Andrew Leigh

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

Opening Doors: How Non-Compete Reform Will Unlock Australia’s Talent

Address to the Recruitment and Staffing Industry Summit 
Parliament House, Canberra

Tuesday, 28 October 2025

Opening the Conversation

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, and extend that respect to all First Nations people here today.

Thank you to the Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association for hosting this Summit and for your leadership across Australia’s labour market. The recruitment and staffing industry helps connect Australians to opportunity. You know the pulse of the workforce. You see the frustration of people who feel stuck and the satisfaction when the right person finds the right job.

The work you do matters. When people find meaningful work, they not only improve their own lives, they strengthen their communities and our economy. You help make that happen every day.

You know better than anyone that timing is everything. A good recruiter can smell a resignation before the manager has even noticed the new haircut.

Today, I want to talk about how we can make your job a little easier by tackling a quiet but powerful barrier to mobility: non-compete clauses.

When People Move, the Economy Moves

A dynamic economy relies on movement. Every thriving business depends on the steady flow of ideas and experience between firms. Job mobility spreads innovation, raises productivity and keeps wages growing.

When a worker changes jobs, they take with them knowledge about better systems, more efficient methods or creative approaches to old problems. When a nurse moves to a new hospital, the techniques she learned in her old ward can improve patient care in her new one. When a software engineer joins a rival firm, she might bring with her a smarter way to code or a better understanding of user behaviour.

Economists have a fancy term for this: allocative efficiency. Most people just call it getting a better job.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING WITH PATRICIA KARVELAS
MONDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2025

SUBJECTS: Coalition dysfunction, CFMEU, AI, federal environmental law reforms, critical minerals

PATRICIA KARVELAS: The return of Parliament today hasn't brought resolution to Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce's political identity. Barnaby Joyce chose not to sit in the Nationals party room today despite remaining a Nationals MP. Now, the party leader David Littleproud says the offer for Barnaby to return to the party room remains.

[Excerpt plays]

DAVID LITTLEPROUD: This isn't unusual. In fact, since I've been here there's probably been two or three that have sat outside the room that felt aggrieved with some of the policy positions and the National Party more broadly. But ultimately, the offer is always there to come back and to be part of the room. They are elected as the National Party Members. That offer remains. I have no personal vendetta and encourage Barnaby to come back and make a contribution.

[Excerpt ends]

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Now I was meant to bring in my political panel for today, but that political panel is a singular interview now with Andrew Leigh, who is the Assistant Minister of Productivity, Competition and Charities. Matt Canavan was meant to join us, but now he can't. So, I was going to grill him on that, but I'm just going to have to grill you alone. Can you manage that?

ANDREW LEIGH: I'm happy to channel Matt Canavan if you like PK. I can be the…

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Oh no, I think people should represent themselves.

ANDREW LEIGH: …I can be the many faces of the Liberal Party if you need it, but frankly as a member of the Government I'd rather focus on the Australian people rather than on my own political party.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Well, well said. I think generally speaking, on behalf of the Australian people that is the right thing to do. I want to start, if I can, because of your sort of economic head just to talk about, the Coalition is really pursuing the Government and the integrity of the clean-up of the CFMEU and looking at issues of conflicts of interest. It seems that the architecture that you've set up to try and deal with the CFMEU is now under serious question. Isn't it wise to look at all of that and put sunlight on all of this? Because if you don't have a parliament that is certain that you're doing the right thing. You can't really clean up this union, can you?

Constituency Statement
The Book Capital

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

House of Representatives

Monday 27 October

In the words of Groucho Marx: 'Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.' In the past five days, Canberrans have been enjoying the Canberra Writers Festival. The biggest program yet featured the likes of Andy Griffiths, Elizabeth Finkel, Trent Dalton, Virginia Haussegger, Jack Heath and Chris Hammer. My congratulations to festival Chair Jane O'Dwyer and the volunteers for their hard work in pulling the event together.

Many people work to fuel an active book scene in the bush capital. Colin Steele's 'Meet the Author' series, run in collaboration with the Canberra Times and the Australian National University is perhaps the best-attended book-launch series anywhere in Australia. The Indigenous Reading Project founded by Daniel Billing, is a non-profit company that works to improve the reading ability of First Nations children. At Cafe Stepping Stone Strathnairn, founded by Australian local heroes Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello, a monthly silent reading group invites people to come along and read quietly with fellow book lovers.

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

Testing What Works: Randomised Trials and Real Change

Relationships Australia SA Strategic Thinking Day

Online Address

Friday 24 October 2025

Thank you for the invitation to be part of your Strategic Thinking Day. I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person, but I’m delighted to join you virtually from Ngunnawal country in Canberra to contribute to your conversation about Outcomes That Count: Accountability, Impact and Opportunity.

Let me start by acknowledging Relationships Australia South Australia, and of course the leadership of your CEO, Dr Claire Ralfs. Your organisation has spent decades helping families navigate life’s hardest moments. Your work changes lives every day, often quietly, always profoundly.

I also want to acknowledge Professor John Lynch, whose Thriving Families initiative demonstrates the power of combining data, systems thinking and compassion. And Nick Tebbey, whose leadership across the Relationships Australia Federation ensures that the voice of community services is heard clearly in the national policy debate.

Your work captures the essence of today’s theme: measuring what matters, learning what works, and building trust through accountability and transparency.

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

OktoberTest: Science on Tap

German-Australian Science and Innovation Day 

University of Canberra

Online Address

Wednesday, 22 October 2025

Guten Tag, and warm greetings to everyone gathered for German-Australian Science and Innovation Day, at the University of Canberra, on the lands of the Ngunnawal people.

I’m sorry not to be with you in person today, but I’m delighted to join you by video to celebrate this terrific initiative. Events like this are a reminder of the deep bonds between Australia and the German-speaking world — Germany, Austria and Switzerland — when it comes to research, innovation and education.

As Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, I spend a good deal of my time thinking about how new ideas can drive prosperity and fairness in our society. But I also come to you today wearing another hat — as someone with long-standing research connections to German institutions. I’m a fellow of CESifo in Munich, IZA in Bonn, and the Research Foundation in Berlin. Over the years, these affiliations have provided me with countless opportunities to collaborate, exchange ideas, and learn from outstanding German scholars.

In fact, this exchange of ideas helped shape my most recent book, The Shortest History of Economics. I was delighted when it was translated into German earlier this year. German-speakers have made an outsize contribution to economics – from historical greats such as Joseph Schumpeter and Friedrich Hayek to contemporary economists such as Ulrike Malmendier and the University of Canberra’s own Uwe Dulleck. To contribute back, even in a modest way, to that rich conversation has been deeply rewarding.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC RADIO CANBERRA, WITH LEON DELANEY
TUESDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2025

SUBJECTS: Housing, Albanese Government cracking down on supermarket price gouging, Right to Repair, PM visit to the US

LEON DELANEY: The federal Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, not to mention our local member right here in the federal seat of Fenner, Dr Andrew Leigh has issued a number of proclamations in recent days. Yesterday the proclamation was headed, ‘We filled the lake; now let's build the homes’. Andrew, good afternoon.

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

LEON DELANEY: Thanks for joining us today. You've certainly been very busy, but let's start with filling the lake and building the houses because here in Canberra you've drawn this comparison to the obstacles that had to be overcome in order to create Lake Burley Griffin, and the obstacles that we have to overcome in order to build more houses. What's the connection?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well back in the late 1950s, the blockers to filling the lake were the Royal Canberra Golf Club. We love our golfers, but they fought tooth and nail in order to stop Lake Burley Griffin being filled in, and the move to the current location of the golf club in Westbourne Woods. That obstruction by a single organisation is somewhat different from what we face today with housing. It's not a single organisation that's opposing housing Leon, but a thicket of regulations which have acted together to stymie development. So, we're talking about what the ACT Government is doing and what the federal Government can collaborate with them on to put in place more medium density housing around our transport nodes.

LEON DELANEY: Now of course, we're primarily concerned with Canberra but this is not just an ACT problem, this is a problem right across Australia isn't it? Where state and territory level administration has resulted in a tangle of regulation that does stymie progress when it comes to constructing new housing. Now obviously we need regulation to make sure things are done properly and safely, but have we gone too far?

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

The Measure of a Good Life

Launch of the latest Australian Unity Wellbeing Index

Parliament House, Canberra

Tuesday, 21 October 2025

Thank you for the invitation to join you for the launch of Survey 42 of the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index.

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet, and pay my respects to Elders past and present. It’s a pleasure to speak alongside lead researcher Kate Lycett of Deakin University and the retiring (but never shy) Australian Unity CEO Rohan Mead.

For a quarter of a century, the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index has taken the pulse of our nation’s happiness. Long before governments began talking about dashboards and frameworks, this project quietly asked Australians the most important question of all: how satisfied are you with your life?

The Index reminds us that progress is not only what we produce, but how we feel. It is not just the quarterly accounts; it is whether people believe they are living lives of purpose and connection.

National wellbeing: a steady pulse with warning lights

The 2025 survey captures both optimism and strain. Personal wellbeing has held steady, with a small rise to a score of 68. National wellbeing has lifted more strongly, up three points to 55, reflecting improved satisfaction with government and the economy.

It is striking that these gains come despite a testing year of cost-of-living pressures, natural disasters, and international turmoil. Australians seem to be separating their sense of national direction from their private anxieties, perhaps seeing signs that the country is on a better path even as personal budgets remain tight.

The Index also maps wellbeing down to the level of federal electorates, an innovation that mirrors the granularity of our Measuring What Matters dashboard. Seven electorates stand out for high wellbeing across both personal and national measures: Canberra, Berowra, Bradfield, Mitchell, Goldstein, Curtin and Tangney. My own electorate of Fenner is hot on their heels.

These are largely urban and relatively affluent areas. At the other end are electorates such as Blair, Forde and Spence, where wellbeing is lower on both fronts. The report reminds us that geography and inequality intertwine. Income, housing tenure and age all shape how people rate their lives. Renters, younger Australians and the unemployed consistently report lower wellbeing.

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

Opinion Piece

‘It’s not nostalgia. It’s economics’ – how right-to-repair laws empower consumers

Published in The New Daily

20 October 2025

Australians have always valued fairness and choice. We like knowing that when something breaks, we can shop around for the best price and service. But in recent decades, too many of us have found that choice taken away.

When our government came to office, independent mechanics often couldn’t get the data or software needed to fix modern cars. Diagnostic tools were encrypted or withheld, forcing drivers back to dealerships and driving up prices. The Productivity Commission found that these restrictions limited competition, wasted skilled labour and raised costs across a $27 billion industry employing more than 130,000 Australians.

That’s why our government introduced Australia’s first legislated right to repair, the Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme. Since then, car manufacturers have been required to share diagnostic information with independent mechanics on fair terms. For consumers, it means real choice about where to take their vehicle. For local garages, it means a fair chance to compete. And for the economy, it means stronger productivity through competition.

Early signs are promising. Treasury’s review shows that 65 per cent of independent repairers report higher productivity, and the number of vehicles being turned away has fallen by around 40 per cent. Turnover in the sector is up 6.7 per cent, or about $1.8 billion a year. That’s the power of open markets: when information flows freely, productivity follows.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO MELBOURNE, DRIVE WITH ALI MOORE
MONDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2025

SUBJECTS: Albanese Government cracking down on supermarket price gouging, PM visit to the US

ALI MOORE: If you have noticed or experienced even a bit of price gouging - a bit of shrinkflation at the supermarket, you know that thing where you pay the same or maybe more, but the actual size of what you're buying is less? I really want to hear what you have experienced, and so does the federal government. The government is moving to make supermarket price gouging illegal, and they're releasing their draft legislations so we can get an idea of how it works and we can give some feedback. Dr Andrew Leigh is Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. Dr Leigh, hello. So tell me Dr Leigh, how do you stop price gouging? What's in the bill?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, the bill will have a broad prohibition against charging excessive prices, and it'll be up to the courts to determine whether the supermarkets are charging excessive prices. They might look at things like the cost of the goods plus a reasonable rate of return for the seller, or else they might compare what's being charged in the supermarket to what's being charged in other markets. Our big two supermarkets have two-thirds market share, which is big by international standards. And so Labor believes that they need to face appropriate scrutiny on the prices they're charging Australians.

ALI MOORE: But for that to be anything other than just good intentions, won't you actually have to have an enforceable cap on a rate of return?

ANDREW LEIGH: What we've got is multi-million-dollar penalties, which will apply if the supermarkets do the wrong thing.

ALI MOORE: But what's the wrong thing? I guess my point is, what is a reasonable rate of return? If a piece of legislation doesn't dictate, you know, what the highest rate of return should be, who's to judge 'reasonable'?

ANDREW LEIGH: They'll take account of what's being done in the UK and European Union where these sorts of prohibitions have existed for a while, and also regulatory guidance from the competition watchdog - the ACCC. We want to make this a broad power which is future-focused rather than locked into the particular circumstances we find ourselves in today. It's a broad power with big penalties. If supermarkets do the wrong thing, up to 10 per cent of their turnover.

ALI MOORE: And will those powers go very specifically to things like unit pricing so that you can tackle things like shrinkflation?

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP PRESS CONFERENCE
MURAL HALL, PARLIAMENT HOUSE
MONDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2025

SUBJECTS: Albanese Government cracking down on supermarket price gouging, Sussan Ley speech, Barnaby Joyce, PM visit to the US, Healthscope charitable status

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning, my name is Andrew Leigh – the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. The Albanese Government wants Australians to get a fair go at the checkout, and our big supermarket duopoly has significant market power. Coles and Woolworths between them control about two-thirds of our supermarket market in Australia. The Australian Government wants to ensure fairness from paddock to pantry. Last year, we put in place a mandatory Food and Grocery Code of Conduct to ensure the big supermarkets do the right things when they're dealing with suppliers. Over the objections of the Coalition, we put in place a system which has multi-million-dollar penalties for those who don't do the right thing by suppliers. And now we're using that same instrument - the Food and Grocery code, to crack down on price gouging at the checkout. Australians don't want to be paying too much for their groceries and the Albanese Government has their back. Excessive pricing rules exist in other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and the European Union. Our approach will draw on what has been done in other countries, and we will put in place a backstop of fairness. These new rules will apply to supermarkets with more than $30 billion of turnover, which currently means it'll capture Coles and Woolworths. This duopoly has significant market share, and it's important to ensure that they are doing the right thing by Australians. If the supermarket duopoly do the right thing, they have nothing to fear from transparency and enforcement. Excessive pricing rules will be judged by courts using information such as the cost of supply plus what is a reasonable mark up, or comparisons with prices in competitive markets. This will ensure Australians get a fair deal. That the system is fairer for farmers and fairer for families. We know many Australians are feeling under pressure from the cost of the weekly shop, and our price gouging laws which are out for consultation today will ensure that we look after consumers. We're looking to hear from people, whether that's shoppers, supermarkets or suppliers. The consultation period will close on November 3, with the aim of having these rules in place by the end of the year and ensuring that Australians get a better deal at the checkout. Happy to take your questions.

JOURNALIST: Sussan Ley is about to give a speech on her plans for tax cuts. What have you seen? What do you think? And is it enough to sort of detract from the distraction that is Barnaby Joyce?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, the Coalition at the last election went to the Australian people promising to raise their taxes. So, the first thing Sussan Ley could say would be that they got it wrong when they went to the Australian people as the party of higher taxes. But if all you're going to do is simply say you're in favour of lower taxes as a principle - well, that's a thought bubble, not a plan. Australians want to know what the Coalition would actually do, so unless Sussan Ley’s proposal comes with specific tax cut proposals, unless it's actually properly costed, then all it is just another broad statement of intent. We need an apology from the Coalition for what they did and a precise plan as to what they would do if they came back to office. Right now, we've got a Coalition that is looking more like a bad soap opera than a good Opposition that the country needs.