Andrew Leigh

Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) Bill 2024 - Second Reading Speech

It's important to see this in its historical and international context. No government in Australian history has done more on multinational tax fairness than the Albanese government. No government around the world is doing more to improve multinational tax integrity than Australia.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO BRISBANE MORNINGS WITH STEVE AUSTIN
THURSDAY, 4 JULY 2024

SUBJECTS:  Making multinational pay their fair share, Greens joining Coalition to oppose two-state solution, Senate Economics Committee on ASIC.

STEVE AUSTIN, HOST: No one likes paying tax, but also things that we hate more is when multinational companies avoid paying tax when they make money in this country. But then say, yes, our business is in Australia, but our head office is in, I don't know, the Cayman Islands or the Jersey Islands, so we don't have to pay you tax. Well, as you know, for many years there's been pressure on both sides of politics federally to do something about it. Now Federal Labor apparently has. You can make money in Australia and avoid having to pay your share. But Andrew Leigh is Labor's Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment. Andrew Leigh, good morning to you. How big is the problem of multinational companies avoiding tax in this country?

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning, Steve, and good morning to your listeners. It's a serious issue. We now have numbers suggesting that about two-fifths of multinational profits pass through low-tax or no-tax jurisdictions. So, that means globally, hundreds of billions of dollars are being funnelled through these places. And these so-called ‘Treasure Islands’ are part of what's been eroding the global tax base at a corporate level for many decades. That's why more than 100 countries around the world got together in a global agreement to say, we're going to put a floor on company tax, a 15 per cent floor. And if countries weren't charging 15 per cent, then other countries could levy top-up taxes. Today I'm introducing into Parliament legislation that will see Australia enact that measure, allow us to claim top-up taxes where other jurisdictions aren't pulling their weight.

Joint Media Release
The Hon Jim Chalmers MP
Treasurer

NEW LEGISLATION TO ENSURE MULTINATIONALS PAY A FAIRER SHARE

The Albanese Government has introduced legislation to deliver on our election commitment to improve tax transparency and integrity.

This is all about ensuring multinational companies pay a fairer share of tax in Australia.

To pay for the things that matter most to Australians like healthcare, education and defence, it’s important that multinationals that operate in Australia, pay a more reasonable rate of tax and that’s what our legislation will help to achieve.  

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO MELBOURNE MORNINGS WITH JUSTIN SMITH
WEDNESDAY, 3 JULY 2024

SUBJECTS:  Appointment of consumer and small business advocates as designated complainants, Food and Grocery Code of Conduct Review 2023–24, merger reform, improving competition.

JUSTIN SMITH, HOST: Dr Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Charities, Competition, Treasury and Employment, and he's in our Canberra studio. Dr Leigh, thanks for your time.

​ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Real pleasure, Justin. I should say at the outset, I'm about to be called to the Parliamentary Chamber, so I'm not with you for as long as I would normally like.

SMITH: You politicians and your busy lives. No problem.

​LEIGH: Exactly.

​SMITH: Let's get to it.

LEIGH: It's a treat to talk competition.

​SMITH: Thank you. Well, let's get to it. How's this going to work? What's your plan?

​LEIGH: Well, this is a fast-track process for three really well-known peak consumer and small business groups. CHOICE, the Consumer Action Law Centre and the Council of Small Business. And it'll allow them once a year to gather up complaints on the biggest issue that they've seen, whether that's drip pricing, whether that's dodgy contract terms, and take that to the competition watchdog for a fast-track look. The competition watchdog will then have to come back within 90 days. Of course, these organisations can raise other complaints during the year, but they'll get one fast-tracked complaint which allows their insights to be turbocharged through the competition regulator.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC CANBERRA DRIVE WITH SASKIA MABIN
TUESDAY, 2 JULY 2024

SUBJECTS: Senator Payman, Two-state solution, Coalition’s confusion on competition.

SASKIA MABIN, HOST: You are listening to the ABC Radio Canberra Drive show with me, Saskia Mabin. Next we'll be getting into a bit of a discussion about how things are within the Labor Party since the suspension of Fatima Payman. Let me just remind you, this is a little bit of audio from her interview on the weekend with David Speers on the Insiders program.

SENATOR FATIMA PAYMAN: If the same motion on recognising the state of Palestine was to be brought forward tomorrow, I would cross the floor. I respect the Prime Minister and my senior colleagues, and obviously the Prime Minister had a stern but fair conversation with me a few days ago and I understand that he's got very important decisions to make as the leader of our nation. When I made the decision on the Senate floor to cross, I did it with the understanding that this could lead to expulsion and costing my Labor membership. But what I know is this is about 40,000 Palestinians that have been massacred and slaughtered since 7th of October, and I know that Australians are a fair people. And knowing about the Labor Party, we are a party with a conscience and champions of human rights, whether that be justice, fighting for freedom or equality. So, I believe that I've been abiding by those principles of the party.

MABIN: So, after those comments on the ABC Insiders program, Senator Payman was indefinitely suspended from the Labor Caucus. Here's a little bit about what Anthony Albanese said on ABC Radio yesterday.

PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE: The actions of an individual which is designed to undermine what is the collective position that the Labor party has determined. No individual is bigger than the team, and Fatima Payman is welcome to return to participating in the team if she accepts she's a member of it.

MABIN: "No individual is bigger than the team." Joining me is Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, also the Assistant Minister for Employment. Andrew, thank you for your time on the show.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Real pleasure, Saskia. Thanks for having me on.

MABIN: A pleasure. Now, what do you think there? "No individual is bigger than the team." Do you agree with our Prime Minister in his assessment of Fatima Payman?

LEIGH: Look, absolutely, Saskia. I like to think that I'm well liked around Canberra, but I'm pretty realistic in knowing that if I had put my hand up to run for election in 2010 without the words ‘Australian Labor Party’ underneath my name, I would have been lucky to get more than the votes of my family and a few mates. The reason I'm in the parliament is because I'm part of a team. That's true of Senator Payman. That's also true of everybody else in the Labor Caucus. We first got elected thanks to being part of a team. So, the obligation there is to make strong arguments in the party room and then to go out in the field and to play as a team. It's what the Brumbies do, it's what the Raiders do. You can have an argument in the locker room, it's about whether you're going to pass the ball to the left or the right. But once you agree you're going to pass the ball to the left, you've all got to go out in the field and play that play.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC CANBERRA DRIVE WITH LEON DELANEY
TUESDAY, 2 JULY 2024

SUBJECTS: Strengthening protections for consumer and small business groups; Coalition’s chaos on competition policy, Dutton adopting Greens policies.

LEON DELANEY, HOST: Today the Federal Government has announced the appointment of three consumer and business advocacy groups to be named as designated complainants. Joining me now to explain what that means, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury, Employment, and our local Federal Member in the seat of Fenner, Doctor Andrew Leigh. Good afternoon.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Good afternoon, Leon, great to be with you again.

DELANEY: We have spoken about this concept before, but let's start from the beginning. What exactly is a designated complainant?

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DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
TUESDAY, 2 JULY 2024

SUBJECTS: Coalition’s chaos on competition policy, Dutton’s dud divestiture policy, Teamwork.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: On the issue of nuclear power we've, in recent weeks, seen the National Party tail wagging the Liberal Party dog. A policy which was not supported by experts has nonetheless been backed by the Coalition party room against the interests of the Australian people. We're seeing that again today the hopeless, hapless, friendless policy on competition put forward by the National Party and the Liberal Party today.

In the Coalition's time in office we saw one of the most appalling decades of productivity and living standards growth in the postwar era, and a big reason for that is they dropped the ball on competition. Since winning office, we've had an active competition reform agenda, probably the most active of any Australian government since Federation. We've banned unfair contract terms and increased penalties. We've set about reforming our merger system, in the biggest shake up of our merger laws in 50 years. We're looking seriously at the issue of non-compete clauses. We've asked the competition watchdog to look at supermarket competition from a consumer perspective. And we funded CHOICE to carry out quarterly grocery price monitoring to put information in the hands of Australian shoppers.

Joint media release with
The Hon Kristy McBain MP
Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories

ENERGY BILL RELIEF FOR JERVIS BAY TERRITORY

The Albanese Labor Government continues to deliver cost of living relief to families and businesses across the Jervis Bay Territory, through the Energy Bill Relief Fund.

From today, every household will see a $300 credit automatically applied to their electricity bills and eligible small businesses will receive $325 off their bills over 2024–25.

This relief will be directly applied to people’s energy accounts, with the Government to work with territory electricity providers to deliver this support.

CONDOLENCE MOTION FOR THE VICTIMS OF BONDI JUNCTION
House of Representatives, Federation Chamber
Thursday 27 June 2024

The shocking events at Bondi Junction have impacted many. Six lives were lost, 12 people were injured and many others were traumatised. We've heard much about the heroism of the first responders. I, too, acknowledge the extraordinary work that they did in swiftly addressing this shocking tragedy.

Joint media release with
The Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP
Treasurer

MEASURING WHAT MATTERS TO DELIVER BETTER OUTCOMES

The Albanese Government is strengthening Australia’s first national wellbeing framework to support policy development and better align our economic and social goals in communities right across the country.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will deliver a newly renovated annual survey on the wellbeing of Australians, helping to inform a more comprehensive statement that the Government will publish every three years.

This is about measuring what matters most to Australians to deliver better outcomes for our communities and our economy.