Andrew Leigh

FIVE TESTS FOR THE OPPOSITION LEADER'S BUDGET REPLY
Statement on Matters of Significance, House of Representatives
Wednesday, 16 May 2023

If you want to know what the coalition really believe in, let's go back to the most unpopular budget of the past generation, a budget that commemorated its 10-year anniversary this year, the 2014 budget. The 2014 budget was preceded by then Prime Minister Abbott saying there would be ‘no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no cuts to pensions, no changes to the GST and no cuts to the ABC and SBS’. He vowed to avoid these things and he embraced every single one of them.

 In that 2014 budget, the Liberal Party and the National Party said that under-30s would get no unemployment support for six months. In fierce discussions about the right level of JobSeeker, they thought the right level for young Australians should be zero. They said that pensions would no longer be indexed to wages but would only be indexed to prices, essentially saying to Australia's fixed-income retirees that they could no longer share in productivity growth in the economy. They said that HECS-HELP debts would be indexed at a faster rate, a strong contrast to what we said in this budget, which was that the indexation of those debts would be lower.

 The 2014 budget, which commemorates its 10-year anniversary this week, had a $43 million cut to ABC and SBS. It had a $114 million cut to the CSIRO. It had deficits as far as the eye could see from a party that had promised before the election that they would deliver a surplus in their first year and in every year after that. And the 2014 budget ended bulk billing. I wonder who was the health minister who presided over that decision? Hey, that's right: it's none other than the Leader of the Opposition, the man who, when he was health minister, was voted by doctors the worst health minister in living memory.

PAINTING ON A BIG CANVAS
Institute of Public Accountants & Canberra Business Chamber 2024 Federal Budget Breakfast
Great Hall, Parliament House, Canberra
15 May 2024

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of these lands, and pay respects to all First Nations people present. Thank you to the organisers, the Institute of Public Accountants, and the Canberra Business Chamber, for the opportunity to address you following this year’s Federal Budget. I also acknowledge my parliamentary colleagues who are here today. Apologies in advance that I cannot stay for the whole event – we have a scheduled crossbench briefing at 8.15am where I am presenting on upcoming legislation.

By my rough count, this is the seventh time I’ve addressed this breakfast – a great chance in the Great Hall to talk about whether last night’s budget meets our great expectations. It’s not just a moment to talk numbers, but also an opportunity to consider Australia’s place in the world, and whether we’re making the right calls to shape a fairer society and a stronger economy.

If you need reminding that each of us are inheritors of past traditions and custodians of the future, take a look at the tapestry at the end of the room. In designing it, Arthur Boyd wanted to refer to one of history’s great tapestries, the Bayeux Tapestry that shows the events leading up to the 1066 Norman Conquest. Halley’s Comet is in that 1066 tapestry. In 1986, when the tapestry was being made, Halley’s Comet was in the sky again. So the weavers suggested that Boyd include it, as a way of acknowledging the history of those weavers from nearly a millennium ago.

EXPERIMENTING FOR EXCELLENCE: RANDOMISED TRIALS IN HUMAN RESOURCES
HR Leaders Forum 2024
Sydney, Tuesday 30 April 2024

I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and all First Nations people present today. Thank you to the organisers for the chance to address you on a topic that is a passion of mine – using better evidence to create a fairer society and a stronger economy.

As we navigate an era marked by rapid technological advancements and shifting workforce dynamics, the role of human resources has never been more critical. HR is the backbone of organisations, ensuring not just compliance and management, but also fostering a culture of growth, inclusion, and innovation. At its best, HR helps unlock workers’ full potential, aligns individual aspirations with organisational goals, and builds resilient structures that thrive in the face of future challenges. HR is not just a support function, but a driver of organisational success.

Yet for HR to succeed, you need more than gut instinct. As the cliché goes, ‘In God we trust; all others must bring data’. If your company faces no competitors for your products and employees, you might be able to get away with formulating HR policies based on feelpinions. For mere mortals, evidence matters.

In this short address, I want to run you through a few of my favourite examples of evidence-based policymaking in human resources, presenting some surprising findings from a succession of randomised trials. I will then turn to why randomised trials should typically be given more weight than other forms of evidence, and how we are seeking to use them in government.

COMPETITION DRIVES INNOVATION *

Closing Remarks to the Australian Auto Aftermarket Innovation Awards Breakfast
Melbourne, Thursday 11 April 2024

In the 1950s, Sweden’s national electricity company noticed something curious. Although they managed a network of high-voltage cables, the biggest risk of death didn’t come from electricity. Instead, the greatest danger came when their employees were driving. At the time, cars either had no seat belts, or simple lap belts. If they crashed, deaths were common – even at low speeds.

So the company did something remarkable. Two safety engineers, Bengt Odelgard and Per-Olof Weman, developed the three-point lap-sash belt. Swedish inventor Nils Bohlin developed it for Volvo. In 1959, three-point seatbelts were installed in all Volvo cars.

Then Volvo did something remarkable too. It allowed any car company in the world to use its patent. Where lap belts had done little to save lives, lap-sash belts turned out to be the best piece of safety equipment ever installed in a car.

Just over a decade later, in 1970, the state of Victoria became the first place in the world to enact compulsory seat belt laws; after a trial of seat belts in police cars proved their effectiveness. In the 65 years since three-point seat belts were patented, they have saved over a million lives (O’Grady 2009).

HEALTHY SURPRISES: HOW RANDOMISED TRIALS CAN CHALLENGE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM AND DEBUNK DOGMA*

Danks “Leaders in Science” Seminar
Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne
Tuesday, 9 April 2024

I acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, the traditional owners of these lands, and pay respects to all First Nations people present.

Professor Goldfeld, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute staff, and researchers across laboratory, clinical, public health, and health services: Thank you for inviting me here today.

My thanks to the Institute for what you do each day to help improve the lives of children through rigorous research. I also pay tribute to Professor David Danks (1931-2003) who established Victoria's first genetics health service, which became this Institute, after whom today’s Seminar is named. As one obituary described him, ‘David was a remarkable doctor, scientist, teacher, mentor, family man, friend, and champion of good causes’ (Choo, 2003).

My focus today is on randomised trials – a central tool in medicine, but underutilised in policy. In particular, I want to focus on the way in which randomised trials in medicine can upend conventional wisdom, producing results that improve patient outcomes and extend lifespans. You might call these ‘healthy surprises’.

ADDRESS TO THE NATIONAL CO-OPERATIVE PRODUCERS ROUNDTABLE
Friday 5 April 2024, Sydney

It is a pleasure to be here today, with cooperative producers from across industry and around Australia. Thank you to Melina Morrison, chief executive of the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals, for convening today’s conversation, and to all participants for joining us in Sydney, on the lands of the Gadigal people.

Let me start off with a with a story. My grandfather Keith Leigh was born in 1912. In 1929, when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began, he was just 17 years old. In order to make ends meet, he hit the road as a travelling salesman, largely selling hosiery. As Keith liked to say of his business role, he was a ‘traveller in ladies’ underwear’.

The 1930s were tough on Keith, as they were for many Australians. At the end of the decade, he and his friend Lindsay Brehaut set up the Hobson’s Bay Co-Op, named after the little bay that sits at the top of Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne. The Hobson’s Bay Co-Op allowed locals to pool their buying power at a time when so many were feeling the pinch.

UNSHACKLING INNOVATION: RETHINKING NON-COMPETE CLAUSES FOR A DYNAMIC ECONOMY
Address to the McKell Institute
Thursday, 4 April 2024

Non-compete clauses

As the Economist points out, when it comes to non-compete clauses ‘The clue is in the name’ (The Economist 2023). Non-compete clauses restrict an employee from working for a competitor or setting up a competing business when they leave. Non-compete clauses typically apply for a certain time, in a set geographic location, and within a defined industry. Let me provide some real examples to get things started.

Breakdancing

‘Charlotte’, a 17-year-old landed her first casual job as a dance teacher. It was her dream job, but it wasn’t perfect. Far from it – Charlotte was forced to quit after experiencing harassment.  Months later, she took a job at a different dance studio and immediately received a warning letter from her former employer. The letter said Charlotte had breached a restraint of trade clause to not work or volunteer for a competing business for 36-months within a 15-kilometre exclusion zone – noting the company had several studios. Putting her in a difficult position, Charlotte’s former employer also contacted the new dance studio.

Client disservice

‘Mia’, a disability support worker was doing what she loves – working in the community and helping people. She developed trust and rapport with her clients over many years.

Mia worked for a registered National Disability Insurance Scheme provider but wasn’t too happy about being offered a new contract with a lower hourly rate. So Mia went out on her own as an independent and later joined a rival registered provider. Without any cajoling, several former clients decided to transfer their care plans and follow her to the new provider. Mia received a letter from her former employer stating that she had breached restraint of trade clauses relating to non-competition and non-solicitation of clients.

Unbending

Patrick, a 21-year-old boilermaker, built a solid resumé and decided it was time to take his skills and pay packet to the next level. His new opportunity involved not working for a competitor but working in-house for a former client. It was a rural town and customers were hard to find so Patrick’s previous employer wasn’t pleased about losing a client.

Patrick was branded a troublemaker and was sent a letter saying he breached his post-employment obligations. The letter further applied the blowtorch by threatening court action seeking thousands of dollars in damages plus costs.

HARNESSING THE DATA DELUGE: THE SURPRISING POWER OF BIG DATA AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE*
Address to the 10th Annual Australian Government Data Summit
Hotel Realm, Canberra
Thursday, 28 March 2024

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of these lands, and pay respects to all First Nations people present.

I’m pleased to join you today, in the tenth year of the annual Australian Government Data Summit. Robust, rigorous data and statistics are vital for delivering outcomes for all Australians.

Throughout our nation’s history, Australia’s statisticians and statistical agencies have punched above their weight in this – or should I say, found themselves in the right tail of the distribution. The nation’s first statistician, George Knibbs (known to his friends as ‘The Knibb’) published papers on mathematics, geodesy, wealth, and population. He was an acting professor of physics at the University of Sydney. He published a book on the federal capital. He was a member of the British Astronomical Society. He even wrote a book of verse.

STARTING WITH STATISTICS TO TRANSFORM DISADVANTAGE
Launch of the 2024 Child Social Exclusion Report
Parliament House, Canberra
Wednesday, 27 March 2024

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of these lands, and pay respects to all First Nations people present.

Thank you Claerwen for the warm introduction and to Aunty Violet Sheridan for your Welcome to Country. I also acknowledge the many researchers and policy advocates here and the work you all do to create a fairer Australia.

Thank you to UnitingCare for inviting me here today to celebrate the 2024 Child Social Exclusion Index Report. The report is a collaboration between University of Canberra researchers and UnitingCare, which has worked for over 100 years to support vulnerable Australians and advocate for social justice.

Tackling disadvantage is at the heart of our Government’s vision for Australia (Albanese, 2022), and one of the most important challenges of our time.

It is a topic I have been focused on since my university days. The title of my 2004 PhD thesis was ‘Essays in Poverty and Inequality’, a set of issues that I expanded on in my 2013 book: ‘Battlers and Billionaires: The Story of Inequality in Australia’. 

Tackling inequality and exclusion must start with robust data and statistics. That is what this report does. It extends the concept of poverty to measure social and material disadvantage, and highlights the geographical areas facing high levels of child social exclusion. I congratulate you on the report, and your contribution to a long and rich tradition in the social sciences.

It is a history which says we must start with robust statistics to transform disadvantage. It shows that data-driven indices and maps can create change significant social change. It is this tradition that I am going to focus on today, and which I hope inspires you, as you consider the findings of the report.

FAIRER, CLEANER: THE TRANSPARENT INVESTMENT REVOLUTION
Climate Integrity Summit 2024, Parliament House
Wednesday, 20 March 2024

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people on whose lands we meet and pay respects to all First Nations people present today.

Thank you to the Australia Institute for hosting this annual summit on climate integrity, and to Richard Dennis for the invitation to deliver this address today. I am delighted to be joining such a distinguished line-up of speakers, including their excellencies Mr Anote Tong, former President of the Republic of Kiribati, and Mr Enele Sopoaga, former Prime Minister of Tuvalu.

My focus this morning is on climate and tax transparency in our financial system so that we can drive down emissions and create a fairer society in the process.

Transparency at work

This time last year, news broke that global biotechnology company Amgen is being sued for hiding its $10.7 billion dollar tax bill from investors. The plaintiffs said that “Amgen’s share price fell 6.5 per cent in August 2021, and a further 4.3 per cent in April 2022, because the company waited until then to disclose its potential liabilities” (Stempel, 2023). The US Inland Revenue Service “accused Amgen of underreporting taxes from 2010-2015, mainly for attributing what should have been US taxable income to a Puerto Rico unit” (Stempel, 2023). It powerfully illustrates how shareholder value is intimately linked to what is known about a company.

Consumers and investors have long understood that what they buy, and the investment decisions they make, have the power to influence ‘grand’ social, economic, and environmental challenges. As far back as the 1700s, John Wesley advised his congregants against “any sinful trade” (Uberti, 2023). When the Methodist Church began investing in the stock market at the turn of the 20th century, they avoided companies involved in alcohol and gambling (Goff, 2006). When investors saw the destruction of the Vietnam War in the 1970s, they created the first ethical fund – the Pax World Fund – so they could avoid investing in weapons and weapons manufacturers (Uberti, 2023).

Meanwhile, debate has raged about what this all means for corporations, and how they balance their responsibilities to shareholders and to the public. We must create a financial system in which Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into shareholder value, as much as acquisitions or sales. Without transparency and robust public reporting, how will we know about the Environmental, Social and Governance factors faced by a company, and make decisions about where to invest our dollars accordingly?

The more that companies make regulatory or reputational risks they face transparent through data and metrics, the more that investors are empowered to vote with their feet on their values and make long-term, values-aligned sustainable investment decisions. With good ESG data, metrics and standards, people can move their capital with precision and thereby shape the world. “This is how values drive value”, as Mark Carney puts it (2020 & 2021).