The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
NEWS24 NEWSDAY, WITH TOM CONNELL
FRIDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2026
SUBJECTS: Intergenerational Report; Productivity; Industrial Relations; Industrial Action; Housing; One Nation; Members of Parliament Act
TOM CONNELL: The intergenerational report has been released and there’s a huge reliance on productivity to continue our standard of living increases. But recent years of productivity have been in the doldrums. Joining me now is Assistant Minister for that very thing; productivity – a few other things as well but I'll just stick with that title today. So, it's going backwards and it's four years into Labor’s term. Clearly that hasn't been the plan. If you're going to identify how you're going to improve something, you need to diagnose where it's going wrong. Where has it gone wrong on Labor's watch; productivity?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well Tom, productivity has been a big challenge in our economy, not just for a couple of years but for over the course of a full decade. That’s why we've got such a strong focus on productivity. From next year, non-compete clauses will be banned for anyone earning under $190,100. That'll make it easier for people to move to a better job and that'll be great for productivity. If you're starting a new firm looking to hire workers from existing enterprises, then getting rid of non-compete clauses is going to be good for you. And our competition package – the National Competition Policy, working with states and territories has productivity at its heart. That was one of the secrets to the 1990s surge in productivity and we're looking to revamp that.
TOM CONNELL: There have been huge changes in industrial relations. There was a lot of business warnings from business groups that would hurt productivity. They have a fair case to say they were right now don't they – four years in?
ANDREW LEIGH: Look, I don't think you can diagnose that from changes made in Australia given that productivity has been sluggish around the world…
TOM CONNELL: But we're below other OECD nations, aren't we? We're basically at the bottom of the pile.
ANDREW LEIGH: Look, the advanced world is struggling with productivity right now, probably with the exception of the United States which seems to have enjoyed productivity growth that looks different from other countries. We're working constructively with employers on the changes that we make. We understand the importance of getting the balance right and we think we've done that. I don't think it would be fair to say that Australia's productivity challenges are the fault of the lowest paid workers in Australia.
TOM CONNELL: No, but it might be that so many different changes – the IR have created a lot of red tape. The other changes made have seen strikes in the Pilbara for the first time in decades. Is that all part of the plan?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, Same Job, Same Pay is a pretty straightforward principle. Temporary employment was meant to be filling short-term skills shortages, not to take a shadow workforce and come in and cut the pay and conditions of workers. We know that in the mining sector that has been used from time to time and we're pleased to see that workers are getting fairly paid.
TOM CONNELL: We've seen a big increase in strikes. Well, we didn't see it for decades. That doesn't at all register to think, ‘Well, this is a pretty big part of our economy. Is this the right thing to do?’
ANDREW LEIGH: If you look at the big span, industrial action is well down on where it's been in past decades. We are working constructively. We understand the importance of getting a fair deal for workers. We make no apology for the fact that we've backed in a minimum wage increase for Australia's lowest-paid workers and put money in the budget for early child care workers and aged care workers.
TOM CONNELL: We've got a strike happening where it wasn't in the Pilbara. And we're not talking about Australia's lowest paid workers, are we?
ANDREW LEIGH: Industrial action is, in a historic sense at very low levels, Tom.
TOM CONNELL: Building a house, it feels like it's harder than it ever was and they don't seem all that much better. What about this part of it and how much can you strip the building code? Is that something you would look at again? The Coalition says you could strip it back a lot more than what you are.
ANDREW LEIGH: Yeah. What we've said is that we want to put a pause on changes to the National Construction Code. That was one of the things that came out of the Economic Reform Roundtable last year. As you say, the productivity of that sector has been very sluggish since the mid-1990s. You've got the number of houses built per worker down 53 per cent. Adjusting for quality, still down 12 per cent. So, pretty significant falls there. We're working on modular construction. The states and territories, significant funding going into the work that they're doing in order to boost building sector productivity. The Productivity Commission says that could be a couple of per cent a year on building sector productivity.
TOM CONNELL: What could modular be, do you think? Is it a cultural shift? Because it's very big. I think Sweden is the highest nation take up. Japan's very high as well. Is that something we sort of need to switch to mentally? That modular is not bad?
ANDREW LEIGH: Yes. There's an excellent CEDA report on this that finds that the uptake of modular construction could be higher. It's partly about where you check components. I gave a speech to CEDA in Perth this week, giving the example of a prefab bathroom which is inspected in the factory, but then under current building codes may have to be taken apart to be inspected on site. If we get those inspection rules right, then it can be easier to put in those good prefab components. And of course Tom, we're talking about better materials, better construction and so you’ve…
TOM CONNELL: Much better than – modular used to be an inferior product. Would that be fair to say? And it's less so now, is that how you describe it?
ANDREW LEIGH: That's right. So, now you're getting higher quality components at a lower price. You know, let's face it, if we built cars the way we build homes, then someone would deliver the engine to your front lawn, then someone would deliver the bonnet, then someone would deliver the exhaust system, then some people would come over and bang the whole thing together and cars would cost 10 times what they do now. We need to get better at building homes in factories and getting that efficiency in those economies of scale.
TOM CONNELL: I wanted to ask you about the Members of Parliament Act. So, it delivers the power to the Prime Minister to decide how many staff each party or politician gets. Would it not be more appropriate for that to be either a formula or some sort of independent body – the remuneration tribunal or something similar?
ANDREW LEIGH: This is a system that has existed for a long time, Tom. I don't expect it's going to be changing.
TOM CONNELL: But why not? Why? That's not an argument for the validity of it, that's just saying it's in place.
ANDREW LEIGH: I think the current system works well. The Prime Minister has visibility right across the Parliament and is able to make those decisions.
TOM CONNELL: So Labor criticises One Nation, though for a lack of policy detail. One Nation has 6 MPs. It's leading in the polls – it might be hard to factor in, but 6 MPs and 4 parliamentary paid-for advisers. The Greens have 12 MPs and 18. That's not a fair balance, is it?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, I always find it ironic that One Nation is with one hand beating up on public servants and with the other hand saying that they'd like more. The fact is that they have a significant staff contingent and if they're working with their free market principles, I don't know why they keep on arguing for getting more public servants.
TOM CONNELL: Well, but if you're saying ‘develop serious policy’, wouldn't it also be fair enough to give them even just the same per MP as The Greens?
ANDREW LEIGH: We've increased the number of staff that every parliamentarian gets from 4 to 5, reflecting the increased workload on MPs and Senators. We understand that demand comes right across the parliament. Government backbenchers have significant obligations on them, working with committees, engaging with the electorate. So, the needs are not only for independents and minor parties.
TOM CONNELL: Andrew Leigh, thanks for your time.
ANDREW LEIGH: Always a pleasure, Tom.
ENDS