Thanks for joining me and Andrew Meares for the mini blog today.
I didn't get the sense Prime Minister Kevin Rudd feels there is any urgency to call the election, did you?
We will see you out there in political wonderland some time soon.
That was really the full Rudd and dice on display there.
There were hand gestures, frequent use of the word "folks", a new addition to the Ruddicon - babies are now "munchkins", a reference to John Maynard Keynes, a reference to Monty Python and a self deprecating quip about his nerdiness (this could refer to either the discussion about the prime ministerial shaving cut or Mr Rudd's love of graphs).
If you'd like to read just a once over of the speech you can find our story about it here.
There is also a separate piece about what Mr Rudd's comments on Lisa Clutterham's might mean about her preselection chances. (This also contains a video with an interview Ms Clutterham recorded with The Age's Clay Lucas earlier today.)
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday. Photo: Andrew Meares
I'm just going to post this picture of Treasurer Chris Bowen largely because I find it a bit hard keeping up with who's who in the new ministry and this helps jog my memory.
Mr Bowen, funnily enough, will be making his own appearance at the National Press Club next week to launch his book in which he details the direction he believes the Labor Party should take.
Treasurer Chris Bowen listens to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday. Photo: Andrew Meares
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has brushed aside the Prime Minister's suggestion that he is too negative.
"All Mr Rudd has is criticism of the opposition," Mr Abbott said in Melbourne a short time ago.
"He had a plan to destroy a prime minister but he doesn't have a plan for the country."
Mr Abbott was also asked about the future of the government's education reforms.
Mr Abbott said all states and territories would need to commit to the changes before the Coalition would support them.
This is significant because it appears to be a hardening of the Coalition's position. Previously education spokesman Christopher Pyne had said the changes would be considered if a majority of states and territories signed up.
Dr Matthew Call shows Mr Abbott immune system proteins at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne. Photo: Jason South
A "greatest hits" package of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's address to the National Press Club can be seen here.
National Press Club address
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd calls for a pact between government, business, and unions to drive economic competitiveness beyond the resource boom.
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If you'd like to read the full transcript of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's speech you will find it here (NB - it is the speech only not the questions and answers).
Mr Rudd confirms he will travel to Papua New Guinea next week (hmmm - I'm not sensing that Mr Rudd has any particular desire to head into an election campaign any time soon, are you?).
His final question is about the adequacy of the unemployment payment, Newstart.
Mr Rudd confirms that cabinet will look at the level of Newstart as well as issue of the 84,000 single parents who were moved from the sole parent payment to Newstart on January 1 this year.
Mr Rudd says he does not want to raise expectations that anything can be done but "we will be doing what we can".
And that's a wrap for Mr Rudd's appearance at the National Press Club, people.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday. Photo: Andrew Meares
Mr Rudd is asked about his plan to reform the way leaders of the Labor Party are elected.
Would the planned changes work if Labor was in opposition (typically a time of greater turnover in the top job)?
Mr Rudd says how the reforms would apply in an opposition are "open for discussion".
What the reforms are really aimed at doing, Mr Rudd explains, is reassuring voters that if they cast a vote for Labor led by a particular person that that person will "still be there after the election".
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday. Photo: Andrew Meares
Ah boats, asylum seekers, immigration policy and the like.
Mr Rudd says he is not about to come up with a three word slogan because he thinks "the Australian people are too intelligent to tolerate that kind of thing from us or anyone else".
But, he concedes, the numbers of people coming to Australia by boat is a "real problem" and a "growing problem" and "we are required to change our policy" when new facts appear.
Mr Rudd is asked if he would change industrial relations laws if business asked him to.
Mr Rudd says that business is not using the existing Fair Work Act enough as it is.
And the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, has tweeted in:
"Temporary stimulus" is like a "temporary deficit"....31 school halls are still under construction NOW for the 2008 BER # KRuddmp
— Joe Hockey (@JoeHockey) July 11, 2013
"I'm a human, I shave, I cut myself from time to time and, guess what, it bleeds," Mr Rudd says when asked why he shared the photo of his shaving cut.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday. Photo: Andrew Meares
Mr Rudd is asked about Lisa Clutterham (you couldn't say that her interview this morning hasn't garnered her national attention).
"I thought it was a pretty curious interview", Mr Rudd says, noting he has not met Ms Clutterham.
(Ms Clutterham has been backed by supporters of Mr Rudd.)
Mr Rudd says a local community connection is a good thing but candidates should also have skills and be able to demonstrate how he/she could promote the community's interests in Parliament.
"I am out for the best possible people we can get," Mr Rudd says before stressing that his "overwhelming preference is local ballots".
In other words, the Prime Minister is not going to be drawn into backing a candidate in the race for Lalor.
Mr Rudd concludes by saying all this is possible.
"I believe we can transition Australia again, capturing the gains of the Asian century while diversifying the Australian economy so that in the future we have all sectors, all our cities and our regional centres lifting their economic performance."
"Australian Labor governments manage transitions. We sketch the future. We harness the energy and ambition of our people. And as the people's government we put policy to work to put the changes in place that best secures our future."
[Note the phrase "the people's government" - I bet you hear that a lot in the future.]
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd addresses the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday. Photo: Andrew Meares
Mr Rudd takes out a graph.
(His staff warned him against in case he was accused of "excessive programmatic specificity".)
There's a (gulp) seven point plan to help us be more competitive.
Let me summarise them for you:
- the cost of electricity is too high by international standards and is affecting both business and consumers;
- the industrial relations system is working, pretty much, but some businesses could use it more to make their operations more efficient and profitable;
- not all the problems of business are due to the labour market;
- there are too many environmental assessments required by state and federal governments and the aim should be "one single integrated assessment system";
- we must be better educated particularly in vocational education;
- we need more trains, roads, freight, wires and lines (aka infrastructure); and
- things should be better for small business.
Mr Rudd harks back to the dark days of 2008 when things were decidely murky on the international finance stage and his record in keeping Australia from falling into recession.
Nearly five years on and Mr Rudd says "the three Ps" - population, workforce participation and productivity - continue as "the core economic future for the future".
Mr Rudd says there must be a "new national competitiveness agenda" to lift Australia's annual productivity growth rate to at least two per cent.
Mr Rudd has had four meetings in the past fortnight with the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Council of Trade Unions to discuss the issues around productivity.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd addresses the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday. Photo: Andrew Meares
Mr Rudd says he had wanted to debate Opposition Leader Tony Abbott about the economy.
But Mr Abbott isn't there so he will continue on that theme solo.
Mr Rudd says there is danger Australia will price itself out of the market. He points to the recent decline in the terms of trade as a "critical influence" on jobs and the standard of living.
"The truth is in 2013 - the China resources boom is over," Mr Rudd says.
"Right now we find ourselves at a crossover point for our national economy."
For anyone who was made aware of Mr Rudd's shaving cut yesterday (and that's anyone who uses any kind of social media) - it's getting better. See?
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd points to his healed shaving cut before the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday. Photo: Andrew Meares
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd begins by saying his faith and optimism in Australia is based on a "cold, hard, rational analysis of the facts".
"And the core fact is this - Australia is seen around the world as one of the strongest economics, most stable of societies and a national underpinned by a robust national security. For these reasons I object to anybody in our national political debate talking Australia down. Of course there are things we need to improve and the process of reform is never ending."
"That is different to a daily diatribe of negative politics who's single objective is to cause the Australian people to feel that our country is on the verge of falling apart - if not now, then certainly by next Thursday afternoon."
(No, there's no empty chair - Clint Eastwood style - at the Press Club.)
Nearly ready to go at the National Press Club.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is about to start speaking. He had a brief chat with the dashing Mark Kenny, chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, on the way in.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with chief political correspondent Mark Kenny on Thursday. Photo: Andrew Meares
I love a good political debate. I think it's a bad thing all round that the most a federal election campaign can produce these days is one head to head encounter with the leaders of the major parties. But then I would say that, wouldn't I?
The Greens were frustrated when former prime minister Julia Gillard did not make good on her commitment to set up a Leader's Debate Commission (to be fair to Ms Gillard events somewhat overtook her in that final week of Parliament).
The commission would be independent and set dates for at least three debates within a period of three months before a general election. (Naturally the Greens wanted to be included in the debate line up.)
The idea would put an end to the current state of play where the major parties faff around on dates, format, host, panel, location and finger food until there is only time for one encounter.
Reporter Henrietta Cook is with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
She has filed this update from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research: "Mr Abbott is being taken on a tour of the institute and is wearing a starched lab coat and glasses. He chats with scientists, peers through a microscope and inspects slides of proteins."
Wow - if the social media reaction to Lisa Clutterham (see 11.38am post) is anything to go by her political career will be shorter than Mal Meninga's.
Do you think people who want to seek preselection should live in the electorate before nominating?
Mr Rudd will receive membership to the Press Club for his speaking efforts. But no special treatment for him - he'll be member number 8125.
A National Press Club membership card for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Photo: Andrew Meares
One of my co pilots, Alex Ellinghausen, is making his way back from Indonesia after accompanying Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on his first overseas trip.
Andrew Meares is the man with the camera today.
Earlier on he captured this image of former trade minister Craig Emerson giving a kind score to his replacement - Richard Marles - at an event at the Australian National University in Canberra.
Former Trade minister Craig Emerson scored his replacement, Richard Marles, at an address to the Australian National University in Canberra on Thursday. Photo: Andrew Meares
Where is Opposition Leader Tony Abbott today? He's in Melbourne and will shortly tour a medical research facility. I'll bring you some snippets from his visit and the subsequent media interview when I have them. Funnily enough the visit is happening at the same time as Mr Rudd's speech.
Online political editor Tim Lester recorded this interview with Greens Senator Larissa Waters and the man who is still technically a senator even though his time is spent campaigning to be elected to the lower house seat of New England, Barnaby Joyce. They are discussing what they would like Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to talk about at the Press Club in a wee while.
Rudd 'is not omnipotent'
Two senators put their economic questions for the PM: national debt and deficit for Barnaby Joyce, and the gap between rich and poor for Larissa Waters.
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Back to the Prime Minister's speech for a moment.
It is called - wait for it - "A new national competitiveness agenda for Australia".
A few select lines have been handed out ahead of time. They would take, I estimate, about five minutes to read out. Mr Rudd manages to refer to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as negative six times.
This is emerging as a bit of a theme, isn't it? In Mr Rudd's first question time as prime minister he went hard on the theme of wanting to be positive and that the Coalition's method of opposing things was old politics.
Here's a flavour of what we can expect in about 45 minutes' time: "Mr Abbott is a formidable politician - formidable in the art of negative politics. But a 100 per cent diet of negative politics is a lazy substitute for the hard work that is needed to develop, argue and implement policies that will change Australia for the better."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd during a press conference in Canberra on Monday 8 July. Photo: Andrew Meares
Ms Clutterham currently works as a diplomat in Papua New Guinea. In this morning's interview she was very open about not having lived in Melbourne (although she has visited it) and that she only recently joined the Labor Party. She certainly couldn't be accused of being a career politician, sound bite ready and sounding the same as everyone else in politics.
Isn't this what we are supposed to want? People who aren't well versed in spin, who are honest about their situation and want to give politics a go?
The story about Ms Clutterham - whose bid is being supported by backers of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd - can be found here.
People who are interested in the internecine world of Labor Party preselections should take a look at this edited highlights package of MP wannabe Lisa Clutterham.
Ms Clutterham would very much like to replace former prime minister Julia Gillard in the plum Melbourne seat of Lalor. (Take a number Lisa - so would several other people.)
Whether or not this interview with the ABC's Jon Faine helps her case for preselection is another matter. I thought Ms Clutterham was "refreshingly honest" and "candid" but I was the only person in the office who thought so.
Watch the video and see what you think.
'I don't have a connection to Melbourne'
Potential Labor preselection candidate Lisa Clutterham tells ABC's Jon Faine that she has no connection to Melbourne or Julia Gillard's seat of Lalor, other than her partner visiting Werribee as a child.
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Mr Rudd has been Prime Minister for a fortnight now.
One of the first things Mr Rudd did was challenge Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to a debate at the National Press Club in Canberra.
No one thought this was actually going to happen - why would Mr Abbott front up to an event dreamt up entirely by his competitor? The chances of that happening were as likely as Mr Rudd agreeing that Mr Abbott had a point about the need for the date of the election to be revealed. Still, it gives people something to talk about.
The speech will begin at 12.30pm. Don't forget to watch out for the many hands of Kevin.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd during a press conference on Monday 8 July. Photo: Andrew Meares
Before we get going a quick "Happy Birthday" to the chap who served as Australia's 21st prime minister - Gough Whitlam.
Mr Whitlam turns 97 today. I hope there's cake involved.
I think we all knew today's event at the National Press Club was not going to be a debate between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. But an address by Mr Rudd is still something to keep an eye on - think of it as a warm up for the election campaign.
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