Andrew Leigh

INDIGENOUS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP EVENT

OPENING ADDRESS

CANBERRA

31 MAY 2019

Like Auntie Roslyn Brown, I acknowledge that we're meeting on traditional lands of the Ngunnawal people and pay my respect to elders, past and present. I acknowledge the extraordinary leadership of Cindy Mitchell as the executive chief executive officer of Mill House Ventures, recognise Maree Sainsbury, Peter Radoll, Dennis Foley, Susan Moylan-Coombs, Adrian Appo and many other distinguished guests here today. I was a regular visitor to University of Canberra's campus during the course of the election campaign and I certainly hope to be back on a regular basis over the course of this term, and I'll say very briefly at the end of some remarks about one of those visits.

When I was at university, I worked as an instructor at Sport and Recreation camps. One of the things we used to teach children to do was to throw a boomerang. One of the great things you can do when you've got a group of kids around and they're looking at a boomerang is to turn the boomerang over so the flat side is up and ask them to tell you the difference between the two arms of the boomerang. Eventually they see the bevelled edge of the two arms sits on the bottom of one arm on the top of the other. When they reflect on it a bit more they realise that it's those two bevels that cause the boomerang as it spins to trace out an arc. In an instant they come to realise the sheer ingenuity of those who tens of thousands of years ago invented the boomerang.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC CANBERRA DRIVE

THURSDAY, 30 MAY 2019

Subjects: The federal election, Labor frontbench. 

ANNA VIDOT: Andrew Leigh, thank you for joining us this afternoon and commiserations.

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Oh thanks, Anna. That's very kind, but terrific news that Katy Gallagher is in the shadow ministry. Canberrans can be confident that they're going to be well represented on Labor's frontbench.

VIDOT: And we're all on tenterhooks to find out exactly what portfolios she’ll be taking over. In a statement that you released earlier today, Andrew Leigh, you urged non-factionally aligned members of the Labor Party to stay engaged. But why should they, when your contribution has been rewarded in this way?

LEIGH: Well, I've had the privilege for the last six years of being on Labor's frontbench, working as the Shadow Assistant Treasurer on developing nearly 20 multinational tax policies, as Shadow Minister for Competition working on a dozen monopoly-busting policies and as the first-ever Shadow Minister for Charities and Not-for-Profits on engaging with the community sector and building their policies. So I've had a great privilege working on those policies and I'll be exceptionally active over the next three years to make sure that the values of Canberra and that my ideas on economics are incorporated into Labor's policy agenda for the next election.

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TELEVISION INTERVIEW

ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING

THURSDAY, 30 MAY 2019

Subjects: The federal election, Labor frontbench, tax cuts.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Andrew Leigh is factionless. He was the assistant treasurer in the shadow Labor party, in the shadow ministry. Because he is factionless, he is not going to be on the frontbench and he joins us now. Andrew, welcome.

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Thanks, Patricia. Great to be with you.

KARVELAS: You have made a career choice not to join a faction. Do you regret that a little today?

LEIGH: I have had six years working on the frontbench, Patricia, getting to work on the sorts of ideas that I engaged with when I was an economics professor. That privilege is a great one which is extended to very few people. And I found that not being in a faction has meant that I can move freely through the party. That’s the preference of the people who chose me in the ACT to be the Labor candidate for Fenner. I am not sorry about the decision I made. I understand the factional system, the factions have been around since the 1950s. I even wrote an academic article back in 2000 about the role of factions in the Labor Party. This is just an aspect of modern Labor.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
2GB MONEY NEWS
TUESDAY, 21 MAY 2019

Subjects: The federal election.

ROSS GREENWOOD: One person who has always been prepared to front up here on Money News is Dr Andrew Leigh, who was - perhaps, who knows what he might be in the future - and he’s on the line right now. Andrew, many thanks for your time.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure, Ross. How are you?

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RN DRIVE
TUESDAY, 21 MAY 2019

Subjects: The federal election results, Labor leadership, tax cuts.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: I have joining me now the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Andrew Leigh, welcome.

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

KARVELAS: So you heard Mathias Cormann there, he said yes, they will ensure that people get the tax cuts that they had promised. 

LEIGH: Well Patricia, he’s promised that those tax cuts would be delivered on time and now looks as though they will be coming late, contrary to what Scott Morrison was saying back when the tax cuts were announced. After the budget, he said Parliament doesn't need to sit, you can just do administratively. Labor said that wasn't the case, the Tax Office said it wasn't the case. The government just denied it. So we were willing to pass those low and middle income tax cuts for the forthcoming year straight after the budget. The Government waved their hands, said ‘no no no, we don’t need to do any of that’ and now have been told by the Tax Office that they’re wrong. And they’ve ended up just three days after the election breaking promises to be Australian people.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC CANBERRA
MONDAY, 20 MAY 2019
 
SUBJECT: The federal election results.

JOURNALIST: Andrew Leigh did say that throughout the campaign, Fenner constituents were talking to him about climate change, about house prices and wages, schools and hospital funding and public service cuts. So I asked him how he intends to prosecute all of the views of his constituents from opposition.
 
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Forcefully. We thought it was going to be 1983, it turned out to be 1980 and it's a reminder that the moments for progressive change come along fairly rarely, which is perhaps why the conservative side of politics has been in office more of the post-war period than the progressive side. The burden on those arguing change is always higher and it's the Labor Party that's the party of reform and change. So we took an ambitious package to the electorate, carefully costed, stacked up, work done.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC NEWS RADIO
MONDAY, 20 MAY 2019

Subjects: The federal election result.

JOURNALIST: What went wrong?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: It was certainly a heavy blow. We worked extraordinarily hard putting together our Fair Go Action Plan, more positive policies than any opposition has taken to an election in the post-war era. We're very proud of the solutions we had around climate change, around wages, around tackling our education issues and the schools, investing in health care. But we were up against a ferocious scare campaign run by a guy whose main track record is in advertising and he was able to successfully scare Australians into thinking that it was better to stick with the current approach – whatever that is.

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DOORSTOP

CANBERRA

THURSDAY, 16 MAY 2019

SUBJECTS: Labor’s Fair Go Action Plan for the ACT, Labor’s plans to make multinationals pay their fair share, Labor’s plans to make childcare more affordable for Australian families. 

ANDREW LEIGH, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR FENNER: Good morning. My name's Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and federal Member for Fenner. We’re here today with the ACT Labor team, launching Labor's Fair Go Action Plan for Canberra. There's a huge amount in it, so we’re going to take it in turns to go through each of the important parts of what Labor would do for Canberra. We have here our full complement of ACT House candidates, Dave Smith and Alicia Payne, as well as myself, and our two Senate candidates, Katy Gallagher and Nancy Waites. 

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DOORSTOP
CANBERRA
WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2019

Subjects: Labor’s $40 million investment in training for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the decimation of the public service during the Liberals’ time in office.

ALICIA PAYNE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR CANBERRA: Hi. I’m Alicia Payne, Labor's candidate to Canberra, and it's wonderful to be here today with Andrew Leigh and Nancy Waites to make this really important announcement about the NDIS. In my previous job, one of the really big parts of my work was to talk with people with disability and their families and providers about the NDIS. For many people this has made a really positive difference in their lives, but for too many it's been a bad experience and hasn't delivered what was promised. People with disability and their families have waited so long for the NDIS and only a Labor Government can get it right. We created the NDIS, and if we form government I know that we will get the implementation right, particularly by providing more staff and proper training. And that's what today's announcement is about. It's wonderful that Canberra will be a trial site for this investment in training for NDIS workers. And I'll hand over to Andrew Leigh to provide a bit more detail.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks so much, Alicia, and it's great to be here with Alicia Payne, Labor's terrific candidate for Canberra, with Nancy Waites, Labor's second Senate candidate, Natalie Lang from the Australian Services Union and Jack, a disability support worker who will speak to us in a moment.

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DOORSTOP
CANBERRA
MONDAY, 13 MAY 2019

SUBJECTS: Labor’s $6 million commitment for ACT students, Labor’s plans for affordable housing.

ALICIA PAYNE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR CANBERRA: Good morning. I'm Alicia Payne, Labor’s candidate for the seat of Canberra. It's great to be here at my former workplace the University of Canberra with Andrew Leigh, Carrie Graf and Michelle Lincoln to talk about this great investment that a Shorten Labor Government will make in a sports program here at UC to boost disadvantaged students, to be able to access higher education and using sport as a pathway into that. I'll hand over to Andrew to give a bit more detail about the announcement.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Terrific. Thanks, Alicia. It's a great day to be talking about a great program. Two strengths of the University of Canberra have been reaching out including more disadvantaged students in higher education and their capacity in elite sport. There’s 132 elite sports players currently enrolled at the University of Canberra, playing for the Capitals and the Brumbies. Triathletes, power lifters, cheerleaders. And the University of Canberra is keen to provide opportunities to those who might not otherwise have the opportunity to engage in higher education. We know across Australia there are ‘Lost Einsteins’ and ‘Lost Curies’, brilliant young people who don't get a chance to do those studies that will benefit them and the nation. New research out today from RMIT University highlights the importance of boosting education levels in Australia in an increasingly technologically engaged era. We know it's vital to increase university places and that's why a Shorten Labor Government would uncap university places, ensuring over the course of the next decade another 200,000 Australians have a chance to attend university.

Today we're announcing that under a Shorten Labor Government, we would provide $6 million to the University of Canberra for the Sport and Health Empower Program, a program which would bring high school students - Years 10, 11 and 12 – on to campus twice a year. It would give them exposure to some of the best sports science that’s being done, provide tips for their own sporting lives so they’re able to combine studies and their sporting careers, and set them up with mentors - elite sportspeople, sports researchers - so they can better understand what they can achieve by going to university. It's a program that will then work with students in their own communities, to reach out to students in the ACT and the region from disadvantaged backgrounds.

It's absolutely vital if we're to become a more prosperous society, a more equal society, a society that uses the talents of all its members, that we boost university attendance among disadvantaged people and disadvantage populations. So I'm very pleased to be here with my friend and colleague Alicia Payne, making this announcement today. I hand over now to Michelle and then to Carrie to say a few more words about the specifics of the proposed program.