Andrew Leigh

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TELEVISION INTERVIEW

ABC NEWS 24

MONDAY, 1 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 census; Reserve Bank interest rates.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: In just over a week, 24 million Australians will be accounted for in the Census. This is the first time the vast majority of census forms will be filled out online. The Bureau of Statistics will also be allowed to keep personal information, like names and addresses, for up to four years. Labor's Shadow Treasurer Andrew Leigh is arguing that the Government should be doing more to explain the process and the privacy protections that go with them. He's been talking to national affairs correspondent, Greg Jennett.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER:  I think it makes sense, Greg. We're doing many more things online and it reduces the person power required by census-takers in big cities, so they can deploy more of those resources into remote areas. And particularly in counting homeless Australians. Homelessness is a huge policy issue, so we need to be making sure there are enough talented census numerators engaging with the homeless population on census night.

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TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS KARVELAS

SUNDAY, 31 JULY 2016

SUBJECT/S: UN Secretary General; Northern Territory juvenile detention Royal Commission; Herbert result; 2016 Census.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Joining me now is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh from the Labor side of politics. Welcome to the program.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks Patricia, and as a fellow parent, happy Harry Potter day.

KARVELAS: Harry Potter day is indeed an exciting moment. Just on some news that's dominating this weekend, Kevin Rudd has released letters. He says show the Prime Minister had supported his candidacy for the UN Secretary General before ultimately refusing to back him. Doesn't that prove he wasn't up for the job? Why would you release these confidential letters?

LEIGH: Patricia let's go back to first principles. Australia has a history of former leaders being supported by governments of different political stripes. The Hawke Government supported Malcolm Fraser's bid to be head of the Commonwealth, the Howard Government supported senior parliamentarian Gareth Evans' bid to be head of UNESCO. And in government, the Rudd and Gillard Governments both made appointments of senior Liberals to important diplomatic posts including people like Brendan Nelson. So I do think that tradition is in danger now from a Government which seems to put partisan politics before the national interest. Kevin Rudd is eminently well qualified for a range of international posts. And the Government's decision not only to slap him down but to reject Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is a dangerous omen for where the Government is going.

JUST BECAUSE THE TURNBULL GOVERNMENT HAS MESSED UP,

DON’T SPOIL THE CENSUS

The Turnbull Government has botched explaining changes to the upcoming Census, leading to significant community confusion and concern.

But Labor urges all Australians to complete their Census forms accurately so that the Government’s failings do not mar our largest national information-gathering exercise.   

The Turnbull Government has extended from 18 months to four years the length of time that names and addresses collected in the 2016 Census will be retained by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Extraordinarily, there seems to be some confusion within the Government about which Minister is responsible for the Census. Treasurer Scott Morrison and Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer have left the task of explaining this change solely to the Australian Bureau of Statistics – which is already busy enough without having to do their jobs as well.

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TV INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS AM AGENDA WITH KIERAN GILBERT

MONDAY, 25 JULY 2016

SUBJECT/S: Shadow Ministerial reshuffle; G20; global growth; Trans-Pacific Partnership; public infrastructure investment; Canberra’s livability.

KIERAN GILBERT: With me now, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh, and a few other jobs now as well after the reshuffle but less pay!

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Who’s to worry about what you get paid when you're in the top couple of percent of the income distribution? Whether you're in the top 1% or the top 2%, frankly the great honour is to be serving your friends and your neighbours in the federal parliament and to have the opportunity to be on the front bench. I'm really honoured that Bill Shorten and the caucus have allowed me the privilege of serving again on the front bench.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC RN BREAKFAST

MONDAY, 25 JULY 2016

SUBJECT/S: Shadow Ministerial reshuffle; Effects test; Superannuation.

ELLEN FANNING: Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and the Shadow Minister for Competition for Productivity, for Charities and Non-profits and for Trade in Services. Quite a long title. Andrew Leigh welcome back to breakfast. Congratulations on your reelection and your many appointments.

ANDREW LEIGH SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thank you, Ellen.

FANNING: I made a point of using your full title there because you've been given an extra two and a half portfolios but you've been kicked off the official list of 30 Shadow Ministers and you've taken a $40,000 pay cut to boot. Is that the price you pay for independence in the Labor caucus?

LEIGH: Ellen, frankly the last thing we need to be worrying about in Australia right now is whether someone slipped from the top 1 per cent of the income distribution to the top 2 per cent. There are familes in Australia right now who are struggling to afford to buy Christmas presents for their kids, struggling to afford to be able to afford to get to the dentist. There are people that slept homeless last night. Let's not worry about people in the top couple of percent of the income distribution. We're doing just fine.

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION AND PRODUCTIVITY

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE IN SERVICES

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CHARITIES AND NOT-FOR-PROFITS

MEMBER FOR FENNER

SHADOW MINISTRY APPOINTMENT

I am honoured to continue my work on Labor’s frontbench in the roles of Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Competition, as well as taking on new challenges in Productivity, Trade in Services, Charities and Not-for-Profits.

My thanks to Bill Shorten and the Labor Caucus for entrusting me with the privilege of serving in the ministry. I look forward to collaborating with Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen and the rest of the talented Labor economic team. 

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SPEECH INTRODUCING BILL SHORTEN

ACT LABOR CONFERENCE

SATURDAY 23 JULY, 2016

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Friends, delegates, comrades. The leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party isn't just another political leader of Australia. They are the keeper of the flame of innovation, hope and ideas. They create positive policies, and keep the work of nation building alive. 

If you want to understand Bill Shorten, you need to go back to his first speech in Parliament. There, Bill talked about union meetings in woolsheds, meeting with steel workers, meeting with underground miners. Helping netballers and jockeys. Bill Shorten has helped more workers than Malcolm Turnbull has accounts in offshore tax havens!

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC NEWSRADIO WITH MARIUS BENSON

THURSDAY, 21 JULY 2016

SUBJECT/S: Labor Shadow Ministry; superannuation.

MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Leigh, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER AND SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION: Good morning Marius, how are you?

BENSON: I am well. Can I just ask you about the interstices of the Labor Party post-election? First, because you are now the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, but the new Shadow Ministry is going to be announced on Saturday. Right now, there is factional warfare underway to determine exactly where the jobs go. The talk is that Tony Burke's going to go; you’ll become Shadow Finance Minister. Does that seem plausible?

The Productivity Commission, Australia’s independent economic evaluator, has crippled the flimsy foundation for the effects test promised by Malcolm Turnbull’s nearly-minority Government.

In its draft report into the Regulation of Agriculture, the Commission found that “Introducing an ‘effects’ test to section 46 of the (Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cwlth)) is…unlikely to shield farm businesses from intense competition in retail food markets.”

An effects test won’t protect producers, but it will raise grocery prices and threaten retailers with court action if they become too competitive.

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TV INTERVIEW

SKY AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 11 JULY 2016

SUBJECT/S: Budget equity; Corporate tax cuts; Marriage equality; Federal election result; Gough Whitlam’s 100^th birthday.

KIERAN GIBERT: With me now, Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh. Good morning to you. The results are now done, I want to ask you first of all about this message from both leaders yesterday about the need to have a more constructive Parliament It seems very much in the national interest to do that and to have that. Particularly where the budget is right now. How do you make that sit with your message yesterday that the Labor Party has a mandate as well in some respects after the election?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: We absolutely do Kieran. As you well know, what a mandate means is that you need to after the election what you said you'd do beforehand. The Prime Minister's mandate for example means that he has pledged before the election but no one will pay more to go to a GP. He now needs to deliver on that after the election.