.
LAURIE OAKES:
Well the Government has been saying publicly the banks are highly profitable, they are well capitalised, so why can’t they pass it on in full?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well Laurie a lot has changed in global credit markets in the last few weeks. We’ve seen of course the spectacular circumstances in the Untied States and now the bail out package having been dealt with by Congress. These are difficult times and in these difficult times we will listen to the regulators here in this country. And what they tell us is that our banking system is strong, it is well regulated, our banks are triple A rated, we want to hold that triple A rating in our banking system. That means of course we’ve got to recognise that banks, when they are sourcing money overseas, are paying extra in these difficult circumstances. We are telling the banks, we want them to act responsibly and competitively if interest rates are cut but we understand that we are in difficult times.
LAURIE OAKES:
Not many votes in backing the banks though?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well we're prepared to take a poll hit to do the right thing, Laurie. The Government believes in dealing with these economic circumstances responsibly, prudently and we believe in telling the Australian people the truth about them. We're not going to play cheap politics with this. We understand that Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals will take their shots here and there; they'll play the politics of it. That's not for us. What we're going to do as the Government is navigate this country through these difficult economic circumstances. We have a strong banking system; we want to keep it strong. We also want to see Australians with mortgages benefit as far as possible from any interest rate reductions that are made.
LAURIE OAKES:
You've got the Prime Minister out there in one of the newspapers today saying the global financial crisis is going to send unemployment up in this country and cut government revenues putting pressure on government spending. So that means the Government will have to trim its sales presumably, where will you cut back?
JULIA GILLARD:
The Prime Minister is making I think, a very clear point that this country isn't immune from global financial circumstances. We're not immune from the fact that this is going to affect growth rates around the world. So the Prime Minister is saying to the Australian community that we have to make sure that we are keeping this country strong in difficult times. We deliberately in our Budget created a buffer against future uncertainty with a big surplus; a $22 billion surplus. And what of course is the short term problem for the surplus is the attitude that the Liberal Party has taken in the Senate to delivering the Budget legislation. We have to get our Budget bills through; the last thing we can afford in uncertain global times is uncertainty at home about the delivery of the Government's Budget.
LAURIE OAKES:
But you've got some big spending items out there. You’ve got the big plans for infrastructure, you've got a promised pension rise and you've got now this paid maternity leave proposal. With government revenues contracting because of this crisis can you do all three of those big things?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well we are going to of course weigh up any measure in the context of the Budget. That's what responsible government is all about. That's what we did in May. In May we cut back on waste and mismanagement, the sorts of things that had been allowed to bloat out under the Howard Government because they never went on a rigorous look for savings. We did that in order to deliver our election promises. Tax cuts, increases in the Child Care Tax Rebate, bonuses for pensioners, new utilities allowances for pensioners, things that would make a real difference for Australians. We'll take the same view to framing the next Budget. We will be very tough on waste and mismanagement and my colleague Lindsay Tanner is already well advanced on the hunt for savings but we will make sure we are delivering things in the national interest. Infrastructure of course, we through the last Budget said we would allocate $20 billion to the Building Australia Fund. What stands between us and the delivery of that is the Liberal Party, that seems set to try and block that legislation in the Senate. One would wonder why anybody would be opposed to infrastructure development in this country, opposed to nation building but apparently the Liberal Party is.
LAURIE OAKES:
On that subject, when COAG last week decided to speed up the infrastructure stuff a little bit, this was portrayed as an attempt to stimulate the economy in a time of economic slowdown. Was that an accurate portrayal?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well investing in infrastructure, in the things that drive our economy; making sure our ports work, making sure our roads and rail work, they are good investments at any time. And we want to make sure those investments are delivered as quickly as possible. Obviously in circumstances where we are seeing a global slowdown, those investments do have the benefit too of generating economic activity. But these are good investments at any stage, because they are going to make our economy more efficient for the long-term.
LAURIE OAKES:
They’ll take time to come through though. Wouldn't a quicker and more efficient way of stimulating the economy to give more money to pensioners because they have got no choice, they've got to spend it?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, when we're talking about infrastructure and those sorts of investments we're talking about investments in the long-term needs of this economy. The Reserve Bank told...
LAURIE OAKES:
But what about the long-term needs of pensioners and the short term needs of pensioners?
JULIA GILLARD:
I’ll come to that in a second Laurie but let's just remind ourselves, the Reserve Bank warned the former government on more than 20 occasions that its failure to invest in infrastructure and skills development were putting a capacity constraint on this economy, were putting the brakes on, were stopping us growing this economy as quickly as we otherwise would have been able to grow it. Well we want to make sure for the future we can grow the economy without those constraints…
LAURIE OAKES:
What about the pensioners?
JULIA GILLARD:
…that's why we're investing in infrastructure and skills development. On pensions, of course we have delivered relief to pensioners in the May Budget...
LAURIE OAKES:
We've heard that a million times but the pensioners … you still say you couldn't live on the pension. Why not give them money now, stimulate the economy and let them live decently?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well Laurie, what we've said is we delivered some relief in the May Budget. We want to get any change in pension arrangements right and we have got Mr Harmer looking at all of this for the Government and providing a comprehensive...
LAURIE OAKES:
So no hope of any relief before the Budget?
JULIA GILLARD:
We've got the Harmer process and we intend for the Harmer process to come to its conclusion. Laurie the pensions payment system is the centrepiece of our social security system. It's a payment that is related to everything else; to rent allowance, it feeds through into rents in public housing. You've got to get all of it right, if you are actually going to get dollars into people's pockets. We are determined to get all of it right, that's why we've got Mr Harmer doing this review.
LAURIE OAKES:
OK, well whack your Education Ministers hat on. I understand that Joel Klein, the New York education guru that so impressed you when you were in New York a few months ago, is coming to Australia. What do you hope he'll be able to do here?
JULIA GILLARD:
Yes, I'm delighted to say I've invited Joel Klein to visit Australia and he's accepted that invitation. He will be here in the last week of November. His tour of Australia is going to be sponsored by UBS so I thank them for that sponsoring of the costs involved. Joel Klein of course has pioneered a system in New York, a city of great wealth but also pockets of great disadvantage, he's pioneered a system of school transparency which lets you compare like schools with like schools, the sorts of schools that are servicing the same student populations, and to monitor what's working and to make sure that best practice is spread and schools that are struggling get extra assistance. It's working in New York, it impressed me when I was there and he will be here in Australia talking publicly but also talking to Australian educators about his system.
LAURIE OAKES:
Are you hoping that he'll be able to convince State Education Ministers and more importantly perhaps education unions that this is the right approach because they haven't been at all keen on this have they?
JULIA GILLARD:
I believe convincing Education Ministers and teachers generally this is the right approach in this country, is my job. And what we've said very clearly and what the Prime Minister has said is we are committed to a new era of school transparency in this country. We believe parents deserve to know what's going on in schools, we believe the public should also know and be able to compare the performance of like schools with like schools. But at the end of the day we believe we need this information because if we see a school that is doing tremendously well, we want to spread that best practice. If we see a school that is falling behind, we want to step in with a helping hand. So I will keep persuading on the transparency measures here and we will deliver them by the end of this year but I believe having Joel Klein here talking about his experience, will add another dimension to that debate.
LAURIE OAKES:
OK, a couple of quick issues. As Federal Education Minister, how do you feel about Bill Henson's admission that he was allowed to visit a primary school to seek child models for his nude photographs?
JULIA GILLARD:
I was shocked by this when it came out yesterday Laurie. I was, I must admit, shocked by these photos when they first came to public attention earlier this year. I found the images disturbing, I was very concerned about them and to find out now that someone has been allowed to go into a school to look at children, I think would send a shudder through people's spines. I note that John Brumby the Premier of Victoria has said he will have an investigation into what's happened here. But the message just has to be very clear, very simple – that people shouldn't be on school grounds unless they're there for a legitimate purpose, associated with the education of Australian young people.
I also note the Leader of the Opposition seems to have changed his mind from earlier this year on this matter. Earlier this year he was more in the artistic freedom camp saying he himself owned Henson works and had them at home, but I'm glad to see that he has joined with the Government on this occasion to say that it is a disturbing incident.
LAURIE OAKES:
Is the Federal Government going to be involved in the investigation?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, the Federal Government is of course working with State and Territory colleagues around the country on a new child protection framework. Child protection keeping young people safe hasn't traditionally been viewed as the business of Federal Governments; the Howard Government for example didn't work in this area. My colleague Jenny Macklin has been working on a national framework to deal with very simple things like people not losing any connection with the system and falling out of sight because they move across state boundaries.
LAURIE OAKES:
Final issue, you've taken an interest in the need for a national curriculum. Do you believe that every school student should learn about the Holocaust?
JULIA GILLARD:
I believe that school students should learn about the holocaust, they should learn about World War Two, all significant events in our history. And of course the Holocaust is such a significant event which tells us so much I think about what it is to be human, what can happen in societies, the evil that can happen in societies and of course the acts of great courage and heroism that can come to the fore when people are put into such difficult circumstances. The diary of Anne Frank and all of those sort of contributions to our culture and our understanding of ourselves so I believe that should be studied personally.
On designing the national curriculum, what we are doing is we are letting educational experts get on with the job. Writing the curriculum at the end of the day isn't a job for politicians, it's a job for educational experts and we've got some of Australia's best working on this task, because we want to make sure Australian students have got the benefit of an absolutely excellent curriculum.
LAURIE OAKES:
Ms Gillard, we thank you.
JULIA GILLARD:
Thank you Laurie.
ENDS