Mr Bill Wood AM - Speech

MR BILL WOOD AM
Constituency Statement, House of Representatives
Thursday, 30 May 2024

Labor people are proud of the fact that ours is Australia's oldest and greatest political party, formed in 1891, 133 years ago. But Bill Wood had a special claim. He could say he had been a member of the Australian Labor Party for more than half its existence.

Read more
Add your reaction Share

Appointment of Associate Members to the ACCC - Media Release

APPOINTMENT OF ASSOCIATE MEMBERS TO THE ACCC

The Albanese Government has appointed Mr Adam Suckling and Dr John Small as part‑time associate members of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Mr Suckling is a member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and has been appointed as an ACCC associate member until 24 July 2028.

Dr Small is the Chair of the New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC) and has been appointed as an ACCC associate member until 7 June 2025.

Read more
Add your reaction Share

2CC Breakfast with Stephen Cenatiempo Tuesday 28 May 2024 - Transcript

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC BREAKFAST WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO
TUESDAY, 28 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Impact of social media on teen mental health.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, HOST: Talking federal politics and a couple of interesting topics that I want to discuss with Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, and the Member for Fenner. Andrew, good morning.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning, Stephen. Great to be with you.

CENATIEMPO: Social media has become, well, a major talking point for a whole bunch of reasons at the moment and I want to just get your personal view on this, because your view on social media has changed in recent times.

LEIGH: I used to think a couple of years ago that this was just part of what was going on with the worsening of young people's mental health. But increasingly now, the more I read, works by people like Jonathan Haidt, the more I'm concerned that this really is the number one culprit, in terms of the worsening mental health of young Australians. And the worsening is really substantial. Rates of depression have doubled, social phobia has tripled, rates of panic disorder are up fourfold, and there's an extraordinary 47 per cent of young women who say they've experienced a mental disorder in the last year. All of this has come about in the 15 years since smartphones and social media emerged. Even the set of randomised trials, which look at what happens when people take a break from social media, show an immediate improvement in mental wellbeing.

Read more
Add your reaction Share

The Empirical Evidence Route to Policy Design - Opinion Piece

THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE ROUTE TO POLICY DESIGN

One morning, an American woman by the name of Anita Kramer woke up and could not move her left arm. Kramer called 911 and during her assessment, doctors discovered she had a narrowing in a major blood vessel in her brain. She had an intracranial stent inserted. Less than a week later, a second stroke left Kramer more disabled than the first.

Stenting was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2005, following a promising study that did not use a control group. The stroke rate was better than expected, so the procedure was approved. Thousands of patients received stents.

Six years later, in 2011, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a randomised trial. It found that those who got a stent were more than twice as likely to have a stroke in the next month than patients in the control group (who were assigned to medical therapy). Five patients in the treatment group died, compared to one in the control group. The results were so dramatic that the study was terminated early.

Read more
Add your reaction Share

Repairing Products and Reinvigorating Competition - Speech

REPAIRING PRODUCTS AND REINVIGORATING COMPETITION
Opening remarks to the Griffith University Law Futures Centre
23 May 2024, Brisbane

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge the elders, customs and traditions of the Jagera and the Turrbul, from both sides of the Maiwar and all First Nations people present today.

I would like to thank Griffith University Law Futures Centre for inviting me to provide opening remarks ahead of the lecture by Assistant Professor Anthony Rosborough.

I thank Professor Leanne Wiseman for organising this event and bringing everyone together – including students, researchers and policymakers – to consider the right to repair through the lens of competition policy and market power. Having had the pleasure of speaking at your 2022 Australian Repair Summit, it’s terrific to be joining you again.

To those of you attending today, I thank you for advocating on behalf of Australian consumers and business.

Read more
Add your reaction Share

ABC Adelaide Drive with Jo Laverty Wednesday 22 May - Transcript

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC ADELAIDE DRIVE WITH JO LAVERTY
WEDNESDAY, 22 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Unethical fundraising practices, Reform to the Privacy Act, ‘Randomistas’ and the value of randomised trials.

JO LAVERTY, HOST: We all know times are tough. We're tightening our belts, and so collecting for charities must be a very difficult job. At the moment, people are giving less because they can afford less. But then there are those charity collectors who go that little step further to try and commit you to ongoing payments, and sometimes it's without you realising. Andrew Leigh is the Federal Assistant Minister for Charities and is saying that this is not cool. He has made a speech to the Fundraising Institute of Australia. Minister, welcome. This sounds diabolical that the elderly people in particular are signing up for ongoing payments that they simply can't afford.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks for taking an interest in the story. I'm not sure I'd describe it as ‘diabolical’. I think most charities are out there doing the right thing, adhering to strict ethical codes. But I did want to flag to the charitable fundraising industry that this small number of problematic cases really does risk tarnishing the whole sector. I told the story about a 73-year-old from Bendigo, about a 79-year-old from Queensland, both of whom found that they had signed up to many, many ongoing donations, and their families felt that they were perhaps just a bit confused about how many sign-ups they'd made, and it was draining their bank accounts at a remarkably quick rate.

Read more
Add your reaction Share

Together We Thrive: Celebrating The Impact Of Volunteering - Speech

TOGETHER WE THRIVE: CELEBRATING THE IMPACT OF VOLUNTEERING
Queensland Volunteering Awards, Volunteering Queensland
Brisbane City Hall, Brisbane
22 May 2024

I acknowledge the Jagera people and the Turrbal people as the Traditional Custodians of these lands and pay respects to all First Nations people present.

I am pleased to join you today to celebrate the contribution of volunteers across Queensland. I acknowledge the Governor of Queensland, Jeanette Young, and thank the organisers, Volunteering Queensland for the vital role you play in Australia’s national volunteering infrastructure and for the work you do to promote connected and inclusive communities.

Happy National Volunteer Week to all volunteers here today.

Read more
Add your reaction Share

ABC Radio Brisbane Breakfast with Steve Austin Wednesday 22 May - Transcript

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC BRISBANE BREAKFAST WITH STEVE AUSTIN
WEDNESDAY 22 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Future Made in Australia plan, Value of evaluation in public policy, Impact of beauty on electability, Australian Centre for Evaluation, Benefits of Digital ID.

STEVE AUSTIN, HOST: My next guest is a federal parliamentarian, I went back and read his first, his maiden speech to parliament and he said, and I quote; “My research has also taught me that good intentions are not enough. What we need in Australia policy today is not more ideologues convinced that their prescriptions are the answer, but modest reformers willing to try new solutions and discover whether they actually deliver results.” The person that said that is Australia's Assistant Minister for Employment, Treasury and Competition. He's also the Charities Minister, and he's in Brisbane this morning, representing the Prime Minister at the Queensland Volunteering Awards this morning at city hall. Andrew Leigh, lovely to see you back in Brisbane.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Great to be back with you and your listeners.

Read more
Add your reaction Share

Guardians of Generosity: Privacy and Philanthropy in Australia - Speech

GUARDIANS OF GENEROSITY: PRIVACY AND PHILANTHROPY IN AUSTRALIA
Fundraising Institute of Australia
Wednesday, 22 May 2024

Thank you to the Fundraising Institute of Australia for inviting me to address your annual Essential Member Update, and for bringing together this group of people with such an important role in the viability of our charity sector.

I am speaking to you from Brisbane, where I have just addressed the Queensland Volunteering Awards. I acknowledge the Jagera people and the Turrbal people as the Traditional Custodians of Meanjin, and pay my respects to all First Nations people present.

Labor governments are reforming governments, and in two spaces that have key significance to charitable fundraising there are some meaningful changes underway.

Read more
Add your reaction Share

ABC Canberra Breakfast with Adam Shirley Wednesday 22 May - Transcript

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC CANBERRA BREAKFAST WITH ADAM SHIRLEY
WEDNESDAY 22 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Unethical fundraising practices, reform of fundraising principles, best ways to donate to charities.

ADAM SHIRLEY, HOST: I don't know whether you give to charity or charities. If you volunteer, if you donate money. If you donate money, how do you do it? A real worry that some charities, and maybe companies contracted to work for them in Australia, are using less than above board practices to get you to give. And the work of some charities- most, in fact, Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. The work of a lot of these charities is not in dispute. But I wonder, personally, how much concern do you have on the ways they're collecting money?

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Most charities are doing exactly the right thing, and I'm a strong champion of the charity sector, but I'm giving a speech today to the Fundraising Institute of Australia, sounding the alarm about a number of troubling cases in which fundraisers have been chasing down elderly Australians and signing them up for ongoing payments that are beyond what they can afford. I want to make it clear to the charitable fundraising sector that the high trust with which Australians regard charities rests on strong ethical conduct in the fundraising sector. In the context of Pareto Phone collapsing last year, a fundraiser which raised money for organisations like the Cancer Council and Fred Hollows. We all need to make sure that those fundraisers have a strong social licence to operate.

Read more
Add your reaction Share

Stay in touch

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter

Search



Cnr Gungahlin Pl and Efkarpidis Street, Gungahlin ACT 2912 | 02 6247 4396 | [email protected] | Authorised by A. Leigh MP, Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch), Canberra.