The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
Delivery vs Disorder – Matters of Public Importance (Economy)
House of Representatives
Thursday, 30 October 2025
To call those opposite a clown show would be an insult to the hardworking clowns of Australia.
After going to the last election promising Australians they would have higher taxes, lower wages and bigger deficits, those opposite have proceeded to tear themselves apart over the last few months. As one of their most senior women, Fiona Scott has said, 'You don't win elections by threatening to sack the bloke next door.' Whether it's their internal climate wars, their immigration wars or their t-shirt wars, those opposite are less a Coalition than a chook shed in a thunderstorm.
We had the Coalition split after the election - the comical break-up which led, briefly to the Opposition Leader saying that it would be a frontbench drawn exclusively from the Liberal party room. As one backgrounded a newspaper outlet, they were ‘acting like kids’. For a while, the entire 15-member National Party cohort was to be moved away from the Speaker's chair towards the backbench seats, when suddenly they realised that they were making a decision that might affect their hip pockets and decided to reunite.
Then we had Senator Price defecting to the Liberal Party, nearly leaving the Nationals as a non-party in the Senate. Shortly after, Senator Price was dumped from the Coalition shadow ministry, not only because she couldn't back the leader but also for her highly offensive comments about Indian migrants. But she isn't the only one that seems to want to go back on Australia's multicultural success story - a multiculturalism that, as Tim Watts often reminds me, is supported by 9 out of 10 Australians.
We've had the member for Canning saying that he believed Australians were becoming ‘strangers in their own country’ due to what he called 'unsustainable' immigration levels. I don't know what he would have made of immigration levels under the coalition, which were 40 per cent higher than they are under us. We've had Senator Canavan telling ABC's Afternoon Briefing that crime is clearly linked with migrant communities in Melbourne.
We've seen a shameful attack on migrants from the Coalition. Indeed, the Manager of Opposition Business also made the case, surprising many - for multiculturalism. We have seen the resignation of the Member for Canning from the front bench after attacking what he called 'muppets'. That was after being attacked by the former leader, Peter Dutton who said the Member for Canning went on strike in the last election and fumbled key policy work. The tearing apart of the Coalition is extended to Senator Hume who, in the discussion between the Liberals and the Nationals, said that if she joined the Nationals, 'I'd have to speak a lot slower and talk about the regions more often.' We on this side understand, represent and care about regional Australia. We don't see people in regional Australia as needing to be attacked in any internal party games.
The battle has become hottest over net zero - that policy so radical that it was made the policy of the Australian Government by coal-wielding Prime Minister Scott Morrison. A policy supported by every state and territory in Australia and every major business group and most of our major trading partners. Those who oppose net zero are those like Advance Australia, which has been running campaigns threatening Liberal and National Party members if they don't back net zero. We've heard sensible conservatives such as Matt Kean say 'Let me say, as the former Liberal Treasurer in the largest economy in the nation, that is a sign they are heading for electoral oblivion. The Coalition needs to reflect the mood of the Australian public, which is clearly saying they want strong and decisive action on climate change that is in our national interest.'
Today we introduced into the House key environmental protection and biodiversity conservation reforms, five years to the day after the Samuel Report was delivered to the then Environment Minister - the now Opposition Leader. We are doing so because we want business to have the certainty of quicker approvals and because we want to see the environment properly protected. Tomorrow, key bulk-billing incentives will take effect. Everyone who is bulk-billed will now see the bulk-billing incentive applied and there will be additional practice incentives. In my own electorate of Fenner, we've already seen three practices approach the health department about becoming fully bulk-billing practices. We are working to address climate change, not only committed to net zero but committed to our target of 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 and a 62-to-70 per cent emissions reduction by 2035. This is good for the climate, but it's also good for jobs and prosperity. The nuclear madness that the coalition took to the last election wouldn't just have cost some $600 billion; it would also have seen Australia grow more slowly and emit more pollution.
Our productivity agenda sees us committing to get rid of non-compete clauses that are shackling millions of Australian workers from moving to a better job. Getting rid of non-compete clauses will be great for productivity, great for wage growth and great for innovation. We're dealing with supermarket price gouging by saying that supermarkets that charge excessive prices will be subject to multimillion dollar fines. We're getting national competition policy going again. Policy that in the 1990s, helped deliver a huge productivity surge, which was behind the best productivity decade in the post-war era. Our $900 million National Productivity Fund works with states and territories on things like planning and zoning reform in business, reforms that are going to see our national productivity increase.
We're cracking down on unfair trading practices to ensure Australians aren't paying inflated prices due to dodgy business conduct. We're reviewing the right-to-repair scheme, which took effect under Labor. It provides more choice and lowers repair costs for Australian motorists. We are consulting on options to strengthen the Unit Pricing Code as a crackdown on shrinkflation, and we're making it easier for supermarkets to enter the market, to see more productivity in Australia. We are overseeing an economy whose unemployment rate is lower than many of our trading partners. Many other economies are seeing challenges with inflation, which is rising everywhere except the UK, where it is significantly higher than it is here. More than a million jobs have been created since we came to office - stronger jobs growth than any major advanced economy.
The Coalition are a goat rodeo in suits. It's vaudeville without the talent, slapstick without the charm. But we are getting on with the job. We are delivering for the Australian people. We are focused on tackling the cost of living, boosting productivity and working collaboratively with the states and territories in order to deliver policies which are good for households, good for the environment and good for the prosperity of future generations.
Ends