Andrew Leigh

Today, Minister for Human Services Kim Carr and I opened the one-stop-shop for Medicare and Centrelink in Braddon. The co-location of these facilities means that the Braddon office is now able to offer additional services, such as Case Coordination which brings services together for vulnerable people.   It helps link people with services such as housing, health, crisis support, education and training, and family and financial support. The launch event also gave me a terrific chance to talk to some of the local staff about their work.

The media release is below. It has a great story in it about how Case Coordination helped out a local man to get assistance with housing and education.

MEDIA RELEASE

[caption id="attachment_3426" align="alignright" width="300" caption="With Sue Sheridan from FirstPoint and Minister for Human Services Kim Carr"][/caption]

SENATOR KIM CARR

Minister for Human Services

DR ANDREW LEIGH

Member for Fraser


Monday, 22 October 2012

NEW GOVERNMENT SERVICE HUB IN BRADDON



A new Government service hub in Braddon will offer Canberrans a wider range of services in one location, including a trial initiative that provides tailored assistance to help people get back on their feet.

Minister for Human Services Senator Kim Carr and Member for Fraser Dr Andrew Leigh officially opened the one-stop shop today and announced the start of a new program to help the most marginalised in the ACT.

Senator Kim Carr said the Braddon hub was an example of a new approach to service delivery.

“We are centralising government services both for convenience and in order to provide comprehensive assistance for complex cases. The government can do more than just handing out payments,” Senator Kim Carr said.

The trial Case Coordination initiative provides tailor-made assistance.  It aims to match vulnerable people with a range of services that meets their needs.   It then helps link people with services such as housing, health, crisis support, education and training, and family and financial support.

“Canberra may be one of the most affluent cities in Australia, but it has its share of people doing it tough, whether through joblessness, homelessness or poor health,” Senator Kim Carr said.

“My Department serves all Canberrans – well-off or not – and I am pleased that everyone, particularly residents in the Inner North, will benefit from having Centrelink and Medicare, as well as Child Support self-service facilities, all under one roof.”

Senator Kim Carr acknowledged that the transition to a new location was not always easy, but said that, together with the ability to make claims online or at the doctor’s surgery, the changes brought significant benefits to the community as a whole.

“This new one-stop shop is one of the biggest of the Department’s service centres in the region. It serves 400 people a day and its staff play a big role supporting the local community,” he said.

Dr Leigh welcomed the new centre and also praised staff for the success of the new initiative to help people turn their lives around.

“Since Case Coordination was launched here in mid-September, staff have worked one on one with vulnerable people to help them tailor a plan for a better future,” Dr Leigh said.

“One person had recently arrived in Australia, spoke little English and was sleeping in his car. He was registered with ACT homelessness support service FirstPoint but had difficulty understanding staff over the phone.

“The Braddon Case Coordination team were able to liaise with FirstPoint on his behalf, and stayed in touch until they could secure private rental accommodation for him.

“They were also able to explain the bond assistance available through ACT Housing, and refer him to Interpreter Services so language would not be a barrier to applying for support.

“The man is due to start studying English in November.

“I’d encourage anyone in the local community to visit the new service centre to find out more about the support on offer,” Dr Leigh said.

Medicare, Child Support self-service and Centrelink services, including Case Coordination, are available at Braddon’s new one-stop shop at 13 Lonsdale Street from 8.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday. Disabled and metered parking is available in Lonsdale St directly in front of the Braddon Service Centre.

I was recently interviewed by La Trobe University's Matt Smith, about trust in politicians, inequality, good evaluation, climate change and other topics.

You can read a transcript, download an MP3, or podcast it through iTunes.

The Gillard Government continues to help make Canberra an attractive place to live and study by investing in affordable accommodation for future University of Canberra students. This is a project I lobbied for as the local Federal Member of Parliament because I know how important affordable student accommodation is for the entire community. It frees up other rental accommodation in nearby suburbs and is a key part of maintaining a good housing mix in Canberra's north.

There are three numbers you need to know about federal investment in affordable housing through the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS). But to keep it simple, each number is 20.

• Since 2007, NRAS and other federal programs have contributed to construction of 1 in 20 new homes.


• NRAS homes must rent for at least 20% below market rates.


• 1 in 20 NRAS homes have been in Canberra (despite the fact that only 1 in 60 Australians live here, we have bigger challenges of housing affordability).

It was a noisy sod-turning with University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker needing to drill through the concrete so that the Chief Minister and I had something to turn.

My media release is below.

[caption id="attachment_3413" align="alignright" width="368" caption="Turning the first sod at UC"][/caption]

MEDIA RELEASE

Andrew Leigh MP

Member for Fraser



18 October 2012

Affordable homes for future University of Canberra students

The Member for Fraser, Andrew Leigh, today with Chief Minister Katy Gallagher turned the sod for a new development which will provide more affordable rental accommodation for more than 400 University of Canberra students.

Dr Leigh said the 297 homes are supported under the Australian Government’s $4.5 billion National Rental Affordability Scheme, in partnership with the ACT Government.

“The Gillard Government is making it easier for students and young people to find affordable accommodation near to where they work and study,” Dr Leigh said.

“Canberra is an attractive place for students and each year we see many new faces moving to our city to take up the excellent opportunities available here.

“Through the Student Accommodation Project, eligible young people can rent an apartment on campus at a discounted rate of at least 20 per cent below market rates.

“This will free up rental properties around Bruce, benefiting the whole community.

“The University of Canberra is delivering a total of 1,000 new affordable rental homes through the National Rental Affordability Scheme.”

Dr Leigh said the Gillard Government is committed to addressing housing affordability and has invested $20 billion to help people with home ownership and affordable rental housing, and to tackle homelessness.

“This Government has directly contributed to the construction of one in every 20 new homes since coming to office through programs such as the National Rental Affordability Scheme.

“Delivered in partnership with state and territory governments, the scheme supports the supply of 50,000 new more affordable rental properties across Australia, including more than 2,600 homes in the ACT.

“The Scheme provides annual financial incentive payments to business sector and community organisations to build and rent new homes at a minimum 20 per cent below market rate.

“This supports the delivery of more affordable private rental housing, encourages private investment in innovative affordable housing and allows eligible households to save thousands of dollars in rent each year.”

I joined ACT Labor and community activists Liz Dawson, Gerry Lloyd and David Mathews earlier this year as a volunteer for the Canberra Blind Society

With ACT ALP activists Liz Dawson, Gerry Lloyd and David Mathews

I was delighted to announce today that nominations for the 2012 National Volunteer Awards are now open. Head to www.notforprofit.gov.au/volunteering to nominate your favourite volunteer. More information is in the media release below.

[caption id="attachment_3408" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Collecting for the Canberra Blind Society"][/caption]

THE HON MARK BUTLER MP

Minister for Mental Health and Ageing

Minister for Social Inclusion

Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Mental Health Reform



DR ANDREW LEIGH MP

Member for Fraser



JOINT MEDIA RELEASE



16 October 2012

NATIONAL VOLUNTEER AWARDS NOW OPEN

Andrew Leigh MP, Member for Fraser, today announced applications for the 2012 National Volunteer Awards were now open.

Dr Leigh said the Awards recognise the contribution of over 6 million Australians who volunteer their time in communities across the country.

“At times of great economic prosperity, it is easy to forget just how much our economy and society relies on the generosity of its people.



“Volunteering has its own benefits, through meeting people and contributing to the community, but we don’t thank our volunteers often enough. These awards provide recognition for the time and effort donated by volunteers in Canberra’s north.

“Here on the north side of Canberra it is the contribution of volunteers through groups like Pegasus Riding School, Parkcare groups and school P & Cs that are the backbone of our community,” Dr Leigh said.

Minister for Ageing and Social Inclusion Mark Butler said the Awards recognise the contribution of over 6 million Australians who volunteer in communities across the country, including for the first time a seniors category, as recommended by the Advisory Panel on the Economic Potential of Senior Australians.

“I’m pleased to see the Awards will now include a Senior Volunteer category to specifically acknowledge the invaluable contribution older Australians make to our community.”

Dr Leigh said 2012 National Volunteer Awards will call on Australians to nominate exceptional volunteers in their community who donate their time to assist not-for-profit organisations.

Nominations close on 8 November 2012 with an award ceremony to be held later in the year to celebrate the achievements of local volunteering heroes.

Volunteer award categories include:

1. MP’s Volunteer of the Year


2. Junior Volunteer Award (17 and under)


3. Youth Volunteer Award (18-25)


4. Senior Volunteer Award (65 and over)


5. Business Volunteer Award


6. Education Award


7. Emergency Management Volunteer Award


8. Environment Award


9. Innovation in Volunteering Award (organisation or individual)

10. Long–term Commitment to Community Service Award.

For information on application procedures and closing dates, contact Andrew.Leigh.MP [at] aph.gov.au, call Andrew Leigh’s office on 6247 4396 or visit www.notforprofit.gov.au/volunteering

I spoke in parliament today about the late international relations scholar Coral Bell.

Coral Bell, 11 October 2012

I rise to speak about a great constituent of mine, Coral Bell, AO, who passed away on 26 September 2012. Coral Bell was a former academic at the Australian National University and one of the great international relations scholars in Australia. Her former ANU colleague Andrew Carr said, 'She was a landmark figure in Australia's international relations who was often the only woman in the room yet was always well heard and respected for her intelligence and character'. My friend Michael Fullilove, who has recently taken over as executive director of the Lowy Institute—and I congratulate him on that—called Dr Bell 'a giant of the Australian foreign policy scene'.

Dr Bell came to adulthood during the Second World War and, as Robert O'Neill noted in his obituary for her, knew from her own experience just how much was at stake when great powers went to war with each other with modern weapons. She understood the challenge of nuclear war and was part of a key group of Australian scholars working on key issues around understanding the Cold War. Her doctoral thesis, which formed the basis of her first book, was based on understanding how the United States was managing the Cold War. She returned to teach at the University of Sydney from 1961 to 1965, then to a readership at the London School of Economics and was a professor at the University of Sussex until 1972.

Dr Bell returned to work at the Australian National University from 1977 until 1988 and then continued to contribute to the field. She characterised the NATO alliance as 'always in disarray', an observation which I think contains more than a kernel of truth. Her paper The End of the Vasco da Gama Era, one of the Lowy Institute's first, is considered one of its best. Dr Bell was regarded as a conservative realist—not an international relations tradition with which a small 'l' liberal like me would associate—but she was nonetheless very much a conservative and not a neocon. In that capacity she was a strong critic of George W Bush's foreign and military policies and held the view that the United States had lost its sole superpower status and we were moving towards a world order where power would be shared among several major states.

Lowy Institute board director Robert O'Neill noted in his obituary:

‘Her analytical legacy is this view of a world where US power and influence have slipped, and those of China, Europe, Russia, and India are rising to form a condominium.’

Dr Bell's recent publication A World Out of Balance: American Ascendancy and International Politics in the 21st Century highlighted the unique economic and security challenge this context presents for international affairs. Our understanding of international affairs has been enriched by this giant, Coral Bell, and those of us who seek to contribute to the ideas and policy debate in international relations stand on her shoulders.

Today Zed Seselja and Tony Abbott showed they don't understand how much public service cuts hurt Canberra. My media statement with my ACT Federal colleagues is below.

Senator the Hon Kate Lundy

Senator for the Australian Capital Territory



Gai Brodtmann MP

Member for Canberra

Andrew Leigh MP

Member for Fraser



MEDIA STATEMENT



PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS

In an article in today’s Canberra Times, Tony Abbott said “I accept that Canberra did it tough for a year or so, but … Canberra did very well under the Howard Government.”

This demonstrates that Mr Abbott doesn’t understand the pain inflicted on Canberra by the Howard Government’s savage public sector cuts.


During the 2010 federal election, the Liberals announced 12,000 local job cuts but since then their target has risen sharply to 20,000 jobs.



This is nothing new for the Liberal Party. Before the 1996 election, the Liberals said they would cut 2500 jobs. After winning office, more than 30,000 public servants lost their jobs.



Slashing public service jobs in Canberra will affect the entire ACT economy. In 1996-97, the impact of the Howard Government’s job cuts was to:

• Slash $25,000 from the price of the average Canberra home (in an era when house prices were much lower than they are today);
• Increase the ACT unemployment rate by 1 percentage points; and
• Increase personal bankruptcies in the ACT by around 100 bankruptcies per year.

Unlike the Liberals, we believe that a strong public service is essential to support the community and deliver critical government programs.

On top of job cuts, the Liberals have also indicated they will ‘outsource’ jobs currently done by the Australian Public Service to the States. This will mean additional job losses in the national capital.

Commonwealth public servants provide important advice on big issues affecting our whole nation.

Today we saw ACT Opposition Leader Zed Seselja stand alongside Tony Abbott while he made these statements.

We know Zed Seselja will never protect Canberra from the worst excesses of the Federal Liberals.

Parliament today passed my motion of apology to Peter Norman (with no dissenting voices). Here's the motion, with the third paragraph tweaked into a more general apology than originally drafted:

DR LEIGH: That this House:

(1) recognises the extraordinary athletic achievements of the late Peter Norman, who won the silver medal in the 200 metres sprint running event at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, in a time of 20.06 seconds, which still stands as the Australian record;

(2) acknowledges the bravery of Peter Norman in donning an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge on the podium, in solidarity with African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who gave the ‘black power’ salute;

(3) apologises to Peter Norman for the treatment he received upon his return to Australia, and the failure to fully recognise his inspirational role before his untimely death in 2006; and

(4) belatedly recognises the powerful role that Peter Norman played in furthering racial equality.

Here's my speech to parliament in moving the original motion. My additional remarks on the day the motion was passed are below.

Peter Norman, 11 October 2012

The apology to Peter Norman recognises a great Australian who stood with the black power protestors at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. This amendment simply broadens that apology in that it apologises to Peter Norman for the treatment that he received upon his return to Australia and for the failure to fully recognise his inspirational role before his untimely death in 2006.

I would like to thank members on both sides of the House who spoke in this debate. Thelma Norman, Peter's mum, was here in the gallery when we debated the motion and it meant a great deal to her. I have been in contact with Peter's sister, Elaine, and she has told me about the outpouring of public support that was received. A local school in Queensland got each of their students to go back and research the Peter Norman story to find out what it meant to them and to think about how each of them could be a Peter Norman in their own lives, how they could take a stand against racism and intolerance and make those snap decisions that come along with so little warning but that mark the character of an individual, as they marked Peter Norman's character.

I am grateful to those in this House and in the broader community for their support for this motion and I trust that the amendment to the motion, which provides a broad, community-wide apology to Peter Norman for his treatment upon his return from Mexico, will be accepted unanimously by this House as an apology posthumously to Peter Norman. It is something that I know will mean a great deal to Peter's family, friends and the huge family of supporters across Australia.

I spoke in parliament today about good economic management and the importance of Oppositions - ACT and Federal - producing properly costed policies.

Matter of Public Importance, 10 October 2012

It is a pleasure to rise to speak in a debate on the strength of the Australian economy and the right policy settings. Any discussion about where the Australian economy is headed needs to recognise that we are in the midst of one of the biggest terms of trade shocks in Australia's history. In the history of the Australian economy, when a terms of trade shock has come along—whether it was in the 1930s, 1950s or the 1970s—it has blown the place up. Yet, despite a massive increase in the terms of trade—a massive increase in the ratio of export prices to import prices—the Australian economy, this time, has remained strong. Unemployment has stayed at 5-point-something and inflation has stayed low.

Importantly, while the Australian economy is undergoing significant structural adjustment unemployment has not only stayed low, the dispersion of unemployment has also stayed low. But it is still correct that the world is a dangerous place for anyone trying to run an economy well. The IMF yesterday cut its forecast for world output this year to 3.3 per cent, down from the 3. 5 per cent announced in July.

All of us can name important risks, whether it is the Chinese housing market or the need for the Eurozone countries to better manage their fiscal burden. In this environment the Australian government continues to properly cost our policies through the usual budget processes and the mid-year updates. At the last election our policy costings were found to be spot on—no surprise, given that they were prepared by Treasury. Of course, that is more than can be said for the coalition's costings, which were done by a private accounting firm and were out by a cool $11 billion.

The problem with the coalition's costings now is that, while they have said yes to every special interest, they have said no to every tough decision. They said no to the mining tax but yes to the superannuation increase that is funded by it. They said no to the carbon price but yes to the tax cuts and the benefit increases funded by it. When we make hard decisions to means test policies like family tax benefit part B, the baby bonus and the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate, they cry foul about class envy. But it is through tough decisions like this that we made $100 billion in savings over recent budgets.

Bernard Keane went back to look at the veracity of some of the economic predictions made by those opposite. He noted that when the condensate excise exemption was removed in 2008, Senator Johnston called it 'one of the greatest assaults on the living standards of Western Australians I have ever seen in the history of Federation'. Shortly afterwards Woodside unveiled a record profit, up 70 per cent on the previous year. When in 2008 our government lifted the luxury car tax, Senator Fifield called it 'the politics of envy and class warfare'. Bernard Keane pointed out that SUV sales have risen 40 per cent over the past four years. And you will hear those opposite rail against Australia's debt levels—a modest 10 per cent and falling—but you will never hear them admit that taking on that debt saved 200,000 jobs in the global financial crisis.

Here in the ACT it looks as though the local Liberal Party are a carbon copy of their federal colleagues. On 20 October Canberra voters will go to the polls to choose a new government. With newly elected Liberal governments around the country having run, and won, on negative anti-Labor messaging—like the Federal opposition is attempting to do—it is no surprise that the Canberra Liberals are being negative to the last. They are leaving all Canberrans asking what policies they have come up with in the last four years—and the answer seems to be not much. The Canberra Liberals signature policies include promises to reintroduce lightweight plastic bags, despite the fact that they supported a ban on the bags in 2004; to provide a greenwaste bin at no cost, although it has been costed at $19 million a year; and to scrap the nurse-led walk-in clinic that has provided free healthcare to tens of thousands of Canberrans.

But since this MPI is on costings let us discuss the apparent inability of the Canberra Liberals to provide voters with proper costings for their small set of policies. Let us take health. At first the Liberals health spokesperson said their health plan would cost $6.9 billion over four years. And then on 1 October it became a $6.9 billion plan over five years, when the opposition leader intervened. And in the third version it became $6.2 billion over five years. As the website www.realzed.com points out, at best this indicates a massive $800 million cut to public health services. They have not been able to articulate how much money, nor how it will be spent. They have not even said how many beds they will fund—or defund, as they did when they were last in government.

And then there is education. In their education policy the Canberra Liberals omitted to fund the Canberra Institute of Technology. Confronted by Treasurer Andrew Barr over their plan to rip over $100 million out of the vocational education system, the Liberal Treasury spokesman refused to say why vocational education had been omitted from their policies or how much a Liberal government would give the CIT. As Bill Clinton said recently, it is just math.

What is striking about the Canberra Liberals' refusal to detail policies, and their slipshod costings, is how closely it echoes their federal counterparts. A good opposition do not just say what they stand against, they also say what they stand for. It is not good enough for the Seselja opposition to play fuzzy games over what they would do if elected. ACT voters have a right to make a real choice. Frankly, ACT voters deserve better than the Leader of the Opposition and the member for North Sydney's mini-me's: Zed Seselja and Brendan Smyth.

In other states we have seen Liberal Premiers promising no change before election day and then delivering radical cuts afterwards. In New South Wales Barry O'Farrell slashed 800 TAFE jobs and cut 15,000 public servants over two budgets. In Victoria Ted Baillieu has cut firefighting services and some 5,500 public servants are facing job losses. In Queensland Campbell Newman has cut 14,000 public sector workers after telling them before the election that they had nothing to fear from him. Premier Newman has also cut Breastscreen Queensland and the Premier's Literary Awards.

If the Canberra Liberals will not tell us some policies, and cannot cost others, the only thing Canberra voters can judge them by is what their colleagues are doing in other states—and it is not pretty. Federally the opposition leader's plans to cut 20,000 Canberra public servants are met with a deafening silence from the ACT Liberals. When the member for Canning said in this place in one of these debates that public servants 'feed on others' there was not a murmur of criticism from Senator Humphries and the ACT Liberals.

It is very clear that the federal coalition cannot meet their $70 billion costings gap without some radical cuts. Seventy billion dollars is equivalent to stopping Medicare payments for two years or stopping the pension for four years. The coalition say that their policies are ready to go. In fact, in one interview the member for Goldstein said he had already designed the covers. He had the covers done but he will not release the policies. Australians are entitled to ask: if the coalition's policies are so good, why don't they release them?

I think history might provide some of the answers. I have before me the ‘Liberal and National Parties' Public Administration Policy’ for 1996. It says: 'Our plans to reduce departmental running costs by two per cent will involve not replacing a proportion of those who leave—up to 2,500 positions over the first term of a coalition government, a process of natural attrition with no forced redundancies.' But of course what happened was far from that. There were 30,000 public servants who got the sack after the election of the Howard government. What is particularly telling about this document is that it says on the back that it was printed and authorised by A. Robb. That is right, the member for Goldstein was behind a document that said the Howard government would axe 2,500 public servants when it went on to axe 30,000. If they say they are getting rid of 20,000 public servants now, imagine what they will really do.

The Australian economy is the 12th largest economy in the world; we have just risen three places. Our Treasurer has been awarded the Euromoney Finance Minister of the Year award—an award those opposite would be praising if Peter Costello had won it; but because Keating and Swan won it, they trash it.

We put a price on carbon pollution. We are linking our scheme with existing schemes in Europe and elsewhere. We have a AAA credit rating from all three major credit agencies—the first time that has ever happened. Yes, we have challenges but it is all the more reason for Liberals - ACT and federal - to put properly costed policies on the table.