Andrew Leigh

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC 774 MELBOURNE

TUESDAY, 5 APRIL 2016

SUBJECT/S: Multinational tax avoidance; Labor’s positive plans for the economy; Latest newspoll.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer in Bill Shorten's Cabinet so he is the assistant to the Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen and he'd be responsible for economic and fiscal policy should Labor win the next election. Andrew Leigh good afternoon.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good afternoon Raf, how are you?

EPSTEIN: Would you do anything differently especially around this offshore tax havens?

LEIGH: Look absolutely we would, Raf. The first thing to say is that while we were in Government we put in place a multi-billion dollar package cracking down on multinational tax avoidance and unprecedented tax transparency laws. In 2013 the Liberals voted against both of those. We are now calling on the Liberals to adopt Labor's multinational tax plan that delivers $7 billion over the course of the next decade by closing loopholes. They’re refusing to do that.

TURNBULL’S DEAFENING SILENCE ON TAX AVOIDANCE  

Last night’s ABC report The Panama Papers has yet again left Australians wondering if and when the Government will get serious about tackling tax avoidance.

Yesterday morning, it was reported the ATO is investigating more than 800 high net worth Australian individuals.

Last night, more details about the legal twists, turns and loopholes multinational companies and individuals use to avoid tax have emerged.

Several large companies operating in Australia are alleged to use the services of the firm at the centre of the leak that broke the story.

Not one Coalition MP appeared on the program. Not even to rhetorically condemn tax avoidance. 

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC CAPRICORNIA

MONDAY, 4 APRIL 2016

SUBJECT/S: North Queensland Taskforce; Labor’s positive plans for the economy; saving Medicare

JACQUIE MACKAY: Joining me now is Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Competition, Dr Andrew Leigh. Good morning Dr Leigh. 

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks Jacquie, lovely to be here.

MACKAY: Now you've been campaigning against the effects test and how that might hit regional consumers, we'll talk a little bit about that in just a moment. But you're visiting too as part of Labor's North Queensland Taskforce so what exactly will you be doing today in Rocky and Gladstone?

LEIGH: Well I'll be here with Lisa Neaton, our terrific Capricornia candidate talking with local businesses about some of the issues facing the economic development of this wonderful part of the world and also discussing issues such as housing affordability and also cost of living which I know are important to many local residents. It's the same story wherever you go in Australia. People are saying that they're concerned about the fall in living standards in Australia over recent years and worried that we've got a Government that is out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Australians. Always there to back in the multinationals but not necessarily there for Australian families. 

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DOORSTOP

ROCKHAMPTON

MONDAY, 4 APRIL 2016

SUBJECT/S: Labor’s positive plans for Rockhampton, effects test and competition policy, Malcolm Turnbull’s second-rate National Broadband Network, fair schools and education funding, North Queensland Taskforce

LEISA NEATON, CANDIDATE FOR CAPRICORNIA: It's my pleasure today to be hosting Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer here in Rockhampton and also Senator McLucas from Northern Queensland. We're talking to local businesses and groups and we're having a roundtable about priorities for growth and development here in Central Queensland so I'll hand over to Andrew.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks very much, Leisa. Leisa is a great Labor candidate for the seat of Capricornia. We're here talking with local businesses in the community sector about making sure that Rockhampton thrives, about making sure that we reduce the gap between rich and poor which we've seen rising too much in Australia. Malcolm Turnbull has always got a plan for helping out multinationals; rarely does he have a plan for making sure we have strong Medicare, the social supports that Australians need and well-funded schools and hospitals. Labor is particularly concerned about Malcolm Turnbull's wacky plans on competition. Outsourcing competition policy to Barnaby Joyce with an effects test that might see prices rise. We've already had the head of Coles warning that effects tests could see the end of uniform pricing meaning that groceries currently priced the same in Rockhampton as they are in Toorak could well be more expensive in regional Australia. With Leisa you've got a candidate who will fight for cost of living who is going to work on long-term policies like making sure we have fast and affordable broadband in Rockhampton, making sure we've got a strong mining and agricultural industry, making sure that our kids have the education they need for the jobs of the future. We're happy to take questions.

ANDREW LEIGH MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION
MEMBER FOR FRASER
 
CLARE O’NEIL MP

MEMBER FOR HOTHAM

JULIAN HILL
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BRUCE

NO RELIEF FOR SOUTH-EAST MELBOURNE CHARITIES

Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh, Member for Hotham Clare O’Neil and Labor Candidate for Bruce Julian Hill visited South East Community Links today and saw firsthand the incredible work the organisation does in supporting the community, from employment, financial and counselling services, to assisting refugees and newly arrived migrants.

Andrew Leigh said “Labor is a friend of the sector. We have spent the past three years defending the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) from ideologues in the Abbott-Turnbull Government who set out to kill it. Under previous social services ministers Kevin Andrews and Scott Morrison, the government made scrapping the charities commission part of its so-called "red tape repeal" agenda”.

The Coalition belatedly bowed to public pressure and dropped its plans to abolish the Charities Commission, giving organisations like South East Community Links the opportunity to spend less time doing paperwork, and more time helping residents of South East Melbourne.

ANDREW LEIGH MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION
MEMBER FOR FRASER
 
PAT O’NEILL
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BRISBANE

EXPENSIVE EFFECTS FOR BRISBANE CONSUMERS UNDER THE LNP

At the same time as talking up a tax cut for big businesses, the Turnbull Government has committed to introducing an ‘effects test’ that will raise prices on everyday groceries such as bread and milk.

Having just backed down on the GST, the Government has moved to implement another policy that will see consumers pay more.

We know already the Deputy Prime Minister believes the “proper price” of milk is anywhere up to $11 a litre.

Labor has consistently opposed the effects test as it will have a chilling effect on competition. Companies fear that under an effects test, engaging in legitimate competitive conduct such as selling cheap bread and milk could land them in court.

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TV INTERVIEW

ABC NEWS BREAKFAST

THURSDAY, 31 MARCH 2016

SUBJECT/S: Malcolm Turnbull’s crazy plan for state income taxes; Labor’s savings proposals; protecting hospitals from the Coalition’s $57 billion in funding cuts; saving Medicare

 
DEL IRANI, PRESENTER: Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and joins us now. Good morning, Andrew Leigh.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning, Del.

IRANI: What is Labor's view on this proposal by the Government to make those changes to income tax essentially allowing the states to set their own rates in the long term?

LEIGH: Our view, Del, is it is unfair and unnecessary. It is odd when Scott Morrison was talking about the dangers of bracket creep a couple of weeks ago no-one realised that the thing he actually thought with bracket creep was that it wasn't happening fast enough. This is a case of bracket jump, in which Australians would be pushed up into higher tax brackets, a fact which the Treasurer seemed unaware of yesterday until the Prime Minister corrected him on it. In which you'd end up with a whole lot of different tax rates right across the country.

IRANI: Yes, but rising costs in the health care system are an ongoing issue. Do you agree that a radical change is required?

LEIGH: Certainly Australian hospitals are struggling to cope with the $57 billion that the Coalition has pulled out of those hospitals since it came to office. The impact of that showed up in the Australian Medical Association's Public Hospital Report Card which showed that waiting times for elective surgery and emergencies have already begun blowing out. We do need to do something about that. The question is whether the solution is a fair one, such as the $100 billion of savings that Labor has put on the table, or whether it is another wacky thought balloon being floated by the clown show that seems to be masquerading as a government at the moment.

LABOR’S PLAN FOR THE SHARING ECONOMY IN MELBOURNE

 
Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh and Victorian Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade Philip Dalidakis have today visited Carhood to discuss Labor’s positive plan for the sharing economy.
 
They met with founder Steve Johnson to talk about creating a fair and flexible framework of rules for emerging services like Carhood to ensure all Australians can share in the benefits.
 
The sharing economy is changing the way we buy and sell things. It is also changing how we think about work and the line between private property and public goods. Australians are clearly embracing these services. Carhood has 5,000 members and is growing at 70% month on month, while around one in 200 Australian homes now listed on AirBNB.
 
Prime Minister Turnbull has failed to address the many sided challenges and opportunities of appropriately regulating the sharing economy which still suffers from a regulatory lag.
 
That’s why Labor has announced a set of National Sharing Economy Principles and indicated we will work with state and territory governments to turn these into concrete rules and regulations.
 
Federal Labor’s principles are:

THE EFFECTS TEST WILL INCREASE PRICES: COLES

“I cannot get an answer… on whether we will be able to sell bread, beans and nappies for the same price in regional Australia as in Toorak”

JOHN DURKAN, COLES MANAGING DIRECTOR – 24 MARCH 2016

Less than a week after Barnaby Joyce claimed the “proper price” of milk was anywhere up to $11 a litre, we see yet another warning that the Government’s dangerous effects test policy will raise prices on everyday groceries.

The effects test will have a chilling effect on the competitive process.

Businesses will fear that by engaging in legitimate competitive conduct – such as selling cheap bread, beans or nappies in regional areas – they will be taken to court.

ONE IN THREE PRIVATE COMPANIES PAY NO TAX

The Australian Tax Office has today revealed that one in three Australian-owned companies earning more than $200 million a year pay no tax.

As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull mulls a cut to company tax in the upcoming budget, the data published today reveals 98 out of 321 of Australia’s biggest private firms aren’t paying a single dollar.

This news comes on top of last December’s revelation that one in four big public firms and multinationals also pay no tax.

It says everything about Malcolm Turnbull’s priorities that he would put company tax cuts at the centre of his budget, even as so many big firms appear to be dodging their fair share.