Andrew Leigh

http://youtu.be/a8E7d9daqGo

This week in the Parliament I spoke on the Abbott Government's poor environmental record.

19 June 2014

It is difficult to recall a government with as poor an environmental record as the Abbott government. Last night the World Heritage Committee rebuked the Prime Minister's environmental measures and gave the government one year to improve its management of the Great Barrier Reef before reconsidering whether to have it listed as in danger. 

This week the government introduced Bills for its Asset Recycling Fund. I spoke about the differences between the Government and Labor on the issue of privatisation.

19 June 2014

The Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel once said that he was for a market economy but not for a market society. I think that is a good way of characterising the differences between the two sides of the House on the question of privatisation. The perspective of the Liberal and National parties has always been a theological belief in the value of privatisation. Those on that side of the House believe in a market society. They believe that inherently privatisation is always good. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5lXcxmB3_E

On 18 June 2014, I spoke with Sky Business host Janine Perrett about why we should crack down on multinational profit-shifting, and the value of having a charities commission for donors and non-profits alike.

This week, I spoke in Parliament on the importance of the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission.

PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Monday, 16 June 2014

Dr Leigh: I move that this House:

(1) recognises that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) was established in 2012 after external inquiries in 1995, 2001, 2010, Parliamentary committee reviews, issues and discussion papers, exposure drafts and consultations with experts, and is operating efficiently and effectively, helping charities, donors and taxpayers;

Yesterday I rose in the Chamber to remember Leslie Ronald Zines, an oustanding member of the legal fraternity.

SPEECH

June 17, 2014

I rise today to speak about the passing of Leslie Ronald Zines, a great constitutional scholar and teacher. Of Leslie Zines it was said by Anthony Mason, the former Chief Justice of the High Court.  With the retirement of the eminent constitutionalist Geoffrey Sawer, Professor Zines became the leading commentator on the Australian Constitution.

 

Today I issued a media release welcoming a minority report produced by Labor Senators in favour of retaining the charities commission.

MEDIA RELEASE

 EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF ACNC “COMPELLING”

Labor Senators have urged their upper house colleagues to reject the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Repeal Bill.

In their Dissenting Report, tabled last night with the Economics Legislation Committee Chair’s Report into the ACNC (Repeal) (1) Bill 2014, Labor Senators Mark Bishop and Louise Pratt concluded:

1.24 The Labor members found the evidence in favour of retaining the ACNC compelling—not only because of the sheer numbers of charities and other organisations that strongly supported the work of the ACNC but because of the soundness of their arguments.

1.25 In its very short life, the ACNC has already registered impressive achievements, maintained strong support for its work and has shown itself flexible and accommodating through the transition period. It has been especially willing to develop mechanisms to assist highly regulated organisations to minimise their administrative burden.

My marvellous media adviser, Toni Hassan, has unfortunately decided to move on. So I'm looking for a new Canberra-based media adviser. In the past, I've advertised in newspapers, but the best applications have invariably been the ones who came across the ad on my website or twitter feed. So this time, I'm simply going to rely on word of mouth. If you know of someone suitable, please let them know.

What does the job involve? In a high-level sense, helping me do a better job of publicly communicating on issues of public policy. I have a pretty broad range of ways through which I engage on policy issues - from books to speeches to interviews to op-eds to tweets.

At the start of the last fortnight of parliamentary sittings before the new Senate is installed, the focus of discussions on Breaking Politics today was naturally on the fate of budget measures. Here's the transcript.

ONLINE INTERVIEW

BREAKING POLITICS – FAIRFAX MEDIA
MONDAY, 16 JUNE 2014

SUBJECT / S: Federal Budget negotiations; Superannuation; PPL.

CHRIS HAMMER, PRESENTER: We're joined now in the studio by Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Labor Member for Fraser in the ACT and Andrew Laming, the Member for Bowman in Queensland. Andrew Laming, do you accept that the Budget now is unlikely to make its targets?

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS SATURDAY AGENDA

SATURDAY, 14 JUNE 2014

SUBJECT/S: The Abbott Government’s unfair budget; Climate change; McClure Review; Changes to the social safety net.  

DAVID LIPSON: Joining me now here in the Canberra studio the shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh, thank you for your time.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure David.

LIPSON: We just heard from the finance minister on the repeal of the carbon tax. He says he’s cautiously optimistic that this will pass through the Senate. What do you think will happen in the Senate?

LEIGH: I’m no political predictor, I think that’s a mugs game, but I’m deeply concerned that the government’s now pursuing this strategy. We’ve just had the hottest summer on record, the hottest Australian year on record, we’ve had record breaking temperatures on the east coast and we’ve seen that total emissions have now had their biggest fall in a quarter of a century as a result of putting a price on carbon. So this is a policy which is working, which has reduced electricity emissions by 11 per cent since it came into effect which is doing so while providing household assistance through increased allowances and tax cuts –