Andrew Leigh

ANDREW LEIGH MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION
MEMBER FOR FRASER

SOPHIE ISMAIL 
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR MELBOURNE

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
VICTORIAN PARLIAMENT HOUSE
TUESDAY, 22 MARCH 2016

SUBJECT/S: Marriage equality, Labor’s positive plans for an egalitarian Melbourne

SOPHIE ISMAIL, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR MELBOURNE: It's an absolute pleasure to be here today in Melbourne with the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Competition Andrew Leigh who has done a lot of very important work on inequality and who is here is here to talk to us today about marriage equality and the damaging plebiscite. 

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks very much Sophie. Sophie is a great Labor candidate for the seat of Melbourne who is working extremely hard to make sure that we improve the fairness of our society for Melbournians and for all Australians. Now that Adam Bandt has been the Member for Melbourne for nearly six years, many Melbournians who care about equality will be asking themselves "What has Adam Bandt actually done to create a fairer Melbourne?"

Labor has long been passionate about inequality. Through Jenny Macklin's recent report Growing Together and through Bill Shorten's many statements on inequality, we have highlighted Labor's positive ideas for building a fairer Australia. We are committed to making sure that our schools and our hospitals are appropriately funded; that our tax system is fair and that we pare back some of the unfair and unsustainable tax concessions. We want to make sure young Australians find their way into the housing market. We want to make sure that we have got penalty rates that recognise that working unsociable hours should be fairly compensated.

LABOR’S PLAN FOR THE SHARING ECONOMY IN MELBOURNE

 
Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh and Victorian Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade Philip Dalidakis have today visited Carhood to discuss Labor’s positive plan for the sharing economy.
 
They met with founder Steve Johnson to talk about creating a fair and flexible framework of rules for emerging services like Carhood to ensure all Australians can share in the benefits.
 
The sharing economy is changing the way we buy and sell things. It is also changing how we think about work and the line between private property and public goods. Australians are clearly embracing these services. Carhood has 5,000 members and is growing at 70% month on month, while around one in 200 Australian homes now listed on AirBNB.
 
Prime Minister Turnbull has failed to address the many sided challenges and opportunities of appropriately regulating the sharing economy which still suffers from a regulatory lag.
 
That’s why Labor has announced a set of National Sharing Economy Principles and indicated we will work with state and territory governments to turn these into concrete rules and regulations.
 
Federal Labor’s principles are:

Projects help strengthen community 

The Chronicle 

29 March 2016

In last month's column, I talked about the evidence that Australians have become increasingly disconnected, and the need to encourage more community engagement.

Like most Canberrans, I believe it's vital that we're honest about what the data are telling us, but optimistic about our ability to turn things around.

Many people wrote to me with stories of their organisations. Today, I'll share three of them with you.

Sam McKeon wrote of volunteering for Computing Assistance Support & Education (case.org.au).

By providing computer support for community organisations, CASE allows them to devote more of their resources to service provision. Sam also pointed out that it's a better way of using volunteers: "The existence of CASE meant I could take my natural interest (web development) and apply it in a volunteer context. A targeted approach let me be more effective (rather than door-knocking for money, for example) and this encouraged me."

Consumers Must Come First, Daily Telegraph, 25 March 2016

There are two kinds of supermarket shoppers: those who read the prices on the shelves, and those who can afford to ignore them.

If you disregard the dollar signs and skip the specials, feel free to stop reading now. But for the rest of us, the government’s latest decision is a real worry.

When it comes to keeping prices low, smart competition laws are one of the best tools that governments have. However, competition laws are only smart if they’re ferociously pro-consumer. Competition isn’t about protecting lousy firms – it’s about making sure we get the best deal for shoppers.

THE EFFECTS TEST WILL INCREASE PRICES: COLES

“I cannot get an answer… on whether we will be able to sell bread, beans and nappies for the same price in regional Australia as in Toorak”

JOHN DURKAN, COLES MANAGING DIRECTOR – 24 MARCH 2016

Less than a week after Barnaby Joyce claimed the “proper price” of milk was anywhere up to $11 a litre, we see yet another warning that the Government’s dangerous effects test policy will raise prices on everyday groceries.

The effects test will have a chilling effect on the competitive process.

Businesses will fear that by engaging in legitimate competitive conduct – such as selling cheap bread, beans or nappies in regional areas – they will be taken to court.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

PARLIAMENT HOUSE

TUESDAY, 22 MARCH 2016

 SUBJECT/S: Malcolm Turnbull’s election stunt, tax transparency, tax reform, negative gearing

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks very much for coming along. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer. We learned today, thanks to the release of data from the Australian Taxation Office, that one in three big private Australian firms are paying no tax. One in three of Australia's biggest private firms didn't contribute a brass razoo to the running of our schools and our hospitals. This comes following the release of information last December showing that when it comes to big public firms, one in four are paying no tax.

ONE IN THREE PRIVATE COMPANIES PAY NO TAX

The Australian Tax Office has today revealed that one in three Australian-owned companies earning more than $200 million a year pay no tax.

As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull mulls a cut to company tax in the upcoming budget, the data published today reveals 98 out of 321 of Australia’s biggest private firms aren’t paying a single dollar.

This news comes on top of last December’s revelation that one in four big public firms and multinationals also pay no tax.

It says everything about Malcolm Turnbull’s priorities that he would put company tax cuts at the centre of his budget, even as so many big firms appear to be dodging their fair share.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS, AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 21 MARCH 2016

SUBJECT/S: Company tax cuts; tax reform.

KIERAN GILBERT: With me now on the program, Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Dr Leigh thanks so much for your time. I want to get your thoughts on Arthur Sinodinos' comments yesterday. Much was made of them that the Government is focusing on the tax cuts for company taxes as opposed to personal. This is something that Bill Shorten has said he supports and has done so on a bipartisan basis. Is that still Labor's position?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Kieran, it is. It is worth going through a little bit of the history on this. In 2010, the Coalition took a company tax cut to the election and then failed to vote for it when Labor introduced it into the Parliament. In 2013, they took a company tax cut to the election, and then backed off it when they decided to not go ahead with parental leave. Last year Malcolm Turnbull said we couldn't afford company tax cuts. So I think when Australians see the Government again flagging the idea of company tax cuts they'll think of that scene in Peanuts where Lucy keeps holding the football for Charlie Brown and then pulling it away at the last minute.

IT'S OUR DUTY TO HELP THE YOUNG GET A HOME, The Herald Sun, 21 March 

I was holding a Saturday street stall recently when a young couple came up to chat about their troubles buying a first home. He was a builder and she was a teacher but they were planning for a baby and worried about meeting mortgage repayments when their two incomes went down to one. So despite being in their late 20s, this couple had just moved back in with their in-laws. In the months to come they’ll be changing nappies and juggling sleepless nights under the same roof as their retired parents who are trying to enjoy a quiet life.  

Their story is sadly typical. There are now 10 per cent fewer young Australians owning a home than there were in 2001. Among the lowest-earning young people, home ownership has crashed from above 60 per cent to just 30 per cent in the past 15 years.

It’s not hard to understand why. In 1985 the average home loan held by a first homebuyer was a little over $81,000 in today’s money. Today, an equivalent mortgage is worth $308,000. Prices in Australia’s capital cities have risen 20 per cent over the past two years, but wages have been growing at just over 2 per cent. As that young Canberra couple said to me: even getting a deposit together becomes a major challenge when prices are climbing so much faster than savings.     

It’s harder than ever for people to get into the property market, yet our current tax system offers more support to people buying their tenth investment property than their first home.

LABOR’S PLAN FOR THE SHARING ECONOMY IN SYDNEY

Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh and NSW Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Michael Daley have today visited Collaborate Corporation to discuss Labor’s positive plan for the sharing economy.

They met with Collaborate Corporation to talk about creating a fair and flexible framework of rules for emerging services like DriveMyCar, MyCaravan and Rentoid to ensure all Australians can share in the benefits.

The sharing economy is changing the way we buy and sell things. It is also changing how we think about work and the line between private property and public goods. Australians are clearly embracing these services, with one in 10 Sydneysiders having used a sharing service and around one in 200 Australian homes now listed on AirBNB. DriveMyCar has attracted over 26,000 users and facilitated 200,000 rental days.

Prime Minister Turnbull and Premier Baird have failed to address the many sided challenges and opportunities of appropriately regulating the sharing economy which still suffers from a regulatory lag.

That’s why Federal Labor has announced a set of National Sharing Economy Principles and indicated we will work with state and territory governments to turn these into concrete rules and regulations.