Andrew Leigh

THE HON TONY BURKE MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CITIZENSHIP AND MULTICULTURAL AUSTRALIA

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION AND PRODUCTIVITY

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE IN SERVICES

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CHARITIES AND NOT-FOR-PROFITS

MEMBER FOR FENNER

LABOR TO END BAMBOOZLING PRICING FOR OVERSEAS MONEY TRANSFERS

A Shorten Labor Government will make it cheaper for Australians to send money overseas to loved ones by helping drive down international remittance and transfer fees.

Right now, many banks and money transfer companies are confusing customers with a mix of fees and exchange rate mark-ups. The result is that it is almost impossible to compare the true cost of transferring money overseas. By befuddling this customers, these organisations are making it harder for customers to shop around. Australians are being overcharged by millions of dollars for sending money overseas.

For example, one major bank’s website misled customers by saying ‘when transferring money overseas by the internet, we charge a fee of $20’ – neglecting to mention their exchange rate mark-up.

LET’S GET THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX OUT OF THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

Dodgy phoenix directors will be named and shamed under a Shorten Labor Government as part of a range of policies designed to boost productivity, protect vulnerable workers and secure the tax base.

Phoenix activity – where dodgy directors deliberately burn companies in an attempt to avoid their obligations to employees, government and honest businesses – is estimated to cost the Australian economy as much as $5.1 billion.

In addition to our existing anti-phoenixing policies, a Shorten Labor Government would allow the Commissioner of Taxation to name individuals and entities as a penalty for the most serious tax offences.

HACKETT'S HISTORY

The Chronicle, 6 November 2018

Hackett shops used to have a post office, a Shell service station, a pharmacy, a butcher and a bakery. Today, it features a bike store, florist, skin clinic, exercise centre, hairdresser, Thai restaurant and osteopath. In December 1962, a four bedroom Hackett home cost just £6250. Since that era, Hackett has more dwellings, but fewer residents - 2,991 in 2016, compared with 4,384 in 1971.

It’s said that understanding yourself starts with knowing your history and local geography. Thanks to a new history of Hackett, local residents can get a better insight into both. Produced by the Hackett Community Association, we launched the book at Hackett’s recent birthday celebrations. Many former residents came along, including those who had attended the former Hackett Primary School.

DOES ANYONE STILL SUPPORT GARY JOHNS?

Senior Liberals are now distancing themselves from the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits commissioner Gary Johns after he publicly defended his decision to suppress acknowledgement of country within the commission and confirmed he still holds troubling views about charities, welfare recipients and indigenous mothers.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion has written to Dr Johns, more than 11 months after his appointment to the role by the Coalition, questioning his views on restricting the use of acknowledgement of country.

After Dr Johns’ disastrous appearance before a Senate committee last month, Senator Scullion told him:

Acknowledgments of country are well-known payments of respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in recognition of their traditional ownership of the land. In my view, there is little risk of the confusion that I understand you identified in these hearings and I would encourage as many ACNC officials as are interested, to include acknowledgements of country in their signature blocks.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS AGENDA

MONDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2018

SUBJECTS: Qantas and unions, agricultural visas, the need for rational debate around Australia’s economy.

KIERAN GILBERT: With us now, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Andrew Leigh, thanks very much for your time. The warning from Qantas is quite a stark one this morning from Alan Joyce. What's your response and can you placate the airline chief’s concerns?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Absolutely, Kieran. Labor isn’t interested in disharmony. What we want to do is get wages going again. In Australia, we’ve barely seen real wages move since the Abbott Government was elected in 2013. We got productivity growth, but we haven’t got wages growth-

GILBERT: So would you rule out industry wide bargaining then, where a series of employers can be caught within one particular bargaining claim?

LEIGH: We’ll certainly look at a range of options on industrial relations laws. We’ll restore penalty rates. We’ll ensure that labour hire firms are used to fill temporary shortages rather than being used to drive down the wages of Australians. We do know that productivity has continued to grow since the Abbott Government won office, but wages haven't kept pace and it’s really important that Australia gets a pay rise.

PAY SLIPS AND THE FATES OF THE UNIONS

The Saturday Paper, 3 November 2018

In the late-1700s, one of the most dramatic transformations in world economic history took place. In previous centuries, economic growth had puttered along so slowly that shops would sometimes carve their prices in stone on the wall. Starting in Britain, the Industrial Revolution saw production move from hand work to mechanisation. Steam-powered factories massively increased the output of textiles. With the industrial revolution, output per worker began to surge.

Yet for the first half century after the Industrial Revolution began, most of the benefits did not flow to workers. Productivity rose, as workers used the new technology to produce more output. But real wages barely budged.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

2CC CANBERRA

THURSDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2018

SUBJECTS: Housing, Labor's plans to crack down on multinational tax avoidance, Adani.

TIM SHAW: The Master Builders Association is deeply concerned, big impact on the ACT economy. Now Labor complained about the Master Builders not including the grandfathering elements to the proposition regarding changes to negative gearing, now you will grandfather negative gearing on an existing property, but will you grandfather the current 50 percent capital gains tax discount?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Yes absolutely Tim. The changes are prospective. We recognise that people have made investments based on existing rules.

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION AND PRODUCTIVITY

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CHARITIES AND NOT-FOR-PROFITS

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE IN SERVICES

MEMBER FOR FENNER

CORINNE MULHOLLAND

LABOR CANDIDATE FOR PETRIE

LABOR CLEARS THE ROAD FOR MECHANICS IN BRISBANE

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

BRISBANE

THURSDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2018

SUBJECT: Labor's plans to crack down on multinational tax dodgers.

ALI FRANCE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR DICKSON: Good morning, it's really lovely to have Labor's Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh here today to talk to local businesses about how we're going to level the playing field and tackle multinational tax avoidance. 

Small businesses like the ones behind us, pay their fair share of tax. But we know there are big multinational companies and wealthy individuals who operate in Australia, who don't pay their fair share of tax. Labor wants to put a stop to that. So I'm now going to hand over to Andrew to talk a bit more about how that's going to work.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Well thanks so much Ali and it's great to be here with Ali France, Labor's hard-working candidate, taking our message of fairness to communities like Dickson.

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION AND PRODUCTIVITY

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE IN SERVICES

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CHARITIES AND NOT-FOR-PROFITS

MEMBER FOR FENNER

ALI FRANCE

LABOR CANDIDATE FOR DICKSON

LABOR TO MAKE MULTINATIONALS PAY