Andrew Leigh

The Australian Financial Review has this morning published my opinion piece that mounts a defence of Australia's gun buyback scheme.

OPINION PIECE

SHOOTING DOWN ARGUMENTS AGAINST TOUGH GUN LAWS

In the decade up to 1996, Australia averaged one mass shooting every year. Places like Hoddle Street, Queen Street, Strathfield, Surry Hills, the Central Coast and Port Arthur all became synonymous with killings in which five or more people died.

In the decade after the 1997 National Firearms Agreement (NFA), Australia did not have a single mass shooting.

Last night in the Chamber, I spoke against the Government's omnibus Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill (2014 Budget Measures No.1).  

SPEECH

House of Representatives

Tuesday, 24 June 2014

It is a pleasure, in this debate, to follow the contributions of the member for Jagajaga, the member for Gellibrand and the member for Hotham—three Labor members whose careers in politics have been founded on the notion that we must work for those more vulnerable than ourselves. It is a pleasure for me to follow them because the legislation we are debating tonight goes to the heart of the Australian social contract—a social contract that says that an egalitarian tradition is something that Australians hold dear.

This morning I spoke at the CEDA 2014 State of the Nation Conference at Parliament House, addressing the challenge of closing loopholes that allow multinational companies to pay a lower rate than Australian small businesses. 

SPEECH

Thanks very much Stephen for a very generous introduction. Can I of course acknowledge that we're meeting on traditional lands of the Ngunnawal  people and I pay my respects to their elders past and present.

It's a great honour to be sharing the stage too with John Brumby, one of our great economic reformers and Jeremy Thorpe, one of the deep thinkers in Australia around the issue of tax. You’ll be surprised to know that some people find tax eye-glazingly dull. I've been looking forward to talking to you about tax all week.

I spoke in Parliament today to mark the 25th anniversary of the Australia-Indonesia Institute. 

CONSTITUENCY STATEMENT

MONDAY JUNE 23, 2014

In the late 1970s I lived in Indonesia for three years, in Jakarta and Banda Aceh. I stay in contact with my friend Niko, although my Indonesian has not advanced much beyond the schoolboy Indonesian of Terima kasih and Baik-baik saja.

 

This morning, in my weekly slot on Fairfax Breaking Politics, the discussion explored the latest Fairfax/Neilson poll, the values underlying the Treasurer's first budget, the idea of a federal ICAC, the angry reaction to the Attorney General's East Jerusalem comments and the Government's inadaquate response to climate change.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

ONLINE INTERVIEW

BREAKING POLITICS, FAIRFAX ONLINE

MONDAY, 23 JUNE 2014

HOST CHRIS HAMMER: Andrew Laming to you first. A Fairfax news poll out today shows that more than 60 per cent of people still think the budget is unfair. Is it time to revise the budget?

ANDREW LAMING: Look, definitely not and it won’t be revised. We were elected to do the hard and necessary decisions but that didn’t mean it would be popular. A lot of this is long term stuff that Australians will look back on and say they were ensuring shrewd and important moves made at a time in history when they had to be taken – that’s really the essence of the budget.

 

 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP INTERVIEW

PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

MONDAY, 23 JUNE 2014

SUBJECT / S: Charities commission backed by Malcolm Turnbull; ASIO powers and ISP data retention; State asset sales and competition.

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER, ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning everyone. Welcome to another gorgeous Canberra morning. I’m Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer. 

We know that the charities commission was recommended by a series of reports, going right back to the Howard Government days. It was set up by Labor in 2012 and is already doing a strong job in protecting donors and supporting charities. But now it's been revealed that while the Howard Government was in office, a report came down signed co-signed by Malcolm Turnbull supporting the charities commission. Malcolm Turnbull argued for a charities commission for exactly the same reason Labor implemented a charities commission, which is that it supports the sector and now enjoys the support of four out of five charities in a recent survey.

So, if Tony Abbott won't listen to the Australian people, maybe at least he could listen to Malcolm Turnbull. Because just as Malcolm Turnbull supports carbon pricing, so too, he supports the sensible reform of the charities commission.

This morning I issued a media release urging the Prime Minister to listen to the wisdom in his own party room on the importance of the charities commission. 

MEDIA RELEASE

 Malcolm turnbull backs charities commission

Harmonising laws for the not-for-profit sector, now being achieved by the single and national Commonwealth regulator, is an idea that has been enthusiastically backed by members of the Coalition, including Malcolm Turnbull.

The Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission, currently threatened with the axe under Tony Abbott, isn’t just something Labor has championed. It is a textbook reform streamlining reporting laws for the sector advocated by Liberals in recent years.

Today I spoke in Parliament on inequality in Australia and the unfairness of the government's Budget.

PRIVATE MEMBERS BUSINESS

Monday, 23 June 2014

Mr Leigh: I move that this House:

(1) recognises that:

(a) since 1975, earnings at the 90th percentile have risen three times faster than earnings at the 10th percentile; and

(b) since 1980, the top 1 per cent income share has doubled, and the top 0.1 per cent income share has tripled; and

(c) overall, inequality in Australia is now higher than it has been in three-quarters of a century;

I spoke in Parliament this week on the strength and importance of Australia's relationship with Japan.

PRIVATE MEMBERS BUSINESS

23 June 2014

Australia was still a collection of British colonies when it first exported coal to Japan in 1865, before the Meiji restoration. In 1888, we were shipping Australian wool to Japan. The first Australian trade mission went to Japan in the 1930s. There must have been some consternation when our two countries signed a commerce agreement in 1957, so soon after the end of World War II. Today, Australia and Japan work closely together on security challenges such as counter-terrorism in South-East Asia and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, not least in the DPRK. It would probably be ironic to my grandfather's generation that the greatest Australian concern over Japan's security role in the region is its historical reluctance to assume a higher global and regional profile.

http://youtu.be/_KJqGLi8Frk

This evening I appeared on the ABC's The Drum program to argue for the retention of two Labor initiatives; strong pro-consumer financial advice laws and the four pillars banking policy. Here's the transcript: 

TELEVISION INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

THE DRUM, ABC 1

FRIDAY 20 JUNE 2014

SUBJECT / S: Future of Financial Advice reforms; Four pillars banking policy; ALP 2013 election campaign review.

PRESENTER, ELEANOR HALL: Let me first go to the issue of the financial advice laws because we have a situation where the Government is actually, as your Shadow Treasurer put it earlier today, capitulating on the issue of commissions. Can you tell us whether Labor will now back those financial laws through the Parliament?

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER, ANDREW LEIGH: Well, we're certainly not inclined to back things that are not in the best interests of consumers. I think the best way of understanding this pretty technical area of policy is to look at who is on which side. The bankers are pushing for them, Council of the Aging, National Seniors and Choice are against them.