MULTI MILLION DOLLAR BOOST TO AUSTRALIA’S CHARITIES

The charity sector will save millions of dollars every year as reforms to reduce the burden on the sector take effect today, allowing more money to go towards supporting Australians and building stronger communities.

Charities under the small charity and medium charity thresholds are subject to lower reporting burdens, so raising the thresholds reduces the compliance burden for charities.

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DOORSTOP

QUEANBEYAN

THURSDAY, 30 JUNE 2022

SUBJECT: Government helping drive down costs for car owners.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: My name is Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. I'd like to thank Clem Camage Motors - Craig and his team - for having us here today for an enormously exciting announcement.

Modern cars are computers on wheels, and yet independent mechanics have struggled to get the digital files and codes they need to fix your car. When independent mechanics can't get access to the data they need, consumers pay more and don't have the choice that they require. We’re about to go into school holidays and many Australians will be taking that road trip, going up the coast maybe. And if you break down on a road trip, you might not find that there's a dealer nearby who specialises in the vehicle you're driving. But you'll probably find an independent mechanic round the corner. If that independent mechanic can get access to the digital files they need, they can get you back out on the road and enjoying your school holidays.

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT DRIVING DOWN THE COST OF CAR REPAIRS

Australian drivers will soon have the freedom to have their vehicle serviced by any mechanic, meaning more choice for repairs and more cash in their pocket.

New cars are computers on wheels. Real-time access to vehicle information such as digital files and codes vary from car to car but are needed to complete many aspects of a repair or service. Car manufacturers generally own and control this technical information and in many cases only share it with their dealership’s networks and affiliated repairers, making it difficult for independent repairers to effectively compete for business.   

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC BRISBANE DRIVE

WEDNESDAY, 29 JUNE 2022

SUBJECT: Census.

STEVE AUSTIN, HOST: What is an Australian today? What do we look like? What do we present as, given the census data? I want to do this with my guest who is, as a result of the federal election, now an Assistant Minister. Andrew Leigh is Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. That's not the real reason why I wanted to speak with him. He's also a prolific writer of honest and interesting books, and most recently wrote the book ‘What's the Worst That Could Happen? Existential Risk and Extreme Politics’. Andrew, thanks for joining me today. Have any of your scenarios in that book come true yet?

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Pleasure, Steve. It’s fortunate to say that the world has not ended yet, and long may that continue.

AUSTIN: Give me your just general overview, first of all. What stands out to you? What do you think, Andrew Leigh, as someone who's got a PhD in economics and writes prolific, as a prolific book writer, what stands out to you in the census data about who we are?

LEIGH: Two big things, Steve. One is that almost half of Australians have a parent born overseas, and it really does speak to the multicultural success story that is modern Australia. The other is the significant decline in the share of Australians expressing a religious affiliation. There's now almost as many people who profess to having no religion as there are Christians in Australia. So a big change in the way in which the nation engages with religion.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC CANBERRA MORNINGS

WEDNESDAY, 29 JUNE 2022

SUBJECTS: Census; Canberra’s population and political representation; Staffing.

ADAM SHIRLEY, HOST: A day after his self-described Christmas, Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh is with us on Mornings. He is the Member for Fenner, and Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. Dr Leigh, a very good morning to you.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning to you, Adam. Great to be with you and your listeners.

SHIRLEY: How was Christmas and the unwrapping of all your presents?

LEIGH: It's fascinating to get a bit of a picture of the ACT, to get a sense that we're volunteering at higher rates than the national average. An 18 per cent volunteering rate here in the ACT compared to 14 per cent nationally. It reminded me too what a strong Defence community we have here in the ACT, something maybe we don't talk about very much. Canberrans are five times as likely as the average Australian to be currently serving, and much more likely to be veterans. And that veteran community is a really vital part of Canberra.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

2GB AFTERNOONS

TUESDAY, 28 JUNE 2022

SUBJECT: Census.

JOE HILDEBRAND, HOST: Dr Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Treasury, but more importantly he is the minister in charge of the census. Minister, welcome to Afternoons.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: G’day, Joe. Great to be with you-

HILDEBRAND: Great to be with you.

LEIGH: I’m feeling tickety-boo like you.

HILDEBRAND: [laughter] I can't stop thinking about it now. Golly gosh, gee whiz.

LEIGH: It’s such a good phrase.

LAUNCH OF THE 2021 CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING DATA

TUESDAY, 28 JUNE 2022

Good morning to you all and thank you Wally for the warm Welcome to Country. I too wish to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land we are meeting on, the Ngunnawal people. I acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the region, and I pay my respects to their elders, past and present.

It is an honour to be here today to officially launch the 2021 Census of Population and Housing data as the Assistant Minister with responsibility for the Australian Bureau of Statistics. I do so with enormous respect for the ABS, and for Census data, as it inspires deeper conversations about the social health of the nation. 

Prior to joining politics, I was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. During this time, I learnt to appreciate how much Census data is relied upon by governments, businesses and community organisations to help understand what we as a country need now and into the future. I’ve used the cross-tabulations, the microdata, and the community profiles to research everything from income inequality to whether child gender affects divorce.

CENSUS FINDINGS TO REVEAL THE BIG QUESTIONS CONFRONTING MODERN AUSTRALIA

The New Daily, June 28 2022

In the early years after European settlement, it wasn’t called a ‘Census’, it was called a ‘muster’. At a particular point in time, all the settlers in a community were gathered together in the same location to be counted. Over the years, the process became more formalised, and in 1881, the first simultaneous Census of all Australian colonies was conducted.

It wasn’t until 1911 that the first national Census took place. Field officers travelled by horse, cart and bicycle to collect the forms. All the tabulation was done by hand.

Fast forward eleven decades, and the Census has become a mostly online affair. A generation ago, Census Day was moved from 30 June to the second Tuesday in August, partly to avoid the school holidays. But 10 August 2021 found many Australians under COVID lockdown.

IT'S TIME TO MAKE CENSUS OF ALL YOUR ANSWERS

The Daily Telegraph, June 27 2022

The world’s first census took place in 3800 BCE. The Babylonians counted the number of people, animals, and stocks of valuable foodstuffs, such as butter, honey and wool.

Almost 6000 years later, Australians are about to learn the results of our latest census. Taken in August 2021, at a time when much of the country was in lockdown, the Census provides a snapshot of how the country has changed.

This year, we’ll get a count of the total population, and find out which areas are growing and shrinking. The results will affect Commonwealth grants to states and territories. Census population figures help decide where federal electorates need to be created and abolished.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC CANBERRA DRIVE

MONDAY, 20 JUNE 2022

SUBJECT: Labor’s plans to support the charities sector.

ADRIENNE FRANCIS, HOST: Andrew Leigh is Assistant Minister for Charities, and also Member for the Federal ACT seat of Fenner, and he joins us on ABC Radio Canberra. Yuma. Good evening, Andrew Leigh. Thanks for being with us.

ANDREW LEIGH, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY: Good afternoon, Adrienne. Great to be back with you.

FRANCIS: Why did you fight to get this charities portfolio?

LEIGH: Oh look, I love charities and the work they do in the community. And I thought it was just beautiful the way you talked about Margaret and Paul McGrath, and what they do with Ngunnawal Street Pantries really is remarkable. I remember when I was out there, they were telling me the story of a time when people had been lined up to receive support and someone had mentioned that she had been the victim of family violence. Somebody else in the queue just quietly said, ‘I went through the same experience a couple of years ago, if you'd like somebody to come with you to the support counselling services I can’. And they said that was what was really special about it - they weren't just providing food and clothes and essential living provisions, but they're also connecting people up into a broader community. I've had the charities portfolio since Labor went into opposition in 2013 and spent those nine years engaging with charities - even wrote a book about some of their ideas for building community - and really had a chance to get a sense as to the problems that were being caused by the coalition's adversarial approach to charities.