Andrew Leigh

AUSTRALIANS DESERVE BETTER THAN MORRISON

Federation Chamber, 13 September 2018

According to a survey by Travel Leaders, Australia is the world's No. 1 travel destination.

So, you'd think that promoting Australia to the world would be the easiest job going. But there's one chap who was sacked in 2006 by the Howard government as the head of Tourism Australia in a unanimous decision of the board.

Don't feel too sorry for him since this chap was reportedly fired from his $350,000 job because tourism minister Fran Bailey couldn't stand his ego.

THERE WAS A HIGHER SHARE OF WOMEN IN THE LIBERAL PARTY ROOM TWO DECADES AGO THEN THERE IS TODAY

Federation Chamber, 10 September 2018

The Prime Minister du jour said some questionable things during his first fortnight, but I draw attention to just one comment. Speaking to a football coach over the weekend, he invited the man to Canberra to 'give the boys a bit of a rev up’.

Let me repeat that: 'the boys.'

I'm here not to talk about sport but to talk about gender equity and what message that comment sends to girls and women in Australia who are contemplating a parliamentary career.

LABOR SUPPORTS SENSIBLE, BROAD BASED TRADE LIBERALISATION

House of Representatives, 10 September 2018

Labor has a strong tradition of supporting sensible, broad based trade liberalisation.

It was the Whitlam Government that instituted a 25 per cent tariff cut in 1973 and the Hawke and Keating governments that reduced tariffs in 1988 and 1991. The net impact of that was to make the Australian economy more competitive and to put thousands of dollars back into the pockets of regular Australian households. Indeed, if you go to a department store now to buy a pair of kid's shoes, you'll see sticker prices that are similar to where they were 30 years ago. If you go to buy a bottom-of-the-range new car, you'll find sticker prices not that different from 30 years ago. Trade liberalisation has benefited households and has the potential to create jobs.

But trade liberalisation has to be done right. Labor's commitment to trade liberalisation is a strong, multilateral one. As they say in trade, ‘bigger is better’, not only with respect to the number of countries engaged in agreement but also with respect to the breadth of the trade agreement. High-quality agreements generate greater benefits.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS, CUSTOMER OWNED BANKING ASSOCIATION REGULATORY AFFAIRS SUMMIT

National Gallery of Australia, 22 August 2018

Thank you, Michael [Lawrence], for that introduction. As a member for the ACT, welcome to those of you who are not Canberrans to the best city in Australia (as rated by the OECD). I acknowledge that we're meeting on traditional lands of the Ngunnawal people and pay my respect to their elders past and present.

At the outset I wanted to say a few words about where the Australian economy is tracking. I’ll begin, because I'm a natural optimist, with the things that look positive. The Reserve Bank recently noted that there has been a broad pick up in global growth in 2017 which has largely carried through to 2018. Chinese growth is increasingly consumption driven, East Asian semiconductor trade is healthy, European machinery investments has been strong. In the United States and Japan and Germany and in Britain, unemployment is in a multi-decade low. Forecasts for global growth have been revised up for 2018 and 2019.

For Australia, commodity prices remain solid. Analysts are a little concerned about the medium term outlook. Some of that turns on the changes that China is making around managing local production to improve urban air quality. A good thing for the air in their cities, but it may have knock on effects on our iron ore exports.

If you're a business, global interest rates are now as low as they've been since 3000 B.C., according to analysis done by the Bank of England. So that's the upside. That's my Edward de Bono ‘yellow hat’ analysis.

WE TERRITORIANS WILL KEEP UP THE PRESSURE TO HAVE OUR DEMOCRATIC VOICES HEARD

House of Representatives, 20 August 2018

I move that this bill be now read a second time.

Twenty-one years ago this parliament restricted the rights of territorians to have their voices heard through their elected representatives on the issue of voluntary assisted dying. Back then, they said that these parliaments were too immature to be given the power of voluntary assisted dying. They said that no state had done it and a territory shouldn't be the first. Today, those arguments are gone. Victoria has now legislated on voluntary assisted dying. The whole notion that there might be some mass migration of Australians towards a territory that was the first to legislate on euthanasia — that argument is out the window.

And parliaments have grown up. Back in 1997, when Kevin Andrews passed his private member's bill, the ACT assembly was just nine years old—just a kid attending primary school. Now it's grown up, left home and shown itself to be a mature debating chamber. Yes, the ACT is a unicameral assembly, but so is Queensland. The ACT has a bigger population than Tasmania. A 30-year-old mature assembly has tackled complicated issues, from light rail to infrastructure investment, from innovation to higher education. This is a parliament that has shown itself to be fit to handle a difficult challenge such as voluntary assisted dying.

GENDER EQUITY MORE THAN A WOMEN'S ISSUE

House of Representatives, 15 August 2018

I rise to speak on the topic of gender equity. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency reports that in 1997 the gender pay gap among full-time workers in Australia was 16½ per cent. Twenty years later in 2017, it had narrowed to 15½ per cent. If we continue at that pace, narrowing the gender pay gap by half a percentage point every decade, then in a mere 310 years, Australian women will be earning the same wages as Australian men.

I suspect if you told Jessie Street, Vida Goldstein, Louisa Lawson or Eileen Powell that it was going to take until 2328 for Australia to close the gender pay gap, they would have told you that we weren't doing a good enough job. We have also a gender gap in superannuation balances: for those aged 55-64, men have an average balance of $310,000; women, an average balance of $196,000.

TERRITORIANS SHOULD NOT HAVE THEIR RIGHTS RESTRICTED

Federation Chamber, 15 August 2018

In 1997, as the Commonwealth parliament sought to remove legislative rights from the ACT and the Northern Territory, then Liberal Chief Minister of the ACT, Kate Carnell, appeared before a committee of this parliament and said:

… what is at issue here is nothing less than the democratic rights of the citizens of the ACT...

She referred to the proposed Andrews Bill as 'limiting our self-governing powers'. Ms Carnell emphasised the long-term effects of depriving citizens of democratic rights enjoyed by those in the states. But the Andrews Bill passed the parliament, and the restriction of the democratic right of territorians is with us today.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

PARLIAMENT HOUSE

WEDNESDAY, 15 AUGUST 2018

SUBJECTS: The need for Malcolm Turnbull to take action on racist hate speech, Territory rights, Renewables and taxpayer-funded coal power.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning everyone. We saw statements in the Senate last night that were hateful, hurtful and harmful. They were ignorant and mean spirited and which suggested that Australia should go back to the discredited White Australia Policy. My parents campaigned against the White Australia Policy, advocating its abolition as young students. Australia is better off for the abolition of the White Australia Policy – not just for the flow of migrants that came in, but for what it said to the world for our self-confidence as a nation that we no longer needed to discriminate based on race or religion. 

Since then we've had migrants come into Australia who have enriched the nation. Australia is better off for the migration of Gustav Nossal, Les Murray, Frank Lowy, Anh Do and millions of other migrants who have brought innovation and ideas to Australia. Migrants are more likely to patent, they're more likely to start new businesses. Migrants are more likely to export, they bring a sense of entrepreneurialism and vigour to our economy. 

We know that diversity is an economic driver. Diverse companies are more productive. Diverse cities are more productive. Diverse nations produce more. Yet what we've seen from Senator Anning's comments are a suggestion that we should go back to the past by reinstating discrimination.

Let's be clear, this man is only in Parliament as a result of Malcolm Turnbull's double dissolution. These statements are being made in a context in which the Coalition has denigrated migration. The Coalition needs to speak more strongly and forcefully for a value of a multicultural Australia and for the benefits that migrants bring to Australia. 

LET'S BRING THE A-LEAGUE TO THE CAPITAL

Federation Chamber, 13 August 2018

If you know all the north Canberra Bels - Belnorth, Belsouth, Belwest, the Devils and the Foxes - if you know the Uniteds, Citys and FCs, the Medusas, the Gliders, the Pumas, Olympic, the Panthers and the Spurs, the Bulls, White Eagles and Wanderers, the Knights, the Magpies and the Blues, then you'll know these names: Warren, Grella, Zelic, Shipard, Valeri, Farina, Perry, Rogic, Arrows, Cosmos, Arzani.

Those great names of Australian soccer have all played a part in the growth of football here in Canberra as well as across the nation.

LIBERALS BRING CHARITIES TOGETHER - AGAINST THEIR POLICIES

House of Representatives, 13 August 2018

I was delighted after the last election to be appointed by Bill Shorten, the Leader of the Opposition, as the shadow minister for charities and not-for-profits. It's the first time that either major party has had a portfolio for charities and not-for-profits, reflecting Labor's strong belief in the charitable sector. I acknowledge the important work also being done by Senator Louise Pratt in her role of working with volunteers. It indicates very clearly Labor's strong support for our voluntary sector.

But that strong support for the voluntary sector hasn't been reciprocated by both sides of the House. We have seen two open letters – one to Prime Minister Abbott and another to Prime Minister Turnbull – from the charity sector, complaining about attacks on the charity sector. The most recent letter was signed by Volunteering Australia, Carers Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Community Council of Australia, Justice Connect, Philanthropy Australia and the Starlight Children's Foundation.

The fact is the Liberals have brought charities together – against their retrograde policies.