Economic development on the Far South Coast
Read moreEconomic Development on the Far South Coast
Campaign Event for Leanne Atkinson, NSW Labor Candidate for BegaSaturday,
31 January 2015
I acknowledge the traditional owners, on whose lands we meet today. Thanks to Leanne for inviting me here this afternoon, and to Doug for his very moderate moderating. It’s great to share the stage with a policy thinker of the calibre of David Hetherington. It’s good to be here with all of you as well, although I am slightly worried about who’s minding Canberra since it seems as though we’re all here at the coast.
In politics we spend a lot of time dealing with the things that are most urgent, but not necessarily the most important. Events like today’s provide an opportunity to raise our eyes to the horizon and think about the big picture challenges we need to address for this community’s future. I think it’s a great indication of the approach Leanne would bring as this region’s local member, and I commend her for facing up to the challenges ahead with energy and optimism.
The problem is the policies, not the leader - 2CC
It's always good to speak with 2CC's Mark Parton about the news of the day - here's the transcript from today's chat:
Read moreE&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
RADIO 2CC
THURSDAY, 29 JANUARY 2015
SUBJECT/S: Abbott Government’s unfair policy agenda; Multinational profit shifting; Benefits of the sharing economy
MARK PARTON: Andrew Leigh is the Federal Member for Fraser and there's a couple of things we wanted to catch up with him about. He's on the line now, g'day Andrew.
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: G'day Mark, how are you?
PARTON: Excellent. I think maybe you need to lay off the Prime Minister. I think maybe you need to tone it down, give him some space because I'm worried for you guys, Andrew, that if enough Liberal people believe that they're not a hope in Hades of winning the election with him there, that they will dump him in ALP fashion, a la Rudd and Gillard. But he may be your best asset, maybe you should leave him be?
LEIGH: Well Mark, I'm much more concerned about the set of policies than who's occupying that chair. Let's face it: if the Coalition makes a shift to Scott Morrison or Julie Bishop or Malcolm Turnbull, they're still going to have a set of policies that take from the most vulnerable to give to the most affluent.
PARTON: But Andrew, in reality you know that if there was a shift of leadership, unless it was to Scott Morrison – and wow, god help 'em then – the whole voter mood would change in terms of their perception of the Coalition. Because that's what happens, isn't it?
LEIGH: I'm not sure that's right, Mark. If there was a change in the fundamental philosophy of the Government, then that would be true. But so long as you've got a government that wants to make university degrees more expensive, wants to stop people going to the doctor and thinks that it's okay to put young people out in the streets for six months if they lose their job, then that's going to be a government that is out of touch with Australian values, no matter who is at the helm.
Sharing the benefits of the sharing economy - Policy Forum
The Asia & Pacific Policy Society has recently launched a new online magazine for exploring big policy challenges and ideas in Australia and around our region. In what I hope will be the first of many pieces for the site, I've explored international approaches to regulating the sharing economy, and the lessons we might learn here in Australia.
Read moreSharing the benefits of the sharing economy, Policy Forum, 29 January
With nothing but a smartphone, I can order up an Uber car to whisk me to my next meeting or find a bargain bed for the night through AirBNB. If I lived in one of the major US cities, I could also tap on an app to hire a pair of skis for the weekend through Spinlister, find someone to assemble my flatpack furniture on TaskRabbit, leave my dog with a pet-lover for the weekend via DogVacay, or even get roaming WiFi from Fon.
Often gathered under the banner of the ‘sharing economy’, ‘collaborative consumption’ or the ‘peer to peer market’, these services are all about linking people who have surplus goods to those who can make use of them. They provide a means for us to make more efficient use of the world’s existing stock of bedrooms, cars, tools and other goods, and help cut down on the need to continually produce more.
Tech firms and multinational tax - ABC 702
Following new reports about alleged multinational profit shifting out of Australia, I joined Richard Glover on ABC 702 Sydney to talk about what governments can do to tackle this global challenge. Here's the transcript:
Read moreE&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC 702 SYDNEY
WEDNESDAY, 28 JANUARY 2015
SUBJECT/S: multinational profit shifting; opportunities in the sharing economy
RICHARD GLOVER: The iPhone maker Apple has seen sales surge over the three months to December. Revenue jumped almost 30 per cent in that period to USD$76.4 billion. It was much higher than analysts had forecast; they thought it might come in at a lazy $58 billion. Quarterly net profit came in at US$18 billion. Now, I guess the question in some Australians' minds might be: we all applaud success, but how much tax will they pay in a country like Australia on this record profit? For instance, Apple paid just $80 million in Australian tax last year, despite making more than $6 billion in local revenue, according to accounts with a corporate regulator. Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and he joins us on the line – Andrew, good afternoon.
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good afternoon Richard.
GLOVER: You've been concerned about this for some time?
LEIGH: Absolutely. I think the issue of multinational tax is one of the central challenges of our age. In part, that's because the movement of profits around the world is becoming easier as a result of globalisation and technological change. If you think of the old-fashioned manufacturing firms that produced widgets, they had a permanent establishment in the place where their biggest factory was. But that's just not true if you're an intellectual property firm, as three of the five biggest companies in the world now are. It's increasingly easy for firms to move profits around. Labor has taken the view that we need a set of laws that keep pace and which maintain government revenue at a time when some firms are trying to do the wrong thing.
No country ever tax dodged its way to prosperity - Address to the McKell Institute
Read moreNo country ever tax dodged its way to prosperity
Address to the McKell Institute, Sydney
Tuesday 27 January 2015
Thank you for that very kind introduction. It’s an absolute delight to have the McKell Institute as host tonight.
There’s been a lot of talk over the years about the need for more investment in progressive think tanks, and a lot less action. You are an exception. In just four years, McKell has established itself as perhaps the leading voice for practical public policy in this city and state.
Taking Bill McKell as your inspiration is a particularly, well a particularly inspired choice. My mum’s dad was a boilermaker, so I almost feel like I’m among family here. And McKell’s name is a constant reminder that Australian Labor’s practical, progressive, pro-growth tradition dates back a lot further than thirty years.
Your team’s efforts are quite remarkable and the evidence of that is right here in this terrific group of people gathered for an important discussion – so once again, thanks.
Friends.
As Shadow Assistant Treasurer in the Shorten Opposition, I’ve got a lot of fascinating responsibilities.
CGT, DGR, FBT.
I get to dabble in EMTRs and the IGOT, and if all the work is done for the week by Friday lunchtime, then we break out MTAWE and MAWTO – five letter acronyms we reserve for a very special tax nerd afternoon.
But the four-letter word I’m spouting the most at the moment is ‘BEPS’.
When you're in a hole, stop digging - The Australian
As the Abbott Government gets down to work on their second budget, ministers like Josh Frydenberg are already talking about making new and deeper cuts. But they wouldn't need to do that if they hadn't said 'no' to real and significant sources of revenue, as I explain in this op-ed for The Australian.
Read moreWhen you're in a hole, stop digging, The Australian, 27 January
As Australians continue to rage about the unfairness of the Abbott Government’s first budget, Treasurer Joe Hockey is preparing to hand down his second one in just four months’ time.
His new Assistant Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has flagged that spending may again be slashed in the 2015-16 fiscal plan. He seems determined to prove that this government’s entire economic strategy can fit into one four-letter word: cuts.
Then again, that’s about the nicest four-letter word Australians have been using to describe the government’s economic strategy.
Australians who have watched the government rip $80 billion from schools and hospitals, $23 billion from pensions, $11 billion from foreign aid, $5 billion from universities and $3 billion from Medicare in its first year alone will rightfully be worried about where Mr Frydenberg’s fresh round of cuts will come from.
Unions and a minimum wage are a bulwark against inequality - ABC 702
With the government announcing a Productivity Commission review which looks set to hack into unions, the minimum wage and unfair dismissal laws, I joined Linda Mottram on Sydney's ABC 702 to talk about why these things are an important protection against growing inequality. Here's the transcript:
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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC 702 SYDNEY
FRIDAY, 23 JANUARY 2015
SUBJECT/S: Productivity Commission review; minimum wages; inequality
LINDA MOTTRAM: Joining me now is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Andrew, good morning.
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning Linda, how are you?
MOTTRAM: Well thanks. Now, what do you make first of all of the review itself – is it necessary?
LEIGH: I don't believe so, Linda. If we look at the story of the last couple of decades, it's been a period in which we've seen much slower growth in minimum wages than we have in average earnings. We've seen a rise in inequality and we've seen a fall in industrial disputes. Union power is lower now than it was in the past, and the union density rate is the lowest that it's been in my lifetime. So the notion that when we've got the slowest wage growth in a decade, the real problem for Australia is a ‘wages breakout’ just seems to be askew from the fundamental facts of what's going on in the economy.
Why applied maths is too taxing for Joe - Daily Telegraph
“When Australians spend the first six months of the year working for the government with tax rates nearly 50 cents in the dollar it is a disincentive. You’re working July, August, September, October, November, December just for the government and then you start working for yourself and your own household income after that.” – Joe Hockey, 3AW, 19 January
Joe Hockey's suggestion that Australians pay almost half their incomes in tax doesn't stack up, so why does he keep repeating it?
Read moreWhy applied maths is too taxing for Joe, Daily Telegraph, 23 January
Since Joe Hockey claimed Australians pay almost 50 cents in the dollar in tax, plenty of people have pointed out the flaws in his maths.
But is it true that the man running Australia's economy really doesn't get the basics of our tax system? Or is he just so focused on the wealthiest Australians that he's lost sight of everyone else?
The first thing wrong with Hockey's claim is that Australia's top tax bracket is 45 cents in the dollar.
Factoring in a further 2 per cent each for the Medicare Levy and the government's high-income levy gets you to 49 per cent. But that would still only apply to people earning more than $180,000 a year; the back of my envelope suggests that less than 2 per cent of Australian adults have an individual income that high.
Keep private health insurance premiums under control - Sky PM Agenda
On the back of news today that the Abbott Government is going to wave through a big increase in private health insurance premiums, I joined David Speers on Sky PM Agenda to talk about why that would be bad for everyone's health. Here's the transcript:
Read moreE&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY PM AGENDA
THURSDAY, 22 JANUARY 2015
SUBJECT/S: Tony Abbott’s attack on Medicare; spike in private health insurance premiums
DAVID SPEERS: Let me bring in the Shadow Assistant Treasurer now, Andrew Leigh, our guest this afternoon. I wanted to talk to you about health insurance premiums. But can I just pick up though on the Medicare changes firstly. What is Labor's approach to any sort of co-payment? Even if there was further change to only apply it to wealthier Australians, is it something you would contemplate at all?
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: David, all we have got at the moment are thought bubbles from the Government. I mean, the Government apparently thinks today that its main problem is that the prime minister doesn't ‘skite’ enough. I think what the Australian people want from their Prime Minister is not more skiting, but more considered policy development. We know in the case of the co-payment, that doctors are against it, patients are against it and the health experts are against it. They don't want patients being priced out of going to the GP and ending up in the emergency room. That’s the more expensive bit of our health system, and the bit where – compared to other developed countries – we spend far more of our health budget.
ANU/ Canberra Times - Meet the author event
On the 18th of February I'll have the pleasure of interviewing young American lawyer Bryan Stevenson, whose efforts have reversed death penalties for dozens of condemned prisoners in America. The event will be jointly hosted by the Australian National University and the Canberra Times, and everyone is welcome.
You can find out more about Bryan, the event and his book, "Just Mercy", here.