Past Programs
Alp - 2007
Iemma after COAG
21/12/2007
It was backslapping and smiles all around at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting yesterday in Melbourne, with state and federal leaders heralding a new era of cooperation.
Seven working groups have been set up to tackle some of the bigger issues facing the country, including health education and climate change, each chaired by a federal minister and co-chaired by individual states. Although Prime Minister Kevin Rudd indicated future meetings would see the states and territories having to tighten their belts, this first all-Labor COAG saw some money handed out as well. Rudd promised the states 150 million dollars in extra funding to reduce hospital waiting lists, and another 50 million for drug and alcohol rehabilitation services in remote areas.
Friday commentator Gerard Henderson - ministerial code of conduct
07/12/2007
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has released his long-awaited Ministerial Code of Conduct. Under the code, lobbyists will be listed on a public register before accessing ministers, electoral fundraising at the Lodge and Kirribilli House will be banned, and ministers will be forced to divest themselves of shareholdings. Mr Rudd says the code includes a range of measures to ensure greater scrutiny of federal ministers, including after they have left office.
Politics with Michelle Grattan: education revolution
06/12/2007
Plotting a revolution -- that's what Kevin Rudd and his Cabinet will be doing when they get together for the first time this morning. Is this the communist threat Mark Vaile alluded to? Is it Julia Gillard's socialist roots coming back to haunt us? No -- it's Kevin Rudd's much vaunted Education Revolution, one of the first election pledges the new Labor prime minister wants to get cracking on. It means rolling out a laptop to every senior school student in the country, with Deputy PM Julia Gillard in charge.
New Attorney General Robert McClelland
05/12/2007
Equal rights for same sex couples, military surveillance of Japanese whaling in Antarctica, how to incorporate the recognition of indigenous Australians into the Constitution - these are just some of the legal knots cramming the in-tray of new Federal Attorney General and he's only two days into the job.
Labor's new foreign policy
29/11/2007
With reports that Labor is set to dump its proposed super Department of Homelands Security, what are the foreign policy hot potatoes for the new government? One is almost certain to be the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which promises only more body bags and no obvious resolution, at least according to Professor Hugh White.
Politics with Michelle Grattan - Labor's front bench
29/11/2007
Today Kevin Rudd stamps his considerable authority on the new Labor government, telling caucus who he'll have in his ministry. It's a break with factional power and tradition. On the surface the old factional bosses are playing along but under the surface there's sure to be some discontent. The man who delivered Labor its most emphatic win in decades, however, can't be questioned. To borrow from George W Bush's description of John Howard, Kevin Rudd could be nicknamed Labor's 'Man of Steel', at least for now.
Australia's new stance on climate change and the US
29/11/2007
Kevin Rudd will name his front bench today and it's tipped he will split the key Environment portfolio between two ministers, underlining Labor's commitment to dealing with climate change. Labor's promise to ratify Kyoto will leave the United States as the only western nation to not endorse the agreement.
Kevin Rudd is off to Bali in just over a week for the UN sponsored negotiations, the start of a two-year process to reach a new climate agreement. He will also meet with climate change campaigner Al Gore.
Labor tax plan
27/11/2007
The election is over and now the accounting begins. Both sides of politics showered bucketloads of cash over voters this election, beginning with billions of dollars in tax cuts spread out over several years. Labor virtually matched the Coalition with its $31 billion tax plan and added on nearly $3 billion in education subsidies to boot. So when will this largesse start hitting our hip pockets?
The seat of Eden Monaro
22/11/2007
Eden Monaro is the electorate that stretches from the NSW South Coast to the high lands of the Snowy Mountains. It's the seat that has gone with Government in every election since 1972. It is one of the must win seats for the ALP.
The seat is held by Gary Nairn on a margin of 3.3%. He's being pushed by Labor's candidate Mike Kelly, a former colonel in the Australian Army.
Greg Combet
21/11/2007
For a star Labor recruit touted as a future Prime Minister, former ACTU Secretary Greg Combet has had a very local and low-key campaign. He's running in the safe labor seat of Charlton in the NSW Hunter Valley. Yesterday Greg Combet was forced to deny a front page in The Australian Financial Review which reported that he'd declared 'union rights are a thing of the past'. He says it's a beat up.
Politics with Michelle Grattan - final pitches
21/11/2007
Today Kevin Rudd makes his final pitch to the nation at a National Press Club address in Canberra. Tomorrow it's John Howard's turn, but as we heard on the 7.30 Report, the Prime Minister has refined his sales message.
Stephen Smith - Labor's education policy
15/11/2007
Labor's Education Shadow Minister Stephen Smith joined us to talk about Labor's approach to eduaction funding.
Politics with Jim Middleton: Labor's campaign launch
15/11/2007
Kevin Rudd's education revolution was the centrepiece of a pared down Labor campaign launch which saw the alternative prime minister making a virtue out of spending $7-billion less than his opponent.
If John Howard's Coalition campaign launch on Monday was about trying to one-up Labor on childcare, housing affordability and help with schooling, Kevin Rudd went 'me-better' rather than 'me-too' on responsible economic management. He is keen to be seen to heed the Reserve Bank's warning to keep a lid on spending and thus on interest rates
The money he did hand out was confined to some core Labor areas, including a clean energy fund to commercialise and deploy renewable energy and education, giving schools broadband internet access and a big computer give-away for senior secondary students.
Kevin Rudd's history
07/11/2007
Kevin Rudd's 'inexperience' in government is one of the coalition themes in election '07. Alexander Downer made reference to it yesterday on Breakfast, saying once again that it's too risky for the electorate to trust him. The Labor leader, however, is not an untested quantity in Queensland. Rather, he's got a significant track record, often overlooked on the national stage. Maybe this is one reason why his home state doesn't embrace him like a brother. The state respects Kevin Rudd and looks like voting for him, but as Antony Funnell reports from Brisbane, perhaps they don't love him.
Julia Gillard
02/11/2007
'Mind the Gap' is the political message in the latest opinion poll. The Nielsen polls shows Labor's lead is rock solid, a 10 point lead after preferences. It keeps Labor in landslide territory.
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Labor's target for renewable energy
31/10/2007
The climate debate is full of targets. Yesterday saw some more for you to digest, with Labor pledging a 20% target for renewable energy by 2020. The Clean Energy Council has strongly endorsed the ALP's target of having at least 20% of Australia's electricity produced by renewable sources by 2020. The Council says the ALP's target will create 50,000 jobs and $20 billion worth of investment.
Radio National often provides links to external websites to complement program information. While producers have taken care with all selections, we can neither endorse nor take final responsibility for the content of those sites.
Kevin Rudd - election campaign update
19/10/2007
In the latest Nielsen poll, Labor slumped on every indicator this week, down on the two-party preferred vote, Kevin Rudd down as preferred PM and his approval rating down. Mr Howard is now only four points behind, 47 to 43%, what will Mr Rudd do to regain momentum?
Union membership in Labor's front bench
18/10/2007
Will 70% of Kevin Rudd's front bench have a union background? Is Labor exposed on its union membership claim?
Election commentary with Lyndal Curtis
16/10/2007
The Federal Opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, is in Sydney this morning, where he'll spend the day campaigning. He found himself on the back foot yesterday, under pressure to respond to the Government's surprise announcement of tax cuts. Kevin Rudd can be buoyed by getting the answer right on interest rates, an issue the Prime Minister fluffed on commercial TV last night.
How has the Rudd camp responded to the Government's tax cut announcement? The Government's been setting the agenda in the last few days. It's a change from most of the year where Kevin Rudd has been able to run his own race. How does the Opposition counter that?
Politics with Michelle Grattan: bad headlines for Kevin Rudd
28/09/2007
More bad headlines for Kevin Rudd today as the faux election campaign continues. Rudd's backdown on front bench, being forced to lock in team, is all about his refusal earlier in the week to nominate his shadow treasurer Wayne Swan as his treasurer if Labor is elected to govern.
Michelle Grattan said yesterday that it was a tactical mistake on the part of the Opposition leader. Hours later he killed the story by confirming Wayne Swan, or so he thought.
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Senator Bob Collins
27/09/2007
The family of former Northern Territory Labor Senator Bob Collins has decided not to go ahead with a state memorial service in Darwin on Saturday. The Northern Territory government has dropped plans for a wake.
It's an ugly end to a long political career, with the truth of the child abuse allegations now never to be tested.
Our federal political leaders were forced to weigh into this matter yesterday.
Michelle Grattan - Tuesday
04/09/2007
A smashing lead, that's the result from this morning's Newspoll, which shows Labor jumping another five points ahead of the government.
If an election was called this week, Labor would be in landslide territory, with a 59 to 41 lead, on a two party preferred basis.
It won't be, so the only way for Labor now is down. Certainly that's what the government will be hoping.
Political commentator Michelle Grattan joined us from Canberra.
An open letter to Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard
29/08/2007
Michele O'Neil, the Victorian Secretary of the Textile Workers Union,wrote an open letter to Labor Leader Kevin Rudd yesterday, asking him to reconsider his IR announcement and saying "don't you get it".
Michele O'Neil joined us to discuss the letter.
The letter is hereby reproduced by permission from Michele O'Neil.
An open letter to Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard
Dear Kevin and Julia,
Don't you get it?
I represent some of the lowest paid workers in the country. They sweat in backyard garages, shopfronts, and factories to make the clothes on your back. Some of our members have now faced three years without a pay increase. If they are still getting the minimum rates, and many are not, they take home about $460 each week. If they work at home as outworkers they likely get $3 to $5 an hour.
Yesterday one of the union's officials described how after a call from a worker, she went to a factory and the employer made her sit for two hours in a small room. The boss said that if any worker wanted to see her they were welcome. He didn't tell the workers the union was on site. He wouldn't let the union notice advising workers that the union was coming, go up on the notice board. And he sat a supervisor at the door of the room. No worker came to the room.
A worker rang the union describing payment of $4 an hour. For us to inspect the time and wage book in the factory I have to name the worker, something she doesn't want me to do as she says she'll be bullied and sacked. She's scared and asks me, "why cant you fix this without the boss knowing that I rang the union?" Under the Right of Entry Laws you've promised to keep, I cannot.
Earlier this year, one of my members was badly injured when the company under those same Right of Entry Laws, forced him to walk outside in the dark during a nightshift to a room 10 minutes away from where he worked to speak to his union. He fell and broke both his hands and doesn't have good prospects of returning to work.
Last week we received two calls from women workers in tears because they were being forced to give up their rights by signing an AWA in order to keep their job. They signed the AWA because they were threatened. The same AWAs which you will now leave in place for five years. Under those Right of Entry laws, because all the workers are on AWAs, we have no right to enter that workplace or visit our members.
You know that television ad from the 'Business Action' coalition with 3 thuggish blokes turning off the power in a clothing factory? Did you believe it? Would you like to meet the women who work for this union trying to get into workplaces that exploit textile, clothing and footwear workers? You could listen to our stories about what really happens when we try to use 'Right of Entry.'
My experience of violence and thuggery is of a company boss pulling a large chopping knife out of his draw and placing it on the desk between us as he explained that he didn't employ any outworkers and that I should leave his factory now.
We like other unions, have spent our hard earned union members' money on the ACTU's campaign which has increased your chances of being elected. How do I keep explaining to them what a vote for you will mean? They can't wait until 2010 for justice and fairness or rights - that's like asking them to wait for another election. They need them and deserve them right now. Stand up for the members of my union or don't expect us to stand up for you.
I invite you both to take a day to spend on the road with an official of my union visiting factories and sweatshops, so you can understand and reconsider today's announcement.
In unity,
Michele O'Neil
Victorian State Secretary
National Assistant Secretary
Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA)
Labor leader, Kevin Rudd
29/08/2007
Labor leader Kevin Rudd joined us to answer questions about Labor's IR policy: the flexibility cause, AWAs, compulsory collective bargaining, and reactions from small business owners and unions.
Michelle Grattan - Wednesday
29/08/2007
Julia Gillard says 'no one gets 100 per cent' with Labor's IR policy and that's why it's got the balance right.
Labor leader Kevin Rudd has staked his personal authority and possibly the looming federal election on that equation.
Who is the policy right for? Is it right for business, employees or the unions? Labor says it has to be right for the nation as a whole.
Our political commentator Michelle Grattan joined us from Canberra.
Michelle Grattan - Monday
20/08/2007
Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd says he expects newspaper revelations of his drunken night in a New York strip club in 2003 to damage his standing in the opinion polls. Yesterday, though, Queensland premier, Peter Beattie, said this will enhance Kevin Rudd's appeal with voters and it shows he's human.
To get a sense of how Kevin Rudd's big night will play out in Canberra and in the wider electorate, we spoke to our political commentator, Michelle Grattan.
Boys' night out - Warren Snowdon
20/08/2007
Labor MP Warren Snowdon accompanied Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd on the boys' night out at a New York strip club in 2003.
He says he's embarrassed he went to such a venue and his family think 'it's a joke'.
He denies the allegation that they were asked to leave the club because of bad behaviour.
Warren Snowdon spoke with Gordon Taylor.
Labor and the US Alliance
09/08/2007
For the last six years, the defining features of the Australia-US alliance have been its conservatism and closeness.
To a certain extent, the deeper bonds between the two countries have been driven by the friendship and political affinity between Prime Minister John Howard and US President George W. Bush.
Upcoming elections in both countries mean that at least one side of that equation will have to change.
Within the next 18 months, we could be looking at a distinct change of direction and leadership in both Washington and Canberra.
How will the outcome of the US and Australian elections alter the dynamic of the 'special relationship'?
Michael Fullilove is the director of the global issues program at the Lowy Institute. He is giving the annual Curtin Lecture in Perth tonight on the subject of Labor and the US alliance. Michael joined us from Perth.
Kevin Rudd
06/08/2007
As our federal politicians return from the long winter break this week, Breakfast was joined by opposition leader, Kevin Rudd.
Nicola Roxon: Labor health policy
29/06/2007
The Federal Opposition announced plans for a national health strategy that focuses on preventative medicine yesterday.
Focusing on chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, Labor says getting in early will deliver economic and productivity benefits and save millions of dollars.
The government has dismissed Labor's policy as all cliches, with no action.
Labor's health spokeswoman is Nicola Roxon.
Unions under scrutiny
21/06/2007
The relationship between Labor and the unions is under further scrutiny.
Kevin Rudd has demanded that Joe McDonald from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union resign from the Labor Party.
John Robertson is the Secretary of Unions NSW.
Kevin Rudd
20/06/2007
The Opposition leader Kevin Rudd joins Breakfast in this frantic parliamentary week to talk about productivity, polls and industrial relations.
Tim Gartrell
30/05/2007
Labor's National Secretary Tim Gartrell addressed the Caucus yesterday, warning Labor MPs not to get carried away with Labor's success in the polls.
Fran Kelly speaks with Tim Gartrell.
Mike Bailey
25/05/2007
Over the last 20 years or so, a long line of people in the media—particularly the ABC—have made the shift into politics. Both sides of politics have been represented by names like Bob Carr, Alan Carpenter, Eoin Cameron and Pru Goward.
Now former ABC journalist Maxine McKew will run against the Prime Minister in Bennelong and, just this week, the ABC's New South Wales weather man, Mike Bailey announced that he'll take on workplace relations minister, Joe Hockey, in North Sydney.
But there are some concerns he's not up to speed with the local issues, given he's spent so much time with his head in the clouds, so to speak. James Carleton managed to get this exclusive, if somewhat 'fractured' interview, with some help from Dom Romeo.
***Please note that this sketch is included in today's podcast with the Broken Hill Bollywood story.
Wayne Swan
17/05/2007
In his budget reply speech yesterday, shadow treasurer Wayne Swan outlined the political battlelines between Labor's nation-building and foresight and the Coalition's short-term electoral fixes.
Wayne Swan also conceded he had 'got it wrong' when he worked against Kevin Rudd in last year's leadership fight. And despite the buoyant polls for Labor, Wayne Swan says the election will be a close and tough fight as the government goes on an election spending spree.
The shadow treasurer joins Breakfast.
Industrial relations
14/05/2007
Labor leader Kevin Rudd spent the weekend visiting Western Australia to talk to mining companies concerned about Labor's pledge to tear up AWAs.
But Labor is standing its ground despite media and business criticism that Mr Rudd needs to fight against excessive union control of industrial relations.
Gordon Taylor reports from Canberra.
Friday panel: budget reply
11/05/2007
Despite trailing badly in the opinion polls, Coalition backbenchers are smiling this week following the government's big-spending budget - one that was designed to give everyone something.
It may be a few weeks before we see if the government gets a bounce in the polls. There will be more spending to come - especially on climate change.
Joining Breakfast in our Parliament House studio is:
Steve Lewis chief political correspondent for The Australian newspaper,
Jim Middleton, chief political correspondent for ABC TV News
and Jennifer Hewitt, national affairs correspondent for The Australian.
Michelle Grattan - budget reply
11/05/2007
Last night opposition leader Kevin Rudd gave his reply to Peter Costello's twelfth Budget - a speech where he pushed Labor's three-pronged pitch of economic responsibility, an education revolution and the commitment to a fair go in the workplace.
So how did he go - and was it enough to keep Labor in the game - or at least in front in the polls?
Michelle Grattan joins Breakfast from Canberra.
Budget: Wayne Swan
09/05/2007
Labor says this Budget fails the future test – while it likes many of the features like the education endowment fund and the tax cuts.
It is hard to be the Grinch when it's always a Christmas budget. Labor is doing its best to sound optimistic, while trying to establish its credentials as sound economic managers.
Shadow treasurer Wayne Swan joins Breakfast.
Michelle Grattan - Tuesday
01/05/2007
Kevin Rudd's not standing still after the National ALP Conference at the weekend. Since the announcements on industrial relations and uranium the Labor leader has moved on, continuing to put his stamp on the party. He is insisting on a number of candidates to be drafted to seats in NSW ahead of the next election.
Candidates like Iraq veteran Colonel Mike Kelly, who has been parachuted into the bellwether marginal seat of Eden Monaro.
Michelle Grattan joins Fran Kelly for a chat.
Labor Conference
30/04/2007
Politics is all about momentum, and Kevin Rudd kept it going over the weekend as the Labor Party held its all-important policy conference.
John Howard did his best to interrupt proceedings with an announcement on nuclear energy. But it was hard to stop the flow as Kevin Rudd stamped his authority on the party in a get-together that was both ordered and organised.
The party needed to show that it is united and ready to govern – and that it did, with every attempt made to quell dissent – a tactic that was largely successful.
Gordon Taylor reports.
Michelle Grattan - Monday
30/04/2007
Michelle Grattan was also at Labor's weekend conference, and joined us for her usual round-up of politics.
Labor Party National Conference
30/04/2007
The weekend's Labor Party National Conference stood out from all before it in that apart from over uranium, there was almost no serious conflict – on public display at least.
But how much was genuine cohesion and how much was stage-management?
James Carleton reports.
Julia Gillard
27/04/2007
The Labor leadership announced this week plans to scrap the Industrial Relations Commission and replace it with the 'Fair Work Commission', a streamlined one-stop-shop for resolving industrial issues.
The unions love the plan. Business is not happy, and the government says it's more proof that Labor is a puppet of the unions.
Labor deputy leader and shadow industrial relations minister Julia Gillard joins Breakfast.
George Campbell
26/04/2007
The ALP National Conference opens in Sydney tomorrow, and Labor leader Kevin Rudd hopes and expects to have his leadership and authority endorsed by the party delegates who attend – including the unions.
But he also expects some fights along the way – and the positioning for those battles on the conference floor begins today as party members from the left, right and centre gather in their various caucuses – honing the arguments, counting the numbers and preparing for a showdown.
But one factional warhorse will today announce he's bowing out of all of this. NSW left faction Senator George Campbell will not re-contest his seat.
He's the former General Secretary of the Metalworkers Union – later the AMWU – and he's taken a swipe at a few targets on his way out, accusing his own union of treachery.
Michelle Grattan - Thursday
26/04/2007
Michelle Grattan joins Breakfast to comment on the interview with the Prime Minister.
John Howard: industrial relations
26/04/2007
In the past Labor has fought hard to retain the Industrial Relations Commission. Now it wants to scrap it and replace it with a body called Fair Work Australia.
Labor says this will create a 'new flexible industrial umpire'.
But the federal government says Labor's plan will hand control back to the trade unions.
For his comments on the proposal, the Prime Minister, John Howard, joins Breakfast.
Labor and business
26/04/2007
The ALP national conference starts tomorrow, and one of the many special interest groups watching on will be the business community.
Yesterday the Federal Opposition released more details of its workplace policies, which included a plan to scrap the Industrial Relations Commission.
It's something we'll talk to the Prime Minister about after 7.30.
According to the Labor Party, a record number of business leaders have now registered to attend the conference as observers, paying $7,500 per head for the privilege.
It's a sign that the rift between Labor and business under Mark Latham may now be healing.
But it's also a sign of pragmatism on the part of business. They may not like parts of the Rudd agenda but they also can't ignore the polls.
Business editor Sheryle Bagwell reports.
ALP uranium policy
24/04/2007
Labor leader Kevin Rudd returned to Australia yesterday to yet another strong opinion poll.
And it's his high standing in the electorate that he'll use to push through his wish list at this weekend's ALP national conference in Sydney.
Kevin Rudd must stare down his critics on two major policy issues, industrial relations and uranium mining.
On uranium, a fierce internal battle has already erupted over Mr Rudd's plan to scrap Labor's no new mines policy.
But as Gordon Taylor reports from Canberra, the result may mean very little because the states will retain control over their own mining projects. Currently most states don't want any new uranium mines.
Michelle Grattan - Tuesday
03/04/2007
Hard hats were the fashion item of the day for the two leaders, with images of Kevin Rudd and the Prime Minister kicking the dust around different mine sites yesterday. It feels like an election campaign already.
Michelle Grattan joins Fran Kelly from Canberra.
