Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC NEWS RADIO
WEDNESDAY, 3 APRIL 2019
 
SUBJECTS: The Budget.

SANDY ALOISI: To get an Opposition reaction, I'm joined now by the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Andrew Leigh, good morning. Welcome to the program.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: G’day, Sandy. Great to be with you.

ALOISI: Well, the Coalition has forecast a surplus for next year. It's taken the Coalition some time to get here. But you've got to acknowledge this is good news for Australia.

LEIGH: This is a Coalition that promised in 2013 that they would never use the national credit card. Then after six years of using it, of doubling the total debt, they're now promising that if you vote for them again they'll finally put the national credit card back in the wallet. During that period, debt has risen so it's now nearly $15,000 for every Australian. That's the Coalition's record on debt.

ALOISI: If you think back though to Wayne Swan, a previous federal treasurer, you'll remember that he announced a series of surpluses that never eventuated.

LEIGH: Which is what's happening tonight. This is a projected surplus. The difference between Wayne Swan and Josh Frydenberg was Wayne Swan was staring down the biggest global crisis since the Great Depression. Josh Frydenberg has simply no excuse for the appalling way in which the Liberals have managed the nation's finances. I mean, they've got this surplus - a quarter of it is based on underspending on people with disabilities. You've seen a massive increase in corporate tax take, due in part to unexpected events such as the mine disaster in Brazil which drove demand for our iron ore exports.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RN DRIVE
MONDAY, 1 APRIL 2019

SUBJECTS: Labor’s Climate Change Action Plan, the Budget.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and he joins us on Drive. Andrew Leigh, welcome.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER:  Thanks, Patricia. Glad to be with you.

KARVELAS: So the Coalition are already pitching this as a carbon tax. Do you accept that it is a price on carbon?

LEIGH: No, Patricia. I don't. This is extending Malcolm Turnbull's safeguards mechanism, which is a system that sets limits on a range of big industrial polluters. If they satisfy those limits, then that's well and good. They won't hear from the government again. What we're doing though is listening to business and improving that system by allowing firms to meet their targets by buying international permits.

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TV INTERVIEW

TELEVISION RADIO

MONDAY, 1 APRIL 2019 

SUBJECTS: The Budget, Labor’s Climate Change Action Plan.

KIERAN GILBERT: Now the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Ahead of the budget, Mr Leigh, thanks very much for your time.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure.

GILBERT: Already the Government's come out saying this is a carbon tax. What do you say to their criticism, their critique already?

LEIGH: It's not. And if it were then their own policy would be a carbon tax. Kieran, this is simply an extension of a scheme put in place by Malcolm Turnbull. Business has told us that they are sick of the climate wars. They're sick of the bickering over climate and they want bipartisanship. Our view is the best way of achieving that is to extend the Turnbull Government's safeguard mechanism that applies to 0.01 per cent of companies, puts in place a pollution cap and is part of our commitment to seeing Australia meet our internationally agreed carbon targets. As you've said before, we're also taking advice from business to improve the scheme by giving firms access to international credits.

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DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
NOWRA
THURSDAY, 28 MARCH 2019
 
FIONA PHILLIPS, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR GILMORE: Ok, I'd like to welcome everyone here today. I’m Fiona Phillips, Labor's Candidate for Gilmore. I'm here today with Senator Jenny McAllister, the Shadow Assistant Minister for Families and Communities and Dr Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, but also the Shadow Minister for Charities.

Look, we are here today, we know that the Gilmore electorate - there's many people in the Gilmore electorate are doing it really, really tough and as Labor's candidate for Gilmore, for years and years, I have been listening to local stories. How people can't access financial counselling when in hardship. I have heard story after story, where people can't pay their bills. They can't afford to buy food and that is really increasing. So look, really, really pleased to have worked with the Labor team and today we’ve got a great announcement to basically increase funding for emergency relief and also to double the number of financial counsellors across Australia.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC NEWS RADIO
THURSDAY, 28 MARCH 2019

SUBJECTS: Scott Morrison’s lack of leadership on One Nation, gun reform.

SANDY ALOISI: Labor MP Andrew Leigh is co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Gun Control. His legal mentor Zoe Hall and her boyfriend Glenn Pears were killed in the Port Arthur massacre. And Andrew Leigh says Pauline Hanson's apparent insinuations are disgusting.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Like many Australians, I was touched by the Port Arthur massacre. I’d been a junior lawyer working in a Sydney law firm, where my mentor Zoe Hall worked - just a wonderful, vivacious, smart lawyer who was one of the victims of that awful atrocity. I've met with Walter Mikac, who lost not only his wife Nanette, but also his two daughters Alannah and Madeline. So it's frankly just disgusting to me that anyone would suggest that this is some kind of a hoax. It was an awful, awful tragedy in which wonderful Australians died.

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TELEVISION INTERVIEW

ABC NEWS TONIGHT

TUESDAY, 26 MARCH 2019

SUBJECTS: Scott Morrison’s lack of leadership on One Nation, gun reform.

ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: For more on this earlier I spoke to the Labor Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. Andrew Leigh, what's your reaction to the revelation that One Nation sought millions of dollars of funding from America’s NRA?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: I don't think the Howard Government has many achievements, but one of them is clearly the National Firearms Agreement. Research by Christine Neill and I estimated that that saved around 200 lives a year and so it ought to be an achievement that every Liberal holds proud. They also ought to be standing against the National Rifle Association, an organisation that has lied about the impact of the National Firearms Agreement in 2000, causing Howard's Attorney-General Daryl Williams to correct the record. And yet we have One Nation now in bed with the National Rifle Association and Scott Morrison being unwilling to put them last. I'm here in Gladstone where the local member wants to put One Nation second. Labor will always put One Nation last. It is the position John Howard took and it is the position Scott Morrison should take if he is any kind of a Liberal.

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RADIO INTERVIEW 
ABC BRISBANE DRIVE 
MONDAY, 25 MARCH 2019

SUBJECTS: Labor’s Tradie Pay Guarantee.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Steve, we look at this in two ways. First of all with our Tradie Pay Guarantee, which will set up cascading trusts for large Commonwealth projects. Basically means that if you do the work on time, you get paid on time. We'll start that with large Commonwealth projects and work with the states and territories to implement it with their government projects and then on major private sector construction contracts, because no one who does the work on time shouldn't get paid on time. 

The second part is our Tradie Litigation Fund, giving an additional $7 million to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in order to go after the worst dodgy phoenix directors. We know they're a scourge on the industry and we know that by cracking down on them we improve trust right across the building sector.

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DOORSTOP INTERVIEW 
GLADSTONE 
TUESDAY, 26 MARCH 2019

SUBJECTS: Labor’s plans to level the playing field for independent mechanics, Scott Morrison’s lack of leadership on One Nation, gun reform.

ZAC BEERS, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR FLYNN: It's great to be here today in Gladstone with Andrew Leigh, Labor's Shadow Assistant Treasurer,  talking to small businesses about what Labor's planning to do if elected the next federal election. We've made it clear here at JAX Tyres today hear in Gladstone that Labor's committed to making sure that we get the right reform when it comes to mechanics and servicing, to make sure that our small businesses right across the country have access to the right information, to make sure that they get a level playing field when it comes to servicing cars in this country. Not only that, we'll be talking about Labor's plans when it comes to what we're going to do to fix the issues n the banking royal commission and make sure that we get the right results for consumers in this country, to make certain that the findings of the Royal Commission make certain that Australian consumers get the right outcomes when it comes to accessing financial services. But I’ll hand to Andrew, who has probably got a bit more to say.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Terrific. Thanks Zac, and thanks to Eli and the team for showing us around JAX Tyres today. Labor believes it's your car, so it should be your choice about where to get it fixed. Our policy of data sharing for independent mechanics will ensure independent mechanics have the data they need to fix modern cars. We've heard stories from Eli and Chris today about cars that have to be sent to Bundy or Rocky because JAX Tyres here doesn't have access to the software that the authorised dealers have. That's a waste of time for car owners and it’s a pain for great small businesses like this one. Labor will ensure that independent mechanics have the data they need to fix modern cars. 

WELCOME EVENT - NATIONAL SCHOOLS CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

PARLIAMENT HOUSE, 19 MARCH 2019

I acknowledge we’re meeting in the traditional lands of the Ngunnawal people and pay my respects to elders past and present.

Who's visiting Canberra for the first time? Wonderful. Who's met Sean the prawn?

[laughter]

A few of you. Good to see. So for those hands that went up, you now know who to ask when you want an introduction to Sean the prawn, the most famous resident of the Marble Foyer - when Tony Smith isn't passing through.

[laughter]

You can take it for granted that you've got a Canberra based MP to welcome you to what I think it's the greatest city in Australia. You should not take it for granted that you just heard from the Speaker of the House. It's a very special thing to have Tony Smith here today. He doesn't only occupy the role of referee in the House of Representatives, he does it with a sense of purpose and grace, with an Australian egalitarianism and with a respect right across the Parliament has not been shared by all of his predecessors. Tony, on behalf of the other 149 members of the House, thank you for the important work you do for our great institution.

FUTURE OF MORTGAGE LENDING IN AUSTRALIA

CANBERRA, 19 MARCH 2019

Thanks very much, Mark, and can I acknowledge we're meeting on the traditional lands of the Ngunnawal people and pay my respect their elders past and present. I thank Australian Finance Group, Connective and Mortgage Choice for putting on today's event.

I acknowledge my fellow panellists – Mark Hewitt, Mark Nocera and Mark Haron.

When it comes to the question session, please do feel free to call me Mark.

[laughter]

That will ensure that the panel gets full marks.

[laughter]

Did I mention that I’m a dad?

For those of you who are visiting Canberra, welcome. The OECD determined this to be the most liveable region in the advanced world, so I hope you'll take a chance to enjoy the beautiful bush capital.

I'm sorry that we're not joined by a representative of the Coalition today. However, I can assure you that after nine years in politics and hundreds of Question Times, I can probably answer questions on their behalf too.