JOURNALIST: Good morning.
WONG: Good morning.
JOURNALIST: It is an unusual, some people are saying unique, situation. What are you making of the position right now?
WONG: Im pleased that this is going to be resolved. Its not a satisfactory state of affairs where we have been. The Governments got a very good policy agenda. Weve got unemployment down at 5.1%. Weve created 700,000 plus jobs. But we havent been able to get that story out to people because of these other matters, so, Im pleased they will be resolved and they need to be resolved.
JOURNALIST: There are people coming from all directions, both Labor and Liberal voters. Heres one, for instance, which talks about the idea that at least our countrys in order thats the good news. But his moneys on Bill Shorten sneaking up, because he helped to oust Rudd. So, is there a possibility of a third candidate?
WONG: I think Bill has made it very clear that hes supporting Prime Minister Gillard, as do I. And the reason Im supporting her is because I think she is resilient, she is strong. She listens, and she is focused very much on doing whats right for the country.
JOURNALIST: But Kevin Rudd is appealing to the backbench. Hes appealing to everybody in the caucus, and says that he is the man who can get that popularity poll up again. As Laura Tingle calls it, its the people power plan that hell put to caucus. Is the problem that Julia Gillard is unelectable?
WONG: I think that if were going to be competitive at the next election, if were going to do the right thing by the country, and continue to roll out the policies which are delivering low unemployment, which are spreading the benefits of the mining boom, we have to be unified. And why I think we need to resolve this issue is we have not had sufficient unity.
The only way we will be competitive at the next election is if we unify; unite behind the Prime Minister, Prime Minister Gillard, and carry forward the policies that are good for Australia. Remember, what is Tony Abbotts first pledge? Its to give a tax break to wealthy miners. I dont think thats the right thing for the country.
JOURNALIST: But one of the problems that Julia Gillard wears is that shes backed off things, shes turned around, shes backflipped, she cant be trusted.
WONG: Ive worked in her Cabinet, and Ive watched her through a Parliament that is pretty difficult deliver the carbon price. We werent able to deliver it in the previous Parliament, when we had more numbers. She did that. Ive watched her deliver the mining tax, which is about making sure that ordinary Australians, working Australians, get the benefits of the boom as well
JOURNALIST: But you havent seemed to deliver on the pokies.
WONG: Well, just hang on. We got the mining tax through the Lower House. Thats not something we could do in the last Parliament, and that is a result of Julias tenacity and willingness to negotiate.
There are other policy areas, like pokies, where obviously there were practical difficulties with what Mr Wilkie was proposing. But I dont think thats the key issue here, the key issue is this: who is the right person to lead the party, and the country? I believe thats Prime Minister Gillard, and thats the person I am supporting.
JOURNALIST: How hard was Kevin Rudd to work with?
WONG: I think everybody has their own way of dealing with this. At times it was very challenging. But can I say this Im not one, as you know, who gets into the personal very often in politics, and I dont intend to here. What I will say is this I served Kevin when he was Prime Minister in his Cabinet and I did so loyally.
I now serve Prime Minister Gillard, and Ive come to the very clear view that the right person to lead the country and the party is Prime Minister Gillard.
JOURNALIST: What about this idea which has just come through, that they have to vote, they you the caucus have to vote for Kevin Rudd. If they dont well have an election in three months, and Tony Abbott will smash them.
WONG: I go back to what I was saying. I think the way in which Labor can be competitive at the next election, and when we say competitive it is not for ourselves, it is for the people we represent, it is for working Australians and their families, the way we do that is to unite behind the Prime Minister and that is what I will keep advocating for.
JOURNALIST: Is one big fear, Senator Wong, is one big fear that if Kevin doesnt have the numbers, and that seems to be what the pundits are saying, if he doesnt have the numbers he resigns. Does that really in effect, predicate the election that you fear most?
WONG: Thats a hypothetical. But I would say this, I hope whatever disputes we may have, we are members of a Labor Party. Its a party that delivered Medicare, that delivered the superannuation guarantee, thats helped deliver over 700,000 jobs since we were elected. Ultimately what is right for the party and the country should come first.
JOURNALIST: Is it unfair, Doug Cameron says this, is it unfair to call the spill next Monday, or should it, as he says, to be fair, and were a fair party, Kevin Rudd should be given at least a week to make sure the numbers are there?
WONG: I think whats fair is that we resolve this in the interests of the nation. I dont think anybody watching this has thought this has been a good thing for not, just the Labor Party and the Labor Government, but the country, we need to resolve this, and I welcome the Prime Ministers indication that she intends to.
JOURNALIST: Senator, is there a chance that this wont be resolved, or that the votes will be not emphatic enough either way, and that it will just fester on?
WONG: And what Id say is that whatever resolution there is, and obviously thats up to the Prime Minister to speak about, people need to then buckle down and get on with the real job, which is the job of governing and the job of ensuring that we do not see Tony Abbott become Prime Minister. Thats what people should do.
JOURNALIST: Senator Penny Wong, youve got a vote. Penny for PM
WONG: (laughs) No, no.
JOURNALIST: Thanks for coming in this morning.
WONG: (laughs) One of my friends has texted in there.
JOURNALIST: (laughs) Yeah.
WONG: Thank you whichever person out in Adelaide did that, but no.
JOURNALIST: Thanks for calling in.
ENDS