Andrew Leigh

As it becomes increasingly clear that the Abbott Government cannot get some of its most unfair policies through the Senate, I joined GetUp! on the lawns of Parliament to wave farewell to federal budget.

Bon voyage Budget! 

Speech to the GetUp! rally - Parliament House, Canberra

I’m sure I speak for the other two politicians here with us – Clive Palmer and Christine Milne – when I say that this is definitely the coolest event we’ll attend today.

Today is the 160^th anniversary of the Eureka uprising – a demonstration of how people power can change Australia. Now, I’m not urging you to burn your mining licences – those of you who have them – but it is a reminder that people committed to building a better Australia can ultimately prevail.

Friends, Tony Abbott’s unfair budget needs to go. This Budget represents a shift in the burden from the poor to the rich: Robin Hood in reverse. 

With the Abbott Government refusing to back my push for greater tax transparency, I took to the pages of Business Spectator to make the case for more truth and less 'truthiness' in the debate about multinational tax.

The truth about the government's tax stance, Business Spectator, 2 December 2014

If you want to know how your local school is performing, you can check the My School website for data on its results, funding, enrolments and more. If you want to be sure about a company you’re doing business with, you can search ASIC’s registers for details of its ownership, history and past run-ins with the law. And if you want to find out where to eat out, many states and territories have rated their restaurants for food safety (my favourite is Brisbane City Council, which gives all establishments a star rating).

Transparency is valuable in many contexts because it helps us make more informed decisions — whether as parents, consumers or businesspeople. More sunlight provides a strong incentive for companies, organisations and individuals to do the right thing.

That transparency principle underpins the Private Members Bill I’ve just introduced in the federal parliament. The bill aims to put more information about how much tax multinational companies pay into the public domain. With better information out there on the public record, we’ll be able to have a frank and informed discussion about whether big companies are paying their fair share.

As the start of December brings a new Labor government for Victoria, I joined Sky AM Agenda to talk about what lessons the federal Liberals should be taking from the defeat of their state counterparts, starting with their unfair budget.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SKY AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 1 DECEMBER 2014

SUBJECT/S: Victorian state election; Joe Hockey’s mini-budget; Movember

KIERAN GILBERT: This is AM Agenda, thanks for your company this Monday. With me is the Coalition frontbencher Darren Chester and Labor's Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant treasurer. Gentlemen, good morning to you both. Let's start with the Victorian election again. As a Victorian, Darren, you've said that some federal issues were at play over the weekend?

DARREN CHESTER, MEMBER FOR GIPPSLAND: It is a disappointing result for the Coalition and you need to be a realist in these situations. It was quite a tough environment in Victoria and some of the federal issues were playing into that. I think primarily it was a campaign fought on some pretty tough state issues for the government. The TAFE issue, ambulance pay, the Geoff Shaw disfunctionality that surrounded the parliament there for a couple of months, that made it very hard for Denis Napthine and Peter Ryan to get a clear message out. There's always more than one issue that plays into an election. I think there's no doubt that the tough budget decisions we had to make, and continue to try and implement, have had some impact but I wouldn't overstate that. 

Yesterday I spoke about one of Canberra's great social justice activists who passed away recently. Vale Liz Dawson. 

 In memory of Liz Dawson

House of Representatives 

27 November 2014 

After 18 months on kidney medication, Patrick's teeth had been all but destroyed. He was 39 years old, and he:

‘… grew a five-inch beard to hide his mangled mouth; his four children were embarrassed about the way he looked.’

Patrick was ultimately the beneficiary of a dental program put in place by a Salvation Army worker by the name of Liz Dawson. Liz saw Patrick not as somebody to be feared but as somebody to be helped. That is the way she was: helping Canberrans wherever she could. In another of her projects, she enlisted the help of her own hairdresser, Angelo Cataldo, to provide free haircuts to those who could not afford them in order to make a difference to their self-esteem. One of the hairdressers, Sheldon Brown, said:

‘You forget how important [it is] and how much your hair and your appearance affects how you feel as a person and gives you the confidence to overcome challenges.’

STATEMENT - KATE LUNDY

In nearly two decades in parliament, Kate Lundy has helped shape Australia for the better.

In 1996, Kate became the youngest woman in the federal Labor caucus and a standard bearer for a more representative Parliament. 

She has been an early adopter of technology, seeing its power to widen our democracy, and bring more people into the conversation.

Kate is a star of the sports field, quick with a hockey stick or a soccer ball. Her prowess has even gotten her into trouble, as with the time she lost a bet with the UK Sports Minister, and was forced to row down the Thames wearing British colours.

Today I tabled the Fluffy Families and Residents First Group Impact Statement in the federal parliament. It was a privilege to share these families' voices and let them know that our community stands behind them.

Constituency statement - Mr Fluffy families

27 November 2014

I seek leave to table the Fluffy Owners and Residents Action Group Impact Statement ‘Hope in grief: confronting Mr Fluffy’s toxic legacy in Canberra and Queanbeyan’.

For people outside the ACT, the name ‘Mr Fluffy’ probably calls to mind something fun and frivolous. But fun and frivolity have been pretty scarce over the last few years for over 1,000 Canberra families who discovered their homes had been pumped full of crushed raw asbestos by a dodgy contractor trading under the name of ‘Mr Fluffy’.  

What can economics tell us about guns and crime? 

In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, newly elected Prime Minister John Howard worked with state and territory governments to implement tougher gun regulations. One of the strongest advocates was Walter Mikac, whose wife and two daughters had been murdered by Martin Bryant. Addressing a rally of 3000 people in the Sydney Domain, he said 'as you know, three months ago to this day, I lost the entire reason for my existence'.

To make sure that the tougher rules actually reduced the number of weapons, they were also accompanied by a buyback program. From mid-1996 to mid-1997, anyone could take a gun to their local police station, and the police would pay its fair value. In total, nearly 650,000 weapons were handed in to police. While some of these were weapons had newly become illegal (pump-action shotguns and semi-automatic rifles), many people seem to have simply taken the chance to 'clean out the closet' by handing in weapons that were legal if the owner had an appropriate licence (such as .22 rifles). In the Northern Territory, police even paid compensation for a set of World War II aircraft cannons. According to one survey, the proportion of Australian households that had at least one gun dropped from 15 per cent to 8 per cent as a result of the buyback.

On Monday I rose to speak on Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill 2014 in the House of Representatives. 

Patents create short-term monopolies. The deal for a pharmaceutical manufacturer is simple. They make their formula public; in exchange, we give them a competition-free run of the market lasting up to 20 years. I will begin my speech today with the specifics of the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill 2014 and then conclude with some broader contextual issues over the role of the patents system in boosting—or potentially impeding—innovation.

This bill is a worthy one, replicating as it does a bill put forward by the former Labor government last year. Its main purpose is to implement the TRIPS protocol, which enables manufacturers of generic pharmaceuticals to apply to the Federal Court for a compulsory licence to make and export a patented pharmaceutical product to address a health crisis in a developing country. As the previous speaker has noted, it delivers on the Australian government's commitment to the World Trade Organization's TRIPS protocol and does so with a humanitarian goal.

Over the weekend it was my pleasure to take part in the Lifeline half marathon on the recently nearly finished Majura Parkway. While in government, I fought for funding to be allocated to this project that will move traffic out of the Canberra CBD.

It was my pleasure yesterday to participate in the Lifeline Canberra half-marathon on the about-to-be-opened Majura Parkway. It was a great sporting event, and I pay tribute to the Lifeline team, including Carrie-Ann Leeson, Matt Heffernan and the volunteers who were there. Many of the Lifeline staff took part in the event itself, including phone counsellor Susana Silva and her dog, Obama.

Lifeline Canberra is a great charity which is committed to helping Canberrans and which has been arguing forcefully against the Abbott government's attempts to get rid of the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission. The ACNC has served Australian charities well, and four out of five Australian charities support its retention. So it continues to bewilder me that Minister Andrews wants to scrap the charities commission, in the face of the overwhelming view of the sector. The charities commission helps donors and charities, and helps protect Australians against scams.

Yesterday's fun run was also significant because it took place on the Majura Parkway. The Majura Parkway is a piece of public infrastructure that I fought for and was delighted to see the former Labor government fund. It never would have been funded by a coalition government; but a Labor government gave it $150 million. It will serve to take the traffic pressure off the streets of the north side and allow more trucks to avoid the Canberra CBD as they service the airport.

With yesterday's news dominated by Tony Abbott's broken promise on cuts to the ABC, I joined Peter van Onselen on his show to talk about why the national broadcaster is too important to cut to shreds.