Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
SUNSHINE COAST
TUESDAY, 17 MAY 2016

SUBJECT/S: Infrastructure in Australia and the Sunshine Coast; Liberals backtracking for multinational tax action; Labor protecting penalty rates.

BILL GISSANE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR FISHER: It's terrific to have Dr Leigh with us here today. The Mayor challenged all candidates to get senior members of the parties, the respective parties, onto the Sunshine Coast to explain exactly what our needs are. I'm pleased to say that Andrew is the first amongst many senior people from the Labor Party who are going to grace us with their presence and I’m sure he'll have plenty to tell you.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: It's great to be back on the Sunshine Coast, a place where I would frequently visit my grandparents when they lived in Caloundra. I'm here with Bill Gissane, talking about Labor's positive plan for the Sunshine Coast. Labor believes the Sunshine Coast will benefit from the strong emphasis on infrastructure which is based on the needs of Australians, not simply on pork barrelling in marginal seats. Bill Shorten has committed Labor to a “concrete bank”, to making decisions at arm’s length from party politics based on what the needs of communities are. That concrete bank will have benefits to the Sunshine Coast and right across Australia. We've had a 20 per cent fall in public infrastructure investment since the Coalition came to office and the last Budget ripped a billion dollars out of infrastructure investment. Labor believes we need to spend smart on infrastructure investment, on the Sunshine Coast and across Australia. To do that we've obviously got to have revenue and Labor is committed to making sure multinationals pay their fair share. I've been troubled in recent days to see Scott Morrison walking away from plans to tighten thin capitalisation rules. Kelly O'Dwyer walking away from a register of beneficial ownership. Josh Frydenberg standing up at industry conferences defending tax loopholes for multinationals. Only Labor will get tough on multinationals, making sure they pay their fair share so that Australians can get the schools and hospitals we deserve and the infrastructure that a growing population demands. Happy to take questions.

WHOSE SIDE ARE THE LIBERALS ON: AUSTRALIAN WORKERS AND SMALL BUSINESS OR MULTINATIONALS?

Despite occasionally pretending to 'get tough' with multinationals, the Liberals have repeatedly failed to ensure multinationals pay their fair share of tax.

Scott Morrison backed away from plans to address tax avoidance by multinational companies in the Budget by reducing the so-called “safe harbour” level in thin capitalisation rules.

This back down came despite journalists being briefed on the proposal before Budget night, while tell-tale signs remained in the budget glossy documents.

In April, Kelly O’Dwyer said, “there needs to be a registry of beneficial ownership in our country” and confirmed that Australia would establish a public registry of beneficial ownership for companies.

However, at the recent international summit on the issue Australia committed only to “exploring options” for such a register.

The Liberals again sided with big business when Josh Frydenberg defended loopholes that allow multinational companies to shift profits offshore at an industry conference last Friday.

CHRIS BOWEN
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR MCMAHON

ANDREW LEIGH
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
MEMBER FOR FRASER

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
MELBOURNE
FRIDAY, 13 MAY 2016

Media Release

SUBJECT/S: Labor’s positive policy on housing affordability; real estate industry’s scare campaign; negative gearing; tax havens; Malcolm Turnbull in the panama papers; education funding dividend.

CHRIS BOWEN, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks for coming. I'm here with the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Dr Andrew Leigh and we'll both make some opening remarks before taking your questions.

It’s Friday the 13th and Malcolm Turnbull and the real estate industry have chosen Friday the 13th to launch their not-very-scary scare campaign. Now let's be very clear. Labor takes to this election a housing affordability policy to help first-home buyers get into the housing market. Labor believes in the aspirations of young Australians to buy their first home. And we believe in not just talking about it, we believe in doing something about it, in dealing with the housing affordability crisis in Australia. And we did so knowing that vested interests would campaign and complain. And that's exactly what's happening. But we are more than happy to run this election campaign based on our positive policies to assist first-home buyers. The real estate industry makes it clear even in the article in News Ltd today. They accept they have a vested interest in keeping the current arrangements. Well, I'll tell you who doesn't have a vested interest in keeping the current arrangements – hundreds of thousands of first-home buyers who are being locked out of the market. 

SIX QUESTIONS FOR MALCOLM TURNBULL

Recent reports on the Panama Papers have revealed that during the mid-1990s Malcolm Turnbull was a director of Star Technology Systems Ltd, a British Virgin Islands subsidiary of the Australian-listed company Star Mining NL, administered by Mossack Fonseca.

To dispel any concerns that Australians have about this activity, Malcolm Turnbull should answer the following questions:

1.  Does Mr Turnbull agree that the British Virgin Islands is a tax haven? 

Dr LEIGH (Fraser) (15:53): In mid-2009, the then Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, decided he would bring back an old stunt from the Liberal Party—the notion of a debt truck. He put a debt truck on the road, sat at its wheel and said that under Labor gross debt might go to $315 billion. That, he thought, was so terrifying that the Australian people had to be warned about it. Well, it is instructive to look at the budget papers to see where gross debt will be under the Turnbull government. Under the Turnbull government, gross debt is going not to $315 billion but to $624 billion. Gross debt will be nearly twice as large as when Malcolm Turnbull got his first debt truck. I have news for the Prime Minister: it is time to trade in his debt truck and buy a debt B-double. 

Dr LEIGH (Fraser) (11:39): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The image of blue Caribbean seas, golden island sands and a lonely coconut palm standing above a spot marked X on a faded map remains a powerful image in our social mythology.

And well it might, because the notion of buried treasure in the Caribbean is no myth. In the 2012 American election there was widespread outrage at the notion that Mitt Romney had been keeping a significant share of his wealth in the Cayman Islands. Perhaps this was because he and other wealthy people with money to hide from tax had noticed that the previous year the Tax Justice Network's Financial Secrecy Index had declared the Cayman Islands to be the world's second most significant tax haven. 

Dr LEIGH (Fraser) (16:30): The 2016 Lunar New Year celebrations, acknowledging the Year of the Monkey, were recently hosted by the member for Berowra, the Father of the House, and me here in one of our courtyards. Members and senators were joined by community representatives including Sam Wong AM; Donni and Samuel Pho, from the Australian Salvation Army; Mrs Chin Wong; and Gary Lee, the 2016 New Australian of the Year. The Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, also spoke at the celebrations and welcomed the inauguration of what will hopefully be an annual fixture on the parliamentary calendar. We launched traditional floating lanterns into one of the parliamentary ponds—possibly the first time this has happened—and then moved to the public lawns on Federation Mall to enjoy the skills of David Wong's Prosperous Mountain Lion Dance group. 

Dr LEIGH (Fraser) (15:56): I was holding a street stall recently when a young couple came up to chat about their troubles buying a first home. She was a teacher, he was a builder, and they were thinking about having a family but they were worried that they would not be able to meet the mortgage repayments when their two incomes went down to one. Despite being in their late 20s, this couple were looking at moving back in with their in-laws. Changing nappies and juggling sleepless nights under the same roof as their in-laws was not their idea of the Australian dream. But their story is, sadly, typical. 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

3AW WITH TOM ELLIOT

FRIDAY, 6 MAY 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Budget.

TOM ELLIOT, PRESENTER: On the line now is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. Good afternoon.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good Afternoon Tom, how are you?

ELLIOT: Good, thank you. Now I saw Mr Shorten’s budget-reply speech and I have seen a summary of the savings measures. You claim to have found $71 billion, but of that $71 billion, $49 billion is rejecting the plan to cut the company tax rate to 25 per cent. Now that’s not going to occur for ten years. So really, is it appropriate to be claiming that is actually a saving, because that’s not going to happen for a decade?

LEIGH: Tom, our big budget challenge is over the decade. The Government recognised this themselves when they said that they thought that their tax plan was going to be one that operated over a decade. We can’t have this sort of short-sighted approach that says, “We can fix things for the next few years, but after that we’re gonna kick the problem off.” That’s why we’ve been focusing our costings on the decade to come.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA CAMPAIGN KICK-OFF EVENT

CANNING VALE

FRIDAY, 6 MAY 2016

*** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY ***

I am delighted be here in Perth, at this kick-off event for the 2016 election. And I'm excited by the coming campaign, because it will be Australia’s chance to answer the big question: what is the difference between the two major parties, and where do they want to take Australia?

In the light of Malcolm Turnbull’s budget for big business, the difference between Labor and the Coalition could not be clearer and therefore this election campaign presents an opportunity to actually talk about the future of our nation: about how Australia should pursue and achieve equality, innovation, and growth.