Andrew Leigh

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

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RADIO INTERVIEW
3AW MELBOURNE, MORNINGS WITH TOM ELLIOTT
MONDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2025

SUBJECTS: Albanese Government cracking down on shrinkflation at the checkout, housing

TOM ELLIOTT: Okay, Shrinkflation. Now, we all know what it is. You know, you buy a block of Cadbury's Dairy Milk every week. It costs $5. It used to have 240 grams of chocolate. One day it's 220 grams, but it still costs $5. Or a packet of chips used to be 50 grams; suddenly it’s 45 grams. You know, 10 per cent less, same price. The federal government is not happy and wants to do something about it. And our next guest, the Assistant Minister for Productivity and Competition, Andrew Leigh. Good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning Tom, great to be with you.

TOM ELLIOTT: Well, we know it when we see it but what can we actually do about it?

ANDREW LEIGH: We're seeing shrinkflation all over the place. I mean, you mentioned the chocolate example, but it’s happening with chips, it's happening with confectionery, it's happening even with toilet paper and detergents. We're getting on top of it through strengthening the Unit Pricing Code, which is the code that basically tells the big supermarkets what they've got to do in order to provide us the right information. So, we're looking at extending it across more retailers, making sure that the shelf labels compare apples with apples and putting some penalties behind that code.

TOM ELLIOTT: Yeah. Because I mean, if I have the time, I do look at, you know, the price per 100 grams and weirdly with dishwasher tablets is the price per tablet. Because they're sold in so many different packet sizes and whatever, it's very hard to compare them. But I mean, I suppose the issue is most people, and I put myself in this category, you know, we go to the supermarket for quickness and convenience. We want to go and get our stuff and get out, and we probably don't have the time or the inclination to cross check all the different prices.

ANDREW LEIGH: Yeah, that's right. And one of the recommendations that the competition watchdog gave us at the start of this year when we got them to do a deep dive into supermarket competition, is that if the size of the packet changes in a way that's adverse to the consumer, then there should be a requirement to notify shoppers about that change. So, that's one of the changes we're consulting on today.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH ROSS SOLLY
MONDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2025

SUBJECTS: March for Australia protests, Labor’s productivity agenda

ROSS SOLLY: So, Dr Andrew Leigh is the Member for Fenner. He's also the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury and he joins us on the program this morning. Dr Leigh, good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning Ross, great to be with you.

ROSS SOLLY: And you as well. What did you make of the rallies around Australia yesterday?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, I think it was really troubling Ross, to see these Neo-Nazis standing up on platforms decrying Australian multiculturalism and missing the fact that except for Indigenous Australians, all of us are either migrants or the children of migrants. Migrants aren't just mouths to feed, they're muscles to build and minds to inspire. And successive generations of migrants have greatly enriched Australia, which is one of the world's most well-functioning multicultural democracies.

ROSS SOLLY: Yeah. And that point has been made by a number of listeners this morning that in fact nearly all of us are indeed migrants. The fact though, Andrew Leigh, that there were thousands marching and they were small, spread right around the country. Yes, it's easy to say, well they're Neo-Nazis or they're racist, but at the heart of it, does it identify a bigger problem?

ANDREW LEIGH: We've always had anti-migrant sentiments bubbling as an undercurrent in Australia. You think back to the Lambing Flat riots or the Cronulla riots. These things have happened in the past in Australia. But you know, it's always disappointing to see people demonising some of the most vulnerable in Australia. I was really pained to hear interviews with migrants who felt personally at risk from those demonstrations. And of course, we saw the direct attacks on police officers. Now the fact is Ross, migration has been a great benefit to Australia. You think about Victor Chang, the heart surgeon, Karl Kruszelnicki, the Swedish born science communicator or biologist Gus Nossal.

ROSS SOLLY: Yeah, for sure.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

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DOORSTOP PRESS CONFERENCE
DICKSON SQUARE, ACT
MONDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2025

SUBJECTS: Albanese Government cracking down on shrinkflation at the checkout, March for Australia protests, 5 per cent deposits for all first home buyers, age assurance technology trial

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, good morning everyone and welcome to Canberra on the first day of Spring. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition.

When your chocolate bar loses two squares but keeps the same price, that's not magic - that's shrinkflation. And Australians are feeling the effect of shrinkflation in their regular shop. We've seen shrinkflation in chips, we've seen it in chocolate, we've even seen it in toilet paper and detergents. The Albanese Government is cracking down on shrinkflation at the checkout with a review of the Unit Pricing Code that kicks off today.

As part of that review, we're investigating a range of potential reforms that might include extending the number of retailers covered by the Unit Pricing Code of Conduct. It might include ensuring better display on the shelf. It could include ensuring that we have the same measures being compared across products - not one product per 100 grams and another product per kilogram. It might include putting penalties on the Unit Pricing Code of Conduct. The Albanese Government wants shoppers to get a fair deal at the checkout.

We're holding the supermarkets to account. We've already given an additional $30 million to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in order to allow them to do their important work in keeping the supermarkets to account. We've held the first major review of supermarket competition in more than 15 years, and we've increased the penalties for anti-competitive conduct.

The Albanese Government recognises that in Australia we have a very concentrated supermarket sector, with the two majors holding significant market share. And even despite the entry of Aldi into the market a couple of decades ago, we've still seen the market share of the majors holding the same. As they say in Spider-Man, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’, and our big two supermarkets have great power. So, with that we're cracking down on the Unit Pricing Code of Conduct, ensuring that Australians don't suffer shrinkflation at the checkout and that the supermarkets can't pull the wool over our eyes. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: So, what makes this different to the review that we saw in March from the ACCC?

ANDREW LEIGH: The ACCC recommended that we crack down on shrinkflation, and this is one of our one of the ways we're implementing that review. This consultation, which kicks off today and wraps up in a couple of weeks, is about implementing the ACCC’s recommendation to crack down on shrinkflation and get shoppers a better deal at the checkout.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, SATURDAY BREAKFAST WITH EMMA BICKLEY
SATURDAY, 30 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: Albanese Government cracking down on shrinkflation at the checkout

EMMA BICKLEY: The federal government is currently looking at ways for shoppers to more easily compare prices on supermarket shelves. I don't know about you, but I love unit pricing. You know, I can compare apples with apples. But also, I want to know when brands are short-changing me. Andrew Leigh is Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. Welcome to the program.

ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks Emma, great to be with you.

EMMA BICKLEY: Thanks. Now Assistant Minister, shoppers are really feeling the pinch when they're at the supermarket. What measures would you be looking at in this new consultation to make it easier for people to spot when they're being short-changed or when shrinkflation is playing a part?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well Emma, I share your love for unit pricing. It makes it a whole lot easier when you're a shopper, and one of the things we've seen in recent years is a lot of these instances of companies which have downsized their products but kept the price the same. We've seen it with Freddo Frogs. We've seen it with Smith's chips. We've seen it with Pringles. We've even seen it with toilet paper. Kimberly-Clark admitted to shortening the length of each square of toilet paper from 11 centimetres to 10 centimetres.

EMMA BICKLEY: I mean, I thought Freddo Frog got a little bit skinnier, but I assumed he was just taking better care of himself? Are you saying he's actually getting smaller?!

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO SYDNEY, SATURDAY BREAKFAST WITH DOM KNIGHT
SATURDAY, 30 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: Sydney Marathon, Albanese Government cracking down on shrinkflation at the checkout

DOM KNIGHT: Now, I wonder whether you've ever had an experience my family had on Monday night. Got a little after dinner treat - a box of mini ice creams from a well-known supplier, and open up the mini ice creams. We thought, ‘Have these gotten more mini? Smaller than they used to be!’ Now look, maybe I at least probably benefit from that in terms of waistline, but it's not necessarily great in terms of value. This is a thing called ‘shrinkflation’. I'm not sure if they were smaller. They just seem smaller. But this is something that's been happening for years. The price cost the same, but the items get smaller. The federal government wants to do something about it. They're going to strengthen the so-called Unit Pricing Code, and there's a plan to name and shame brands that do this; reduce the size but keep the price the same. Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. Good morning Assistant Minister.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning Dom, how are you?

DOM KNIGHT: I'm very well thank you. Now, before we get into this, I hear you're running the marathon tomorrow?

ANDREW: I am! I’m looking forward to lining up. It'll be my fourth Sydney Marathon, so always a wonderful race over the bridge at the start, finishing at the Opera House and a good 42 kilometres in between.

DOM KNIGHT: Well, it's the first time it’s an official majors, so it's an exciting day for marathon fans?

ANDREW LEIGH: It's fabulous, yes. So, it'll be a good run. It's been a little bit more competitive. It used to be anyone could just get an entry but these days you've got to get lucky in the ballot.

DOM KNIGHT: You're doing pretty well when you've got a room for 35,000 people and you're turning people away. Anyway, look all the best with that tomorrow. But let's get on to this question of shrinkflation. What are you planning to change to try and get this well, at least more transparent, even it doesn't stop it?

ANDREW LEIGH: Dom I thought your example of the ice creamwas a perfect one. And we're seeing this in all kinds of different products. Freddo Frogs have shrunk in size. Pringles have shrunk in size. Used to be most beers were 375ml - a lot of them are dropping down to 330ml. Now, wine makers are sometimes selling in 700ml bottles, rather than the usual 750ml. Pippa Malmgren, a US economist has dubbed it shrinkflation when the size goes down, but the price goes the same. So, we want to make sure that consumers have the information they need in order to make informed decisions at the checkout, and that means knowing when shrinkflation is going on in front of you.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

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RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC RADIO CANBERRA, LIVE WITH LEON DELANEY
FRIDAY, 22 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: Canberra Airport and competition in the aviation sector, Economic Reform Roundtable, housing, road user charge

LEON DELANEY: Andrew Leigh, good afternoon.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good afternoon Leon, great to be with you.

LEON DELANEY: Well, you're the Assistant Minister for Competition, amongst other things. Can't you tell Qantas to be more competitive?

ANDREW LEIGH: Katy Gallagher has done exactly that, and certainly she's speaking on behalf of all of the ACT Federal Labor representatives. The cancelation rate is outrageous, and the fares are sky high. The fact is that you can get the bus up to Sydney for less than 50 bucks. And so, the idea that they ought to be charging 700 bucks for a 30-minute flight just strikes me as pretty outrageous.

LEON DELANEY: It's a weird flight isn't it? Because you actually spend more time in the airport than you do in the air. But even so, sometimes people just have no choice but to take that flight because they need to be travelling between Sydney and Canberra fairly quickly to meet an appointment or meet a deadline or something of that nature. It's basically extortion, isn't it?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, Katy Gallagher is speaking out on behalf of not only the government, which is paying fares for people to come to and from Canberra for public servants and politicians to make that trip, but also for the Canberra travelling public. Because analysis from Canberra Airport seems to suggest a bit of a price spike during parliamentary sitting periods, not just on that Sydney to Canberra leg, but also on Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. Their analysis seems to suggest mark-ups anything up to 135 per cent coinciding with parliamentary settings. That's not what you'd expect in a competitive market, to say the least.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP 
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

OPINION PIECE

Fair Play, High Performance: What Sport Teaches Us About Productivity

Published in Region Canberra

20 August 2025

Australia is a nation obsessed with performance. We admire grit, teamwork and ingenuity on the field, and we take pride in our reputation for punching above our weight in international sport. From the pool to the pitch, our athletes regularly outperform much bigger nations. Not because we’re richer, but because we’ve built systems that work: talent is spotted early, coaching is world-class, infrastructure is prioritised, and everything is measured. What gets measured gets improved.

But while our athletes keep breaking records, productivity has been limping. When our government came to office, labour productivity – the engine of long-term prosperity – had suffered its worst drop in nearly half a century. The 2010s were the slowest decade for productivity growth since the war. Australians are switching jobs and starting businesses less often. In too many markets, incumbents dominate. If these markets were sporting leagues, they would have one team, one trophy and one very bored mascot.

This matters. A sluggish economy means fewer chances for the aspiring entrepreneur, fewer pathways for the ambitious worker and a lower ceiling on our collective ambition. We would never accept a sporting competition in which the results bore no relationship to effort, where newcomers could never crack the starting lineup, or where legacy players always won regardless of merit. Yet that is exactly what is happening in parts of our economy. The lesson from sport is clear: if you want fair play and high performance, you need the right systems.

Sport teaches us that potential only becomes performance when talent is nurtured. Megan Still had never sat in a rowing boat until the Australian Institute of Sport tested her in 1988. She was so strong she tipped the scull each time she pulled the oars. The coaches took notice, and eight years later she won Olympic gold. Evonne Goolagong Cawley, watching tennis from behind the fence in Barellan, was invited in for a hit: a gesture that launched a career at the top of world tennis. Cathy Freeman’s speed was matched by the scholarships and training that allowed her to develop it. None of them would have reached those heights without systems that identified and supported their ability. The same principle applies in the economy. The next champion might not be holding an oar or a racquet. She might be writing code or sketching a business plan. Our challenge is to make sure she gets the chance to succeed.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO SYDNEY, MORNINGS WITH HAMISH MACDONALD
TUESDAY, 19 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: Regulatory reform, competition policy reforms, Labor’s abundance agenda, Economic Reform Roundtable, housing

HAMISH MACDONALD: Andrew Leigh, welcome to 702 Mornings.

ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks Hamish, great to be with you.

HAMISH MACDONALD: Andrew Bragg, the Coalition Senator - one of your opposites in the Shadow Ministry had a bit of a hit out at you on the program yesterday, saying too much regulation. 5,000 new regulations. He says you've lumped $5 billion of new regulatory costs on businesses, 400 new laws onto the box. Has he got a point?

ANDREW LEIGH: Not in the least Hamish. Let me tell you what Andrew Bragg has done. He went to the Parliamentary Library and asked them to count up the number of regulations in Labor's last term. They came back with the answer 5,034. So, I got curious. I asked the Parliamentary Library how many regulations were passed in the Coalition's last term? They said 5,383. So, if Andrew Bragg was being honest, he'd be telling everyone that regulations have fallen under Labor. But of course, counting the number of regulations is a bit like working out the quality of a library by weighing the books. It’s not a particularly helpful exercise when you’re weighing up regulations to improve child safety, national security, or indeed regulations that reduce the regulatory burden.

HAMISH MACDONALD: Do you accept though, that people working and living in the real economy experience too much regulation? Like, we hear it day in, day out here from listeners - it's just too difficult to get things done.

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, if you're talking about areas like aged care or child care, then I think there's a demand for getting more regulation in some cases. If you're looking at the thicket of regulation that's slowed down housing approvals, then yes we've got a challenge. The key isn't to get rid of all regulation, it's about making regulation smarter. That's what Labor's been doing through our national competition policy reforms, through improving occupational licensing, making it easier for people to switch jobs and making it easier to approve clean energy projects. All of this is the hard work of sorting out regulation, rather than the easy job of just sitting back and pretending you can count regulations, then be done with it.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

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RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH LEON DELANEY
TUESDAY, 19 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: Economic Reform Roundtable, four day working week, AI, regulatory reform

LEON DELANEY: The federal Member for Fenner and Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities, Treasury and other things as well, Dr Andrew Leigh, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH: Morning Leon, great to be with you.

LEON DELANEY: Thanks for joining us today. It's a big day for you and your colleagues. It's day one of what I have described as ‘Woodstock for policy wonks and economic nerds’ - the productivity roundtable. What are you expecting?

ANDREW LEIGH: Three days in a windowless room talking policy. What can be more exciting for those of us who are excited about building stronger productivity growth, a more resilient country and dealing with some of the budget sustainability issues? This really is an exciting moment, and a great group of people have been brought together. I'm really expecting a productive conversation around issues of how we get regulation right, whether we can improve our tax settings and what we need to do to make the most of the artificial intelligence opportunities for the future. Now, the energy transformation is not just something we need to do for climate reasons, but also a great opportunity for a sun‑drenched country like ours, so there's great upside of potential for this three‑day conversation.

LEON DELANEY: Okay. A lot of commentary has suggested that it will be nothing much more than just a gabfest with very little, if any concrete value to be produced. And in that context, it seems a little odd that the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have both kind of downplayed expectations in recent weeks. Why have they done that?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, they've been very clear that decisions are made around the Cabinet table by the Cabinet, but that this conversation in the Cabinet room will help inform that. I think it's a great opportunity to build stronger consensus for some of what we need to do and to think through some of the big challenges for the economy. We know for example, in the area of capital attraction we need to do more. The government's got a significant agenda on competition, which you and I have talked about frequently Leon, and much of what we've done in the first term and have said we'll do in the next term will lead to a more dynamic and competitive economy. That's really fundamental to increasing the speed limit of the economy. Think of it like a sporting team, you've got to make sure that you get the athletes as fit as possible, that you get the team working together, and that the rules of the game are fair, and so you can do your best before you get on the field.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

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TV INTERVIEW
ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING WITH PATRICIA KARVELAS
MONDAY, 18 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: Economic Reform Roundtable, Productivity Commission, Labor’s productivity agenda, competition reform, artificial intelligence, tax reform, social media minimum age, cancellation of Israeli MP Simcha Rothman’s visa

PATRICIA KARVELAS: To discuss the direction of this week’s roundtable, I want to bring in one of the figures in the government most focused on regulation, deregulation and competition - that’s the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition and Charities, Andrew Leigh. Andrew Leigh, welcome to the program.

ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks Patricia, great to be with you.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: This is your Christmas week, is that right?

ANDREW LEIGH: Absolutely. Christmas comes early for policy wonks. Three days in the windowless Cabinet room talking about how to raise the speed limit of the national economy and how to deliver higher living standards for Australians.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Okay. So, business groups are framing this week’s productivity roundtable as a legacy moment for Australia. Is that what it is – a legacy moment for Australia?

ANDREW LEIGH: I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to bring together big thinkers to discuss big ideas around the Cabinet table. There’s the challenge of artificial intelligence, there’s the opportunity of skilling up Australians, there’s the moment where Australia can be a superpower in the renewable energies transition. All of that is going to be a discussion around the Cabinet table. Three days split into talking about resilience, talking about opportunities in productivity and talking about budget sustainability.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Danielle Wood says economic growth hasn’t been a priority for years. Were you too fixated on other issues in the last term for it to be a priority when it should have been?

ANDREW LEIGH: We had a big growth focus in the last term, and I enjoyed Danielle Wood’s speech at the Press Club today, where I attended. We talked about the importance of getting the national competition policy going again. We’ve reformed our merger laws. We’ve invested in the education system, which is a real key driver of productivity. And we’ve announced the scrapping of non-compete clauses to make it easier for people to move to a better job. Some of productivity is about boosting individual workers’ productivity capacity; some of it is about making it easier to move to a more productive firm; some of it is about encouraging more productive firms to grow and allow those less productive firms to exit the market. So, that reallocation process was really fundamental to how economists think about productivity, much in the same as sports people would think about how to raise the speed limit on the track or in the pool or on the sporting field.