Andrew Leigh

On Sky Saturday AM Agenda, I spoke with host David Lipson about the suggestion that the budget just needs better "marketing", and the PM's shock revelations of sexism in the Liberal Party.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS AM AGENDA

SATURDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2014

SUBJECT/S: Mini-Budget; job cuts; surplus; sexism in the Liberal Party 

DAVID LIPSON: Joining me now, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh, thank you for your time today.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thank you David. 

LIPSON: Starting with these 175 government agencies set for the chopping block. Is there a reason that other areas of government, other departments, can’t handle these agencies?

LEIGH: The thing that always gets me about this government David, is that their only plan for jobs is more job cuts. We’ve already had over 7000 job cuts out of the Canberra public service, now we’re looking at more. Not smart cuts, but cuts that will end up costing Australia more. So for example if you take the Australian Government Solicitor, it’s very clear that going out to the private law firm market for that advice is going to be more expensive. And it all comes on top of now in Australia when we’ve got unemployment at a 12 year high, youth unemployment at a 13 year high, and underemployment - the share of part time workers who are looking for more hours - at an all-time high.

One of the highlights of this parliamentary year has been joining Waleed Aly on RN Drive for our regular political panel. Before he heads off for new adventures, I joined him one last time to talk about the government's recent policy backflips on the UN Climate Fund, the GP tax and the upcoming deficit in the mid-year budget update. Here's the transcript:

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

RN DRIVE WITH WALEED ALY

WEDNESDAY, 10 DECEMBER 2014 

SUBJECT/S: UN climate fund; foreign aid spending; Tony Abbott’s GP tax; MYEFO 

WALEED ALY: So it's 11 minutes past 6. Josh Frydenberg is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and he joins me along with Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Sadly he's only on the phone today, but I'm sure he'll be no less pugnacious for that fact. Thanks for coming in, or being on the phone, guys, good to have you with us.

JOSH FRYDENBERG, PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Nice to be with you, Waleed.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good to be here, Waleed.

ALY: [On the UN Climate Fund] First we were not going to contribute; now we are.

JULIE BISHOP, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: I have been tasked by the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to announce today at this meeting that Australia will pledge a contribution of 200 million Australian dollars over four years to the Green Climate Fund.

ALY: Yes, that was Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. As you can hear there, there was much applause and merriment and much confusion because the government had previously told us this was impossible, it was a bad idea, it was a Bob Brown sort of an idea to contribute to a climate change fund of this sort; and all of a sudden $200 million. Why the change of heart, Josh? This is an outrage.

FRYDENBERG: Well this is a good outcome isn't it? Here we are...

ALY: It was a bad outcome a couple of weeks ago.

Halfway between meetings in Alice Springs and Titjikala, I stopped in the red dirt to make a short video about the opportunities and challenges facing this unique part of Australia.

In his hunt for announcements to distract from the disastrous budget, Joe Hockey has today released a series of half-baked ideas about multinational tax. That's not the basis for good public policy.

MEDIA RELEASE

THOUGHT BUBBLES NO SUBSTITUTE FOR GOOD TAX POLICY

Joe Hockey's announcement of 'new' multinational tax measures shows just how out of his depth the Treasurer is when it comes to making companies pay their fair share.

The proposal Mr Hockey has floated today comes with no details and no dollar figure attached. 

At a time when he is crowing about every dollar ripped from the pockets of pensioners, families and university students, Mr Hockey cannot say how much new tax revenue he expects to make by pursuing international firms.

With the federal government's mini-budget due within days, it is increasingly clear that Joe Hockey is going to have to find new savings to make up for a big increase in the deficit. He's already hit the states hard this year with budget cuts - will he do it again?

MEDIA RELEASE

HOW MUCH MORE WILL HOCKEY HOOK IN FROM THE STATES?

Joe Hockey must set the states straight on whether he plans to yank more funding from their books to fill the growing hole in his upcoming mini-budget.

Several of the biggest states – including New South Wales and Queensland – have their own budget updates due before the end of the year.

Back in May, the Treasurer ripped $80 billion in health and education funding from the states with absolutely no warning.

This across-the-board cutback blew a huge hole in their finances, in some cases forcing the states back to the drawing board only weeks after they had handed down their own budgets.

The Treasurer is urgently casting about for new savings for replace his unfair GP tax and higher education changes, all of which are rightly being blocked by the Parliament.

Which side of politics owns the Eureka legend?

An after-dinner debate for the conference on “Eureka’s significance, then and now”

Australian National University

3 December 2014

My thanks to John Moloney for his introduction, Dave Headon for organising tonight’s debate, and the gathered historians for being here on this, the 160th anniversary of Eureka. Let me pay my respects to the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of the land and their elders past and present.

I want to particularly thank my three parliamentary colleagues: Nick Champion, Michael McCormack and Lucy Wicks. We don't do enough in parliament that is bipartisan. These three parliamentary colleagues are people who enjoy talking about the role of history in our national conversation, and recognise that history isn't just the stories gone by, it is part of the golden threads that link the past to what we do in the future. 

A thank you to my staff

House of Representatives 

1 December 2014 

Politics is a team sport. In 2014 I am fortunate to have had an exceptional group of people assisting me with speeches, articles, policy ideas and electoral engagement for the most populous electorate in Australia. Thank you to my paid staff: Toni Hassan, Damien Hickman, James Koval, Gus Little, Matthew Jacob, Michael Cooney, Joshua Turner, Jill Peterson, Taimus Werner-Gibbings, Jacob White, Thomas McMahon, Lyndell Tutty, Jennifer Rayner and my chief of staff, Nick Terrell. My interns, fellows and work experience students: Matthew Woodroffe, John Zerilli, Tom Russell-Penny, Kirrily Mackenzie, William Brown, Matthew Zagby, Annabel Johnson, Cameron Amos, Laura Rohan-Jones, Patrick Cooney, Joshua Woodall, Tim O'Hare, Jo Dodds, Caitlin Bunker, Jessica Hudson, Wolffe Gaunt, Daniel De Voss, Tim Griffin, Justine Ramsay, Griffen Murphy, Ben Molan, Harry Dalton and Lillian Bannock. And my office volunteers: Alison Humphreys, Ken Maher, Matthew Zagby, Hayley Pring, Rhianne Grieve, Joanne McCarron, Bernie Davern and Trishna Malhi. Each of these people has qualities I admire. Collectively they are smarter, more patient and more experienced than me. And it goes without saying that they are also funnier and better looking! To everyone on my team: thank you for what you have done this year to assist the people of Fraser, to help me and to make our small contribution to securing a better, fairer, more prosperous and more just future for our great nation.

Matter of Public Importance: The Budget

In this annus horribilis for the Abbott government: they have given Australia back knights and dames; they have taught us that the name of our North American friend is pronounced 'Canadia'; they have suggested that the US is at risk of default—and I am sure the member for Riverina would not have made a mistake like that. They have shown their common touch by smoking cigars just before handing down the most unfair budget in living memory; enlightened us about the link between breast cancer and abortion; taken to the barricades to defend the rights of bigots; told us that poor people do not drive cars; said that the Australian Submarine Corporation, despite being headed by Sophie Mirabella, still cannot build a canoe; and shown us that demon dialling is the way to every crossbenchers heart.

The government has ended the Parliamentary year with its budget in a real mess. In this op-ed for the Daily Telegraph, I've looked ahead to the Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook statement to encourage Joe Hockey and his colleagues to find a better, fairer way.

Meritocracy at risk of becoming a mate-ocracy, Daily Telegraph, 5 December

Early last year, Joe Hockey pledged: "We'll deliver a surplus in our first year and every year after that." For the eighth time, he committed that an incoming Coalition government would never preside over a budget in deficit. Every Coalition budget, Mr Hockey pledged, would be a surplus budget.

Fast forward a year, and the only thing in surplus is red ink. When the Coalition came to office, the Charter of Budget Honesty laid out the state of the books. This year's budget deficit was forecast to be $24 billion.

So much for paying down debt. By the time Mr Hockey had delivered his first budget, he'd pushed this year's deficit up to $30 billion. Now, most informed sources have it blowing out still further when the mini-Budget is released in a few weeks.

Why is the deficit rising? Part of the answer is that Mr Hockey can't resist looking after his mates. A billion dollars to multinationals, a tax break for people with more than $2 million in their superannuation accounts, and soon you're talking real money.  

My Chronicle column this month is on one of Australia's star science educators, Geoff McNamara.

Inspiring Our Scientists of the Future, The Chronicle, 2 December 2014

Geoff McNamara had a dreadful experience with science when he was at high school. But it stirred him. As he put it, ‘The empty green-box laboratories and sterile teaching that I grew up with made me want to do better than that for my students, and make science more real and engaging.’

Today, Geoff’s science classroom at Melrose High is known as ‘Mr Mac’s Lab’. It contains a plethora of equipment, including a seismometer, dinosaurs, GPS antenna and spacecraft. Students are encouraged to rigorously test theories against the evidence. For example, one experiment with a mirror and laser allows students to see that they can ‘flex’ a brick wall by pushing on it.