The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING, WITH PATRICIA KARVELAS
TUESDAY, 28 JULY 2026
SUBJECTS: Fuel excise; ICAC; Victorian Government
PATRICIA KARVELAS: I want to bring in my political panel for today. Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. Mary Aldred is the Liberal MP for Monash. Welcome to both of you.
ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks Patricia. G'day Mary.
MARY ALDRED: Hello Andrew.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: I'm going to start on, if we can, the fuel excise because a lot of motorists across the country will be wondering about this one. The government has held firm, Andrew Leigh, that the excise will expire by the end of the week. But the fuel crisis isn't over. How does that work? The war's not over?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well Patricia, the principal driver of fuel prices is the international oil price and that's been yo-yoing around. It was around $60 before this war, went up briefly to around $110. Last week it was close on $90. Now it's back towards $80. So we do know that that flows through to the pump with every $10 increase of the barrel price translating into about [ten cents] a litre at the bowser.
We provided that fuel relief discount, but you can't provide that forever. And that's why we've responsibly stepped it down, alongside the tax cuts that we delivered to all taxpayers from 1 July, the minimum wage and award wage increases and the extension to paid parental leave, which ensures that there's that other cost of living support flowing to Australian households.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Mary Aldred, your side of politics hasn't quite called for it to be extended. Do you think it should be extended?
MARY ALDRED: Look, I think Bridget McKenzie put it well when she said the government's got to deal with the broader inflationary pressures that the budget is facing. Patricia, I represent a regional area. I'm proud to represent a region that grows, makes and manufactures things the rest of Australia relies on. And a lot of the way that we get those products to market is on the back of trucks fuelled by diesel.
And when I look around Leongatha, Wonthaggi and Warrigal, the price has stabilised a little bit but it's still high and flow-on impact isn't just impacting on parents ferrying their kids from sporting games on the weekend and to school during the week. It's also impacting on my region's ability to get our products efficiently and competitively to the market destinations they need to get to. So I think this is a broader structural and budget challenge that the government are yet to adequately address.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: I put that to you Andrew, the broader structural issue – pouring fire on inflation which is how Bridget McKenzie framed it this morning. What's your response to that?
ANDREW LEIGH: We've worked responsibly with the Reserve Bank to find significant savings in the budget. There's been hundreds of billions of dollars of savings identified by Katy Gallagher and Jim Chamers in their successive budgets. The work that we've done around dealing with supply side pressures in the economy has also been important. That's one of the reasons we're working so hard on housing, working with the transport sector to make sure that we get fuel supplies flowing because any blockage there translates into greater inflationary pressures.
So, we're working hand in glove with the Reserve Bank. They have their job on interest rates. We have our job in making sure that the economy is flowing smoothly, getting those increased fuel availability. You've got Chris Bowen standing up every week saying again and again that the fuel reserves in Australia are greater than we had when this crisis began on 28 February. That's testament to him working constructively with the transport sector to deal with the shortages. We had the other side of politics suggesting fuel rationing at the outset of this crisis. We haven't seen that as a result of the responsible way the government's worked with stakeholders.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Okay. I want to move to another topic if we can. Today, ICAC has been hearing allegations but actually, interestingly, the Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has been named during the corruption hearing concerning his NSW division of the Liberal Party. There was a revelation of text messages claiming he would donate money to help sign up members. Now of course, these are hearings and these are allegations made in the hearings. But Mary Aldred, that is uncomfortable, isn't it, for the federal Liberal Party to have your own leader named and potentially embroiled in these allegations?
MARY ALDRED: Well, he's not a party to this inquiry. And I would just make the point, Patricia, that this is an independent statutory process. And as a Member of Parliament I don't want to be making a running commentary on its day-to-day proceedings.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Okay. I'll throw it to you Andrew Leigh. I mean, it is of course a hearing into donations to the so-called ‘Reformers Conservative Faction’. It is an ongoing – and you're right, he's not a party but he was named today. Andrew Leigh, is that something you think should play out in that forum and shouldn't be subjected to daily politics?
ANDREW LEIGH: Look Patricia, I am reasonably cautious about intervening in anything which is a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding. I was a High Court associate and a lawyer before I came into politics and I am aware of the importance of the separation of powers, particularly anti-corruption bodies being able to do their work at arm's length from government.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Okay. Alright. You're both not buying in, but this was something that happened today and I think it's important our show note it. Although, of course, as I say, this is a broader investigation, so we'll keep watching what's happening.
We have to talk about a change in Premier in the second biggest state in our country. Jacinta Allan is gone. Ben Carroll is now the new leader, which is extraordinary. I have to throw this one to you, Andrew Leigh. It's kind of been unedifying, isn't it? There was screaming out of the caucus meeting. There was yelling. There was, you know, a brief moment where there was going to be an acting Premier. Now Ben Carroll's emerged. He says he's not Daniel Andrews, he's not Jacinta Allan. Is that really going to wash with the Victorian public?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well Patricia, I’ll leave the theatrics aside and just say that we need to pay tribute to Jacinta Allan for 27 years of serving the people. That is an extraordinary political career and one in which she and her family have given up a lot. So, I think it's important to mark that milestone as she steps down. Ben Carroll is somebody who is very experienced – came into Parliament in 2012. He served in a range of portfolios, including corrections and particularly in education. He's very well equipped to take the helm in Victoria and to see off the challenge from the three right wing parties who'll be challenging him at the next election.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Well, there is a challenge and obviously the Liberal Party isn't the only party in this mix, Mary Aldred. But does it make the Liberal Party's chances of winning easier or harder under his premiership?
MARY ALDRED: Well first up Patricia, I'm a proud and passionate Victorian and I do despair at where Victoria is at right now. I too have known Jacinta Allan for a long time when she was Regional Development Minister. I was at the Committee for Gippsland and I respect her service to the state of Victoria. But what we've seen this week is an absolute shambles. Victorians deserve so much better. Ben Carroll has backflipped day after day with a new position on whether he was going to challenge, then he was going to challenge the caucus. All focused, it seems, on themselves in contrast to Jess Wilson and the Coalition who are passionate about getting out there, listening to Victorians day after day. Jess has been in Bass in my electorate with Rochelle Halstead, with our Member for Narracan, Wayne Farnham, talking about fixing the roads, repairing the budget and getting Victoria back leading Australia where we should be.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Alright, we're out of time. Thank you so much for joining us.
ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks Patricia, thanks Mary.
MARY ALDRED: Thanks Patricia, thanks Andrew.
PATRICIA: That was my political panel for today. Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury and the Member for Fenner. And also joining me there is the Liberal MP and the Member for Monash, Mary Aldred.
ENDS