Andrew Leigh

This article on Australia's gun buyback program was syndicated by Zocalo, and appeared in various outlets, including Time magazine and the Huffington Post.

OPINION PIECE

 Dear NRA: My Country Is Proof That Reducing Guns Reduces Deaths 

Sometimes a tragedy is so awful that it changes the national debate. The 1996 Dunblane school shooting in Scotland, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, and the 2011 Norwegian gun massacre all prompted an outpouring of anguish and a demand for changes in law.

In Australia, that moment was the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in which a gunman killed 35 people at a tourist attraction in Tasmania. To put the size of the death toll into perspective, the United States population is 14 times larger than Australia, so the impact of the Port Arthur massacre on Australia would be like a U.S. shooting that cost more than 400 lives.

I joined ABC Lateline host Emma Alberici and Liberal MP Josh Frydenberg for a wide ranging discussion on Liberal Party leadership tensions, the Budget deficit, Arthur Sinodinos, East Jerusalem and the approach of Clive Palmer and critical role of his Palmer United Party in the new Senate. Here's the full transcript:

ABC LATELINE  

FRIDAY, 6 JUNE 2014

EMMA ALBERICI: To discuss the week that began with tensions between the Prime Minister and his communications Minister and ended with debate over Israel.

I was joined a short time ago from Melbourne by Josh Frydenberg, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and from Parliament House in Canberra, by Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer. Gentlemen, good evening.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good evening, Emma.

JOSH FRYDENBERG: Nice to be with you Emma.

ALBERICI: Now the events of the past week with Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones suggesting that Malcolm Turnbull is trying to destabilise Tony Abbott's leadership. Mr Turnbull himself said people might come to the conclusion that this was a coordinated campaign against them. What do you think, Josh Frydenberg, is behind these attacks on Mr Turnbull by the PM's good friends in the media?

FRYDENBERG: Look firstly, can I say about Malcolm Turnbull. He's extremely talented, he's extremely passionate and he's extremely experienced and we're very lucky to have Malcolm Turnbull in our team. His main job, his main focus is about fixing up Labor's mess that they left with the NBN.

Today I issued a media release off the back of surprising evidence given at this week's Senate Estimates, showing once again the contempt the Social Services Minister has for the charities and the not for profit sector.

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION

MEMBER FOR FRASER

 MEDIA RELEASE 

Has Anyone Seen Kevin Andrews?

Minister Kevin Andrews has not met with the head of the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission for eight months, Senate Estimates has revealed.

ACNC Commissioner, Susan Pascoe, confirmed before Senate Estimates, “We are not in regular contact with the Minister.” The last time Minister Andrews met with the ACNC was in November 2013.

Minister Andrews has legislative responsibility for the ACNC – a national agency aimed at making charities and not for profits stronger, accountable and more visible.

Today I issued a media release expressing concern that the Australian Bureau of Statistics will be releasing a lot fewer statistics as a result of cuts in the federal budget.

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION

MEMBER FOR FRASER

 

MEDIA RELEASE

Cuts to ABS another salvo in the Abbott Government’s war on facts

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ ability to survey and measure the impact of policies is being deliberately undermined by the Abbott Government.

The ABS today confirmed further reductions to its statistical program – hitting social and environmental surveys - as a result of a $50m cut to its budget over three years.

 

This morning on 2CC Breakfast I responded to Malcolm Turnbull's Shakespearean prose and praise for yours truly during Question Time in Parliament yesterday.

Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

E&OE TRANSCRIPT RADIO INTERVIEW

2CC BREAKFAST WITH MARK PARTON
5 JUNE 2014

SUBJECT / S: Turnbull’s thespian turn.

MARK PARTON: We played a little bit earlier Malcolm Turnbull's spray against Andrew in the parliament yesterday. It was amazing. 

MALCOM TURNBULL: "I say this with respect to the honourable member Madame speaker, I come not to embarrass the member for Fraser, but to praise him. For, for I am very concerned as we all are that the Conrovian nonsense that he is forced to spew out occasionally nowadays will live after him, but the wisdom and economic rationality will be buried in his bones unless we, unless we, unless we draw people’s attention to it. And you know Madame speaker you can imagine the thought reform that the member for Fraser has had to have, you can imagine the Conrovian electrodes going on to him as they give him another jolt to stop him being rational."

 

This morning I held a doostop interview on the federal budget working against the ACT, concern both the ATO and ASIC will be less proactive because of budget funding cuts and Scott Morrison's acknowledgment that PEFO is the benchmark to judge spending and debt.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT, DOORSTOP INTERVIEW 

WEDNESDAY, 4 JUNE 2014
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

SUBJECT / S: Scott Morrison’s PEFO revelation; ACT Government budget hit by Federal cuts; ASIC’s corporate surveillance work and the ATO’s capacity undermined by budget cuts; Indonesia.

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER, ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning everyone. I'm Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer. Yesterday in Question Time we saw a rare outbreak of truth telling from Scott Morrison, who made clear what everyone has known since Peter Costello put in place the Charter of Budget Honesty. The Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook is the state of the books when a government takes over. It's yardstick against which all decisions have to be measured. Measured against that it's very clear that this Budget has increased the deficit; increased it this year, next year and over the forward estimates. And it's done so because the government has lost tens of billions of dollars of revenue by aiming to scrap the carbon price and increased spending by tens of billions of dollars on a parental leave scheme. 

Ahead of an Economics Committee Senate estimates hearing this morning, Bernie Ripoll and I put out a joint release raising concern about budget cuts to ASIC and the ATO. 

THE HON BERNIE RIPOLL MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES & SUPERANNUATION

MEMBER FOR OXLEY

 

ANDREW LEIGH MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION
MEMBER FOR FRASER

MEDIA RELEASE

ABBOTT GOVERNMENT SENDS WRONG MESSAGE TO TAX DODGERS AND CORPORATE CRIMINALS

It’s never been to a better time for tax dodgers and white collar criminals as the Abbott Government slashes staff at the Australian Tax Office and hits resources available to the corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

The Coalition talks about the importance of the rule of law, but 3000 fewer ATO jobs and swingeing cuts to ASIC will lead to the rule of the jungle. 

In my usual Monday slot with Breaking Politics host, Chris Hammer, today's topics included another gaffe by the Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, and concern this Governent does not understand its own budget and the budget's ripple effects.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

BREAKING POLITICS – FAIRFAX MEDIA
MONDAY, 2 JUNE 2014
CANBERRA

SUBJECT / S: Higher education changes; Crippling cuts to CSIRO and other science organisations; D-Day commemorations and the Prime Minister’s partisanship; Welfare payment changes and drug testing recipients.

CHRIS HAMMER: Joining us now is  Andrew Leigh the shadow assistant treasurer and Labor member for Fraser.

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER, ANDREW LEIGH: Good Morning Chris.

HAMMER: Good Morning. Now Christopher Pyne says that the new university system, the new university fees won't kick in til June 2016. So what’s the problem, people have plenty of warning of what’s coming?

LEIGH: Well the question that Minister Pyne was asked yesterday Chris, was when the changes to the indexation of HECS debts would start. He erroneously said that would begin applying only to new enrolees. In fact it applies to students currently enrolled, and even students who have graduated, a measure which smells a whole lot like retrospective taxation to me, although I suspect that its constitutionally possible to get it through. It means that a student that graduated maybe even a decade ago is now going to see their HECS debt balloon if they don't begin paying it off rapidly. It was an approach that was never envisaged from the start when HECS was put in place.

 

Today I issued a joint media release with Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Julie Collins, critical of the Government's decision to close ten regional ATO sites:

ABBOTT GOVERNMENT SHOWS CONTEMPT FOR REGIONAL AUSTRALIA WITH ATO CLOSURES

The closure of 10 regional Australian Tax Office sites across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania shows the National Party is truly the junior and ineffective partner in the Coalition.

The ATO has confirmed it is closing offices in Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Mackay, Cairns, Port Macquarie, Grafton, Orange, Sale, Bendigo, and Launceston.

 

Last night, I spoke with Radio National Drive presenter Waleed Aly and the Liberal's Josh Frydenberg for a discussion about the unfairnes of the budget, the Abbott Government's guttered science policy and the future of Peppa Pig on our ABC. Here's the full transcript:

E&OE TRANSCRIPT, RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC RN DRIVE WITH WALEED ALY
WEDNESDAY, 28 MAY 2014

SUBJECT / S: Federal Budget and Inequality; Age Pension; Superannuation; Incoherent science policy and cuts to the CSIRO; Higher education; Cuts to the ABC.

WALEED ALY: It's a fortnight since Joe Hockey delivered his first budget. One key measure of that, the debt levy has passed the House of Representatives. It will also pass the Senate because Labor has confirmed it will not oppose that levy. Other budget measures though has continued criticism, even from the Liberal Party's own backbench. One backbencher in particular has criticised cuts to science funding and just the way that the whole science policy has been structured at the moment. So let's discuss budget debate, I'm delighted to welcome back to the program, Josh Frydenberg, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and his sparring partner, Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. Gentlemen, welcome back.

JOSH FRYDENBERG: Nice to be with you.

ALY: I want to start with the public perception of the budget gents. Seven out of ten voters don't believe that the burden of cuts is being spread evenly and fairly across the population according to the latest polling. Josh, who do you blame? Do you blame the people or do you blame yourself for your sales job?