Last night’s terse conversation between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and 7.30 Report host Kerry O’Brien had many pundits conclude that the pressure is getting to the PM and what we saw was a meltdown comparible with that of former Labor leader Mark Latham.

To quote Lindsay Tanner, “if that was a meltdown you should see my three-year-old daughter”.

What we saw was not the real meltdown but a carefully edited version of a tirade by the PM which went to air. In a Groupthink Exclusive, we have obtained a transcript of the unedited exchange between Mr Rudd and Kerry O’Brien on ETS reversal, which makes for interesting reading.

You decide if indeed the Prime Minister has had a meltdown (contains course language).

KERRY O’BRIEN: I said brand Rudd, you said the Government. I’m talking about Kevin Rudd, I’m talking about your image, your credibility, your brand.

Whether some of those that appear to have been lost to you this year come back before the next election, or not, do you understand why so many people have turned against you now, Kevin Rudd, not just the Government, Kevin Rudd, and do you accept that they have judged your leadership and found you wanting?

KEVIN RUDD: Kerry, that is a question which, um, you should, um, put to other folk, political commentators like that pisshead Milne and the rest. My job is to get on with the business of …

KERRY O’BRIEN: No, I’m putting it to you…

KEVIN RUDD: …no, no…fuck off!

KERRY O’BRIEN: …because you can’t possibly suggest that this does not exercise your mind at all, that you are so focused, you’re so focused on Government that you’re not concerned about whether you’re losing support going into the next election?

KEVIN RUDD: I’d expect that sort of fuckin shit from a ranga! Kerry, look I’m human like anyone else and of course you’d, um. be, um, um, if you weren’t affected by developments from time to time, that’s just the truth of it.  This business sucks shit at the best of time and the Australian public are a bunch of ungrateful cunts …

What’s the reality that I had to confront there? Well two realities. One is that them bastard Liberals backflipped and voted our legislation down, having negotiated an agreement with Mr Turnbull to get it through. That is the reality we had to confront, but I don’t see any of those fuckwit greenies who think they’re saving the world by reusing shopping bags having a go at Abbott like the big-eared piece of shit scum he is.

And the second reality is this, that when we got to Copenhagen it didn’t produce the sort of progress and the global agenda that we all had hoped, therefore where do we go to from here? I tell you where we go – to fucking buggery Kerry because the world is fucked.

KERRY O’BRIEN: but um…

KEVIN RUDD: No, hang on, let me finish, you smart arsed ginger fuck! You’ve asked me a pretty fundamental question here which is about how the actions which I’m responsible for and the Government’s responsible for are being seen.  How about let me finish before I tear you a new arsehole … you twat stick.

On the question of climate change our view hasn’t changed one bit. The greenhouse gas reduction targets remain the same, our commitment to a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is the best way of getting there is the same, but we can’t alter the fact the those Liberal Party arse wipes  voted this down in the Senate…

KERRY O’BRIEN: OK, but…

KEVIN RUDD: … fuck up, therefore we have to…

KERRY O’BRIEN: …but there’s one thing you can’t escape and that is this: it is still in your hands to go to the next election on the issue as you defined as ‘a great moral challenge of our time’, an issue on which you accused the Opposition of political, of absolute political cowardice, it’s in your hands to go to the next election, seek a double dissolution, whether you seek a double dissolution or not and make this ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) a fresh mandate for the people to decide and tell both sides of politics what they want.

Now you have squibbed that decision. You have put this on the backburner until 2013, at least, in the Budget makes that clear?

KEVIN RUDD: You know something, Rooster Pubes; I will be delighted to fight Mr Abbott on the next election, at the next election, whenever it is held, on climate change absolutely… I’d be happy to fight the little cunt in a cage armed with nothing but a tow rope and a Stanley knife.

KERRY O’BRIEN: On the ETS?

KEVIN RUDD: Fuck yeah. On climate change and actions to bring it about. The bottom line is this: we believe in climate change, he says it’s absolute crap – like his momma.

We believe that an emissions trading scheme is the most effective and cheapest way of getting there, he has rejected that position despite the Liberal Party having formally embraced it. I now have to confront the reality of that is what he’s done and now I’m the one who looks like the areshole here.

The other thing is this, and this is the second reality I referred to before which you skipped over like the fuckwit you are, and that is that the progress on global action has been slower than a monga doing the fuckin NAPLAN test.

That is why we’ve announced a decision that we would, ah, not seek to reintroduce this legislation until the end of the Kyoto commitment period and on the basis that global action has been slower than the service at Gloria Jeans – fuck I hate that joint!

KERRY O’BRIEN: …but, but Mr Rudd…

KEVIN RUDD: …no, get fucked Fanta pants, let me finish, in the meantime what we will do…

KERRY O’BRIEN: Mr Rudd, when the Opposition tried to argue with you on holding back a vote on the ETS until after Copenhagen, that is, until after the world had made a stand, you said that was absolute political cowardice.

So why is it now not absolute political cowardice for you to show leadership on this to the rest of the world by seeking to take the Australian people with you at the next election on an ETS?

KEVIN RUDD: You know something Kerry, where I think you’re full of fucking shit is um, frankly being absent from the negotiations in Copenhagen themselves.

There was no government in the world like the Australian Government which threw its every energy at bringing about a deal, a global deal, on climate change. Penny Wong and I sat up for three days and three nights on the piss with 20 leaders from around the world to try and frame a global agreement. Do you know who shit Carlsberg beer is Kerry?

Now it might be easy for you to sit in 7:30 Report land with your lazy ABC public service colleagues, canteen, Leigh Sales and one of those machines that makes hot fuckin chocolate and say that was easy to do. Let me tell you mate, it wasn’t.

We are fundamentally committed to climate change. We could not get the accord that we wanted. As a consequence we need to do further work on the global front, further work on the national front because I am absolutely fucking passionate about acting on climate change while every other cunt is running around like a bitch worrying about what the fucking Greeks are gonna do next. Fuck the fuckin’ Greeks! And Portugal!

We’ve been frustrated domestically politically, frustrated internationally, and fucked up the arse like Elton John by the lack of progress there, but we will not be deterred, we will progress this matter and we will achieve the best possible means of bringing down our greenhouse gas reductions, greenhouse gas, levels in the future.

And the bottom line is this Strawbs, the bottom line is this: there is no way you can stare in the mirror in the future and say that you have passed up the core opportunity to act on climate change. I will not do that. The Government that I lead will not do that, but I cannot wish away the two realities I’ve just referred to. So next time you accuse me of squibbing I shit you fucking not, I’ll tear your ginger head off your shoulders and shit down your fucking wind pipe.
KERRY O’BRIEN: OK… OK

KEVIN RUDD: … no fuck OK, the two realities are there. You smug prick.