Andrew Leigh

THE HON ANDREW LEIGH MP

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY

THE HON SENATOR CAROL BROWN

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORT

BRIAN MITCHELL MP

MEMBER FOR LYONS

SENATOR CATRYNA BILYK

SENATOR FOR TASMANIA

SOUTHERN TASMANIAN JOBS AND SKILLS ROUNDTABLE HIGHLIGHTS SKILLS SHORTAGE IN TASMANIA AHEAD OF NATIONAL SUMMIT

MEDIA RELEASE

MONDAY, 29 AUGUST 2022

The Southern Tasmanian Jobs and Skills Roundtable in Hobart today has brought together over sixty representatives from local businesses, the community sector, the skills and education sector, unions, employment services and civil society.

The contributions made at the Southern Tasmanian Roundtable will help inform discussions at the National Jobs and Skills Summit on 1 – 2 September in Canberra.

Local businesses and organisations highlighted the economic impacts of worker shortages around the state.

Consensus was reached that education outcomes must be linked to on the ground, job opportunities here in Tasmania.

We know that there is a skills shortage in Tasmania; we know that people move to Tasmania to study, only to move back to the mainland in hopes of a better paying job with more opportunities to progress.

This is the second of three roundtables across Tasmania, one in Devonport, Hobart and Launceston. Each of the roundtables will feed into the National Jobs and Skills Summit this week.

The discussions and outcomes of the Summit will inform the Employment White Paper, which will help shape the future of Australia’s labour market. The White Paper will be led by Treasury, which will invite submissions and engage the wider community over the next 12 months.

Quotes attributed to the Hon Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury

“In Australia today, we're dealing with the effects of an economy that has been too stagnant, in which productivity growth has languished after nine years of neglect from the Coalition.

The Australian economy is facing real challenges, so the Labor government is getting to work building innovation, ensuring that we've got a more skilled Australian economy, making sure we've got cheaper energy prices, and ensuring that we have infrastructure which is focused on the needs of Australians.”

Quotes attributed to the Hon Senator Carol Brown, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport 

“Hearing from the roundtable participants today will directly inform the discussions held at the Summit in Canberra in a couple of days time, and I am looking forward to canvassing the discussions held today here to my colleagues and industry leaders in Canberra very soon,” the Assistant Minister said.

Quotes attributed to Brian Mitchell, Member for Lyons

“I have the privilege of representing a diverse electorate - from students through to farmers; all working to make our state better and provide our award winning produce to the world.

The Albanese Labor Government is listening to the experts - employers and working people. We know that together we will shape the future of Australia’s labour market.”

Quotes attributed to Senator Catryna Bilyk

“The Albanese Government has a clear agenda to create secure local jobs, bring manufacturing back to our shores and ensure we have enough jobs for the critically important care economy.” 

A MORE DYNAMIC ECONOMY - FH GRUEN LECTURE

CANBERRA

THURSDAY, 25 AUGUST 2022

Introduction

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal custodians of this land, pay respects to their elders, and commit myself to the full implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

For a man I never got to meet, Fred Gruen had a remarkably large impact on my life. As a university student, his book with Michelle Grattan, Managing Government: Labor's Achievements and Failures, shaped how I thought about the economic impact of the Hawke and Keating governments. I wrote my honours thesis on Labor’s unilateral tariff cuts in 1973, 1988 and 1991, and why a social democratic government chose free trade when many other left‑wing governments favoured protectionism. I concluded that part of the answer lay in the power of ideas. Gough Whitlam’s 25 per cent tariff cut in 1973 might not have happened without the persuasive impact of Fred and other economists. Economic ideas matter. As John Maynard Keynes put it, ‘the world is ruled by little else’.

But it almost didn’t happen. Born in Vienna in 1921, Fred Gruen was sent to Australia on a ship called the Dunera in 1940. Two days after departing Liverpool, the boat was struck by a German torpedo, which did not explode. As Bruce Chapman once observed, Australia benefited greatly from the incompetent German torpedo maker, whose failure enabled the success of the ‘Dunera Boys’.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

CANBERRA DRIVE

MONDAY, 15 AUGUST 2022

Subjects: falling volunteer numbers; Labor’s plans to rebuild the charity sector

ANNA VIDOT: Some new data indicates that Australians are volunteering less than they were two years ago. The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission estimates that the number of volunteers in Australia has dropped from 3.3 million to 2.9 million over the course of the pandemic. Now this is not necessarily surprising, I guess. But is it all about COVID? Given that we know volunteering numbers were kind of on this slide beforehand too. Is there more at play here about how connected we are and how connected we feel with the communities that we're living in? And I guess most importantly for the organisations missing out on volunteers, can we change that? Dr Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. He’s also the local Member for Fenner here in the ACT. Andrew Leigh, thanks very much for your time this afternoon.

ANDREW LEIGH: Pleasure, Anna. Great to be with you.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

NEWSDAY, SKY NEWS

MONDAY, 15 AUGUST 2022

Subjects: Labor’s plans to rebuild the charity sector; Labor’s plans to make multinationals pay their fair share of tax

TOM CONNELL: We're volunteering less than we used to. So why is that the case? Joining me now is Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. Thanks very much for your time. You're delving into this problem. Why do you think we're not out there volunteering, putting as many hours as we used to into the community?

ANDREW LEIGH: It's part of an overall decline that we've seen, Tom. Australians are not only less likely to volunteer, but less likely to join community organisations, to play team sports. We've got fewer friends than we did in the 1980s, and we know fewer of our neighbours. We've become disconnected. I don't think this is the fault of either side of politics, but certainly the former government's war on charities didn't help. That prompted three open letters from the sector, calling on successive Liberal Prime Ministers to back off their attacks on charities. Labor’s ended the war on charities, but I'm now reaching out to charities through these building community forums - which kicked off in Sydney today - asking for their ideas about how we can work together collaboratively. Philanthropic funders, charities and government, to build more reconnected Australia.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

6PR MORNINGS

MONDAY, 8 AUGUST 2022

Subjects: Labor’s plans to make multinationals pay their fair share of tax; ATO settlement with Rio Tinto and the use of marketing hubs; JobKeeper

LIAM BARTLETT, HOST: I wanted to talk about the world of commerce ‑ the wild, wonderful, wacky world of tax, in particular, with a revelation in the Financial Review this morning that oil and gas giant Shell has confirmed that it is selling Queensland gas to global customers via a Singapore marketing hub, which of course raises questions all over again about what they call transfer pricing to lower domestic tax payments. In other words, the price you end up selling it to is not necessarily reflected in the amount of tax you end up paying to the country that you draw that product from. It's drawn attention all over again to how the big industry players sell gas offshore. And it also comes hot on the heels, you may recall last month the decision by Rio Tinto ‑ another industry giant ‑ to pay almost a billion dollars to settle the dispute to the Australian Taxation Office over the mining company's use of a marketing hub in Singapore. These marketing hub pricing mechanisms have been around for a while. Now all this leads me sort of back to Rome, so to speak, because you might recall during the election campaign a lot was made of this from the then Labor opposition about forcing the multinationals to pay more tax. And we spoke then to the Honourable Dr Andrew Leigh, who has become now that Labor is in government the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, and he joins us on the program. Andrew, good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY: Good morning, Liam. Great to be back with you.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

RN BREAKFAST

MONDAY, 8 AUGUST 2022

Subjects: Labor’s plans to make multinationals pay their fair share of tax; ATO settlement with Rio Tinto and the use of marketing hubs; international agreements on multinational tax avoidance; windfall tax; competition

PATRICIA KARVELAS, HOST: By now, most Australians would be feeling the effects of record inflation and rising interest rates, even if you don't have a mortgage. But high commodity prices, which is one of the drivers of that inflation, are also delivering a $27 billion boost to the budget bottom line. And that's, of course, welcome news for the Treasurer as he prepares to hand down his first budget in October. We get two budgets this year with a change of government. And with budget repair a priority, the government has multinationals like Google and Facebook in its sights, canvassing a range of measures to force them to pay more tax. Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, and our guest this morning. Welcome back to Breakfast, Andrew Leigh.

ANDREW LEIGH, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY: Thanks, Patricia. Great to be with you.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS TO THE AUSTRALIAN REPAIR SUMMIT

CANBERRA

FRIDAY, 5 AUGUST 2022

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land we are meeting on, the Ngunnawal people. I acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the region, and I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.

Building on the success of last year’s event, I would like to thank Griffith University and the Australian Repair Network for hosting the second Australian Repair Summit.

In particular, I would like to acknowledge Professor Leanne Wiseman for her efforts in organising the Summit and bringing everyone together today. I would also like to acknowledge Professor Wiseman’s expertise in researching the links between intellectual property and the right to repair.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
WEDNESDAY, 3 AUGUST 2022

SUBJECTS: Labor’s plans for a better future; Productivity Commission report; Territory rights; Fuel excise.

ANDREW LEIGH, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY: Good morning. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. It's my 50th birthday today, and 50 years ago it was just on the cusp of the election of the Whitlam Government, a great reforming Australian government that changed the lives of so many Australians for the better. And it's a real pleasure today to be celebrating my 50th birthday as part of the Albanese Labor Government, a government strongly committed to making life better for Australians by taking action on climate change, taking on cost of living pressures, and making sure that we tackle the key challenges of inequality, slow productivity, and declining social capital.

In Australia today, we've had an economy which has been too stagnant, in which productivity growth has languished after nine years of neglect from the Coalition. The Productivity Commission's interim report today lays bare some of the real challenges that the Australian economy faces, and makes clear that the Productivity Commission's five year review is going to take a hard look at some of the challenges around building innovation, around ensuring that we've got a more skilled Australian economy, around making sure we've got cheaper energy prices, and ensuring that we have infrastructure which is focused on the needs of Australians, not the political imperatives of the Coalition.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 2 AUGUST 2022

In 1952 Marvin Minsky invented the 'useless machine'. It was a little machine with a box with one switch on it, in the off position. If you turned it on then a little hand came out of the machine to turn it back off again. That was its only purpose. As Arthur C Clarke put it:

There is something unspeakably sinister about a machine that does nothing—absolutely nothing—except switch itself off.

And that's what Australians are saying about the last nine years. As the Economist has noted of the British conservative government, the Liberals were, when they were in government, the political equivalent of a useless machine: they know what they're against, they know what they want to turn off, but they have no idea what they are for.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1 AUGUST 2022

In 2016, Canberra man Nebojsa Pavkovic died on his 61st birthday.

He was at the end of a five-week hunger strike inside a body which he knew was no longer working. Mr Pavkovic had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for a decade and had come to the decision, speaking with his family, that he wanted to end his life. He was, however, unable to do so through voluntary assisted dying and had to do so through the much more traumatic and painful approach of a five-week hunger strike. As daughter Katarina Knowles said, 'He was really, truly bedridden, and it was just the worst.'

I spoke to Katarina a year ago, when I was moving a private member's motion in this place to repeal the Andrews ban - to finally allow the ACT and the Northern Territory to have the same rights as the states to legislate over voluntary assisted dying.