Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
AFTERNOON BRIEFING WITH GREG JENNETT
WEDNESDAY 15 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Budget 2024; Tax Cuts for Every Australian Taxpayer; Energy Bill Relief for Every Household; A Future Made in Australia

GREG JENNETT (HOST): Well, time for some government perspective now on all things Budget. Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Treasury matters, so closely linked to the processes and the planning that got us here. And Andrew's back with us in the studio. Welcome once again.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks, Greg.

JENNETT: Energy bill relief. Is the Government claiming in giving $300 to every household that you are at least in part, making good on the $275 reduction promise?

LEIGH: That hasn't been at the forefront of our thinking. Really, this is about providing energy bill relief at a time when households are under pressure. We've done it this way because it's the most efficient and straightforward way of providing that energy bill relief and because it reduces inflation. So, that's making the Reserve Bank's job easier. It's really important that fiscal and monetary policy work closely together. We've done that in past Budgets. We've done that again in this Budget.

ACT FEDERAL LABOR TEAM

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Labor’s Budget; delivering for Canberra; public service; infrastructure; ACT public housing debt; Independent candidates.

SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: I’m here with my colleagues, Federal ACT representatives Andrew Leigh, David Smith, Alicia Payne. We’re really pleased to be here the morning after the night before of the Budget with a very strong investment in Canberra. Obviously, the Budget as a whole had a focus on cost-of-living without adding to inflation, but also had an eye on the future and seizing the opportunities that are coming with the transformation to Net Zero economies through the Future Made In Australia. There’s a lot of investment in Canberra. We’ve gone for many years under the former government not being recognised, either for our role as the nation’s capital or as a city on our own. And this budget deals with that, continues the work we’ve done in the previous two budgets, there’s investment in jobs, in supporting households with cost-of-living and our role as the nation’s capital through infrastructure investments. So it’s a very positive budget for Canberra and I’m going to hand to my colleagues now to focus on a couple of the key initiatives.

THE HON DR ANDREW LEIGH MP, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Well, thanks very much Katy. And this is a budget that delivers for all Australians, but a budget that really looks after Canberra. And one of the reasons for that is you’ve got the extraordinary Katy Gallagher, former ACT Chief Minister and Minister for Finance, sitting around the Expenditure Review Committee table, the Cabinet table, making decisions that don’t leave Canberra out. We saw in the Liberals’ last budget, the ACT get just one fifth of our fair share of infrastructure spending. This budget does right by the people of Canberra. One of the important aspects of the Budget is that every Canberra taxpayer gets a tax cut. That tax cut is a bigger tax cut than they would have received for four out of five Canberra taxpayers. We want Canberrans to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. And these tax cuts that’ll flow from 1 July are fairer, more efficient and will do more for the ACT economy than they would have done before we rejigged them. I’ll hand now to my colleague Alicia Payne to say a few words about other aspects of the Budget for Canberra.

ACT FEDERAL LABOR TEAM

ALBANESE GOVERNMENT INJECTS OVER $350 MILLION IN CANBERRA TO SEE OUR CITY THRIVE

The Albanese Government values Canberra’s role as the national capital and is making the investments in the 2024-25 Budget to rollout transformative projects and upgrade local infrastructure that will support our growing city to thrive.

Only a Federal Labor Government can work hand-in-hand with the ACT Labor Government to deliver the investments that Canberra needs to grow, while supporting local jobs and maintaining Canberra as the national capital.

This Federal Budget will inject almost $250 million to revitalise the AIS facilities in Bruce and ensure they are modern and fit-for-purpose for Australia’s elite and aspiring athletes.

PAINTING ON A BIG CANVAS
Institute of Public Accountants & Canberra Business Chamber 2024 Federal Budget Breakfast
Great Hall, Parliament House, Canberra
15 May 2024

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of these lands, and pay respects to all First Nations people present. Thank you to the organisers, the Institute of Public Accountants, and the Canberra Business Chamber, for the opportunity to address you following this year’s Federal Budget. I also acknowledge my parliamentary colleagues who are here today. Apologies in advance that I cannot stay for the whole event – we have a scheduled crossbench briefing at 8.15am where I am presenting on upcoming legislation.

By my rough count, this is the seventh time I’ve addressed this breakfast – a great chance in the Great Hall to talk about whether last night’s budget meets our great expectations. It’s not just a moment to talk numbers, but also an opportunity to consider Australia’s place in the world, and whether we’re making the right calls to shape a fairer society and a stronger economy.

If you need reminding that each of us are inheritors of past traditions and custodians of the future, take a look at the tapestry at the end of the room. In designing it, Arthur Boyd wanted to refer to one of history’s great tapestries, the Bayeux Tapestry that shows the events leading up to the 1066 Norman Conquest. Halley’s Comet is in that 1066 tapestry. In 1986, when the tapestry was being made, Halley’s Comet was in the sky again. So the weavers suggested that Boyd include it, as a way of acknowledging the history of those weavers from nearly a millennium ago.

Just as monopolies hurt consumers, monopsonies hurt workers.

Eliminating scurvy took more than empty theorising. In 1747, it was a randomised trial that cured the deadly disease. Today, our government is looking at how randomised trials can transform policy too

Australian sports fans can choose between a dozen or more teams. But in many industries, there's only a few companies to choose from. Wouldn't it be great if the economy was as competitive as our favourite sporting codes?

A few centuries ago, going to the doctor was more likely to do you harm than good. Then, randomised trials helped transform medicine. Now, we're looking at randomised trials might do the same for policy.

Since 2007, the mental health of Aussie teens has worsened. Might smartphones & social media be to blame? I've made a short video to look at the evidence.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
HIT104.7 WILKO AND COURTS
MONDAY, 6 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Port Macquarie Ironman, Making HECS-HELP fairer.

NEIL WILCOCK (HOST): I know that a lot of people who are listening might have student debt if obviously you racked it up while you're at school and then maybe, like, you've just been in the workforce for a little while, but you haven't been earning enough to start paying things back, so maybe you've got quite a lot there. So, we've got MP Andrew Leigh on the phone. Good morning, Andrew.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: G'day. Great to be with you.

WILCOCK: Oh, there you are. Andrew, quickly, we know that you're away at the moment, so you're not in town. Is it because you're going to be an Ironman? Is that what you were doing?

LEIGH: Yes. I raced the Port Macquarie Ironman yesterday as my third Ironman. So, I think that now makes me the only politician stupid enough to have done all three Australian Ironman races.