PANELLIST: Please welcome to The Circle Federal Finance Minister, Penny Wong. First of all, Im not sure what to call you. Do we call you Minister?
WONG: Pennys fine.
PANELLIST: Pennys OK?
WONG: Yes.
PANELLIST: Great, thats a relief.
WONG: It makes me feel old when you call me Minister.
PANELLIST: Yeah lets not go there. OK. Whenever theres a humanitarian crisis like the floods in Queensland, the earthquake in Christchurch and now Japan, the endgame with media reports tends to be, if you want to help, heres how to donate.
Now with Japan, theyre the third biggest economy in the world. And I know that theres money, lots of money, in their coffers. Do we need to donate to Japan?
WONG: We are doing what the Japanese Government have asked us, which is to send a search and rescue team. So what they need at the moment is human resources. Weve also offered, if they need it, other specialist assistance.
And weve also provided an aircraft to help with airlift. So we have the 72-person team, a search and rescue team, people who are expert in trying to find people, who were previously deployed unfortunately to New Zealand. Theyre now in Japan. Its really heartbreaking, isnt it, to watch.
PANELLIST: It is. So I guess the question for people, Australians watching at home, often you feel an incredible sense of grief and worry and you want to help. Donating money is not the
WONG: Well I understand that some international charities are holding appeals if people do want to donate. But at the moment what we are doing as the Government is offering resources, specialty assistance to the Japanese Government. If they need further assistance we stand ready to help. I think everybody does. There has been unbelievably heartbreaking and quite terrifying footage. Its a very scary thing to watch, isnt it.
PANELLIST: It is. Now weve never had you on the couch before. So can we do a bit of a get to know you, if its alright with you. You spent your first
WONG: I dont have to lie down on the couch or anything?
PANELLIST: No. It would be a first as well if you did! (laughs)
WONG: I just want to make sure.
PANELLIST: No, I think Meatloaf laid down on the couch, so
WONG: (laughs) What are you trying to say?
PANELLIST: Theres a meaty imprint where he lay down.
PANELLIST 2: Youll do anything for love, Penny, but you wont do that.
WONG: (laughs) I wont do that. (laughs) This has started well.
PANELLIST: Now you spent your first seven or eight years in Malaysia
WONG: Thats right.
PANELLIST: speaking the Malay dialect, Chinese, and a little bit of English, before you moved over to Australia.
WONG: Yeah I sort of switched to English when I went to school, which is a bit of a problem because I actually lost a lot of the language, which is a bit of a pity. Dad switched to talking to me in English.
PANELLIST: What was it like, arriving in Australia, sort of speaking with an accent?
WONG: I wasnt so much speaking with an accent. I just looked different, particularly where I went to school. So that was you know, when youre on the outer and youre different, that can be hard. But a lot of people have harder things in their childhood than I did.
PANELLIST: What do you think you learnt from that? How do you think youve used it in your adult life?
WONG: I think I learnt about what it is to be different and also why I think we need a fairer society, a fairer community. That probably was one of the reasons I went into politics.
PANELLIST: I like how you said that prejudice doesnt survive personal contact.
WONG: Youve been reading up on me. (laughs)
PANELLIST: (laughs) Yeah, I can read. But its so hard sometimes to actually make that contact when people have made judgments just on what you look like or what you sound like. Was politics a way, or even your politics at university, to get over that?
WONG: I think so. I think politics was a way in which I could try and make things better, to help contribute to making the community a fairer place and to have people who were on the outside, less on the outside. So I suppose it was always one of the reasons I went into politics.
But I think what I said is true, I think most Australians are very fair people. Were a pretty fair minded country. Most people judge you by the sort of person you are. There are a small, small minority who are not going to change their views.
But I do think prejudice often is because people dont get to know people who might look a bit different. And I think Australias changed a lot. If you think about my parents, they got married in the 1960s, we still had the white Australia policy. So we had a woman who grew up on a farm in the Adelaide Hills, marrying a Chinese guy from Malaysia. Its pretty unusual then. These days I think we have a lot more
[Photo of family displayed]
PANELLIST: There you are.
PANELLIST 2: Oh, look how groovy
PANELLIST 3: Thats a cute little dress.
WONG: Thats Dads goatee in the 70s, right.
PANELLIST: Thats brilliant, I wish I had a goatee like that.
WONG: (laughs) No, you really dont.
PANELLIST: (laughs) I spend a lot on wax to avoid it.
WONG: This is very personal isnt it? (laughs) My younger brother decided hed grow one like Dad.
PANELLIST: And did that work?
WONG: He has got it. Well he did have it last time I saw him. He lives in New Zealand now. So Im going to see him shortly. So Im really hoping hes shaved it off.
PANELLIST: I really love you in politics, and I love seeing you on television because youre so groovy.
WONG: No. (laughs)
PANELLIST: I think you are. I think you are.
WONG: Im actually a bit of a nerd.
PANELLIST: You could be a little bit of a nerd but youre a groovy nerd.
WONG: One of my staff said I was groovy like Birkenstocks.
PANELLIST: I love Birkenstocks.
WONG: Because they were so out theyre now in, or something like that. I think that was the idea.
PANELLIST: Can I ask you another question. You know when youre on the news and something has the poops hit the fan and theyre like, lets talk to Penny Wong about it. And theyre all waiting for you. Theyre almost baying for blood. And youve got to walk out there and deliver an answer. Is that sick-makingly nerve wracking?
WONG: Well its not the most kind of relaxing experience of your life, no. I mean media, that kind of media, can be pretty tough. But thats part of the job.
PANELLIST: Thats part of the job.
WONG: Thats the job.
PANELLIST: Can we please thank the Birkenstock of Australian politics, Penny Wong.
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