Recently, I spoke with Media Watch’s Jonathan Holmes about social media and politics. A podcast and (mostly correct) transcript of the interview are available on the ABC website.

I launched Stuart Cunningham’s new book Hidden Innovation tonight.

Launching Stuart Cunningham, Hidden Innovation: Policy, Industry and the Creative Sector
Paperchain Books, Manuka
9 April 2013

According to one study cited in Stuart Cunningham’s book, there are two opposing groups of people: ‘political junkies’ (PJs) and Big Brother fans (BBs). PJs think that it ‘beggars belief’ that anyone could think Big Brother was useful. BBs say that politicians are unapproachable and out of touch.

So as an MP who used to quite enjoy watching Big Brother, I found myself torn. Am I a BB or a PJ? A PJ in BBs? Or a BB in PJs?

The reference to Big Brother is just one of a myriad of cultural touchstones in this fascinating book. Stuart Cunningham’s book romps through Survivor and Go Back to Where you Came From, Korean bloggers and Fat Cow Motel, Australian iTunes game Fruit Ninja and Nigeria’s ‘Nollywood’.

Continue reading ‘Creativity and Innovation’ »

I spoke in parliament about changes in the media, information inequality, and the government’s proposed changes to media laws.

Media Law Reform, 20 March 2013

Great journalism really can change the world. Emile Zola’s ‘J’accuse’ letter did not just win Alfred Dreyfus his freedom; it helped to change the political character of modern France. When Woodward and Bernstein reported on Watergate, they brought down a president. In Australia, reporting by the Courier-Mail and Four Corners ended the Bjelke-Petersen government and led to the jailing of three ministers. In 2005, a newspaper article brought down New South Wales opposition leader John Brogden and probably changed the outcome of the 2007 New South Wales election.

Continue reading ‘Media Law Reform’ »

I spoke in parliament today about the late Channel 9 journalist Peter Harvey.

Peter Harvey, 13 March 2013

There is no better known sign-off in the Australian media than ‘Peter Harvey, Canberra’. It has resonated down through the ages. It has shaped so many Australians’ knowledge of politics and of this city, Canberra. Canberrans, or people who have recently moved to Canberra, will often choose to use Peter Harvey’s unique pronunciation of Canberra to define our city. It is just one mark of the man, just one mark that he left in a decades-long career covering Australian politics in journalism.

Continue reading ‘Peter Harvey’ »

On the Sky Showdown program, I spoke with presenter Chris Kenny and Liberal MP Jamie Briggs. Topics included why media laws needs to keep pace with changing technologies and the Coalition’s attempts to keep their cuts secret from voters.

On Sky Lunchtime Agenda, I spoke with host David Lipson and Liberal Senator Scott Ryan about the importance of treating asylum-seekers with dignity and compassion, and the value of making sure we have more and better-trained workers in the aged care sector.

I am inviting locals to come along and celebrate the newest members of our community at the third annual “Welcoming the Babies” event on Sunday 24 February 2013 (10.30am to 12.30pm) Glebe Park, Canberra City.

Continue reading ‘Welcoming the Babies’ »

For the third year running, I am inviting locals to come along and celebrate the newest members of our community at “Welcoming the Babies” on Sunday 24 February 2013 (10.30am to 12.30pm) Glebe Park, Canberra City.

Continue reading ‘Welcoming the Babies is Coming Soon!’ »

People in the ACT will soon enjoy a variety of health services in convenient locations, with the first sod turned on the ACT GP Super Clinic ‘hub’ in Bruce today.

Joining Minister Tanya Plibersek, and Chief Minister Katy Gallagher for the first sod-turned on the Bruce GP Super Clinic construction site

Continue reading ‘Work Begins on Canberra’s $15m GP Super Clinic “Hub”’ »

This month there are a series of free financial information sessions designed to help locals take control of their finances. They are a local and practical avenue for people of all ages to gain information on a range of important topics. The Australian Government has offered the Financial Information Service (FIS) for over 20 years, educating hundreds of thousands of people by providing information to help them plan for their future security. The experienced FIS Officers can show you how to make informed financial decisions and help you understand the consequences of those decisions in the short, medium and long term. These seminars are regularly held across the country, educating communities on a wide range of topics from superannuation and creating wealth, right through to finance and accommodation options in retirement and they’re not just for people receiving Centrelink payments – they are open to anyone interested, and are popular so bookings are essential.

Upcoming local seminars at Belconnen Premier Inn (110 Benjamin Way, Belconnen)

Age pension and your choices, Tuesday 12 February 2013, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm;
Running your own super fund, Thursday 14 February 2013, 6:00 pm to 8:30pm

For FIS seminar bookings call 13 6357 or email fis.seminar.bookings@humanservices.gov.au
To find out more about Human Services free Financial Information Service seminars visit humanservices.gov.au/fis.

For the last week in January we had a chat about superannuation, industrial relations and the Coalition’s lack of policy vision.

702 ABC Sydney with Richard Glover

2CC Breakfast With Mark Parton – 14 January 2013

I spoke with both Mark Parton and Richard Glover about Australia’s gun buy-back program. We chatted about Philip Alpers’ new paper for a Baltimore gun summit, and some of the issues it raised. Can population growth explain the increase in the number of guns in Australia? And has the number of households with a gun increased? Have a listen…

An edited version of one of my opinion pieces appears in The Australian today.

ONE of the myths in the carbon pricing debate has been the claim that “Australia has the world’s only economy-wide carbon price” (“carbon” being shorthand for four greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and perfluorocarbons from aluminium smelting).

Over recent years, members of the opposition have made such a claim in parliament more than 50 times. The theme has also been picked up by many newspaper articles. Indeed, even in this newspaper it has been claimed that Australia’s carbon price – uniquely in the world – covers the entire economy.

In fact, Australia’s carbon price excludes agriculture, smaller emitters and household transport (although some businesses will face an effective carbon price via changes to the present fuel tax regime). Overall, it captures about 60 per cent of total carbon emissions.

Continue reading ‘Climate Change Mythbusters: An Economy-Wide Carbon Price’ »

I did a doorstop interview this morning covering a range of current events leading into another Parliamentary sitting week. Among other things, I pointed out that the weekend violence does not represent the mainstream of peaceful Muslims in Australia, and argued that horserace polls are the fairy floss of modern politics – they’re rotting the teeth of the body politic.

Doorstop 17 September [ 9:41 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (21)

In the latest Quarterly Essay, I’ve penned a response to Laura Tingle’s discussion of the role of government, social spending, and whether Australians are congenitally cross.

Response to Laura Tingle’s Quarterly Essay ‘Great Expectations’
Published in Quarterly Essay #47 (2012)

In 2002, David Moss described the role of government as being the ultimate “risk manager.”[1] Governments, Moss believed, ought to act as a backstop for things that might go wrong in our lives. Just as we buy private insurance to pool our risk with other customers, so governments allow us to pool social risk across other citizens. You can think of your taxes partly as an insurance premium.

The notion of government as risk manager doesn’t cover the full gamut of what governments do, but it does encapsulate many of their important roles. For example, governments help guard against overseas threats and keep our streets safe. Managing risk explains why we have a social safety net to guard against the risk of poverty, a public health care system to deal with the risk of illness, and a public education system to remove the risk that a poor family might not be able to afford to educate their child.

Continue reading ‘Government as Risk Manager’ »

On ABC 666 Pollie Panel, I spoke with presenter Ross Solly and Liberal Senator Gary Humphries about muckraking in politics and the half-billion of planned investment in the resource sector. Podcast here.

The long tail of academic publishing means that two years after leaving my professorial post at ANU, I’m still having pieces appear in the journals. In case it’s of interest, here are the handful of publications that have come out in 2012.

1. ‘Does Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Vary Across Minority Groups? Evidence From a Field Experiment’ (with Alison Booth and Elena Varganova) (2012) Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics
2. ‘Bargaining Over Labor: Do Patients Have Any Power?’ (with Joshua Gans) (2012) Economic Record
3. ‘How Much Did the 2009 Australian Fiscal Stimulus Boost Demand? Evidence from Household-Reported Spending Effects‘, B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics
4. ‘How Partisan is the Press? Multiple Measures of Media Slant’ (with Joshua Gans) (2012) Economic Record
5. ‘Teacher Pay and Teacher Aptitude’ (2012) Economics of Education Review
6. ‘The Economics and Politics of Teacher Merit Pay’ (2012), CESifo Economic Studies (forthcoming)
7. ‘Intergenerational Income Mobility in Urban China’ (with Cathy Gong and Xin Meng) (2012) Review of Income and Wealth (forthcoming)
8. ‘Effects of Temporary In-Work Benefits for Welfare Recipients: Examination of the Australian Working Credit Programme’ (with Roger Wilkins) (2012), Fiscal Studies (forthcoming)
   

All my academic work – including many replication datasets – is available at www.andrewleigh.org.

I talked politics and social media with Thomas Tudehope at the Centre for Independent Studies last week. The video is now up if you want to check it out.

From Monday 3 September, Canberrans will be able to access both Medicare and Centrelink services in a single facility on Lonsdale Street, Braddon. The co-location will provide greater convenience, and will offer additional services such as a trial of Case Coordination for more complex job-seeking situations. I’m a big fan of trying new things to see what works in public policy and it’s great to see this happening in my own electorate.

Despite a misleading scare campaign, it’s clear that with the disabled parking spots out the front, the convenient location to Civic Bus Interchange and bus routes 7, 56 and 58 passing through Braddon, access to important services will still be easy.

More information is available in the media release below, or you can call my office on 6247 4396 or email me at Andrew.Leigh.MP {at} aph.gov.au if you have any additional queries.

Continue reading ‘One-stop-shop for Medicare and Centrelink opens next month’ »

On Sky AM Agenda, I spoke with host Kieran Gilbert and Liberal MP Steve Ciobo about Australia’s strong pipeline of mining investment, the review of the Fair Work Act, and how policymakers should respond to changes in the media landscape.

On ABC24, I spoke with Nick Grimm about my speech The Naked Truth? Media and Politics in the Digital Age.

I gave the inaugural ‘Challenge Your Mind’ lecture at the University of Canberra today, speaking on the topic of the media and politics.

The Naked Truth? Media and Politics in the Digital Age*

Andrew Leigh MP
Federal Member for Fraser
www.andrewleigh.com

‘Challenge Your Mind’ University of Canberra Public Lecture Series
1 August 2012

The Truth, Naked

At the end of 1992, a team of us got together at Sydney University to run for the student newspaper, Honi Soit. We needed a name with a hint of journalistic credibility and a bucketload of electoral appeal, and so we opted to call ourselves ‘The Naked Truth’.

We threw ourselves into the campaign with the kind of frisky eagerness only a dozen 20 year-olds can muster. By day we sang our campaign song to bemused classes, removing much of our clothing to reinforce the team name. By night we put up posters and chalked ‘The Naked Truth’ around the campus. One of our team, Verity Firth, even brought along her younger brother Charles to help out. A class of medical students promised to vote for us en bloc if a member of the Naked Truth team would streak through their lecture hall. One of us obliged.

Continue reading ‘The Naked Truth? Media and Politics in the Digital Age’ »

I’m speaking at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney on 7 Aug, on the topic ‘Politics and the Media: A New Spin?’. Details below.

Continue reading ‘Politics and the Media: A New Spin?’ »

I’m speaking at the University of Canberra on 1 August, on the topic ‘The Naked Truth? Media and Politics in the Digital Age’. Details below.

Continue reading ‘Media and Politics in the Digital Age’ »

I spoke in parliament today about the changing media landscape, and its impact on those journalists who live in my electorate.

The Changing Media Landscape
21 June 212

I rise to speak about the policy and personal implications of changes in the media. In 1970 there were more daily newspapers sold than televisions in Australia; now for every daily newspaper sold there are four televisions. We used to say of the political coverage in Australia that the media cycle had become a cyclone, but that cyclone now seems to be sweeping across the journalists themselves. My heart goes out to the 1,900 Fairfax journalists whose jobs have been lost in the recent restructure. I am particularly aware of this, representing the north side of the ACT—the ACT being the jurisdiction probably more affected by media losses than anywhere else.

Continue reading ‘The Changing Media Landscape’ »

On Sky AM Agenda this morning, I spoke with host David Lipson and Liberal MP Kelly O’Dwyer. We discussed Gina Rinehart’s refusal to sign the Fairfax Charter of Editorial Independence, the reforms needed to put the Eurozone back on track, why Australia shouldn’t be ashamed of our economic strength, and the fact that Australia will this year join 25 other OECD countries in putting a price on carbon. At one point, Kelly O’Dwyer incorrectly claimed that the Australian carbon price is economy-wide, when in fact it covers around 60% of domestic emissions (you can argue about whether that’s good or bad, but it’s the simple fact).

I spoke in Parliament today about the late ABC journalist Alan Saunders, a polymath of the airwaves. My radio listening will be poorer for his passing.

Alan Saunders
18 June 2012

ABC’s Radio National is one of Australia’s great public institutions, and I rise to speak about the late Alan Saunders, who died unexpectedly last Friday. Alan Saunders spent 25 years with Radio National. He moved to Australia in 1981 to pursue research at the Australian National University’s History of Ideas unit, where he received a PhD. He received the Pascall Prize for critical writing and broadcasting in 1992. He contributed to programs about food, design and philosophy. As Amanda Armstrong put it:

Continue reading ‘Alan Saunders’ »

I spoke yesterday on ABC 666 with Ross Solly about the events of recent days, and took calls from listeners. Here’s a podcast.

My monthly column in the Chronicle newspaper is about reading.

National Year of Reading, The Chronicle, April 2012

When Dick Adams left high school, he wasn’t able to read or write. It didn’t worry him much. As he told his local paper, ‘I was too busy playing cricket, helping my family on the farm, hunting and fishing’. But eventually, he realised that it would be hard to get far in life without reading and writing, so he found an adult literacy teacher and spent four years learning to read and write.

Today, Dick is a federal MP for the seat of Lyons in Tasmania. At Parliament House, he occupies the office two doors down from mine. He’s someone I can always trust for advice, and I know I’m not the only parliamentarian who feels that way.

Continue reading ‘In Praise of Bookworms’ »

In a recent forum at the ANU Crawford School, I joined Reframe author Eric Knight, change.org‘s Rebecca Wilson, Liberal MP Joshua Frydenberg and Big Ideas host Paul Barclay to discuss the topic ‘Beyond Populist Politics and Policies’. A podcast of the show (from ABC Radio National) is now available.