Andrew Leigh

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC NEWS RADIO

FRIDAY, 6 NOVEMBER 2015

 

SUBJECT/S: GST and tax fairness.

 

MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Leigh, the Government is still only talking in broad terms about its objectives for tax reform but one objective is that it be fair. I imagine Labor shares that. But another one they've indicated is that there be no overall increase in the tax rate – does Labor share that view?

 

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Marius, we need to make sure that we have the tax base necessary in order to fund the services Australians demand. For example, we saw that when we put in place the National Disability Insurance Scheme that Australians, by and large, accepted that there would be an increase in the tax share to fund a new part of the social safety net. Because any of us could fall victim to a profound disability. So I don't think there's any magic about the tax rate, but tax reform should always be equitable, efficient and simple. I'm just not sure that the Government's plans for a higher GST meet those tests. 

TURNBULL DISCOVERS ‘FAIRNESS’, TWO YEARS TOO LATE

Malcolm Turnbull’s hypocrisy was writ large today when he talked about making changes to the tax system that are ‘fair’.

Australians know what Mr Turnbull’s definition of ‘fair’ is: he ‘unreservedly and wholeheartedly’ backed every measure in the Liberals’ 2014 Budget. 

Supporting a GP tax on the vulnerable, making students pay $100,000 for their degrees and taking over $6,000 from the pockets of families: was this ‘fair’ Mr Turnbull?

MALCOLM TURNBULL: I support unreservedly and wholeheartedly every element in the Budget. Every single one.

ALAN JONES: So you’re totally supportive of the Medicare co-payment?

MALCOLM TURNBULL: I support every element, of course, including the Medicare co-payment. Do you want to go through the whole list?

ALAN JONES: You’re totally supportive of the increase in the fuel excise?

MALCOLM TURNBULL: I support the re-prioritised funding of official development assistance. I support introducing co-payments for general practitioner pathology and diagnostic imaging services in the Medicare Benefits Schedule. I support the reforms to higher education. I support the changes to family payment reform. Do you want me to read through the whole Budget?

2GB – 5 June 2014

Malcolm's medium is Australia's XXXL, Business Spectator, 28 October

Calling a firm earning $100 million a year a “medium-sized company” is like describing Andre the Giant a featherweight. It’s so wrong as to be laughable.

 

Yet that is exactly how Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described the companies his government chose to shield from Australia’s tax transparency laws.

 

In the last sitting fortnight the Turnbull Government rammed a bill through the Senate that gutted transparency rules put in place by Labor in 2013. Our laws required the Australian Tax Office to publish information about the income, taxable income and tax paid by companies earning more than $100 million. The first report was supposed to be published by the end of the year.

Five things that matter, The Australian, 28 October

A few months before the 2013 federal election, the Australian economist Stephen Koukoulas issued the incoming Liberal Government what he called ‘a very simple and professional challenge’. Fed up with all their rhetoric about fixing the budget and turbo-charging the economy, Koukoulas challenged the Liberals to improve Australia’s economic performance on five key indicators.

The indicators he picked were the ones any good economist looks to when taking the temperature of an economy: GDP growth, unemployment, inflation, wages and interest rates.

As Treasurer 2.0 Scott Morrison starts work on the upcoming Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, it would be worth him returning to those key indicators. If he does, he’ll find problems on all five fronts. The mid-year budget update is Scott Morrison’s chance to show his government has any kind of plan to get the dials on Australia’s economic dashboard moving the right way again.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

RN BREAKFAST

THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2015 

SUBJECT/S: Labor’s positive plans for the sharing economy; Joe Hockey’s valedictory.

FRAN KELLY: Later today Labor leader Bill Shorten and his Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh will announce Labor's new sharing economy policy. Labor asked for, and received, more than 500 policy submissions from interested parties including Uber, GoCatch and Airbnb. Andrew Leigh joins us now. Andrew, welcome back to RN Breakfast.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks Fran.

KELLY: Labor's policy lays out six economic principles for the sharing economy. But it doesn't really offer solutions yet, which is the hard part of this – how to regulate the sharing economy, isn't it?

LEIGH:  Well Fran this is about a national conversation on the sharing economy. We know we've now got one in 200 Australian homes listed on Airbnb, and within a year of setting up in Sydney one-tenth of Sydneysiders had used Uber. So it is important that smart governments move ahead of this and create the environment for innovation to flourish, but also an environment in which we make sure that sharing economy firms are paying their fair share of tax, they're supporting good wages and working conditions, they're providing access for people with disabilities, they're looking after public safety and they’re playing by the rules.

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TELEVISION INTERVIEW

ABC NEWS BREAKFAST

THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Labor’s positive plan for the sharing economy; Marriage equality.

VIRGINIA TRIOLI: Labor is today unveiling its policy on the sharing economy and Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh joins us now from Parliament House. Andrew Leigh, good morning. Thanks for making time for us.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure, Virginia.

TRIOLI: Let's stay with that example of Uber, the ride-sharing service, Airbnb and the like. What sort of regulation should be in place?

LEIGH: Well Labor's view is that we need regulations that maintain good standards but also encourage new firms to emerge. We'd like the next Uber or Airbnb to be an Australian firm. So we want to create an environment where sharing economy companies like Pawshake – the petsitter – and Parkhound – that solves parking problems – can emerge. To do that, we need to make sure that the sharing economy abides by a basic set of principles. Bill Shorten and I will be running through those principles later today but they include making sure that firms pay appropriate wages and conditions; that Australian safety standards are upheld; that sharing economy firms pay their fair share of tax; and that people with disabilities have more opportunities rather than fewer as a result of the sharing economy. 

LABOR’S NATIONAL SHARING ECONOMY PRINCIPLES

Joint Media Release with Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten

Labor has today announced our plan to embrace the sharing economy and see all Australians share its benefits. 

New services like Airbnb, AirTasker, Camplify and GoGet are changing the way Australians buy and sell things. They are also changing how we think about work and the line between private property and public goods.

There is huge economic and community potential in this emerging peer-to-peer market. 

Australia must embrace it, while ensuring we have the right rules in place to protect workers, consumers and the public good.

Labor’s plan is based on six principles. 

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TV INTERVIEW

SKY AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Polls; Multinational tax; China Australia Free Trade Agreement; Tax transparency; Australian Building and Construction Commission.

KIERAN GILBERT: This is AM Agenda, with me now is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. Good to see you. I know you don't like talking about polls that much; you never have. But this one is pretty clear in terms of every category: in terms of the leadership attributes, the primary vote, the two-party vote, the preferred Prime Minister. It's all showing that people are quite pleased to have Mr Turnbull in the top job. 

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Yes, Kieran. I don't like talking about polls mainly because it takes us away from the deeper conversations about issues and ideas that I know you care about as well. I think what this shows is that Malcolm Turnbull has been campaigning as a Labor member on the streets: he's been talking about the issues of cities; and about start-ups, which Labor has been on about for years. The problem is that when he gets to the Parliament, he still votes like a Liberal. He still votes for tax secrecy rather than tax transparency; he doesn't seem to have any proposals on multinational tax that raise any money and we're yet to see anything constructive to tackle inequality in the tax system. 

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC NEWS RADIO

MONDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Multinational tax; Superannuation; Malcolm Turnbull’s Cayman Island portfolio; Polls.

MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Leigh, good morning.

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

BENSON: You are backing these measures by the Government to crack down on multinational tax avoidance although you say yourself that you're a bit underwhelmed by them?

LEIGH: Well that's what the Budget says Marius. The Budget estimate of the amount of revenue that this package will raise is basically zero. There's a set of asterisks there in the Budget Papers where revenue estimates should be, so the Government isn't particularly confident about this adding to the Budget bottom line. But to the extent that they're committed to closing loopholes, we're committed to support that in the spirit of bipartisanship. We hope that in return, they'll take a look at Labor’s $7 billion package which has been costed, which does raise revenue and which closes a different set of loopholes than the Government's package focuses on. 

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DOORSTOP INTERVIEW

PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

MONDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Multinational tax; Tax transparency; Polls; Somali asylum-seeker case.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Today, the Government is going to be bringing into the Parliament its multinational tax Bill. This is a widely expected event; the multinational tax Bill was announced in the Budget. Unfortunately, according to the Government's own estimates, it doesn't raise any revenue. Where there should be significant revenue estimates, there's just a series of asterisks on p.14 of the Budget papers.

Labor will be supporting the Government's multinational tax Bill because we think any efforts to crack down on multinational tax avoidance are worthwhile. But we'd also urge the Government to look again at Labor's package, which raises $7.2 billion over the next decade; has been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office; is inspired by work done at the OECD; and which tackles a different loophole from the one the Government is focusing on. I'm also very disappointed that last week the Government snuck through the Senate measures to reduce tax transparency. The last thing we need at the moment, when we're having a conversation about how to get multinationals to pay more tax, is to be putting up the secrecy shutters. But that's exactly what the Government did last Thursday. Happy to take questions.