Andrew Leigh

Condolence Motion Allan Gyngell
House of Representatives, 11 May 2023

Allan Gyngell was one of Australia's greatest public servants. He was happy to be a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's famous class of 1969, alongside Sandy Holloway, Rick Smith and John Dauth.

I first met Allan 30 years after that, in 1999. I was the Labor Party's trade adviser, reaching out to experts on behalf of my boss, Senator Peter Cook. As a 27-year-old staffer I was just the conduit for the shadow trade minister, but Allan took an interest in me and helped mentor me in my career. I'm not sure I ever knew anyone so influential yet so modest.

Condolence Motion John Kerin
House of Representatives, 11 May 2023

The last public event that I did with John Kerin was to introduce him as the guest of honour at ACT Labor's dinner celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Whitlam government at the Canberra Labor Club in December 2022.

John was physically frail but intellectually lively, and he told the stories of serving with Gough. And what better person to regale the dinner than a man whose first stint in federal parliament had coincided exactly with the Whitlam government? Elected in 1972 as member for Macarthur and unelected in 1975. At least his dismissal was by the voters. When John returned to parliament in 1978 it was as Gough Whitlam's successor as member for Werriwa. John won a three-way preselection contest and served the people of Werriwa until 1993.

Choosing Openness: How Regional Partnerships Boost Economic Dynamism
Yonsei University, Seoul
Tuesday, 2 May 2023

Introduction

Thank you to the Institute of East and West Studies at Yonsei University for inviting me to speak here today.

And to all attending students, thank you for coming along to listen.

I am honoured to be representing the Treasurer as Australia’s Governor to the Asian Development Bank for its 56th annual meeting of the Board of Governors.

It is a pleasure to be making my first visit to the Republic of Korea. Not just because my wife and I compulsively watched Squid Game. And not only because our three boys hope that their dad will return from South Korea fully ‘Gangnam Style’. They’re also hoping I’ll snap a selfie with NewJeans – whose performance at the Asian Development Bank reception will show the VIPs who the real VIPs are. OMG indeed.

In Australia, the cultural influence of the Korean Wave (Hallyu) is phenomenal.

In fact, South Korea’s cultural importance is on par with its economic importance to Australia.

Our bilateral relationship is underpinned by a shared vision for an open, prosperous and resilient Asia-Pacific region.

South Korea is Australia's fourth-largest two-way trading partner and third-largest export market (DFAT 2023).

Growing our economic, trade and investment ties with South Korea is a key priority for the Australian Government. 

We operate under a free trade agreement, which I will discuss later in more detail.

We also benefit from the Australia–Korea Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which is a program of enhanced bilateral cooperation under three pillars – strategic and security; economic, innovation and technology; and people-to-people exchange.

AMP Foundation 30^th Anniversary
Art Gallery of NSW
Thursday, 13 April 2023

Thank you for that generous introduction. I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, pay my respects to their elders and commit myself as a member of the Albanese government to the implementation in full of the Uluru Statement From the Heart.  

I also acknowledge Alexis George, the CEO of AMP, Nicola Stokes, the general manager of the AMP Foundation, Professor Peter Shergold the chair of the AMP Foundation, and all of you for being here tonight.

It’s a pleasure to be here in the Art Gallery of NSW’s new Sydney Modern Project building. Down below our feet is an artwork by Adrian Villa Rojas called "End of Imagination". It's a remarkable room, largely dark, lit only by search lights. And the central idea of the artwork is a series of monuments to the future, which have been aged on future worlds for thousands of years. If you haven't been down, I encourage you to check it out. It is an extraordinary art work. My three boys, aged 10, 13 and 16 all enjoyed different facets of it when we visited last. But it does remind us that all of us will be gone at some points. And what lives on beyond us is the big question. "End of Imagination" reminds us of the importance of legacy. And the work the AMP Foundation does is about legacy, is about the sort of nation we can hand on to the next generations.

Fair Play, Fair Competition and Economic Dynamism
COSBOA’S National Small Business Summit, Melbourne
Wednesday, 5 April 2023

Introduction

I acknowledge the people of the Kulin Nations, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather today.

I pay my respects to their Elders, extend that respect to other First Nations people present today, and commit myself, as a member of the Albanese Government, to the implementation in full of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

I would also like to acknowledge COSBOA for inviting me to speak today.

I also recognise the work of today’s panellists: Bruce Billson, Stuart Clues, Will Day, Dominique Lamb and Mick Keogh.

Before we begin the panel discussion, ‘Thriving in a competitive economy’, we need to talk about printers.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
MONDAY, 3 APRIL 2023

SUBJECTS: MULTINATIONAL TAX AVOIDANCE;  PETROLEUM RESOURCE RENT TAX; OECD TWO-PILLAR SOLUTION; PASSING OF YUNUPINGU

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks everyone for coming along today. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition and Charities and Treasury. I'll make a few remarks and I'll hand over to the OECDs Deputy Director of Tax David Bradbury.

I want to begin by acknowledging today the passing of Yunupingu, one of the most extraordinary Indigenous leaders in this country. As a Yolngu elder he was instrumental in crafting the Yirrkala Bark petitions and somebody whose influence has ranged across the nation. It is a reminder of the power of work that came to form the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which the government strongly hopes will translate into a successful vote at the referendum later this year for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

This morning, we've held a very successful roundtable on multinational taxation, with a range of entities representing corporate Australia, the union movement and the community sector. We've done this because we understand that multinational tax avoidance is a first order issue for many Australians.

Matter of Public Importance Debate
House of Representatives, 30 March 2023

A year ago, the coalition lost nine seats in South Australia and lost government. Ten months ago, they lost 17 seats federally and lost government. Last weekend, they lost at least a dozen seats in New South Wales and lost government. The coalition now holds no mainland state or territory. The most senior Liberal governing leaders in Australia today are Brisbane Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff.

You'd think that the loss of 40 seats and three elections would provoke some soul-searching, but the main lesson that the coalition seems to be taking from this is that they're too woke and they need to move to the right. The fact is that the coalition hasn't woken up. The Australian people aren't buying what you're selling. This is no better epitomised than by the shadow Treasurer, a man who brought us the current energy crisis—a man who is best known for hiding energy price increases from the Australian people, for his Cayman Islands company, for the Jam Land scandal and for making things up about Clover Moore and Naomi Wolf. As he might have put it, 'Well done, Angus.' He thinks he's the second coming of the Messiah, but most Australians think he's more like Mr Burns from The Simpsons—just with a slightly greater tendency to look straight down the barrel of the camera.

Social Enterprise Round Table
Parliament House, Canberra
Monday, 27 March 2023

Thanks Jess [Moore] and Tara [Anderson] for the introduction. It’s delightful to have so many generous altruists here in Parliament today. I acknowledge that we're meeting on the lands of the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging. I also acknowledge parliamentary colleagues Daniel Mulino, Andrew Giles and Helen Haines.

What you do has support from across the parliament. For those on the business side, you're celebrating businesses. And for those who got into politics to help the most disadvantaged, you're doing just that. The work of social enterprises spans the Australian economy, I only need to walk a few steps from my electorate office in Gungahlin to see Krofne Donuts, which was set up to provide employment for people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities .

Here in Canberra, Alicia Payne, David Smith and I recently visited mattress recycler Soft Landing with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, learning about the environmental work they do, but also about the work that they provide for people who are formerly jobless. You’ll hear from the extraordinary Bec Scott shortly, somebody who Nick Terrell and I wrote about in Reconnected because we were inspired not just about what she does at Streat, but how she looks to seed new social enterprises, right across the community.

House of Representatives
23 March 2023
Ministers Of State Amendment Bill 2022

This Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2022 seeks to implement the first recommendation of the Report of the Inquiry into the Appointment of the Former Prime Minister to Administer Multiple Departments by Virginia Bell AC. That first recommendation requires the publication in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette of appointments to administer departments, directions to a minister of state to hold an office, the swearing in of an executive councillor or the revocation of any of these appointments. This is only the first of six recommendations from the Bell report, and it's worth recalling the conduct of the former Prime Minister that led to this point.

Ms Bell's report found that the member for Cook had been appointed to administer six of the 14 departments of state. None of these appointments were disclosed to the parliament or the public, and, in several cases, the minister who was responsible for the portfolio wasn't even told. Ms Bell described the member for Cook's explanations of these appointments as 'not easy to understand', which puts it charitably. She noted that the appointments were not necessary, as an acting minister could have been appointed in a matter of minutes.

Second Reading Speech
House of Representatives
22 March 2023
Treasury Laws Amendment (Refining and Improving our Tax System) Bill 2023

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Refining and Improving our Tax System) Bill 2023 contains a number of measures to remove unnecessary administrative and compliance burdens associated with our tax system.

Schedule 1 to the bill amends the International Tax Agreements Act 1953 to give the force of law to the new tax treaty signed by Australia and Iceland on 12 October 2022.

The number of Icelandic people in Australia is not large. The 2021 census counted 405 Icelandic-born people and 1,328 people of Icelandic ancestry. However, Iceland's GDP per capita is one of the highest in the world and this tax treaty will make Australia a more attractive investment destination for Icelandic capital. It will also reduce the tax barriers to Australian businesses trading with Iceland.