IT'S TIME TO MAKE CENSUS OF ALL YOUR ANSWERS

The Daily Telegraph, June 27 2022

The world’s first census took place in 3800 BCE. The Babylonians counted the number of people, animals, and stocks of valuable foodstuffs, such as butter, honey and wool.

Almost 6000 years later, Australians are about to learn the results of our latest census. Taken in August 2021, at a time when much of the country was in lockdown, the Census provides a snapshot of how the country has changed.

This year, we’ll get a count of the total population, and find out which areas are growing and shrinking. The results will affect Commonwealth grants to states and territories. Census population figures help decide where federal electorates need to be created and abolished.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC CANBERRA DRIVE

MONDAY, 20 JUNE 2022

SUBJECT: Labor’s plans to support the charities sector.

ADRIENNE FRANCIS, HOST: Andrew Leigh is Assistant Minister for Charities, and also Member for the Federal ACT seat of Fenner, and he joins us on ABC Radio Canberra. Yuma. Good evening, Andrew Leigh. Thanks for being with us.

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

FRANCIS: Why did you fight to get this charities portfolio?

LEIGH: Oh look, I love charities and the work they do in the community. And I thought it was just beautiful the way you talked about Margaret and Paul McGrath, and what they do with Ngunnawal Street Pantries really is remarkable. I remember when I was out there, they were telling me the story of a time when people had been lined up to receive support and someone had mentioned that she had been the victim of family violence. Somebody else in the queue just quietly said, ‘I went through the same experience a couple of years ago, if you'd like somebody to come with you to the support counselling services I can’. And they said that was what was really special about it - they weren't just providing food and clothes and essential living provisions, but they're also connecting people up into a broader community. I've had the charities portfolio since Labor went into opposition in 2013 and spent those nine years engaging with charities - even wrote a book about some of their ideas for building community - and really had a chance to get a sense as to the problems that were being caused by the coalition's adversarial approach to charities.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC CANBERRA MORNINGS

MONDAY, 6 JUNE 2022

SUBJECTS: The resignation of Gary Johns; Labor’s plans to support the charities sector; Canberrans and donations; ACCC.

ADAM SHIRLEY, HOST: Gary Johns - head of the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission - will step down at the end of next month. Now his stewardship caused some consternation and open criticism from the then opposition, now federal government. Andrew Leigh is the federal Member for Fenner and newly appointed Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. Dr Andrew Leigh, good morning to you and thank you for your time.

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

SHIRLEY: You've had some days to get, well a few days to get your knees under the desks of these new portfolios. First of all to Dr Gary Jones, you were quite critical of some of his decisions and he in that role in the months prior. Did you ask for his resignation?

HAVENS NO MORE

The Canberra Times, 7 May 2022

THE COST OF AUSTRALIA’S ‘PHENOMENAL FAILURE’ ON VACCINATION

The Australian, 6 May 2022

Australians aim high. Whether it’s the quality of our beaches, the speed of our Olympic swimmers, or the talent of our novelists, we like to think that we can be the best of the world. And we often succeed.

Yet a year ago, Australia was doing the very opposite. Of all the advanced countries in the 38-member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Australia had the lowest rate of full vaccination. This wasn’t a temporary thing. From 12 May 2021 to 26 July 2021, Australia ranked last in the OECD, underperforming countries with significantly lower levels of economic development, such as Mexico, Turkey and Portugal.

GOVERNMENT SHOULD SUPPORT CHARITIES, NOT SILENCE THEM

The Australian, 18 April 2022

In the late nineteenth century, Alfred Nobel got to read his own obituary. His brother Ludvig had died, and a French newspaper mistakenly published an obituary that had been prepared for Alfred. Nobel might have hoped that it would laud the fact that he had invented dynamite. Instead, it proclaimed ‘the merchant of death is dead’. Nobel, who didn't have a wife or children, suddenly had a preview as to how history was going to remember him. But he had time to change that. In his will, he set up the Nobel Prizes, giving nine tenths of his wealth to establish what are now the most prestigious prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace and economics.

Giving is a great legacy to provide to others. Giving during our lifetimes can also be a source of pleasure. A cross-national survey found that people who donated to charities tend to be happier than others who didn't. Another study found that people who had supported a charity had significantly better blood pressure readings.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC CANBERRA MORNINGS

TUESDAY, 12 APRIL 2022

SUBJECTS: AIS funding; Anthony Albanese.

ROSS SOLLY, HOST: Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury and Charities, and federal Member for Fenner. He joins us on the program. Good morning to you, Andrew Leigh.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND CHARITIES: Good morning, Ross. It's so good to have you back in Canberra. It feels like just the other day we were chatting on the radio, but of course, you've been away for nearly a decade.

SOLLY: What’s a few years between friends. Yes. I must say, it is really nice to be back in the national capital and it's really nice to have people saying that it's nice to have me back in the capital.

[laughter]

SOLLY: At least to my face. At least to my face, Andrew Leigh.

LEIGH: Gone, but not forgotten, you were.

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TELEVISION INTERVIEW

BUSINESS NOW

WEDNESDAY, 6 APRIL 2022

SUBJECTS: Engaged Egalitarianism and why the Australian recovery must prioritise openness; Labor’s plans to tackle multinational tax avoidance; Labor’s Powering Australia plan; Labor’s plan to ease the costs of living and support economic growth.

ROSS GREENWOOD, HOST: The Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury Dr Andrew Leigh today laid out a plan to increase foreign investment into Australia as he delivered the Economic Society of Victoria's biennial Stan Kelly lecture. Andrew Leigh joins us now from Melbourne. Andrew, many thanks for your time, as always. Before we get to foreign investment, I want to go to Scott Morrison, who's in the Hunter Valley. We've just heard him only just in the last few minutes criticising Labor for not putting in a tax cap of 23.9 per cent as the government has, saying that effectively if you did not have a tax cap, this would mean Labor would continue to tax at higher levels and therefore hang on to more of the people's money. How do you respond to that?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND CHARITIES: Scott Morrison's a desperate man who will say anything and do anything. The fact is that his tax to GDP ratio of 22.1 per cent is considerably higher than the tax to GDP ratio of 20.9 per cent of the previous Labor Government. This is the second highest taxing government in the post-war period, after only the Howard Government. So Scott Morrison has no leg to stand on when it comes to higher taxes-

HONEY, I SHRANK THE GROCERIES

The New Daily, 2 April 2022

Freddo Frogs were reduced from 15g to 12g – but the price stayed the same. New varieties of Tim Tams mostly have nine biscuits in a pack, not the 11 biscuits you’ll find in the original pack. Many brewers have shrunk the size of their beers down from 375ml to 330ml, while some winemakers are selling 700ml bottles rather than the usual 750ml.

Dubbed ‘shrinkflation’ by US economist Pippa Malmgren, the term refers to a cunning trick that manufacturers like to pull: Selling us less product for the same price. In recent times, Maltesers fun-size bags have dropped in weight from 144g to 132g. Smiths chips have shrunk from 200g to 170g. A tube of Pringles has downsized from 165g to 134g.

Bob Hawke: Demons and Destiny

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, 29 March 2022

The first time I met Bob Hawke in person, he shook my hand and looked directly into my eyes. It felt like the two of us were in a bubble, cordoned off from the rest of the world. Hawke was 70 years old, and eight years out of the prime ministership, but he still had his famous animal magnetism. The only other time I’ve experienced this magic trick was when I shook hands with Bill Clinton.

Troy Bramston’s new biography of Bob Hawke captures the energy and achievements of Australia’s longest-serving Labor prime minister. Raised by parents who often told friends that their son would be prime minister, Hawke made his reputation by winning substantial wage rises for workers. It earned him the admiration of the union movement and the epithet “Mr Inflation” from the conservatives.