THE HON. KEVIN RUDD
PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA

Kevin Rudd, good evening.

Good evening Bryan.

Now, you’ve announced you’re having a summit meeting with a number of very prominent Australians.

Yes, and some not very prominent ones.

Yes, because the government will be there, won’t they?

Yes, I meant there’ll be a lot of ordinary people there as well.

Yes, the federal ministers will all be in attendance won’t they?

Yes, the point I’m making is that a great many people who aren’t in politics at all will be at the…

At the talkfest.

At the ideas summit. It’s not a talkfest Bryan. It’s an ideas summit.

Mr Rudd. Hasn’t the country just voted for you on the basis of the ideas you put before the electorate?

It has but before embarking on this great adventure into the future we want to get the benefit of the best ideas in the country.

Rather than your own.

As well as our own.

So you’ve got a few?

We’re knee-deep in them down at the institute, yes. We’ll be priming the pump with a few of our own ideas.

And then the others will follow.

They will, as the night the day.

How have you selected the people who’ll be there?

We’ve tried to attract a broad range of people with a wide spectrum of expertise and most importantly of course, people with ideas.

What sort of ideas will they bring to the table?

We won’t know till they get there but I think there are going to be some very good ideas.

It’s in April, isn’t it?

It is, yes.

Is that a particularly good time for ideas, is it? April?

It’s a particularly propitious period for ideas, yes.

Why is that?

I don’t know. That’s an interesting question.

Will you bring that up?

I could bring that up, yes.

Yes, I’d like to know.

We might start off with that one. That could get things going nicely.

Do you think this is anything like Mr Hawke’s great whatever it was…

Talkfest.

Wasn’t Mr Hawke’s an ideas summit?

At the time they thought it was but no, it’s not similar except in the sense that it’s an ecumenical, broad, very inclusive and very wide-ranging…

Talkfest.

Ideas summit.

And you expect it to come up with some ideas?

I’m sure it will.

Why?

I know what some of them are going to say.

What are they going to say?

They’re going to say it’s great to have an ideas summit.

Where are they going to say this?

At the talkfest.