E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS

THURSDAY, 17 JUNE 2021

SUBJECTS: Territory Rights, Mitochondrial Donation Bill, Deliberative Democracy, Commonwealth COVID Hotspots.

TOM CONNELL, HOST: Welcome back well a host of states have either already enacted or are looking at euthanasia legislation, or voluntary dying as it’s often called. The ACT, well it wanted to go down that path, but it’s unable to, The Commonwealth in a bill that was introduced back in the 1990s blocking it from having that power. Joining me now is Labor MP and, of course, proud Canberran, Andrew Leigh. Thanks for your time.

ANDREW LEIGH: Pleasure Tom, great to be with you.

CONNELL: Where does Labor federally sit on this in terms of I know there’s a sort of general feeling that they’d like the ACT to have the power, but is this firmly in the policy platform, where are you at?

LEIGH: It would be a conscience vote if this came up Tom, but I think it would be supported, because the issue here is fundamentally one of territory rights. We’ve now got three states out of the six that have legislated on euthanasia, and others are considering it. And yet the two territories, the ACT and Northern Territory can’t even debate voluntary assisted dying: something that is supported by four out of five Coalition voters, four out of five Catholics, four out of five Protestants. This is an issue on which the Australian community is well ahead of the parliament, and at the very least, the territories should be able to debate the issue.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

2CC CANBERRA LIVE WITH LEON DELANEY

WEDNESDAY, 16 JUNE 2021

SUBJECTS: Morrison Government’s failure to tackle tax havens and multinational tax dodging; Morrison Government’s crackdown on charities engaged in public debate

LEON DELANEY, HOST: Well, we've heard a lot of talk about making multinational companies pay their fair share in tax. This is a topic that has emerged once again after a decision taken at the G7 meeting in the last few days, in order to levy taxes on companies like Facebook, Google, and other internet giants that shift their sphere of operations from one jurisdiction to another to avoid tax and the G7 nations have vowed to take steps to combat that. Somebody who's been beating this drum for some time, the Federal Member for Fenner and Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury, Shadow Assistant Minister of Charities, Andrew Leigh. Good afternoon.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good afternoon, Leon. Terrific to be characterized as a drum beater. I like that description.

DELANEY: Well, that's what you've been doing. You've been beating this particular drum for quite some time, about getting multinational companies to pay a decent share of tax. Now the basic problem is that a company like Google or Facebook or whatever can come and operate here in Australia, generate revenue here in Australia, but because the parent company is in some offshore tax haven, they have to pay fees to their parent company for intellectual property or some other such nonsense, which means they don't make any taxable profit here in Australia and hence pay little or no tax. It's a dodge isn't it?

LEIGH:  Sure is, and if you're a video game designer in Gungahlin, I know we've got a bunch of terrific local firms, then you can't headquarter yourself out of Ireland or Netherlands or the Cayman Islands. You've got to pay tax like everyone else. If you're a pay-as-you-go earner then you end up paying the regular tax rate. But multinationals have been getting away with too much for too long and the Group of Seven rich countries has finally said we need to put a floor under company taxes. It's quite a different philosophy, Leon, from the one that Scott Morrison was touting a couple of years ago when he said we had to be part of this race to the bottom in company taxes. Back then there was a race he believed in. It was a race to the bottom. Now we're actually seeing Britain and the United States looking to raise rates, and all of these rich countries putting a floor under the company taxes, which I think is a great thing for making multinationals pay their fair share

IT’S TIME THE LIBERALS ASKED JOBKEEPER MILLIONAIRES FOR THEIR MONEY BACK

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WEDNESDAY, 16 JUNE 2016

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The Labor Party will be supporting this motion, recognising the importance of ensuring that firms that receive JobKeeper they didn't need to pay it back.

Yesterday the exclusive Australian Club voted on whether or not to allow women as members. Apparently, the memo hasn't gotten through to the Australian Club in Sydney that it's 2021. Of the 693 votes that were cast, 62 were against allowing women members. Thirty-seven per cent were in favour. One per cent abstained—apparently, they couldn't decide whether or not women should be allowed into the Australian Club.

But the one thing that 100 per cent of Australian Club members voted for was taking two million bucks of JobKeeper from the Australian taxpayer. And last year the Australian Club didn't do badly: they doubled their surplus.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

5AA MORNINGS WITH LEON BYNER

WEDNESDAY, 16 JUNE 2021

SUBJECTS: Multinational tax avoidance and tax havens; tax fairness

LEON BYNER, HOST: Now, ever wondered how your Netflix statement bills to a company in the Netherlands and gets to you, why people who place Facebook ads are charged by a company in Ireland, and why the tiny island of the Bahamas is the sixth-largest foreign owner of Australian farmland? Bet you didn't know that, eh?

Back when most multinationals produced manufactured goods, taxation was pretty straightforward: profits were taxed in the country where the goods were produced and where the firm was headquartered. But these days, firms are sneakily shifting profits into low-tax jurisdictions. Two-fifths of multinational profits now pass through tax havens and so-called investment hubs, and of course, that means that a lot of those places, I would have thought that the place where you do business is where you pay your tax. Not necessarily.

I want you to meet, again, a bloke who I think is one of the finest economic minds we've got. He's the Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury, Dr Andrew Leigh. Andrew, this seems to put an unfair burden on the ordinary taxpayer, doesn't it - and good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND CHARITIES: G'day, Leon. Yes, you're absolutely right. When multinationals don't pay their fair share, that doesn't take away the need to spend on schools and hospitals, it just means the shortfall has to be made up for by pay-as-you-go taxpayers and regular small businesses. Your typical Adelaide business can't hide profits in the Cayman Islands, so they end up being stung more when multinationals pay less. It's in the interest of the whole economy to make sure that multinationals pay their fair share, but I don't see very much enthusiasm about that from the current Federal Government.

It's High Time to Make the Big Multinationals Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes, Daily Telegraph, 16 June 2021

Ever wondered why your Netflix statement bills to a company in the Netherlands, why people who place Facebook ads are charged by a company in Ireland, and why the tiny island of the Bahamas is the sixth-largest foreign owner of Australian farmland?

In the era when most multinationals produced manufactured goods, taxation was straightforward: the profits were taxed in the country where the goods were produced, and where the firm was headquartered. But these days, firms have become adept at shifting profits into low-tax jurisdictions. Two fifths of multinational profits now pass through tax havens and so-called “investment hubs”. Over half the corporate profits recorded in Ireland are shifted from other countries. In recent years, frustration with the slow pace of debates over multinational tax reform has led more than 40 nations to enact or announce new digital sales taxes on technology firms such as Facebook and Google.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2SM MARCUS PAUL IN THE MORNING

TUESDAY, 15 JUNE 2021
 
SUBJECTS: Biloela family; Scott Morrison out of step with G7 on climate action; Liberals attack on charities; Importance of a UK trade deal that works
 
MARCUS PAUL, HOST: Right now, Andrew Leigh. Good morning to you, Andrew.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND CHARITIES: Good morning, Marcus. Terrific to be with you.

PAUL: Thank you, mate. Did you enjoy - do you get a long weekend in Canberra?

LEIGH: We do indeed, yeah. A lovely big chunk of time with our three little boys, so that was fabulous.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2SM MARCUS PAUL IN THE MORNING

TUESDAY, 8 JUNE 2021
 
SUBJECTS: Indigenous Marathon Project and the Cairns Ironman; Liberal Government’s failures on vaccines; renewable energy project at Liddell power station; Liberals’ Medicare cuts; multinational tax avoidance.
 
MARCUS PAUL, HOST: Let's go to Canberra now. Andrew Leigh joins us each and every Tuesday. Morning, mate.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND CHARITIES: Good morning, Marcus. Great to be with you.

PAUL: Congratulations, by the way. You competed your Ironman race, and you raised - how much money did you raise?

LEIGH: We're at $17,000 so far. We were aiming for $22,000, so if any of your listeners would like to chip in it's not too late to support Rob De Castella's Indigenous Marathon Foundation.

REMEMBERING TONY HARRIOTT'S 50-YEAR COMCAR CAREER

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

TUESDAY, 1 JUNE 2021

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In July, COMCAR driver Tony Harriott will retire after 50 years of service, making him the longest-serving driver in COMCAR history. He was 24 years old when he took the wheel of a Ford Galaxie, numberplate C*9. Since 1971, Tony has driven hundreds of politicians, including the fathers of the members for Kennedy and Hunter. Tony remembers picking up Graham Richardson when he first arrived in Canberra, fresh off his Ansett flight. When ministers had their own assigned drivers, Tony was driver to defence minister Kim Beazley. But he especially enjoyed his time driving Anita Keating and Hazel Hawke, who he described as 'just terrific ladies'. COMCAR drivers are famously known for their discretion, so I couldn't get Tony to tell me too much, but he did say 'we had some fun with Hawke' when he was Prime Minister.

As a resident of Ngunnawal, Tony is one of my constituents; yet the irony is that almost all of my parliamentary colleagues are more likely to be getting into COMCARs than I am. But I know the extraordinary professionalism of the COMCAR service and how lucky we are to be looked after by them. Tony Harriott's 50 years is a record that may never be matched. Enjoy your retirement, mate; you've earned it.

Honourable members:  Hear, hear!

ENDS

Authorised by Paul Erickson, ALP, Canberra

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2SM MARCUS PAUL IN THE MORNING

TUESDAY, 1 JUNE 2021
 
SUBJECTS: Morrison Government’s failure on quarantine and vaccinations; Morrison Government failing to assist Victorian workers; Christian Porter; Reconciliation Week
 
MARCUS PAUL, HOST: Andrew Leigh is a Labor MP. Good morning, Andrew. How are you?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND CHARITIES: Good morning, Marcus. It's great to be with you.

PAUL: All right, well, we can bet on a longer lockup. The blame game started. Of course, those conservatives those LNP rusted-on types are blaming Dan Andrews, it's all the Victorian Government's fault. I think perhaps if we had vaccination up to scratch and if we had quarantine facilities away from populations, and of course if we didn't go back on, you know, rules that were in place for government-controlled aged care facilities, we might have avoided this.

LEIGH: Absolutely, Marcus. Every outbreak from hotel quarantine is a direct result of Scott Morrison's failure to put in place a safe national quarantine system. We know quarantine is a federal responsibility because it's in the Constitution, which sets out things the federal government should do - Section 51(ix): quarantine. The Federal Government's lax pace of the vaccination rollout - we've had vaccination on slow-mo - has meant that the impact of the outbreak in Victoria has been much worse than it would otherwise have been. Other countries have half their populations fully vaccinated. We have around 2 percent fully vaccinated and only 18 percent have gotten one jab. We are not even in the top 100 countries in the world in terms of the vaccination roll out

A ROOKERY OF RORTS AND A FARRAGO OF FALSEHOODS

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

THURSDAY, 27 MAY 2021

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Australia is now on track to head to $1 trillion of debt, and it is incumbent on those of us on this side of the House to look at the quality of that spending. You can't look at the quality of the spending by the Morrison government without looking at the question of scandals. We have seen a government replete with rorts, scandals and handouts to mates. The sheer volume of the scandals can sometimes overwhelm. Each scandal crowds out the previous one.