Andrew Leigh

The Government has released a consultation paper on Australia’s implementation of the OECD-developed Crypto Asset Reporting Framework and associated amendments to the Common Reporting Standard. 

The Crypto Asset Reporting Framework is a new transparency framework responding to the rapid growth of crypto asset markets globally and the challenges this presents for addressing tax evasion and tax avoidance.

The new reporting framework will improve visibility over incomes made through crypto assets to increase compliance with local tax laws via automatic exchange of information between revenue authorities. It works by compelling crypto asset intermediaries operating in Australia to report data on crypto related transactions to the Australian Taxation Office.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 20 NOVEMBER 2024

I thank those members who have contributed to the debate. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Mergers and Acquisitions Reform) Bill 2024 delivers a new, faster, stronger, simpler, more targeted and more transparent merger system that will help deliver what we all want: a stronger, more competitive and more productive economy. Our country is facing some of the most significant structural changes in our history, with increasing digitalisation, particularly artificial intelligence; the net zero transformation; and the rise of the care economy. We need to ensure workers aren't unfairly prevented from shifting to a better job. We must look after the most vulnerable.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 19 NOVEMBER 2024

The creation of the National Broadband Network flowed out of the botched privatisation of Telstra under the Howard government. Telstra was privatised by the Howard government starting in 1997, selling off 49 per cent initially and then selling Telstra into minority public ownership in 2006. That meant, when the Rudd government came to office and called for tenders to build the National Broadband Network, Telstra, then under majority private ownership, produced an extraordinary document. Asked to show how it might build a national network serving 98 per cent of the population, Telstra turned in a desultory 12-page letter which wasn't compliant with the requirements at the time. That meant Telstra had to be removed from the request for proposals process, and then the National Broadband Network flowed. We can only imagine how much more straightforward the process of building the National Broadband Network would have been if Telstra had worked constructively with the government in 2008, but it was not possible, largely because of the decision that the Howard government had made to privatise Telstra.

SUBJECTS:  Cash mandate for essential goods and services; regional banking; credit and debit card surcharges; limiting the influence of billionaire donors on Australian democracy.

ROSS SOLLY, HOST: It's 20 minutes to 9. Andrew Leigh is the Member for Fenner, he's also the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Assistant Minister for Employment, and he joins us on the Breakfast Show. Andrew Leigh, good morning to you.

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

SOLLY: It's great to have your company as well. Look, a lot of talking about this announcement that your government's going to make today. Well, first of all, let's work out what are essential goods and services where people will still be able to pay cash?

LEIGH: Well, Ross, 94 per cent of businesses right now accept cash, and we need to ensure that cash remains a viable payment approach for the minority of Australians who use it for the majority of their purchases. So, this cash mandate is something that's been put in place in other countries; Spain, France, Norway, Denmark, some of the US States have it already. You can think of it as about ensuring that those who are using cash don't get left behind by businesses saying, "We're not taking your cash any longer".

University of Canberra Panel on ‘Who Will Save the News?’ - Canberra, 14 November 2024

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, on whose lands we are meeting today, pay tribute to all First Nations people presents and recognise the important work that the University of Canberra does towards Closing the Gap.

It's a pleasure to be part of the University of Canberra's Research Showcase. You've brought your research here to the city. It is a reminder of what a terrific job the University of Canberra does in enriching the public debate in the nation’s capital.

Let me start with a story. In 1992, some friends and I decided that we wanted to run to be the journalists and editors of the Sydney University newspaper Honi Soit.

Exposure draft consultation on beneficial ownership reforms

The Albanese Government is taking the next step to deliver its commitment to increase transparency of beneficial ownership in Australia.

Consultation opens today on draft amendments to the Corporations Act 2001 to ensure disclosure of who effectively owns, and controls entities listed on Australia’s financial markets.

These reforms close a substantial loophole that allows sophisticated investors to use complex financial products to mask their interests in some of our most significant listed companies.

The draft amendments also strengthen the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s investigation and enforcement powers, allowing it to act quickly to freeze opaque holdings that might be being used to circumvent legal obligations or finance crime - including by offshore actors.

The Albanese Government is continuing to crack down on unfair participant pricing with the NDIS Fair Price and Australian Consumer Law Taskforce (The Taskforce) receiving almost 3,000 complaints since its inception.

The Taskforce is a collaboration between the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission), and the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) – yielding positive results after less than a year of operation.

Subjects: ACCC report on the increased price of capital city route flights; Coles Chairman's comment on Supermarkets; Cost of living crisis, the possibility of Trump imposing tariffs on imports

PATRICIA KARVELAS, HOST: A lack of competition in Australia's skies is pushing the price of flights up. Consumer Watchdog, the ACCC has found on capital city routes discount flights have gone up as much as 95 per cent since Rex and Bonza left the market. So, what can the government do to rein in the power of Qantas and Virgin? Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, and our guest. Welcome.

ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks Patricia. Great to be with you.

KARVELAS: The ACCC report found on the Melbourne to Adelaide route discount fares went up as much as 95 per cent in the last three months. That is huge. Were you expecting things to get this bad, this quickly?

LEIGH: Absolutely. We've done work through the Competition Taskforce looking at the impact of competition in aviation and the effects are as big as I've ever seen in any other industry, Patricia. The estimates that the Treasury's Competition Taskforce had in is that when you move from a monopoly carrier on a route to three carriers on the route, then the price per kilometre is halved, goes down from 40 cents a kilometre to 19 cents a kilometre. So, it's expected and disappointing that when you had that collapse that you immediately saw prices for flyers increase.

SUBJECTS: Misinformation and disinformation legislation; Anti-semitism; ACCC supermarket public hearings

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, HOST: Now I'm sure my next guest will try and tell me why it's so important that politicians should be able to tell me what's true and what's not. Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury and the Member for Fenner. Andrew, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH: G'day, Stephen, great to be with you.

CENATIEMPO: This is the worst piece of legislation any government has ever put before the Parliament in Australia's history.

LEIGH: Stephen, we know that there is serious misinformation and disinformation in Australia -

CENATIEMPO: Who determines that?

LEIGH: Well, we'll have independent bodies doing it. But the threshold is very high. It must be reasonably verifiable that it's false, misleading or deceptive, and reasonably likely to cause serious harm. That means harm to our electoral system, harm to public health…

The Power of Charitable Advocacy: Three Stories and a Commitment

I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, on whose traditional lands we meet, and pay respect to all First Nations people here today. I also acknowledge the work of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, the Australian Democracy Network, Australian Progress and so many of you in the room towards Closing the Gap. It's a privilege to be joining Professor Kristy Muir, the remarkable Saffron Zomer, who has done so much to build capacity and charitable advocacy, and advocate and Indigenous Marathon Foundation graduate Amelia Telford in the panel today.

I want to talk today about three big stories of social change that were driven by the activist power of communities, philanthropy and charities.

The first story starts on 29 August 1966, when 200 Gurindji stockmen, led by Vincent Lingiari, led the Wave Hill Walk-Off. The Wave Hill Walk-Off began over a discontent with the way in which the Vestey landowners had been treating Aboriginal workers on the land. This was the land of the traditional owners, but the cattle herders had fenced it in, had allowed pollution to get into the water holes and had refused to pay the stockmen properly.