The Abbott Government is cutting thousands of staff from the Australian Taxation Office in the name of budget 'savings'. But there are real concerns these cuts will actually cost Australia millions more than they save through lost revenue.

MEDIA RELEASE

ATO STAFF CUTS MEANS MILLIONS IN TAX DODGES

The Abbott Government’s deep staff cuts at the Australian Tax Office (ATO) will result in a hit to the federal budget, with new evidence revealing every dollar cut from spending on staff will sacrifice up to $6 in unpaid tax.

The ATO shed 900 staff in the 2013-2014 financial year and will lose a further 2,100 staff by the end of October as part of the government’s drive for savings.

This morning I joined Sky AM Agenda host Kieran Gilbert and Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Darren Chester to discuss the repeal of the carbon tax and the importance of negotiation in the Senate. Here's the transcript:

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 14 JULY 2014

SUBJECT/S:         Climate change; the new Senate; federal budget

KIERAN GILBERT: Thanks for your company on AM Agenda. With me now, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, Darren Chester, and also the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Before we get into our discussion I just want to play you a little bit of what the Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, had to say to the media here in Canberra ahead of the introduction of the repeal again of the carbon tax to Parliament at midday today:

This morning I spoke with 2CC's Mark Parton about why moving public servants out of Canberra would create a less effective APS. Here's the transcript:

E&EO TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

2CC - BREAKFAST WITH MARK PARTON

TOPICS:  Relocating Australian public servants; carbon pricing

Mark Parton: Let’s go to Andrew Leigh, Federal Member for Fraser for the ALP. He’s on the line - good morning Andrew.

Andrew Leigh: Morning Mark.

Mark Parton: We’ve just had a chat to Andrew Wilkie, he wants to throw the public servants all round the country - he’s  dreaming, isn’t he?

Andrew Leigh: Well I can see where the electoral demographics come from with this. Tasmania has got a lot of seats, even though in fact I think I have twice as many voters as Andrew. I think I’ve got the largest seat in Australia and he’s got one of the smallest. But it just doesn’t make any sense…

With the release of the government's Options Paper on replacements for the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, I've again called for Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews to listen to the voices of leading Australian charities and keep the commission intact.

With reports today that the Treasurer is preparing to legislate "new" measures so global companies pay their share of tax, I was keen to remind the public of the Abbott Government's backward steps in this area. Joe Hockey's measures aren’t new and they don't embrace what Labor sought to put in place.

MEDIA RELEASE

HOCKEY’S HOT AIR SOLUTION TO MULTINATIONAL PROFIT-SHIFTING

The Abbott Government’s measures on multinational profit-shifting are still considerably weaker than those announced last year by Labor.

Since coming to office, the Government’s only policy announcements on multinational profit-shifting have been to reverse sensible Labor measures.

 

During a visit to Tasmania today, my colleague, Shadow Minister for Regional Development Julie Collins, and I met with pensioners to discuss the federal budget. We got a warm reception but not surprisingly, they gave the budget the thumbs down. Julie and I subsequently issued this joint media release:

ANDREW LEIGH MP - SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASUER

JULIE COLLINS MP - SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

MEDIA RELEASE

ABBOTT GOVERNMENT’S BUDGET FAILS PENSIONERS

The Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh, has confirmed the Abbott Government’s Budget is no friend to Tasmania’s pensioners.

Speaking with members of the Tasmanian Pensioner Association in Hobart today Dr Leigh said the Abbott Government’s Budget would affect Tasmanians who could least afford any loss of financial support.

“This Budget not only breaks promises, it breaks the social contract with older Australians,” Dr Leigh said.

http://youtu.be/k8iAZvE9iDg

I spoke this morning on SKY AM Agenda with host Kieran Gilbert and the Liberal's Mitch Fifield about news that Coalition MPs are urging a sharp cut in the renewable energy target (RET). Here's the transcript:

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SKY – AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 30 JUNE 2014

SUBJECT/S: Renewable Energy Target and Coalition backbench revolt; McClure welfare review; Aged Care reforms

KIERAN GILBERT: Joining me now on the program is the Assistant Social Services Minister, Mitch Fifield and the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. Gentlemen, good morning to you both.

Mitch Fifield, first to you, 25 of your colleagues - backbench, members of your government are speaking out against the renewal energy target, saying it should be scaled back, that aluminium should be excluded from it. This is much more than a ginger group, as Graham Richardson has pointed out there. This is half your backbench in the lower house of the parliament.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

ONLINE INTERVIEW

BREAKING POLITICS – FAIRFAX MEDIA

MONDAY, 30 JUNE 2014

SUBJECT/S: McClure welfare review and disability support; Renewable Energy Target and Coalition backbench revolt; Asylum seeker policy and secrecy.

CHRIS HAMMER: We're joined now by Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Labor member for Fraser here in the ACT. He's in the studio. And joining us via Skype, Andrew Laming the member for Bowman.

This morning I spoke to ABC 666 Breakfast presenter Philip Clark about calls for a Royal Commission into the financial advice arm of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia which a Senate inquiry found underpaid victims of a scandal and sought to avoid regulatory scrutiny.

RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC 666 CANBERRA – BREAKFAST SHOW

FRIDAY, 27 JUNE 2014

SUBJECT / S: Commonwealth Bank and ASIC report; multinational profit shifting and tax evasion.

PRESENTER, PHILIP CLARK: The Senate Committee into the Commonwealth Bank has called for the country to set up a Royal Commission into the Commonwealth Bank to investigate fraud and forgery and allegations of a cover-up inside its financial planning arm. This issue's been bubbling along for a while, since it was broken in the media about misconduct among CBA financial planners. It's much worse than we had thought. Thousands of Australians lost their life savings as a result of shoddy financial advice. And it ought not stop there. Member for Fraser Andrew Leigh, who's been campaigning in this area and others, is on the line this morning. Andrew, good morning.

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER, ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning Philip, how are you?

CLARK: I'm very well. It's uncovered a pretty dodgy set of dealings inside the CBA which probably does warrant further investigation, doesn't it?

LEIGH: Well it certainly makes troubling reading and it's looking into the Australian Securities and Investments Commission which is the oversight body for financial planners. This is why when we were in government, Labor tightened up the rules around financial advice, because of the Storm Financial affair, Timbercorp - where people not only lost all their money but were left with debts at the end - and Trio. We've had a succession of these corporate collapses. And in our view it wasn't enough to just put all the burden back onto the investors. You had to say financial planners must act in the best interest of the client, and that people had to be opting in to receive financial advice.

Ahead of formal protests at the CSIRO Black Mountain labs in Canberra, I spoke today about the literal decimation of Australia's premier science agency.  

CONSTITUENCY STATEMENT

JUNE 25, 2014

In 1931, Labor member Jack Holloway became the first Australian to be Minister for Science. Eight decades later, the Abbott government became the first government in three generations to not have a science minister. The lack of a science minister has sat alongside another significant decision by this government: decimating the CSIRO. This government is literally sacking one in 10 CSIRO staff.