Andrew Leigh

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Member for Fenner

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH ROSS SOLLY

MONDAY, 5 MAY 2025

SUBJECTS: ACT Labor campaign, Climate 200 spending

ROSS SOLLY: Dr Andrew Leigh also got a nice little boost on the weekend - a positive swing. He didn't need it. He was comfortable enough already, but he got even more of a swing on the weekend. Andrew Leigh, I guess when you wake up on a Sunday morning, it's better to have that than the opposite, and what do you take away from that? Good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning Ross. Yes, just a sense of being really grateful to the people of Canberra for the support that we received. Really humbled by the chance to get back into the job of making life better for Australians and for Canberrans, and also just really relieved that those attacks on Canberra were so resoundingly rejected at the ballot box.

ROSS SOLLY: Yeah, I want to talk a little bit more about what we can read into some of the Canberra results in a moment. But Andrew Leigh nationally, it was such a rejection of what the Liberal Party stood for in this election. What was it in the end? I mean when you were out and about, when you were listening to people what was it that people hated about what the Liberal Party was offering?

ANDREW LEIGH: I think there really was a sense that the Liberal Party was too much echoing what was going on elsewhere.

ROSS SOLLY: Too Trumpian? Too Trumpian do you think?

ANDREW LEIGH: That sort of imported right wing culture war. I think the attacks on Welcome to Country ceremonies that Peter Dutton engaged in just contrasted with Anthony Albanese focusing on bulk-billing, on the energy transition, on the important resourcing of our schools, and on the work we're doing around competition reform. All of that is practical work that people can see in their everyday lives. I think people didn't want that sort of the nasty punching down that was being offered by the Liberal Party.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Member for Fenner

1 May 2025

Labor Government To Invest In ACT’s Multicultural Community Programs

Federal Member for Fenner Andew Leigh today announced that a re-elected Labor Government will support the Federation of Indian Associations of ACT (FINACT) in delivering community programs and events in 2026, strengthening Canberra’s vibrant multicultural community.

This $50,000 election commitment will support FINACT in their vital role celebrating diversity, promoting social inclusion, and building stronger, healthier communities.

It will help support key initiatives such as the AusIndia Fair, Chetna Community Champions Program, Sakhi Women’s Day, Yuva Gala, and community sports tournaments. It will make a meaningful difference in the lives of people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds across Canberra.

All these programs help to support vulnerable groups, including migrants, seniors, and international students, by connecting them with services and support.

Consistent with past practice, election commitments will be delivered in line with Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles.

Quotes attributable to Andrew Leigh MP:

"The Indian-Australian presence on Canberra’s northside brings people together across generations and backgrounds. Through initiatives like the Chetna program supporting families, Sakhi Women's Day celebrating women’s leadership, youth engagement through the Yuva Gala, and community-wide events like the AusIndia Fair and sports tournaments, FINACT helps create a more connected Canberra.

“This funding recognises the real impact of their work - fostering inclusion, encouraging participation, and strengthening social ties."

Quotes attributable to FINACT President, Roshan Menon:

“The funding is very welcome and will help boost our activities and build the programs we are developing to connect people, and also identify early help-seeking behaviours, to prevent crises, and reduce barriers to participate in the community for CALD individuals and families.” 

ENDS

Review of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Abundance

Andrew Leigh

Published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

30 April, 2025

In the 1930s, the US built the Empire State building in 13 months. In the 1940s, the Pentagon, headquarters of the US Department of Defence, was constructed in 16 months. In the 1950s, developers in Levittown, Pennsylvania boasted that they could produce a house every 16 minutes.

Yet today, construction has become slower and more expensive. Recent subway extensions in New York have cost billions of dollars per mile. A public toilet in San Francisco cost over a million dollars. US homebuilding has fallen behind population demand, with construction costs largely to blame.

‘Why can’t America build like we used to?’ is the central question at the heart of Abundance, a new book by New York Times podcast host Ezra Klein and Atlantic commentator Derek Thompson, which argues that a central focus for progressives should be on raising wellbeing by creating more for everyone.

The book opens with a heady vision of an abundant society in 2050: clean energy so cheap it’s barely worth metering, shorter working hours, longer holidays, better medicines, quicker commutes, and more affordable homes.

The obstacle to these goals, the authors argue, is an abundance of good intentions. They call it ‘Everything Bagel Liberalism’: too many good things make a bad result. The metaphor lands best with those of us who find the Everything Bagel a confused mess, rather than a culinary marvel.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC, CANBERRA WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO

TUESDAY, 22 APRIL 2025

SUBJECTS: Supporting more bulk billing GPs for Canberra, preferencing, pre-polling open today

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Well, unfortunately after that we do need to talk politics as we are in the midst of an election campaign. The Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury and the Member for Fenner Andrew Leigh is with us. Andrew, don't take that personally.

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Not at all.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: What are we, a week and a half out or nearly two weeks out from the election. Now, there's been a commitment from the Labor Government that if you re-elected, you're going to support more bulk billing GPs here in the ACT. Nobody would dispute the need for that. But the question that never gets answered is where do these GPs come from?

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: We're getting GPs firstly by training them, and that's obviously the best way we can do things and then also some are coming in from interstate and overseas. But Canberra at the moment has 20 per cent fewer GPs per person than Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, so we do need to attract more GPs here. One of the announcements that we made yesterday is that we'll have the first ever metropolitan trial of what's called the ‘single employer model’, which means that GPs are able to do some of their training at through ACT Health, and then go out into general practice while keeping all of their entitlements. And that'll make Canberra a more attractive place to train as a GP.

Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher 
Minister for Finance
Senator for the ACT

The Hon Mark Butler MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Member for Fenner

Alicia Payne MP
Member for Canberra

David Smith MP
Member for Bean

Albanese Labor Government to support more bulk billing GPs and respite care in Canberra 

21 April 2025

A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will deliver $24.3 million to boost access to bulk billing GPs and build more aged care respite beds across the ACT to ensure Canberrans have access to high quality, free healthcare when they need it.

Part of this funding will guarantee three new fully bulk billed GP clinics in the areas that need them most.

This investment is on top of Labor’s record investment in Medicare to triple the bulk billing incentive and support practices that bulk bill all of their patients.

This significant investment is the result of months of work to ensure that Canberrans can access a GP where and when they need to.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC, CANBERRA WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO

THURSDAY, 17 APRIL 2025

SUBJECTS: One-person Fenner election debate, Albanese Government investments in Canberra, Peter Dutton’s plan for public service cuts, Robodebt, AUKUS, independents, Labor’s competition policy reforms, community engagement in Fenner

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Time for the fight for Fenner - our candidate debate, which is now going to take on a very different feel. We were going to have a debate between the sitting member Andrew Leigh, the Labor Member for Fenner, and the Liberal candidate for Fenner, Bola Olatunbosun who has just had a family emergency and has had to leave us, so Andrew Leigh is with us. Andrew, I guess it's just you and me debating like we do on a Tuesday?

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: I think that's right Stephen, and if I lose this debate I'm in real trouble.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Yeah, well especially considering that I'm not running against you. So, look the way we usually do this is I give the candidate a one minute opening statement. So, I'll do that as well. I’ll give you a minute to, you know, state your piece and then we'll talk about some various issues.

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Well, Stephen, as we talk about in our regular chats, Labor is making a case for a stronger Canberra, one in which we're making strong local investments. We've invested in Margaret Timpson Park, invested in keeping bulk-billing at the Interchange Practice in Tuggeranong, we've invested in local roads and rail, and we've also invested in a strong public service. The public service can't be the size it was two decades ago with the National Disability Insurance Scheme that serves half a million people, with complex defence procurements and with all of the challenges we face around the world. And so, the real choice for Canberra is over a Labor Government with a Prime Minister who lives here and loves the city, and an Opposition with 41,000 public service jobs to go. They say all in Canberra, which would mean you'd be cutting almost two thirds the public servants who work in this town. That would not only gut the public service jobs, but also local businesses as well.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING, WITH PATRICIA KARVELAS

THURSDAY, 10 APRIL 2025

SUBJECTS: US tariffs, the Coalition’s Regional Australia Future Fund, AUKUS; housing and negative gearing.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Well, let's bring in someone from the government to get a response to lots of these broader issues. Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition and joins me now. Welcome to the program.

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

PATRICIA KARVELAS: The Chinese Government has asked Australia to join hands with China to defend global trade in response to American trade barriers. Should we be building a stronger relationship on trade with China at this point?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well Patricia, it's not in Australia's interest to be imposing tariffs. Tariffs are basically a consumption tax on imports, and so that's why we haven't gone down the path of retaliatory tariffs. Indeed, the story of Australian trade liberalisation going back to Gough Whitlam in 1973 is largely one of unilateral trade liberalisation. We decided to take the rocks out of our harbours to benefit our consumers, and we encourage other countries to do the same to benefit their consumers.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC, CANBERRA WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO

TUESDAY, 8 APRIL 2025

SUBJECTS: Albanese Government’s investment in Margaret Timpson Park, Peter Dutton’s public service cuts, Peter Dutton’s vendetta against Canberra.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Time to catch up with the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, and the Member for Fenner Leigh. Andrew, good morning.

ASSISTANT MINISTER LEIGH: Morning Stephen.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Now you've announced, if you're re-elected, or if the government's re-elected, $1.5 million for upgrades at Margaret Timpson Park in Belconnen. Look, I don’t spend a lot of time in Margaret Timpson Park, but it does look pretty good to me from what I've seen, and I’ve got no problem with this. But are you confident that the ACT Government's actually going to stump up and do the work?

ASSISTANT MINISTER LEIGH: Absolutely Stephen. Margaret Timpson Park is right in the heart of Belconnen, and if you go to the Westfield Shopping Centre there, it's the park looking straight out from the Westfield. A lovely little space, very heavily used now that you've got so many of those apartment towers going up, and our $1.5 million upgrade will see toilets, a barbecue area and a play area put in place there. It's going to be well used as Belconnen continues to gentrify and we get more and more people using that space. And it was great yesterday - you really would have enjoyed this Stephen, we had Chris Timpson, who is Margaret's widower. She passed away way back in 1993 and he's still with us and was telling us the stories of what she did in that early period of self-government. The first ACT Woman of the Year; just a remarkable woman. So, it was great to honour her legacy and also to be investing in that park.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: The question is though, why is it a federal government responsibility? Isn't this the kind of thing that local governments would normally do?

ASSISTANT MINISTER LEIGH: Well, the federal government is making investments right across the country. In Canberra, we announced investment in the National Convention Centre over the weekend and we’re investing in a range of roads, such as the Monaro and Barton Highway. And we’re making some of these smaller investments, including in parks. We understand that this is an important priority for people in Canberra, getting a good leisure facility. This isn't something that's going to send GDP through the roof, but certainly will do an awful lot for happiness in the Belconnen community.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
CANBERRA

MONDAY, 7 APRIL 2025

SUBJECTS: Albanese Government’s $1.5 million funding commitment for Margaret Timpson Park, Labor’s cost of living relief, Peter Dutton’s public service cuts and work from home ban, international students and migration, ACT Senators recommendation.

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Well thanks everyone for coming along today. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Federal Member for Fenner and I'm joined by Tara Cheyne MLA and Lachlan Butler who will say a few words on behalf of the Belconnen Community Council. We are also really privileged to have here Chris Timpson, Margaret Timpson’s widow, who has just been telling me a little bit more about Margaret. Margaret Timpson was the first ACT Woman of the Year - somebody who was a real pioneer for the women's movement and who helped shape Canberra through her work at the Australian Bureau of Statistics and her work in the Canberra community. It was Rosemary Follett who made the decision for this park to be named Margaret Timpson Park in 1994 - the year after Margaret Timpson’s untimely death as a result of cancer.

A lot of time has passed since 1994 of course, and the park is due for a revamp. That's why I'm really pleased to announce that a re-elected Albanese Government would invest $1.5 million in Margaret Timpson Park. This new investment will go to improved play spaces, to toilets, to a barbecue area. It will ensure that Margaret Timpson Park is a better space for the many office workers to come to use it, the shoppers who spill out of Westfield, the young parents who are looking for a place for their kids to play and the seniors who are looking for a spot to relax. Margaret Timpson Park really is a great part of the Belconnen community.

Some investments are measured in GDP, others are measured in giggles and shared lunches. This is the latter. It will be a great investment, and it will ensure that a terrific Park honouring an extraordinary Canberran becomes an even better place to play into the future. I am pleased now to hand over to Tara Cheyne and then to Lachlan Butler.

TARA CHEYNE MLA: Good morning, it’s terrific to be here with our local federal Member for Fenner, Andrew Leigh to announce this $1.5 million investment here in Margaret Timpson Park. This aligns with an ACT Labor election commitment last year, which we have been in the process of pulling together ahead of the budget. And so, this announcement that a re-elected Albanese Government will invest in Margaret Timpson Park is both welcome and fitting, particularly because Margaret Timpson not only was the first ACT Woman of the Year, but she worked just down the road at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and she's still revered. People still talk to me about the impact that she had as a female leader, and to have done that at the federal public service and for this park here in the heart of Belconnen to be named after her, and then to have this investment from a federal Albanese Government is very, very welcome.

This is a park that's seeing more and more people enjoy it, especially as the town centre expands. I’m not only a local member, I'm the Minister for City and Government Services, and I live just up there. I've seen firsthand every single day, this park being used. We've got so many more residents than we had ten years ago, and many people use this as their green space - this as their backyard. There have been calls for a long time for a public toilet. The nearest one is at Westfield, and the other nearest one is at the skate park. So, both of those are quite a way away, especially for people who live here using some of the services, especially like the Access Canberra service centre. There's also Medicare behind me, and so being able to have that sort of investment means the playground, not just for people who are visiting the town centre, but for our residents as well. Again, the nearest playground is about two kilometres away, and when you've got young kids in some of these towers around us, two kilometres is just a little bit too far. So that's why we're very proud to make this investment. We're very proud to hear that the Albanese Labor Government if re-elected, would be making this investment with the ACT Government for Margaret Timpson Park.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury
Assistant Minister for Employment
Member for Fenner

$1.5 Million For Upgrades For Upgrades At Margaret Timpson Park

7 April 2025

Member for Fenner Dr Andrew Leigh has today announced that a re-elected Albanese Labor Government will deliver $1.5 million for upgrades at Margaret Timpson Park in Belconnen.

This election commitment would go towards providing a new playground, public toilets, picnic tables, a barbecue area, an accessible ramp on the northern edge of the park and landscaping works.

Located in the heart of Belconnen’s town centre, the beloved park is named after Margaret Timpson, who was an influential figure in the women’s movement.

These improvements will ensure that residents, businesses, workers and visitors can continue to enjoy the hub for recreation activities such as picnics, walks and social gatherings.