BELLING: Here in the studio is Finance Minister Penny Wong. Good morning, Minister, thanks so much for joining us.
WONG: Nice to be with you, Tarsh.
BELLING: Now the Prime Minister received a scathing reception last night in Brisbane. The main issue, it seemed to be, is the fact that people say that they cannot trust the Prime Minister. What are your thoughts about that?
WONG: I think Julia has fronted the Australian people. She's been out there wearing out her shoe leather talking to people about why this is important, why we need to move towards a cleaner energy future, and taking their questions. This is a tough debate, and obviously people have a lot of questions and concerns. And I think the Prime Minister is dealing with that in the way that she wants to, which is being upfront and facing up to people's questions.
BELLING: But it seems a lot of people are very concerned, it's an issue of trust. It's not really about the carbon tax anymore. Can the Australian public trust the Prime Minister that what she says will actually occur? Because she promised going into the election, and that is still a major point for Australians, that she promised not to have a carbon tax.
WONG: And I think she's answered that. And I can say this, the Australian people can absolutely trust this Prime Minister to look to the national interest. And I think what we saw yesterday was Malcolm Turnbull telling people what sort of leader Tony Abbott is. That Tony Abbott will always look to Tony's interests first, not to the national interest. What this Prime Minister is doing very clearly is saying, I know this is a hard debate, I know that there is a lot of opposition. But I also know this is something we need to do, and it's in our interest to do it, so I'm going to get it through.
BELLING: Minister, on the weekend there was a lot of criticism, the Minerals Council, I think the quote was it's going to be like taking a sledgehammer to the economy. There is serious concern whether this is a step in the right direction. How do you convince the Australian public that this is the right way to go when there's so much criticism?
WONG: There's been a lot of criticism over the decades of most of the reforms that have made Australia what it is today. Medicare was opposed. The superannuation guarantee was opposed. Some people opposed opening up our economy, but that's been what's made us prosperous today.
In terms of the minerals sector, what we know is there's some $430 billion worth of investment in projects in this country lined up, either started already to go or in the pipeline.
Now that doesn't speak of an economy or a sector that's going to hit the wall, much as Tony Abbott would like to tell Australians that it is. The reality is we've got a strong pipeline of investment.
This policy is all about moving to a clean energy future. This Prime Minister has absolutely got the courage to take us there.
BELLING: Talking about the courage to take us there, I think a lot of Australians would have great admiration for the Prime Minister if she said I'm so passionate about this issue, and I'm so convinced it's the right way to go, I'm going to put it to the people. Let's go to an early election. Why wouldn't she do that?
WONG: People will have the opportunity to go to an election.
BELLING: But now?
WONG: But Natarsha we know this is the right thing to do. We know that because this is what even John Howard said back in 2006 was the right thing to do. It is time for us to move from talking about this to acting on it. And that is what the Prime Minister is doing.
As I said, Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday, Tony Abbott used to support this, then when he decided it wasn't in his interest to support it, he turned into a person who completely opposed it. I think that shows what sort of leader he is.
BELLING: Governments are put into power by the people to represent them. Don't you think the Australian public have a right to have a say on this?
WONG: I think the Australian public always have the right to put people into Parliament and that they should. But I think Governments are also elected to look to the national interest, and to do what we believe is right. We do have a responsibility, as we are doing, to go out to people and explain what we're doing and why we're doing it how we're giving tax cuts, what this will mean for their children's future.
But I think it's time for us to think about not just tomorrow, not just today and tomorrow, but five, 10, 15 or 20 years down the track. Do we really want to say to the next generation of Australians we squibbed it because it was too politically hard? I don't think so.
BELLING: We'll watch with great interest as the debate continues. Thanks for joining us this morning, we really appreciate it Penny Wong.
WONG: Good to speak with you again.
BELLING: Thank you so much.
ENDS