E&OE TRANSCRIPTDOORSTOPMONDAY5 OCTOBER 2009LOS ANGELES

ISSUES: Dr Elizabeth Blackburn; Green skills; Interest rates; Liberal Party.

JULIA GILLARD: Given I’m here in California, I would especially like to congratulate Dr Elizabeth Blackburn, an Australian who has received the Nobel Prize, the first Australian woman to do so. She, of course, lives and works here in California at the University of California at Berkley. So my very sincere congratulations go to her on such a remarkable achievement.

Today, I’m here in the city of Los Angeles. I’m here at the Los Angeles Technical and Trades College looking at green skills. What this visit has reinforced in me is that people who undertake very traditional trades – our plumbers, our carpenters, our electricians, our motor mechanics – have a place in the green economy of the future.

What we need to make sure is that the green skills they need to do their jobs in the new economy are part of our training system right throughout our country.

We’ve already taken a first step with green skills being taught to 30,000 Australian apprentices but we do need to do more and what I’ve seen today can feed into our policy development as we look to do more.

Here in Los Angeles under the leadership of Governor Schwarzenegger, this is a state that is looking to the future; this is a state that is leading on climate change adaption; and this is a state that’s leading on green skills and I’ve seen that on display today at this college.

JOURNALIST:Just on more local issues, firstly with a possible interest rate rise in Australia today, do you feel like the Government’s doing enough and you feel satisfied they’re doing enough to do what you can to keep it from rising?

JULIA GILLARD:Well of course interest rates are set independently by the Reserve Bank. No one wants to see families put under any pressure when it comes to interest rates, but interest rates are at emergency lows as a result of the global financial crisis and global recession. So at some point we would expect to see interest rates go up.

JOURNALIST: Just on, with the Liberal Party, with Peter Dutton losing pre-selection, is this just another example of the Liberal Party in disarray to you?

JULIA GILLARD: I think this matter involving the Liberal Party and Mr Dutton shows, yet again, the Liberal Party is intrigued by the Liberal Party but they’re not talking about the issues that really matter for the nation’s future.

As a Government we’re focused on battling the global recession, on dealing with the challenge of climate change, on delivering our education revolution, on the future of our health system. These are the issues people care about; meanwhile the Liberal Party just spends its days talking about the Liberal Party.

JOURNALIST:Do you think that is a reason for the recent opinion polls with Malcolm Turnbull at another low for him?

JULIA GILLARD: I’m not going to comment on polls and obviously they come and go, but what I would say is the Liberal Party is spending its days talking about and thinking about the Liberal Party. What we’re doing is focusing on the major issues that matter for our nation’s future.

ENDS.