Andrew Leigh

This morning I've got a joint op-ed in the Sydney Morning Herald with Bill Shorten, explaining why the government is going the wrong way on tackling multinational profit shifting. It follows on from the very useful tax round table I convened at Parliament House this week to generate some new ideas on what else Australia can do to ensure companies are paying their fair share. 

Australia's stance on tax avoidance out of step, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 November

The "Double Irish Dutch sandwich" sounds like something questionable you'd find on the menu at backpacker-run cafe.

But it's actually a notorious tax loophole in Ireland which allows huge multinational companies to get away with paying tiny amounts of tax through shifting money between multiple countries. For almost 30 years, some big global firms - including companies operating in Australia - have been using this loophole to pay tiny amounts of tax.

So while ordinary people are expected to pay their fair share of tax every year, some companies earning billions of dollars can get away with hardly paying a cent.

In Ireland, they are finally seeing sense and closing this loophole. Unfortunately, Australia is going in the opposite direction. While other countries are their closing their tax minimisation loopholes, the Abbott government has spent the past year opening them up.  

One of Treasurer Joe Hockey's first acts in office was to roll back Labor's measures to tackle profit shifting and improving tax transparency - effectively handing back $1.1 billion to big global firms. That's money that could have gone to helping struggling families with cost of living pressures, or improving our schools and hospitals. 

At the end of a very busy two weeks of Parliamentary sittings, I joined Emma Alberici on Lateline to look at where we're up to on the national security and renewable energy legislation, as well as point out what's wrong with the government's anti-red tape crusade. Here's the transcript:

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

LATELINE

FRIDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2014

SUBJECT/S: Royal Commission into unions; national security; red tape; Renewable Energy Target

EMMA ALBERICI: The week began with Tony Abbott calling for a mature and sensible debate about the GST, but that's almost where that conversation ended. It was drowned out by the fuel tax, climate policy and national security. Joining me to discuss a busy week in federal politics from Melbourne, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Josh Frydenberg, and in Canberra we have the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh.Gentlemen, welcome to what I'm confident will be a very mature debate.

JOSH FRYDENBERG, PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE PRIME MINISTER: (Laughs)

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good evening, Emma.

ALBERICI: So, Julia Gillard has been cleared of all wrongdoing. Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission says she has committed no crime. Josh Frydenberg, what's your reaction?

FRYDENBERG: Well this is a preliminary submission from Counsel Assisting, so I don't want to get into a running commentary, Emma, on individual cases other than to say that what the commission has found so far is there are examples of thuggery, intimidation, physical violence, threats, secondary boycotts...

ALBERICI: But specifically, when we're talking about the former Prime Minister, it should end there?

FRYDENBERG: Well I've never thought that this Royal Commission has been about Julia Gillard. It's a much more systemic problem within the union movement and in particular some of those construction unions and that is why the Prime Minister has announced today with Denis Napthine this combined Federal Police-Victorian Police taskforce because there are very serious issues. And it has to be pointed out that the Commissioner, Justice Heydon, wrote to the Prime Minister very recently and indicated that there were serious problems and that they needed to be dealt with and that there were powers that the police had that the Royal Commission didn't have and that's why the Prime Minister has acted now when he has.

ALBERICI: Andrew Leigh?

LEIGH: Emma, I think it's good that we've finally got tonight the bottom of Julia Gillard's renovations last century, and not surprisingly, the Royal Commission's found that Julia Gillard didn't commit any criminal acts and wasn't aware of any criminal acts. And in those circumstances, I think it might be appropriate for someone like Julie Bishop, who had accused Julia Gillard of criminality, now to issue a formal apology.

Run with the Wind and Renewable Energies 

Federation Chamber 

27 October 2014 

As a keen runner, it was a great pleasure for me yesterday to say a few words at the third annual Run with the Wind community fun run at Woodlawn wind farm near Tarago, New South Wales. Situated between Tarago and Bungendore, the Woodlawn wind farm comprises 23 wind turbines and has been operating since October 2011. The fun run was hosted by the owner and operator of the wind farm, Infigen Energy, and organised by a sports and athlete management firm, Elite Energy. In the latter case, it is mere coincidence that the term 'energy' appears in the name.

Jervis Bay Territory and a tribute to Bob Pastor 

Federation Chamber 

27 October 2014 

Because Australia's founders decided that every capital city must have a port, it is my honour to represent not just the north half of the bush capital but also the Jervis Bay territory. It is a territory with an ancient history. The Wreck Bay settlement reflects that, but the Jervis Bay settlement also has a history of its own. The school at Jervis Bay was opened in 1914, the year before the naval college, and will this weekend celebrate its centenary. 

Transparency is critical when it comes to tackling multinational profit shifting. That's why I've announced we'll bring forward plans to have the Australian Tax Office release more data about how much tax companies pay, and do it sooner. Here's the details:

MEDIA RELEASE

BETTER TAX TRANSPARENCY UNDER LABOR

Labor will introduce a Private Member’s Bill to give Australians access to more information than ever before about the tax affairs of major corporations.

If enacted, this bill will bring forward the release of data about the tax paid by companies with total income over $100 million.

Speech at the launch of 'A new Australia-China Agenda: Experts on the Australia-China Relationship'

Parliament House

28 October 2014

This week and last, federal parliament has been resounding with tributes to the late Gough Whitlam. Many people have noted his bravery – more than four decades ago – in travelling to China to announce that a Labor Government would initiate ties with the mainland.

At the time, Whitlam’s critics said of the visit that his Chinese hosts had ‘played him like a trout’.

I thought of this recently when looking at statistics on our exports to China – now our number one destination for Australian fisheries exports.

There are many ways of summing up the importance of the Australia-China relationship. 

Vale Gough.

Condolence motion for the Hon. Gough Whitlam, AC, QC

House of Representatives

28 October 2014

 

GK Chesterton once said that "Tradition means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead."

Progressives are at our best when our reforms draw out the golden threads of history.

The notion that society is a contract between the past, the present, and unborn generations is as powerful a guide for progressives as it is for the other side of politics.

No-one better understood the value of tradition than Gough Whitlam.

When Prime Minister McMahon set the date for the 1972 election as December 2, Whitlam noted that it was the anniversary of the 1805 Battle of Austerlitz, when Napoleon defeated the Russian and Austrian armies. It was, he said, "a date on which a crushing defeat was administered to a coalition - another ramshackle, reactionary coalition".

Following word that the Abbott Government is going ahead with plans to increase the fuel excise tax, I joined David Speers on Sky PM Agenda to explain why Labor can't support yet another regressive move which will hit to poorest hardest.

 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SKY PM AGENDA

TUESDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2014

SUBJECT/S: fuel excise tax slug; Tony Abbott’s plans to raise the GST; Rupert Murdoch’s comments on inequality

DAVID SPEERS: Well the main political story here in Canberra today has been the Government's surprise announcement that it's going to go ahead with an increase in fuel excise even though it's been unable to get this through Parliament. How's it doing it? Well it's changing the tariff. It then has 12 months in which it needs to legislate that. So for 12 months it can collect the higher tax – it will go up from 38.1 to 38.6 cents, half a cent a litre. It will cost, the Government says, the typical family using about 50 litres of fuel a week only 40 cents a week in additional cost. Over time, of course, that will go up. Labor is still opposed to the increase in the fuel excise, however it's done. Joining me now is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. Thank you for your time.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure David.

SPEERS: Why is this such a bad idea, to put up fuel excise by a tiny amount?

LEIGH: Well it's another measure that hits the poor the most, David. We've had a big rise in inequality over the last generation, the most regressive budget we've ever seen brought down, which smashes the poor while including giveaways to the most affluent. And now another measure which we know will hit those on the lowest incomes the hardest, because in fact Joe Hockey is wrong when he says the poor don't drive. If you look at fuel as a share of income, it's six per cent of disposable income for the poorest fifth, and just two per cent for the top fifth. So an increase in fuel taxes is a regressive tax and that deeply concerns us.

Tony Abbott has announced that he wants to radically alter the relationship between the federal government and Australia's states and territories. In response, I held a press conference outlining why Labor will never back proposals which alter the egalitarian character of our federation.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP INTERVIEW

PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

MONDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2014

SUBJECT/S: Tony Abbott’s plan to increase the GST; boat turnbacks; Abbott Government inaction on Ebola; flawed Direct Action climate plan 

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Over the weekend we saw Tony Abbott give a speech on federalism in which he resorted to coded language rather than being straight up with Australians. He talked about increasing the indirect tax burden and raising states' revenue capacity. Let's be honest: when you talk about indirect taxes, you're talking about wine taxes, fuel taxes, car taxes and the GST. What Tony Abbott wants to do ought to cause the hairs on the back of Australians' necks to stand up. Because after bringing down the most regressive budget in Australian history, he now wants to raise the GST. Mr Abbott very clearly wants to engage in the same sort of cheap politics that he did last year. He wants to pretend to Australians that he can deliver better services and not put in place tax increases. But federalism isn't a magic pudding. To the extent that Mr Abbott is promising more payments to one state, that's got to involve taking away from other states. Federalism is a fundamentally egalitarian institution, and Labor is going to work to prevent more unfair cuts being put in place through the excuse of a federalism review. Happy to take questions. 

Over the weekend Tony Abbott gave a speech flagging major changes to federal/state relations and the way state services are funded. I joined Marius Benson on ABC NewsRadio to raise concerns about this simply being a stealth move to raise the GST.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC NEWSRADIO

MONDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2014

SUBJECT/S: Tony Abbott’s plans to increase the GST

MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Leigh, can I risk losing all listeners by beginning with asking you about vertical fiscal imbalance, which is the gap between the federal government gathering taxes and the state government spending them. The recommendation to the Government is that this makes no sense and a lot of people agree with that. Do you?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: One of the concerns, Marius, is not just that taxes are raised at the level they’re spent, but that they’re raised in efficient ways. When economists look at Australia’s tax mix, I think we look at taxes like income taxes and corporate taxes as being fairly efficient tax bases and so some transfers from the federal government to the states make sense. Frankly that’s what you see in other federal systems such as the United States and Canada.

BENSON: Well, Nick Greiner, for example – the former New South Wales Premier – takes a less sanguine view. He calls the present system ‘close to dysfunctional’ and says the federal/state system is a shambles where you’ve got all levels of government sort of doing everything.

LEIGH: I don’t think I would agree with that description and I am worried about the turn that the federalism debate is taking. Mr Abbott seems to think that Commonwealth money is a magic pudding and that he can give more to one state but not have to take away from another state in the process. In a way, federalism is fundamentally an egalitarian institution.  When states aren’t doing so well, we give them a helping hand, and if you hack into that element of federalism then you make us again a more unfair country. That’s a road that the Abbott Government unfortunately seems keen to walk down.

BENSON: But can’t you make the tax system more efficient, without making it less fair?

LEIGH: It’s certainly possible and that’s what we focused on in the Henry Tax Review. Let’s not forget that one of the biggest tax reforms of recent years was to increase the tax on carbon pollution and reduce the tax on work. That was an environmental measure, sure, but it was also a measure which was designed to encourage people to work and which was supported by a range of economic evidence. I want to see tax reforms backed in by strong evidence – rather than tax reform which is entirely contrary to the position that Mr Abbott took before the last election and which is unfair, which is what a rise in the GST would be.

BENSON: In broad terms, is there merit in shifting the tax load to some extent towards indirect taxes to allow a reduction in income taxes? To increase things like –not necessarily the GST but those other indirect taxes – to allow an income tax drop?

LEIGH: Let’s be clear about what we’re talking about with indirect taxes. We’re talking principally about fuel taxes, car taxes, wine taxes and the GST, and of those of course the lion’s share is the GST. Really when the Abbott Government says that it wants to have a debate about income taxes and it wants to increase the states’ revenue capacity, it’s resorting to code words. Because Mr Abbott doesn’t want to be clear with the Australian people that he’s getting ready to break yet another promise and do something that is yet again unfair when this is so much from the playbook of the last budget. It breaks promises, and also takes from the most vulnerable. Again, that is what a change to the GST would do Marius. We’re up for sensible debates about tax reform in the Labor party, but we are not up for more broken promises and more measures which are unfair on Australian families.