Talking politics and the economy on Capital Hill
This afternoon I spoke with Capital Hill host, Lyndal Curtis, about the unfairness of the Federal Budget and the prospect of more punitive welfare measures under the Coalition. Here's the transcript:
Read moreCAPITAL HILL, ABC NEWS24
THURSDAY, 12 JUNE 2014
SUBJECT / S: Joe Hockey’s remarks on leaners; Federal budget and inequality; Welfare and means-testing; Tax reform.
LYNDAL CURTIS: The welfare reform report is not out yet but already the shape of what the government is looking at is becoming clearer. A medium to long-term plan to drastically wind back the number of payments and use what is happening in New Zealand to deliver better targeted help. It comes at a time that the Treasurer has been warning that the system delivers too much, to too many people. Part of the broader conversation he started when he declared the age of entitlement over and started speaking about people who can afford to do so, standing on their own two feet, without the need for government support. Labor has already condemned the action that the government has already taken on payments in the Budget. The Assistance Shadow Treasurer Andrew Leigh joins me now. Andrew Leigh welcome to Capital Hill.
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER, ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks Lyndal.
CURTIS: Do you believe that the current welfare system as Joe Hockey says makes payments too broadly available to too many people?
LEIGH: Absolutely not. And it’s not just me saying that. It’s what you see when you look at the international evidence. When you compare Australia to other countries, we're a relatively low-taxing, low-spending nation. Down the end of the spectrum where we would see the US and Mexico, not up the Scandinavian end of the spectrum.
Are half of Australians ‘leaners’?
This morning I spoke to NewsRadio about Treasurer Joe Hockey's speech last night in which he rejected criticism his budget is unfair, saying the government must "reward the lifters and discourage the leaners". Here's the transcript:
RADIO INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
ABC NEWSRADIO
THURSDAY, 12 JUNE 2014
SUBJECT / S: Joe Hockey’s Sydney Institute speech; Federal Budget and Inequality
PRESENTER: The Treasurer has launched a new defence of the Budget, rejecting claims that it is unfair and hits the needy hardest. Mr Hockey says that the Budget aims to cut the overall cost of welfare so those most in need can be protected, but he says that it is not the Government’s role to achieve equality through the tax and welfare system. For a Labor response to the Treasurer, Marius Benson is speaking to Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer.
MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Leigh the Treasurer says that the welfare situation, the cost of welfare at the moment is unsustainable. As things stand, the average Australian tax payer is working for a month just to pay the welfare for other Australians.
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER, ANDREW LEIGH: Mr Hockey seems to have missed the fact that Australia is much closer down the US and Mexican end of the spectrum than the Swedish or Scandinavian end of the spectrum. Australian tax as a share of national income is relatively low. We have a lean and efficient welfare state and he has just delivered a budget which is massively redistributive from the worst off to the best off in the community.
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Dear NRA: My country is proof that reducing guns reduces deaths
This article on Australia's gun buyback program was syndicated by Zocalo, and appeared in various outlets, including Time magazine and the Huffington Post.
Read moreOPINION 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.
Lateline Friday Political Forum - 6 June 2014
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:
Read moreABC 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.
MEDIA RELEASE - Has Anyone Seen Kevin Andrews?
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
Read moreSHADOW 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.
MEDIA RELEASE - ABS cuts an attack on evidence-based policy
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.
Read moreANDREW 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.
Wherefore art thou cost-benefit analysis?
This morning on 2CC Breakfast I responded to Malcolm Turnbull's Shakespearean prose and praise for yours truly during Question Time in Parliament yesterday.
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Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
E&OE TRANSCRIPT RADIO INTERVIEW2CC 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."
DOORSTOP - ACT budget takes a Commonwealth whack, Minister Morrison contradicts Hockey on PEFO
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.
Read moreE&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.
MEDIA RELEASE - Govt sends wrong message to tax dodgers and corporate criminals
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.
Read moreTHE HON BERNIE RIPOLL MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES & SUPERANNUATION
MEMBER FOR OXLEY
ANDREW LEIGH MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURERSHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION
MEMBER FOR FRASERMEDIA 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.
BREAKING POLITICS - Uni fee deregulation, D-Day and the PM's partisanship on display
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.
Read moreE&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.