The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO MELBOURNE, DRIVE WITH ALI MOORE
THURSDAY, 7 AUGUST 2025
SUBJECTS: Economic Roundtable in Melbourne, Labor’s productivity agenda, GST, Economic Reform Roundtable in Canberra, Productivity Commission, Artificial intelligence
ALI MOORE: Ahead of the Roundtable, 25 economic experts have been talking options to boost productivity in Melbourne today, and the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh was there. Andrew welcome.
ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks so much Ali, great to be with you.
ALI MOORE: I had a look at the list of people who were part of this roundtable. It is very, very long. Did you actually manage to come to any conclusions with so many people in the room?
ANDREW LEIGH: Yes. We had a wonderful range of people. Obviously local experts from the University of Melbourne, Victoria University, Monash and we had thinktanks like the Grattan Institute, e61 and the Superpower Institute. There was a strong consensus around the idea of not making things worse - an emphasis the government should, first of all, do no harm. And then also…
ALI MOORE: You don’t need a roundtable to tell you that surely?
ANDREW LEIGH: No, but it never hurts to be reminded Ali. And just a big emphasis on the dynamism of the Australian economy - that we can boost productivity by making individuals more productive, by encouraging individuals to move to more productive firms, and by encouraging the growth of more productive firms. And so that for me is a really useful framework. An emphasis on making sure that those reallocation processes are working as well as possible, and on ensuring that our tax system is absolutely fit for the 21st Century, and we're making the most of artificial intelligence.
ALI MOORE: So, let's go to tax first then. This proposal that's being put on the table – Allegra Spender is one of those very much behind it. We've spoken to her previously about it. Raise the GST to 15 per cent, but give a cash rebate of $3,300 as compensation which would sort of essentially erase the impact of the higher GST on the first - I think they say 22,000 of annual purchases. So, that would really help lower-and-middle income earners, but 15 per cent would put a lot more money in your coffers. What do you reckon about increasing the GST?
ANDREW LEIGH: I like Richard Holden. He wasn't able to make it today, although he was one of the invitees. No one else raised that particular proposal…
ALI MOORE: So no-one raised the GST? All those people in the room all day, and not one person put GST on the table?
ANDREW LEIGH: Not Richard's proposal. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer have a long-standing view on the on the GST. The government isn't doing any modelling at the moment and doesn't have any plans to change the GST.
ALI MOORE: Shouldn't it though? I mean, you're an economist, you know a lot more about these things than I do. Isn't the GST one of the most efficient taxes and could be made fairer? And maybe one of the things that should be on the table if you're looking at significant reform to improve productivity?
ANDREW LEIGH: There's more efficient taxes than the GST. It hasn't been at the centre of the conversation around productivity. There was certainly more discussion around corporate tax, and that's been a matter that has occupied much more discussion from the Productivity Commission for example, which has thought more about investment allowances and company taxes than it has about expenditure taxes.
ALI MOORE: So, was there support today around the table for the Productivity Commission's recommendation to lower the company tax for companies under a billion dollars to 20 per cent but to introduce a 5 per cent tax on cash?
ANDREW LEIGH: We're aiming to surface ideas rather than to build consensus. So, there was a lot of discussion of the proposal about productivity of firms of different sizes, about the relative merits of some of the ideas around expensing, cash flow taxes and an allowance for corporate equity. So really, this was an opportunity for some of Australia's top economists to raise their ideas and have them feed in to the Economic Reform Roundtable taking place in Canberra on the 19th to the 21st of August.
ALI MOORE: So, what was the top idea that you'll be taking to Canberra?
ANDREW LEIGH: I'm not sure there's a top idea Ali. There's a whole host of them, and I'm still distilling through my mind, having literally just walked out of the roundtable and called you. But the six hours of conversation was idea-packed and engaging. A really warm rapport between economists, and I think that process of thinking about big ideas through a revenue neutral or a budget positive frame, ensuring that we're focused on the national interest, not sectoral interests. All of that really helped to focus the discussion today.
ALI MOORE: So, just a final question Andrew Leigh. We did talk a lot on the program yesterday about the Productivity Commission's report into AI, which raised the prospect of giving the big tech companies an exemption from copyright under fair dealing rules so that they could essentially mine text and data for AI training free reign, really. What are your thoughts on that? It certainly has created real angst in the creative community.
ANDREW LEIGH: We don't have any plans to change the copyright rules Ali, and as other Ministers have said, we need to make sure that creators are fairly remunerated for their content.
ALI MOORE: But should it even have been floated? I mean, the Productivity Commission comes forward with lots of ideas, lots of things that are meant to provoke discussion. Should that one just have been left out of the report and never been put on the table?
ANDREW LEIGH: We're not taking that approach Ali. I mean, I know former governments have been very nervous about big ideas being floated. We're aiming to take exactly the opposite approach and to really be encouraging people and organisations like the Productivity Commission to come forward with big, bold ideas. Not all of those will get adopted, but we need to be ambitious for the country, and I admire the Productivity Commission in doing that.
ALI MOORE: Dr Andrew Leigh, thank you very much for joining us.
ANDREW LEIGH: Thank you Ali, take care.
ALI MOORE: That's the Assistant Minister for Productivity there.
ENDS