PM Gillard confident in her leadership

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MIKE WILLESEE: Over half a century in this business I've got to know a dozen Prime Ministers of Australia but rarely have I seen
a leader under such pressure and so little understood as our first woman PM. So, it's time to find out who Julia Gillard really is and whether she can survive. Hello.

MIKE WILLESEE: Prime Minister, thanks for coming in.

Julia Gillard: Thanks, Mike. It's good to be here.

MIKE WILLESEE: I appreciate your time. I guess the most negative thing that you're facing constantly is what we might call rats in the ranks.You've got people in your team trying to destabilise your leadership.Does that churn your stomach?

Julia Gillard: I wouldn't say churn my stomach, no. And I am not sure I'd even agree with the characterisation of your question, though, of course, it's a very famous saying. My view about the government is we have faced and continue to face some tough times politically. That is because we've done some big, hard things and, yes, that does mean that politically, it's been tough.

MIKE WILLESEE That's good, Prime Minister, but you're moving right away from the question. You've got a problem. You've got people in your party moving to oust you from the leadership. I mean, the fact is, you've got the Kevin Rudd circus, if you like, is very debilitating to your leadership and to the government. And I really want to ask you why have you allowed it to go so long?

Julia Gillard: I think Kevin is doing a good job as the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I understand that in the political situation the government finds itself, that people are going to talk about these questions and I understand that, for Kevin, that means when he's doing something publicly, whether it's involving himself in the Queensland election campaign or talking about his work as Foreign Affairs Minister, that he, too, is going to be subject to these questions. But, Mike, I don't get up in the morning thinking about all of this. You know, I get up in the morning thinking about what I need to do leading this nation today, to make a difference today and make a difference for tomorrow.

MIKE WILLESEE: Prime Minister...

Julia Gillard: I know it's endlessly fascinating to others but to me, it's kind of dead set boring.

MIKE WILLESEE It doesn't have to be endlessly fascinating, you could stop it. He's after your job and you could stop it.

Julia Gillard: I'm not agreeing with your questions, Mike. So no reformulation of them is going to get me to agree with them.

MIKE WILLESEE I'll be direct. In '68, Whitlam had a situation like this. in '91, Hawke - they went into the Caucus and said "I quit". The position of leadership was open and it was resolved.
Why don't you do that? Because I believe Kevin's doing a good job as the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Julia Gillard: I'm very confident in my leadership of the Labor Party.

MIKE WILLESEE: Prime Minister, is he doing a good job of destabilising your leadership?

Julia Gillard: Mike, once again, I'm not agreeing with the premises of your question.

MIKE WILLESEE Let me just push you for one direct answer. Why don't you just call a showdown in the Caucus?

Julia Gillard: Because there's no need. I'm very confident...

MIKE WILLESEE: Oh, Prime Minister...

Julia Gillard:..in my leadership of the Labor Party.

MIKE WILLESEE: Look at the daily headlines, they are so debilitating and so bad for your government.

Julia Gillard: I'm not going to determine what I do as Prime Minister because of headlines in newspapers. I'm going to determine what I do as Prime Minister in - for what's right for the nation.

MIKE WILLESEE: I'm sure you're sick about hearing about the 'Julia Who?' factor. They're really talking about you and who you really are behind that wall. And you have referred yourself
to your innate style of holding back a fair bit. Is that going to change?

Julia Gillard: I'm not, with the greatest of respect, Mike, I'm not a talk show host. I'm not on breakfast TV. I'm not appearing in a drama on Australian television. I am the Prime Minister.

MIKE WILLESEE: But you're a Prime Minister facing electoral defeat. One of the factors is you have a low approval rating.

Julia Gillard: I think it's a question of expectations of leadership. If we look across Australia's political history, when Bob Hawke was there or Paul Keating was there or John Howard was there, I don't actually recall there being constant demands for them to show more personality. I don't remember people looking...

MIKE WILLESEE: Bob Hawke didn't need that call.

Julia Gillard: No, he probably didn't and he did the leadership in a different way than Paul Keating who did it differently from John Howard. But I don't remember people looking at John Howard and saying "Gee, I wish he'd be warmer and cuddlier and more humorous and more engaging in his press conferences. They looked at him and said "Well, he's the bloke running the country." I think the same standard should apply to me. I'm a woman running the country. I don't ask people to come to the view that they want to have me round for dinner on Saturday night. That's not what I'm here to do. What I'm here to do is to do some tough things, some hard things that make a difference.

MIKE WILLESEE: You say you're a woman. Would it be easier if you were a man?

Julia Gillard: Look, I think it's different and I'm not surprised about that. I grew up watching the Prime Ministers of this country and if you'd asked me then, "Close your eyes and imagine a prime minister", I would have imagined a bloke in a suit. Now, I am the first person to not be a bloke in that suit,
exactly the same sort of suit as you're wearing. It's a different image of leadership. So I'm not surprised that it's kind of taking a bit of time for that to settle with the Australian public. It is different. But, it also speaks of how great a nation we are that we can have truly equal opportunity
and one of the things that is most joyful in my job is I get any number of young girls or, you know, dads in crowds, pushing their young daughter forward to get a photo with me. I don't know whether they support me. I don't know whether they're going to vote for me but me being here has given them the sense that it is possible for a woman to do anything in this country. And that's a great thing.

MIKE WILLESEE: You tough it out.

Julia Gillard: Well, you know, that's kind of who I am. I'm not someone who wilts under pressure. I'm not someone who obsesses or agonises. I'm someone who gets thing done.

MIKE WILLESEE: So when it gets petty like Kevin Rudd saying
you and Tim live in Boganville, meaning you're bogans.

Julia Gillard: Well, one that was reported.

MIKE WILLESEE: Sure.

Julia Gillard: So, we need to make - just be a bit careful about assuming everything that is written is true.

Julia Gillard: Two, I am who I am. If you want someone with a crusty upper class accent who went, you know, to the most elite private school, well, that's not me.

MIKE WILLESEE: Bob Hawke, especially like so many prime ministers, but especially, was forgiven for his mistakes.
You seem to wear your mistakes. They don't go away, like broken promises.

Julia Gillard: You're referring obviously to the words I said about a carbon tax during the election campaign. And when I said those words, I meant every one of them. I talked about having an emissions trading scheme. I talked about putting a price on carbon and that decision by me - I can doing nothing or something, right, I'm going to do something - that has been met by a relentlessly negative campaign, one of the most negative campaigns I can recall in Australian politics. So, yes, I am wearing some damage from that but, you know, outcomes matter, and the outcome here will be on 1 July, we'll start our journey to a clean energy future and a lot of people will benefit by having more money in their pocket than they otherwise would have through their pensions and tax cuts.

MIKE WILLESEE: Prime Minister, people talk about your lack of emotions and they are only talking about seeing you in public. Are you a very emotional person when you go home?

Julia Gillard: Look, I am someone who likes to have a laugh and crack a joke. I think I am warm with people when I meet them. I like meeting people. I like hearing their stories. When I present for, you know, media interviews and press conferences and all the rest of it, I don't view it as my job to be there, you know, emoting. I'm a very calm person. I take life as it comes. I'm a very, you know, stable person. I don't easily get knocked off course. But, of course, my personal life is full of all of the, you know, loves and joys and circumstances of family life that everybody else's full of.

MIKE WILLESEE: Do you cry much?

Julia Gillard: Look, I'm not someone who's a big person for - no, I don't. I am not someone who would spend a lot of time with tears in my eyes. Does that mean that I don't feel emotions and sadness? Of course it doesn't. Everybody is different.

CHANTING: Shame, Julia, shame!

MIKE WILLESEE: Australia Day, a horrible mess, and you behaved very well. But it turned out badly. Why?

Julia Gillard: Well, we had a staff member who made a very bad decision, very bad judgment call. He made it himself. He didn't consult anybody else about it. Of course, he's paid a very big price for that now. He offered his resignation and I accepted it so, he's out of a job.

MIKE WILLESEE: Just for the record, Prime Minister, did you have anything to do with tipping off the demonstrators?

Julia Gillard: No.

MIKE WILLESEE: Prime Minister, something has to change seriously
for your government to stay in power. Can you see what that change could be?

Julia Gillard: If you are asking me do I think we can win the 2013 election, yes, I do.

MIKE WILLESEE: Will you be leading the party?

Julia Gillard: Yes, I will.

MIKE WILLESEE: Before you lead your party to the next election,
the fact is you have to deal with Kevin Rudd?

Julia Gillard: Well, Mike, that's your analysis.

MIKE WILLESEE: Come on, Prime Minister, come on. You've ducked it beautifully, very well, but, he's the elephant in the room.

Julia Gillard: Mike, it's not a question of duck. I've got a different view from you. You've obviously got one and I've got another.

MIKE WILLESEE: No, but you can answer the question.

Julia Gillard: I am answering the question, Mike. I'm leading a government that, of course, has been under a lot of political pressure and will continue to be under a lot of political pressure.

MIKE WILLESEE: That's the government. I am talking about you, leadership.

Julia Gillard: No, no, that - yeah, and I'm talking about my leadership of the government. But, I'm not going to define what I do as Prime Minister about the politics around the government. I'm going to define what I do around what really matters in the nation. Ultimately, if I can channel Paul Keating from way back when, he'd be the first to say "Good policies, good politics in the end "even if it doesn't feel like it at the time."

MIKE WILLESEE: Prime Minister, what did you want to achieve out of this interview?

Julia Gillard: Mike, I thought it would be good to celebrate your return to television and I thought it would be good to start the year talking about the government, the nation and what the year is going to be about.

MIKE WILLESEE: Prime Minister, I really appreciate your time.

Julia Gillard: Thank you.

MIKE WILLESEE: Thanks.

Julia Gillard: Thanks.