Andrew Leigh

APPOINTMENT AS A SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER

I am pleased to be appointed by Anthony Albanese as Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury.

Labor has always been the party that drives economic reform in Australia. When the Grattan Institute identified the ten biggest economic reforms of the past generation, six were Labor reforms, three were bipartisan, and only one was a Coalition idea.

The election result does not change the problems in the Australian economy. Living standards and wages have been stagnant for years. The business startup rate is falling. Household debt and government debt have skyrocketed. Australia is missing in action when it comes to global reform of the multinational tax and trading system. Poverty and inequality are too high.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC CANBERRA DRIVE

THURSDAY, 30 MAY 2019

Subjects: The federal election, Labor frontbench. 

ANNA VIDOT: Andrew Leigh, thank you for joining us this afternoon and commiserations.

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Oh thanks, Anna. That's very kind, but terrific news that Katy Gallagher is in the shadow ministry. Canberrans can be confident that they're going to be well represented on Labor's frontbench.

VIDOT: And we're all on tenterhooks to find out exactly what portfolios she’ll be taking over. In a statement that you released earlier today, Andrew Leigh, you urged non-factionally aligned members of the Labor Party to stay engaged. But why should they, when your contribution has been rewarded in this way?

LEIGH: Well, I've had the privilege for the last six years of being on Labor's frontbench, working as the Shadow Assistant Treasurer on developing nearly 20 multinational tax policies, as Shadow Minister for Competition working on a dozen monopoly-busting policies and as the first-ever Shadow Minister for Charities and Not-for-Profits on engaging with the community sector and building their policies. So I've had a great privilege working on those policies and I'll be exceptionally active over the next three years to make sure that the values of Canberra and that my ideas on economics are incorporated into Labor's policy agenda for the next election.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING

THURSDAY, 30 MAY 2019

Subjects: The federal election, Labor frontbench, tax cuts.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Andrew Leigh is factionless. He was the assistant treasurer in the shadow Labor party, in the shadow ministry. Because he is factionless, he is not going to be on the frontbench and he joins us now. Andrew, welcome.

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Thanks, Patricia. Great to be with you.

KARVELAS: You have made a career choice not to join a faction. Do you regret that a little today?

LEIGH: I have had six years working on the frontbench, Patricia, getting to work on the sorts of ideas that I engaged with when I was an economics professor. That privilege is a great one which is extended to very few people. And I found that not being in a faction has meant that I can move freely through the party. That’s the preference of the people who chose me in the ACT to be the Labor candidate for Fenner. I am not sorry about the decision I made. I understand the factional system, the factions have been around since the 1950s. I even wrote an academic article back in 2000 about the role of factions in the Labor Party. This is just an aspect of modern Labor.

STATEMENT ON THE SHADOW MINISTRY

My warmest congratulations to those chosen for the Labor frontbench today. Our party can be proud that we have so many talented people to serve in the shadow ministry.

I am privileged to have had the chance to serve for the past six years as part of Labor’s frontbench economic team.

As Shadow Assistant Treasurer, I developed 19 policies to close multinational tax loopholes and tackle the scourge of tax havens.

As Shadow Minister for Competition, I worked with the small business sector and consumer groups on a dozen reforms to rein in monopolies, including passing Labor’s access to justice legislation from opposition earlier this year.

As the first ever Shadow Minister for Charities and Not-for-Profits, I helped fight against the Coalition’s war on charities, and developed ten policies to strengthen non-profits and build a more vibrant community sector.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2GB MONEY NEWS
TUESDAY, 21 MAY 2019

Subjects: The federal election.

ROSS GREENWOOD: One person who has always been prepared to front up here on Money News is Dr Andrew Leigh, who was - perhaps, who knows what he might be in the future - and he’s on the line right now. Andrew, many thanks for your time.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure, Ross. How are you?

E&EO TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RN DRIVE
TUESDAY, 21 MAY 2019

Subjects: The federal election results, Labor leadership, tax cuts.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: I have joining me now the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Andrew Leigh, welcome.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks, Patricia. Great to be with you again.

KARVELAS: So you heard Mathias Cormann there, he said yes, they will ensure that people get the tax cuts that they had promised. 

LEIGH: Well Patricia, he’s promised that those tax cuts would be delivered on time and now looks as though they will be coming late, contrary to what Scott Morrison was saying back when the tax cuts were announced. After the budget, he said Parliament doesn't need to sit, you can just do administratively. Labor said that wasn't the case, the Tax Office said it wasn't the case. The government just denied it. So we were willing to pass those low and middle income tax cuts for the forthcoming year straight after the budget. The Government waved their hands, said ‘no no no, we don’t need to do any of that’ and now have been told by the Tax Office that they’re wrong. And they’ve ended up just three days after the election breaking promises to be Australian people.

E&EO TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC CANBERRA
MONDAY, 20 MAY 2019
 
SUBJECT: The federal election results.

JOURNALIST: Andrew Leigh did say that throughout the campaign, Fenner constituents were talking to him about climate change, about house prices and wages, schools and hospital funding and public service cuts. So I asked him how he intends to prosecute all of the views of his constituents from opposition.
 
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Forcefully. We thought it was going to be 1983, it turned out to be 1980 and it's a reminder that the moments for progressive change come along fairly rarely, which is perhaps why the conservative side of politics has been in office more of the post-war period than the progressive side. The burden on those arguing change is always higher and it's the Labor Party that's the party of reform and change. So we took an ambitious package to the electorate, carefully costed, stacked up, work done.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC NEWS RADIO
MONDAY, 20 MAY 2019

Subjects: The federal election result.

JOURNALIST: What went wrong?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: It was certainly a heavy blow. We worked extraordinarily hard putting together our Fair Go Action Plan, more positive policies than any opposition has taken to an election in the post-war era. We're very proud of the solutions we had around climate change, around wages, around tackling our education issues and the schools, investing in health care. But we were up against a ferocious scare campaign run by a guy whose main track record is in advertising and he was able to successfully scare Australians into thinking that it was better to stick with the current approach – whatever that is.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

CANBERRA

THURSDAY, 16 MAY 2019

SUBJECTS: Labor’s Fair Go Action Plan for the ACT, Labor’s plans to make multinationals pay their fair share, Labor’s plans to make childcare more affordable for Australian families. 

ANDREW LEIGH, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR FENNER: Good morning. My name's Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and federal Member for Fenner. We’re here today with the ACT Labor team, launching Labor's Fair Go Action Plan for Canberra. There's a huge amount in it, so we’re going to take it in turns to go through each of the important parts of what Labor would do for Canberra. We have here our full complement of ACT House candidates, Dave Smith and Alicia Payne, as well as myself, and our two Senate candidates, Katy Gallagher and Nancy Waites. 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
CANBERRA
WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019

Subjects: Labor’s $40 million investment in training for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the decimation of the public service during the Liberals’ time in office.

ALICIA PAYNE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR CANBERRA: Hi. I’m Alicia Payne, Labor's candidate to Canberra, and it's wonderful to be here today with Andrew Leigh and Nancy Waites to make this really important announcement about the NDIS. In my previous job, one of the really big parts of my work was to talk with people with disability and their families and providers about the NDIS. For many people this has made a really positive difference in their lives, but for too many it's been a bad experience and hasn't delivered what was promised. People with disability and their families have waited so long for the NDIS and only a Labor Government can get it right. We created the NDIS, and if we form government I know that we will get the implementation right, particularly by providing more staff and proper training. And that's what today's announcement is about. It's wonderful that Canberra will be a trial site for this investment in training for NDIS workers. And I'll hand over to Andrew Leigh to provide a bit more detail.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks so much, Alicia, and it's great to be here with Alicia Payne, Labor's terrific candidate for Canberra, with Nancy Waites, Labor's second Senate candidate, Natalie Lang from the Australian Services Union and Jack, a disability support worker who will speak to us in a moment.