Andrew Leigh

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO

TUESDAY, 20 MAY 2025

SUBJECTS: Labor’s ambitious productivity agenda, making superannuation fairer

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Alright, time to talk federal politics with the Member for Fenner and Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury Dr Andrew Leigh. Andrew, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning Stephen, great to be with you.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: You too. Productivity is a new one in your title, is that right?

ANDREW LEIGH: It is indeed. It’s a big priority for the government. I'm really pleased to have that title and to be helping out Jim Chalmers and the economic team on turning around Australia's big productivity challenge. That decade to 2020 was the worst productivity decade in 60 years and we know that productivity is at the heart of living standards, so we've got to do better.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: But it hasn't been a focus over the last three years, and one of the criticisms that a lot of industry groups have made of this government is the focus on increasing wages without focusing on productivity. And nobody begrudges lower paid workers getting you few more quid here, but there's got to be some quid pro quo, pardon the pun.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH ROSS SOLLY

MONDAY, 19 MAY 2025

SUBJECTS: Gender quotas, Labor’s productivity agenda, renewable energy

ROSS SOLLY: Well Andrew Leigh, the Member for Fenner has hung on to his portfolio of Competition, Charities and Treasury, and he's also added Productivity to his workload in this term of the Parliament. Dr Andrew Leigh joins us on the Breakfast Show - Andrew Leigh, good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH: Morning Ross, great to be with you. Those numbers you were asking about…

ROSS SOLLY: Yes please!

ANDREW LEIGH: We're expecting that the House of Representatives will be 46 per cent women, and the Senate will be 60 per cent women. Obviously not every seat is nailed down, but I think they’re the figures we’ll go into.

ROSS SOLLY: Okay.

ANDREW LEIGH: And the Labor caucus overall will be 57 per cent women, up from 53 per cent women in the last term.

Launching 'A Retiree’s Odyssey - from the MCG to the SCG', by Prabodh Malhotra and Anand Kulkarni

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, and Treasury
Assistant Minister for Employment

Bradman Pavilion, Manuka Oval,
Canberra

8 May 2025

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people on whose lands we meet on today.

I want to acknowledge too at the outset, the terrorist attacks that have taken place recently in India, and offer my condolences and those of the Australian Government.

We have a range of VIPs here today, His Excellency the Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay, Chennupati Jagdish, Sam Murthi, Arun Venkatesha OAM, Adrienne Francis – our wonderful MC, and representatives from the McGrath Foundation.

Then of course, we have the authors Dr Prabodh Malhotra and Dr Anand Kulkarni on ‘A Retiree’s Odyssey - from the MCG to Manuka Oval’ – whoops - from the MCG to the SCG, although he did come via Manuka Oval the first time.

This is a book which tells the story of an extraordinary bloke. You get the story of Prabodh growing up in Punjab in a family of eight children, from a father who ran a grocery store and was also, we find out, a politician.

We read in the book, stories of generosity on Indian busses and local community. Stories that very much reminded me of my experiences of the generosity of everyday people when I backpacked for a month in India in the year 2000 - an experience that I'm really looking forward to sharing with my children when we visit India in December. It will be their first visit to India, and I’m really looking forward to introducing them to the grace and the decency of Indian hospitality.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, and Treasury
Assistant Minister for Employment

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO

TUESDAY, 6 MAY 2025

SUBJECTS: Labor’s election win, ACT bulk-billing, Climate 200 spending, Liberal Party extremism, delivering on Labor’s election promises

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: The Member for Fenner, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Dr Andrew Leigh. Good morning Andrew.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning Stephen, good to be with you.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: The factional situation in the Labor Party is a lot more formalised and a lot more disciplined, but you fall outside of that. How do you negotiate that?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, the ACT has always had a tradition of having non-factional members, going back to people like Bob McMullan. Alicia Payne and I are outside the factional system, and it just means you need to have more friends, hang out with more people and get to know a broad cross section of the party. Now, I've got a lot of respect for many people within the left and the right, but the pre-selectors that chose me wanted someone who's non-aligned, and that's the way I chose.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: From the perspective of Cabinet – because there’s reports around this morning suggesting that the left faction have now got more members in the Caucus than they previously had, so that will entitle them to more seats at the Cabinet table, and I understand that system but if you're non-factional how do you get to the Cabinet table?

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Member for Fenner

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH ROSS SOLLY

MONDAY, 5 MAY 2025

SUBJECTS: ACT Labor campaign, Climate 200 spending

ROSS SOLLY: Dr Andrew Leigh also got a nice little boost on the weekend - a positive swing. He didn't need it. He was comfortable enough already, but he got even more of a swing on the weekend. Andrew Leigh, I guess when you wake up on a Sunday morning, it's better to have that than the opposite, and what do you take away from that? Good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning Ross. Yes, just a sense of being really grateful to the people of Canberra for the support that we received. Really humbled by the chance to get back into the job of making life better for Australians and for Canberrans, and also just really relieved that those attacks on Canberra were so resoundingly rejected at the ballot box.

ROSS SOLLY: Yeah, I want to talk a little bit more about what we can read into some of the Canberra results in a moment. But Andrew Leigh nationally, it was such a rejection of what the Liberal Party stood for in this election. What was it in the end? I mean when you were out and about, when you were listening to people what was it that people hated about what the Liberal Party was offering?

ANDREW LEIGH: I think there really was a sense that the Liberal Party was too much echoing what was going on elsewhere.

ROSS SOLLY: Too Trumpian? Too Trumpian do you think?

ANDREW LEIGH: That sort of imported right wing culture war. I think the attacks on Welcome to Country ceremonies that Peter Dutton engaged in just contrasted with Anthony Albanese focusing on bulk-billing, on the energy transition, on the important resourcing of our schools, and on the work we're doing around competition reform. All of that is practical work that people can see in their everyday lives. I think people didn't want that sort of the nasty punching down that was being offered by the Liberal Party.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Member for Fenner

1 May 2025

Labor Government To Invest In ACT’s Multicultural Community Programs

Federal Member for Fenner Andew Leigh today announced that a re-elected Labor Government will support the Federation of Indian Associations of ACT (FINACT) in delivering community programs and events in 2026, strengthening Canberra’s vibrant multicultural community.

This $50,000 election commitment will support FINACT in their vital role celebrating diversity, promoting social inclusion, and building stronger, healthier communities.

It will help support key initiatives such as the AusIndia Fair, Chetna Community Champions Program, Sakhi Women’s Day, Yuva Gala, and community sports tournaments. It will make a meaningful difference in the lives of people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds across Canberra.

All these programs help to support vulnerable groups, including migrants, seniors, and international students, by connecting them with services and support.

Consistent with past practice, election commitments will be delivered in line with Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles.

Quotes attributable to Andrew Leigh MP:

"The Indian-Australian presence on Canberra’s northside brings people together across generations and backgrounds. Through initiatives like the Chetna program supporting families, Sakhi Women's Day celebrating women’s leadership, youth engagement through the Yuva Gala, and community-wide events like the AusIndia Fair and sports tournaments, FINACT helps create a more connected Canberra.

“This funding recognises the real impact of their work - fostering inclusion, encouraging participation, and strengthening social ties."

Quotes attributable to FINACT President, Roshan Menon:

“The funding is very welcome and will help boost our activities and build the programs we are developing to connect people, and also identify early help-seeking behaviours, to prevent crises, and reduce barriers to participate in the community for CALD individuals and families.” 

ENDS

Review of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Abundance

Andrew Leigh

Published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

30 April, 2025

In the 1930s, the US built the Empire State building in 13 months. In the 1940s, the Pentagon, headquarters of the US Department of Defence, was constructed in 16 months. In the 1950s, developers in Levittown, Pennsylvania boasted that they could produce a house every 16 minutes.

Yet today, construction has become slower and more expensive. Recent subway extensions in New York have cost billions of dollars per mile. A public toilet in San Francisco cost over a million dollars. US homebuilding has fallen behind population demand, with construction costs largely to blame.

‘Why can’t America build like we used to?’ is the central question at the heart of Abundance, a new book by New York Times podcast host Ezra Klein and Atlantic commentator Derek Thompson, which argues that a central focus for progressives should be on raising wellbeing by creating more for everyone.

The book opens with a heady vision of an abundant society in 2050: clean energy so cheap it’s barely worth metering, shorter working hours, longer holidays, better medicines, quicker commutes, and more affordable homes.

The obstacle to these goals, the authors argue, is an abundance of good intentions. They call it ‘Everything Bagel Liberalism’: too many good things make a bad result. The metaphor lands best with those of us who find the Everything Bagel a confused mess, rather than a culinary marvel.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury
Assistant Minister for Employment

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC, CANBERRA WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO

TUESDAY, 22 APRIL 2025

SUBJECTS: Supporting more bulk billing GPs for Canberra, preferencing, pre-polling open today

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Well, unfortunately after that we do need to talk politics as we are in the midst of an election campaign. The Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury and the Member for Fenner Andrew Leigh is with us. Andrew, don't take that personally.

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Not at all.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: What are we, a week and a half out or nearly two weeks out from the election. Now, there's been a commitment from the Labor Government that if you re-elected, you're going to support more bulk billing GPs here in the ACT. Nobody would dispute the need for that. But the question that never gets answered is where do these GPs come from?

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: We're getting GPs firstly by training them, and that's obviously the best way we can do things and then also some are coming in from interstate and overseas. But Canberra at the moment has 20 per cent fewer GPs per person than Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, so we do need to attract more GPs here. One of the announcements that we made yesterday is that we'll have the first ever metropolitan trial of what's called the ‘single employer model’, which means that GPs are able to do some of their training at through ACT Health, and then go out into general practice while keeping all of their entitlements. And that'll make Canberra a more attractive place to train as a GP.

Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher 
Minister for Finance
Senator for the ACT

The Hon Mark Butler MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Member for Fenner

Alicia Payne MP
Member for Canberra

David Smith MP
Member for Bean

Albanese Labor Government to support more bulk billing GPs and respite care in Canberra 

21 April 2025

A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will deliver $24.3 million to boost access to bulk billing GPs and build more aged care respite beds across the ACT to ensure Canberrans have access to high quality, free healthcare when they need it.

Part of this funding will guarantee three new fully bulk billed GP clinics in the areas that need them most.

This investment is on top of Labor’s record investment in Medicare to triple the bulk billing incentive and support practices that bulk bill all of their patients.

This significant investment is the result of months of work to ensure that Canberrans can access a GP where and when they need to.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury
Assistant Minister for Employment

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC, CANBERRA WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO

THURSDAY, 17 APRIL 2025

SUBJECTS: One-person Fenner election debate, Albanese Government investments in Canberra, Peter Dutton’s plan for public service cuts, Robodebt, AUKUS, independents, Labor’s competition policy reforms, community engagement in Fenner

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Time for the fight for Fenner - our candidate debate, which is now going to take on a very different feel. We were going to have a debate between the sitting member Andrew Leigh, the Labor Member for Fenner, and the Liberal candidate for Fenner, Bola Olatunbosun who has just had a family emergency and has had to leave us, so Andrew Leigh is with us. Andrew, I guess it's just you and me debating like we do on a Tuesday?

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: I think that's right Stephen, and if I lose this debate I'm in real trouble.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Yeah, well especially considering that I'm not running against you. So, look the way we usually do this is I give the candidate a one minute opening statement. So, I'll do that as well. I’ll give you a minute to, you know, state your piece and then we'll talk about some various issues.

ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Well, Stephen, as we talk about in our regular chats, Labor is making a case for a stronger Canberra, one in which we're making strong local investments. We've invested in Margaret Timpson Park, invested in keeping bulk-billing at the Interchange Practice in Tuggeranong, we've invested in local roads and rail, and we've also invested in a strong public service. The public service can't be the size it was two decades ago with the National Disability Insurance Scheme that serves half a million people, with complex defence procurements and with all of the challenges we face around the world. And so, the real choice for Canberra is over a Labor Government with a Prime Minister who lives here and loves the city, and an Opposition with 41,000 public service jobs to go. They say all in Canberra, which would mean you'd be cutting almost two thirds the public servants who work in this town. That would not only gut the public service jobs, but also local businesses as well.