Andrew Leigh

THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP

LAUNCHING ADAM MASTERS AND JOHN UHR'S 'LEADERSHIP PERFORMANCE AND RHETORIC'

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

THURSDAY, 15 FEBRUARY 2018

Words matter. That's truer now than ever before. In the age of Twitter and Trump, in the age of fast paced social media, the notion that leadership and rhetoric are inextricably tied together is a critical one.

I first came to think hard about the value of public rhetoric while working for Michael Kirby as his High Court associate in the late 1990s, then furthered that interest at Harvard, serving as teaching fellow to Michael Waldman, who had just stepped down as Bill Clinton's chief speechwriter. I have on the wall of my parliamentary office a large photograph of Barack Obama speaking in Manassas on the eve of the 2008 election – perhaps the best campaigning political speech ever given.

 ANDREW LEIGH MP, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

TIM HAMMOND MP, SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS

GOVERNMENT ADOPTS LABOR’S POLICIES - TWO YEARS LATE

Two years after Labor called for an increase in anti-consumer penalties, the Turnbull Government has finally introduced a bill to Parliament.

On June 15, 2016, Labor announced a plan to reform competition, stating that we would increase civil penalties, increase penalties for anti-competitive conduct, increase the ACCC’s litigation budget and give a market studies function to the ACCC.

610 days later, the Turnbull Government finally introduced a bill to legislate part of that plan.

While we welcome Scott Morrison and his colleagues adopting our idea to increase in penalties for anti-consumer conduct, we’d also encourage them to take on the rest of our measures.

CLOSING THE GAP CHARITY COULD BE CAUGHT BY THE LIBERALS’ WAR ON CHARITIES

Charities remain fearful after Malcolm Turnbull refused to clarify aspects of his government’s poorly written bill which could silence civil society.

In Question Time today, Tanya Plibersek asked:

In his Closing the Gap speech yesterday, the Prime Minister lauded the Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity, part-funded by US based Atlantic Philanthropies, which aims to produce community leaders who will speak up and push for social change. Can the Prime Minister confirm that his new electoral rules would mean Atlantic Fellows would be defined as a “political campaigner” and would be forced to hand back the US$50 million donation that made their good work possible?

Mr Turnbull’s response?

I reject the assertion in that question completely.

A refusal to answer the question is not good enough.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

WEDNESDAY, 14 FEBRUARY 2018

SUBJECT/S: Valentine’s Day in Canberra; Turnbull Government’s love for millionaires and multinationals.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning, everyone. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and the Federal Member for Fenner. And as a Canberra representative, can I just wish all of you happy Valentine’s Day and acknowledge that there really is no more romantic city in Australia than Canberra. When the kangaroos are jumping, the kookaburras are singing, the restaurants are open and you’ve got weather like today, you reflect to yourself what a gorgeous, romantic city this is.

But on a less lovely note, we’ve had reports today that a fifth of Australia’s biggest companies paid zero tax for at least three years. Now I admit multinational tax dodging might not be the most romantic topic in the world, but it’s pretty important. This report suggests that some big Australian companies haven’t paid tax for up to a decade. And yet the Turnbull Government’s top priority is a $65 billion company tax cut.

The Turnbull Government needs to break up with multinational tax dodgers and fall in love with ordinary Australians. They need to stand on the side of ordinary Australians who don’t want to see their income taxes go up, rather than protecting large multinational corporations and millionaires, the only people getting a tax cut under the Turnbull Government.

LABOR HAS NO LOVE FOR TAX AVOIDERS THIS VALENTINE’S DAY

One in five of Australia’s biggest companies have paid no tax for at least the past three years, but Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison’s priority still remains giving a $65 billion tax cut to big business.

Today’s report should be cause for heartbreak in the Turnbull Government, but Mr Morrison remains infatuated with tax-dodging multinationals.

SPEECH - FEDERATION CHAMBER

TUESDAY, 13 FEBRUARY 2018

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is thousands of hardworking Canberrans may soon have a quick and easy way to get to work.

But the bad news is the coalition is trying to stop it. I'm afraid Liberal Senator Zed Seselja is trying his best to hold up investment in public transport and light rail in Canberra.

We know a majority of Canberrans don't agree with it. In fact, the people of this city went to an election on this issue; actually, they went to two elections on this issue.

SPEECH - FEDERATION CHAMBER

MONDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2018

For the last 10 weeks, Canberrans Jackson Bursill and Cassie Cohen have been pounding the pavements down our vast and varied east coast.

Jackson and Cassie's Bounding Plains to Share project will take them from Cooktown to Melbourne. They will run 4,000 kilometres in 100 days, with each day marked by local stories of refugees who have enriched Australia after fleeing persecution and conflict overseas.

Bounding Plains to Share celebrates people who've made our country a better place, very much in the spirit of the Welcome to Australia movement.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2018

SUBJECTS: Closing the Gap report card, Labor’s compensation scheme promise, Barnaby Joyce, company tax cuts.

KIERAN GILBERT: With me on the program now, Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. If we start where we concluded with Simon Birmingham in relation to the company tax cuts. Major businesses - Andrew Mackenzie the chief executive of BHP saying that if tax cuts flow, investment will also flow. And if you don’t, he says there are questions raised as to whether companies like his – the largest miner in the world – will choose to continue to make new investments in countries like ours.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Kieran, let’s start with what the Government says the benefit is to households would be of their company tax cut. They say that if you cut company taxes and fund it by raising income taxes on middle income Australia, household income grows by 0.1 per cent in the 2030s. If you put that in practical terms, that means you get one extra month of household income growth in the 2030s-

GILBERT: Why did Labor support company tax cuts previously then? Is it a road to Damascus conversion?

LEIGH: We were doing that in a context in which we were closing loopholes, Kieran-

GILBERT: You saw benefits, though, previously?

LEIGH: Good tax reform involves broadening the base and lowering the rate. This is simply rate lowering at the expense of middle income Australians. The Liberals’ own modelling is saying it’s delivering an extra month’s household income growth in the 2030s. At a time when debt’s just passed a half a trillion dollar mark, it doesn’t seem like a great use of tax payer money to me.

SPEECH - HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

THURSDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2018

This has been one of the most emotional weeks that I've seen in politics in my 7½ years in this place, a tough week for people on both sides of the House, where the personal has melted into the political, when private lives have been splashed across the front page and pulled apart in this very chamber.

The incredibly brave member for Longman was yesterday forced to relive one of the hardest experiences of her life: the moment when, as a six-year-old, her mother dropped off her school and never came back to pick her up. Her gracious speech, given in the face of intense scrutiny, her capiacity for forgiveness instead of hatred, is what we should strive for as politicians.

THE LIBERALS’ WAR ON CHARITIES

SPEECH – MATTER OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

THURSDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2018

On Monday, Senator Louise Pratt, Labor colleagues and I met with dozens of charities concerned about the latest salvo in the Liberals’ war on charities. They included the Australian Council for International Development, CHOICE, Red Cross, Oxfam, CARE Australia, the Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Counselling Australia, ACOSS, World Vision, RESULTS Australia and Pew Charitable Trusts. There is bipartisan support for banning foreign political donations. Indeed, it's been a year since the Leader of the Opposition introduced a private member's bill that would do just that. But banning donations to political parties should not entail cutting down free speech.