2SM Breakfast with Grant Goldman
25 June 2010
Topics: Prime Minister Julia Gillard
GRANT GOLDMAN: Joining us on the line, a good friend of Julia Gillard, a man that's known Julia since her university days, and he says she will make a great Prime Minister - the Home Affairs Minister, Brendan O'Connor. Morning, Brendan.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Good to be with you.
GRANT GOLDMAN: You too. An historic day yesterday, Australia's first female Prime Minister, I think that was forgotten in all of that because I suppose we had a change of leader and the focus was on that but it's something special to have the first female Prime Minister of Australia.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: It is special. I think you're right and of course she wouldn't talk about it in those terms but we need to reflect that since 1901, we've had many magnificent Prime Ministers. But this is the first woman Prime Minister and it is therefore a day of reflection and acknowledgement that we've achieved that, and yes, it's a wonderful thing.
GRANT GOLDMAN: She's a brilliant orator and her speech was actually quite impressive, I thought, and that comes from a lot of the audience as well, so she's made an impressive start. Not only that, she didn't muck around with the mining industry. She knew that that was a problem that was on the nose for Kevin Rudd, so her actions there of saying, okay, we'll take the advertising down, if you will, and then we'll reach some kind of compromise at a later date, I thought that was brilliant, and it was really only hours after she was sworn in.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Yes, sure. I mean the one thing that Julia has is one of those rarest of things, which is common sense. She knew that that was something that was a bad decision of the government, she immediately looked to rectify that. But more importantly than that, I think, is that she said, via the media, to the mining sector, that she wants to resolve this. They're a very important sector to our economy, they've done some very good things and we need to make sure we get a resolution and move forward. I think she has been welcomed by the mining sector, as I understand it, they're already taking off their own advertisements. So we can put down our guns and sit down at a table and work these things through and we will.
GRANT GOLDMAN: You talk about commonsense there, I suppose in many ways, arrogance, and you often see it in politics, arrogance can override commonsense, and that can be the end of you.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Look, it can, and when you're doing well you're seen as confident, when you're not doing as well, you're sometimes seen as arrogant. That happens in politics, it's not always fair, it just happens.
I just wanted to also pay tribute, if I can, to Kevin Rudd, and just say that what he did and how he conducted himself this week was magnificent and dignified and gracious and that made it of course a lot easier for us to move forward, and...
GRANT GOLDMAN: I've got to say, two-and-a-half years ago when I saw him campaigning I thought he was the best campaigner I'd ever seen in politics, that even includes Bob Hawke, who was one of the best.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Yes, he's definitely up there, I mean he won, he took us out of the wilderness, it won't ever be forgotten, he won an election against one of the most canny Prime Ministers in our history, John Howard - not an easy thing. He didn't put a foot wrong and the caucus is indebted to him, the party, the country is indebted to him. Let's not forget, whatever else is said about Kevin Rudd, he, through his decisions, took us through the global financial crisis, out the other side, to the best economy in the world.
GRANT GOLDMAN: Yes. Now, you as a good friend of Julia Gillard, even go back to university days, how was she back then? Were her politics a little more left than they are at this moment?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Look, she's always been a very passionate person. She believes in things, what you get from her is what she says. I guess we all mature and our lives become ... we start to consider things more maturely and she's definitely done that, but she is a remarkable person. And from the first time I saw her speaking to an audience, I was struck by her clarity of thought and her passion and that hasn't changed. She's a warm person, what you see is what you get and I think she will be a magnificent Prime Minister.
GRANT GOLDMAN: Has she always had this broad Australian accent? That does grate with some people, by the way.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: I guess it might, but she doesn't change herself, she doesn't go to any finishing school, she doesn't try to be what she's not, she's always been herself, and that is a critical, an essential quality of a good Prime Minister. A good leader knows that you don't play to a crowd, you don't pretend to be someone you're not, she's always been herself and that will show through as Prime Minister.
GRANT GOLDMAN: Yeah, when you're yourself, you don't have to try so hard, do you?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: I reckon that's the thing. She was asked about the residence and where she may stay and I'm not sure whether she fully considered those issues and there are issues around making sure that our Prime Minister's secure. But she was asked about The Lodge, she thought about Kevin, she thought about his family, she talked about why she wouldn't be moving in, she talked about wanting to get a vote of confidence from the Australian people.
GRANT GOLDMAN: See, I understand that, at the end of the day, here she is, she's been, well, elected by her own party, which is the party's right of course, with the factions, but you get the feeling she's saying, okay, well, I want the tick of approval from the Australian people, before I even go near The Lodge. Even though there are people in the party now trying to force her to go to The Lodge. I think it's a good stand, on her part there.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: I just think that she may not have even asked herself that question, that is, she might not even, given the speed with which this has happened, she probably hadn't even asked that of herself, what should I do? When she was asked in her first media conference as Prime Minister, or incoming Prime Minister, her immediate response was, I want to make sure that Kevin and his family can deal with the difficult consequences of the decision and she personally, just immediately realised that she wanted to get the confidence of the Australian people before she had the entitlement to that place.
Now that speaks volumes for the modesty of her, that she's not interested in the trappings of politics. I think anyone who knows her, understands that's been her, all the way through.
GRANT GOLDMAN: Yes, do you think she'd be nervous?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: You'd have to be a little nervous, when you're taking on a role, but you know, she's firstly been Acting Prime Minister for approximately 100 days, or between 70 and 100 days. Therefore Kevin had always great confidence in her capacity to lead this country in his absence, and she's shown a great capacity to lead, to make decisions, to act also of course as Prime Minister in the Parliament. Of course now that she is Prime Minister, she will be fantastic, but you'd expect a few nerves, you wouldn't be normal if you didn't have a few nerves.
GRANT GOLDMAN: [Laughs] I think you're right there. Good to talk to you, thanks for your time this morning.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Not at all.
GRANT GOLDMAN: Bye. Brendan O'Connor. He's the Home Affairs Minister, and as I said, a good friend of Julia Gillard, in fact he's known Julia since her university days.
