Andrew Leigh

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO

TUESDAY, 17 JUNE 2025

SUBJECTS: Charity fundraisers, Labor’s productivity agenda, working from home

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: One person who has done a few of these CEO sleepouts is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh. Good morning Andrew.

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

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: You're not joining us this year?

ANDREW LEIGH: I'm not. I'm doing a different fundraiser. I'm raising money for the Indigenous Marathon Foundation by doing an Ironman triathlon. I’m currently at about where you are in terms of fundraising. And congratulations to you on raising money for a terrific cause. Vinnies just does such terrific work in the community.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: I'm going to call you out on this, because you run for fun!

ANDREW LEIGH: And you sleep for fun!

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: I wish I did sleep. Look, let's talk federal politics. You've talked about sluggish productivity. You've warned that excessive regulation and red tape are choking growth, housing and innovation. We've talked about this ad nauseam. It's no secret to anybody, why hasn't it been done already? You've been there for three years?

ANDREW LEIGH: Yeah, one of the big challenges here is that you're working across a range of tiers of governments, and so it's local, state and federal governments have these regulations. In many cases well meaning, but often the cumulative effect of them is to create this thicket of regulation. You see in the housing space, Clare O'Neil taking a leadership role there, being very clear about the importance of engaging on regulation that’s slowing down building. We've got an ambitious housing target. We need to make sure we're not just putting the dollars behind it but that we've also got regulatory structures to make it happen.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
MONEY NEWS WITH DEBORAH KNIGHT
MONDAY, 16 JUNE 2025

SUBJECTS: Labor’s productivity agenda, artificial intelligence, G7 summit, AUKUS, US tariffs, the Abundance Agenda

DEBORAH KNIGHT: We need all the help we can get with our economy barely growing at the moment and the government Assistant Minister with the job of getting productivity back on track is Andrew Leigh, Assistant Manager for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. Assistant Minister, welcome to Money News.

ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks Deb, great to be with you.

DEBORAH KNIGHT: So you've got a decisive election win under your belt. Now is the time, presumably, for action and bold reform from your government?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, we inherited a real problem with productivity. In the quarter we came to office, productivity fell more than it had the previous four decades, and that decade leading up to 2020 was the worst productivity decade in Australia's post war history.

DEBORAH KNIGHT: Admittedly that's a global problem though, not just a problem for Australia?

ANDREW LEIGH: That's right, there's global challenges here and that's something that isn't going to be fixed overnight. We know that productivity reform sometimes takes years to have an impact, but we've got to get going on this. The Treasurer announced in the last Budget the scrapping of non-compete clauses for low and middle income workers, making it easier for people to move to a better job. That will help start-ups and it will improve the productivity of the economy. And that's just one of the measures we're putting in place.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

Address to staff at the Australian Bureau of Statistics

Australian Bureau of Statistics
Canberra

Thursday, 12 June 2025

Good morning everyone,

It’s a pleasure to be here with you – the kind of people who quietly judge those who say “data is,” who experience mild distress at exploded pie charts, and who’ve been known to correct a dinner guest on the difference between mean, median and mode.

People after my own heart.

As someone with a long-standing affection for statistics – bordering on the statistically significant – I feel very much among kindred spirits. While others unwind with reality TV, I’ve been known to relax by running a fixed-effects model and checking for heteroskedasticity. I find a well-behaved residual plot oddly soothing. And I’ll admit: I’ve lost more than one afternoon to a debate about instrument validity.

I know I’m among people who’ve said the phrase “conditional on observables” in casual conversation – and meant it.

That’s why I’m proud to serve as the Assistant Minister responsible for the ABS – an institution that proves, day after day, that good government begins with good data.

The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

More To Give: New Giving Fund Rules Aim To Boost Charity Support

10 June 2025             

The Australian Government is strengthening philanthropy by consulting on new rules to ensure more money flows from charitable trusts to Australian charities.

As part of these changes, public and private ancillary funds will be renamed ‘giving funds’ – a clearer term that better reflects their role in supporting charitable giving.

Giving funds are philanthropic trusts that distribute money to Australian charities. The government is seeking feedback on two proposed changes:

• Increasing the minimum annual distribution rate, so more funds reach charities sooner, and
• Allowing distributions to be averaged over three years, helping funds plan their giving more effectively.

The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

Consultation on cost recovery fees for new merger system

5 June 2025

The Albanese Labor Government has today released a consultation paper on proposed cost recovery fees under the new merger system – as part of the biggest reforms to Australia’s merger system in 50 years.

This reform will make our merger approval system faster, simpler, more targeted and more transparent.

Under the new merger system, a mandatory notification system will apply for mergers above certain thresholds, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to be the decision maker on approvals.

The new system will make it easier for most mergers to be approved quickly, so the ACCC can focus its resources on the minority that could pose a threat to competition.

This change recognises that most mergers have genuine economic benefits and are an important feature of any healthy, open financial system.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP 
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

National Police Legacy Day Launch

Parliament House
Canberra 

Wednesday, 4 June 2025

I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet, and extend that respect to all First Nations people here today.

We gather this morning to launch National Police Legacy Day – a new national tradition, built on more than half a century of compassion, commitment, and care.

Police Legacy was founded in 1971 – born from tragedy, but sustained by generosity. Over the past five decades, it has grown into one of the most enduring support networks for policing families in Australia.

Its guiding message is simple, but powerful: those who serve – and their families – should never stand alone.

Australians rightly expect a great deal from our police. We ask them to be brave in dangerous situations, fair in high-pressure moments, and calm amid the unpredictable. But we should also recognise that behind every officer is a network: of family, colleagues, and community.

When tragedy strikes, Police Legacy is there – not just in the immediate aftermath, but in the months and years that follow. It provides emotional support, financial assistance, and – just as importantly – a deep sense of ongoing connection. These organisations check in, stay close, and remind families that they remain part of something larger.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP 
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

Opening address at the inaugural Grant Impact Forum

Video Address
Melbourne 

Wednesday, 4 June 2025

It’s a real pleasure to open the inaugural Grant Impact Forum.

Now, let’s be honest. “Grantmaking” is not the kind of word that lights up a dinner party. It’s never going to rival football or crime podcasts in national popularity. But what it lacks in glamour, it more than makes up for in significance.

At its best, grantmaking is about much more than money. It’s about belief. It’s about backing people and communities to solve tough problems with smart, grounded solutions. A well-placed grant is an act of trust - a quiet vote of confidence in a vision for a better world.

But belief alone isn’t enough. At some point, we have to ask what happened next. The money went out the door. The program ran. People turned up. What changed?

That’s the central question behind Shifting to Outcomes-Oriented Grantmaking, the report being launched today at the inaugural Grant Impact Forum.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO MELBOURNE, MORNINGS WITH RAFAEL EPSTEIN

TUESDAY, 3 JUNE 2025

SUBJECTS: Greens WA Senator Dorinda Cox joins Labor, ‘The Abundance Agenda in Australia’

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: He's part of the federal government. I'll dub him the Minister for Living Standards. He is giving a speech today at the Chifley Research Centre here in Melbourne. Andrew Leigh, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH: G’day, Raf how are you?

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: I'll get to your speech in a moment. But Dorinda Cox switching parties, does it erode people's faith in politicians?

ANDREW LEIGH: We're really pleased that Dorinda has made the decision to join the Labor Party. You know, I think back to the decision I made when I was at university as to whether I wanted to be part of a party of protest or a party of government. And in my case, I chose the party of government. I'm really pleased Dorinda has made the same choice yesterday.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: But would you acknowledge it makes voters angry?

ANDREW LEIGH: Oh look, I'm sure there's there'd be some who would be frustrated by it. But I think it does reflect the fact that the Greens have to take a serious look at themselves and how they've positioned themselves in the last few years: holding up affordable housing, the role they've played in sowing community discontent.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: You don’t like it when it happens the other way I presume, if a member of the party left, and Labor didn’t like that?

ANDREW LEIGH: Every party wants more members Raf. I don't think anyone would be surprised by that. But if you look at the results in the last election with the Greens losing most of their House seats. I think that does reflect the fact that people want a party like the Greens to support getting things done.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH ROSS SOLLY

TUESDAY, 3 JUNE 2025

SUBJECTS: Boosting productivity, ‘The Abundance Agenda for Australia’, Labor’s superannuation reforms

ROSS SOLLY: Dr. Leigh joins us on the Breakfast Show. Good morning to you Andrew Leigh.

ANDREW LEIGH: Morning Ross, great to be with you.

ROSS SOLLY: And you two look, I'm sure for many people listening this morning and maybe even a lot of public servants listening, they'll be cheering on, saying ‘for goodness’ sake, yes! Can you release, can you actually untie some of the red tape that is holding us back at the moment?’

ANDREW LEIGH: Well Ross, I'm not anti-regulation, but I think what we need to do is to think carefully about how regulations interact with one another. And I worry that with areas like housing and infrastructure and maybe even clean energy, the thicket of regulations has made it too hard to build. And it’s one of the reasons why from the 1960s to the 1980s the typical house cost four years of earnings, and now the typical house costs 11 years of earnings.

ROSS SOLLY: Yeah, so why have we managed to get ourselves into this difficult situation where, we are actually making things harder when we should be trying to make it easier?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, part of the answer is that the development applications have gotten a whole lot more complex. So, if you go back to 1967, if you wanted to build a three-storey block of apartments in Sydney, it was a 12-page development application. Now it's hundreds, if not thousands of pages. What we have is a whole lot of opportunities for third party appeal, and the result of that is we don't get enough built. The ACT Government has acknowledged this. ACT Planning Minister Chris Steel has acknowledged that it's too hard to build medium density in many parts of Canberra, they’ve got a ‘Missing Middle’ report. So, they're looking at ways in which they can work on this problem, because housing affordability is a central challenge to Australia, and building more homes is the central answer.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO

TUESDAY, 3 JUNE 2025

SUBJECTS: Defence spending, ‘The Abundance Agenda in Australia’, more harmonious building regulations

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Dr Andrew Leigh is the Member for Fenner, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. Andrew, Good morning. I think from the government's perspective, if you could get the Coalition to negotiate with you, and you and I have had discussions about these tax policies, I don't want to go into the ins and outs of it, but you're probably better off negotiating with the Opposition than the Greens on these anyway, aren't you?

ANDREW LEIGH: I think that would be a matter for Jim Chalmers and his team in the Senate. Our view is this is a good policy. We took it to the election. We're keen to have it implemented as we took it to the election.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Okay. All right. Well, yeah, we all know that parts of it are bad policy, but we'll go on from that. Now, I want to talk about defence spending for a moment before I get to your speech that you're going to deliver today. There seems to be mixed reports whether or not the US wants us to increase our defence spending by 3 to 3.5 per cent of GDP, or 5 per cent of GDP - whichever it is. We know that we're not spending enough on defence but the argument, and this is the same argument coming from the Government on the Opposition here, is we're not going to be told what to do by the US despite the fact that they're telling us to do the right thing. Well, you know, I mean, who cares who's telling you if it's the right thing to do?

ANDREW LEIGH: We're certainly increasing defence spending. As you know Stephen, we've got defence spending now at record levels. Biggest peacetime increase in defence spending in Australia’s history…