ROWLAND: Minister, good morning.
WONG: Good morning.
ROWLAND: Youre the numbers person; youre paid to keep the budget on track and all of that, so you obviously know how the numbers are going to spray at 10 oclock this morning.
WONG: I would anticipate that the Prime Minister will see a very strong expression of confidence in her from the caucus. But obviously well wait and see what the ballot has to hold.
ROWLAND: What is strong? And how
WONG: I know others like to get into how many votes etcetera - but Ill just say this, I think therell be a very strong expression of confidence in the Prime Minister, in Prime Minister Gillard, at the caucus today.
ROWLAND: Now, weve had Steven Smith on this program, Chris Bowen and undoubtedly you are about to say the same thing, about combining again with your political enemies, presenting a united front to the Australian electorate. But could you be not too surprised by voters seeing all that and listening to those comments and simply not believing you after witnessing the horrible events within the Labor Party weve seen in the last week?
WONG: First, my political enemy is Tony Abbott and his team, not people inside the Labor party, so thats the first point Id make.
ROWLAND: But you could be forgiven for thinking given the vitriol in the last week
WONG: Theres no doubt that leadership ballots are pretty difficult, arent they? Ive been regrettably involved in a few since Ive been in Parliament and they are never easy, theyre often bruising, and this one has been. But ultimately the caucus has got to decide to move on from this today, draw a line underneath this and get on with the job of ensuring we continue to deliver good government and that we take on Tony Abbott for the next election
ROWLAND: Why do you believe Julia Gillard is the better person to lead the Labor Party as opposed to Kevin Rudd at the next election?
WONG: Ive made a judgement based on my assessment of the two people and my view is that the Prime Minister shows a determination and a resilience that is necessary for Government and is necessary for Labor at this time.
I think shes delivered, shes shown she can deliver. Shes delivered through a minority Government the carbon price which, as you know we couldnt get through last time; shes delivered through the House of Representatives the minerals tax, very important to deal with making sure we spread the benefits of the boom to all Australians; and shes made the big investments in education, absolutely important for Australias future. So I think shes got the policy platform for the future and the resilience and determination to deliver it.
ROWLAND: She of course is going to have to be fairly adroit into how she handles the events after this ballot. So should she win of course, how extensive do you expect any reshuffle to be? Obviously theres one vacancy with Kevin Rudd there, do you expect it to be more extensive than that?
WONG: Any reshuffle is always a matter for the leader, it would be a matter, should the Prime Minister be reindorsed as is my expectation, it would be a matter for her.
ROWLAND: She has already rejected Anthony Albaneses resignation, would you like her to keep all of those Ministers who came out publicly supporting Kevin Rudd in the Ministry? For the sake of party unity?
WONG: Thats entirely a matter for her and it was absolutely the right call in terms of Anthony hes a good friend of mine and he is a great Labor man and he is a very, very important minister to the Government so that was absolutely the right call.
What I would say is this; unity is something we all provide. Its not just what the Prime Minister does or doesnt do, its what everyone in caucus makes a decision to do and that is to back her in and back in the Governments platform for the years ahead.
ROWLAND: Finance Minister, Penny Wong, thank you for your time this morning.
WONG: Good to be with you.
ENDS