Andrew Leigh

E&OE Transcript
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC CANBERRA BREAKFAST WITH JAMES VYVER
THURSDAY, 7 DECEMBER 2023

SUBJECTS: Release of coins with King Charles III’s effigy; Announcement of funding for Stage 2A of Canberra’s light rail.

JAMES VYVER: Andrew Leigh is with us now, Assistant Minister for Treasury. As I say, the first coin featuring King Charles III have been released into circulation and Andrew Leigh is with us now. Minister, good morning to you. How many coins have gone out or where have they gone to?

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: So, first I have to say, James, I love your musical choices to accompany it. Inspired indeed. We've sent out three and a half million of these new kingly coins. They'll be rolling into circulation alongside the 16 billion coins with the Queen on them, which have appeared since the beginning of decimal currency in 1966. It is a big moment for many Australians. It'll be the first time that most of us have held in our hands an Australian coin with a king's face on it. Then, as you said, just as Queen Elizabeth faced to the right, King Charles will face to the left. A tradition that goes back to the 17th century. Some say to the moment when King Charles II decided that he would face away from Oliver Cromwell. But I haven't been able to confirm that.

Backing Charities and Building Community

Statement on Matters of Significance, House of Representatives
Thursday, 7 December 2023

Modern Australia could not function without charities. Charities improve our natural environment. Charities assist people living in poverty overseas. Charities organise sporting events. Charities run arts festivals. Charities help settle new migrants. Charities assist when natural disasters strike. And over the coming weeks, charities will be there for vulnerable families, handing out hampers to put food on the table and gifts to go under the tree.

The charity and non-profit sector comprises over one-tenth of employment and nearly one-tenth of national income. It is larger than the agricultural and financial sectors combined. From parkrun to Clean Up Australia, Vinnies to Girl Guides Australia, millions of people volunteer in their local communities.

Yet despite the social value of charities, the Coalition’s nine years in office was a rolling war on the charity sector. They came to office pledging to abolish the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, and would have done so if they thought they could get it through the Senate. When they couldn’t abolish it, they appointed Gary Johns to run the charities commission, a charities critic with extremist views about Indigenous people.

REMEMBERING PETA MURPHY 
Condolence Motion, House of Representatives,
Wednesday, 6 December 2023

I first met Peta Jan Murphy in 1999. She was working as Duncan Kerr's justice and arts adviser. I was working as Peter Cook's trade adviser. We were pretty excited at that point. Labor was running strong, and we thought in 1999 that it was near the end of Labor's time in opposition. Little did we know that Labor's 11 long years in opposition were just beginning.

There weren't a lot of us policy advisors—as I recall, there were about 25 of us—and we used to get together to talk about ideas. We were idealistic, wanting to make a difference, and we were bonded, as you often are in the crucible of opposition. We felt very mature at the time, although Peta and I were in our mid-twenties, half the age that I am and that she was. It is funny to think that you've known somebody for half a lifetime. Neither of us stayed as Labor advisers for very long in that period, but both of us stayed in touch, and it was such a pleasure in 2016 to have the chance to work with Peta again. She had returned from a stellar career at the Victorian Bar and was serving as Brendan O'Connor's chief of staff.

MEDIA RELEASE

AVOIDING CHARITY SCAMS THIS SUMMER

The Albanese Government encourages Australians to be generous in supporting charities, while remaining vigilant against fraudulent charity scams. Historically, fake charity scams tend to peak during the months of December and January and there are a range of precautions Australians can take to avoid being scammed.

MEDIA RELEASE

KING CHARLES III NOW ON AUSTRALIAN COINS

The first coins featuring the effigy of His Majesty King Charles III have now been manufactured by the Royal Australian Mint and released into circulation.

The first coins bearing the King’s effigy are the $1 circulating coin. The first batch of 3.5 million coins have been delivered to the banks and will now start appearing in cash registers across the country.

The remaining denominations of circulating coins will be released progressively in 2024, based on bank demand.

A variety of collector and investment coins bearing the King’s effigy are expected to be available for sale early next year.

CAN AMERICA LIVE UP TO THE AMERICAN DREAM?

SPEECH 

AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, CANBERRA

WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2023

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people on whose lands we're meeting today and acknowledge all First Nations people present.

I am honoured to have this invitation to address the members of the American Chamber of Commerce today. Founded in 1961, AmCham has a proud history of fostering stronger ties between our two countries. Fundamentally, commerce comes down to the interpersonal links between people. Your organisation is in good hands with CEO April Palmerlee, who not only has a strong commitment to the bilateral relationship, but also comes to the role with an impressive history of distance running. April has run ultramarathons in multiple countries, and organised running events: perfect training for getting business leaders to run towards a shared goal.

My focus today is on how the United States can live up to the American Dream. The best of America is on our screens and in our pockets. Hollywood, Silicon Valley and New York produce movies, devices and pharmaceuticals that are used the world over. Yet compared with other advanced countries, the United States ranks low on democracy and social mobility and high on inequality (Isaacs 2016; OECD 2023).  

Like many families, the influence of the United States can be seen in mine. My father, Michael Leigh, graduated from the University of Melbourne with an interest in southeast Asia. He was encouraged to undertake his PhD at Cornell University, where he wrote about government and business links in Malaysia. My Australian-born mother joined him, and they were married at Cornell’s chapel in 1967. They were in the United States in 1968, the year that Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated, and saw the racial reckoning shape life on the Cornell campus and beyond.

E&OE Transcript
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC CANBERRA DRIVE WITH ROSS SOLLY
TUESDAY, 5 DECEMBER 2023

SUBJECTS: Reserve Bank decisions; Cost of living support; Preventive detention

ROSS SOLLY: So, as you’ve been hearing in the news, the Reserve Bank today – no surprises – but they’ve decided to keep the interest rates on hold. I’m sure that’s going to be coming as a big relief for a lot of homeowners around the country and here in the national capital and surrounding districts.

Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh I’m sure is also quite relieved. He is just back from competing in a triathlon, in fact, in Western Australia – as you do. Minister, thanks for coming on the show.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CHARITIES, COMPETITION, EMPLOYMENT AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: A real pleasure, Ross. We don’t have Ironman triathlons in the national capital, which is why you’ve got to travel to get to them. But a wonderful event.

Ultramarathons and audiobooks go together like sushi and soy sauce. In a big running year, I’ve largely eschewed podcasts for audiobooks. Here’s some of the books I’d recommend. Most are new, but some are merely new to me. Within each category, I’ve mostly put my favourites at the top.

Economics

• Claudia Goldin, Career and Family – the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics writes masterfully about how the world has changed for women across the past century, blending together work and family, and drawing lightly on data and stories to tell the tale.
• Angus Deaton, Economics in America – in the tradition of Alistair Cooke, Angus Deaton has been writing a regular letter for UK economists. This book draws together much of that material, casting light on poverty in the US, the culture of the economics profession, and containing a beautiful tribute to the late Tony Atkinson.
• Matthew Desmond, Poverty, by America – the author of Evicted blends statistics and stories to dive deep into the failure of the world’s richest nation to address the problem of poverty.
• Bradford DeLong, Slouching Towards Utopia – the twentieth century has seen an explosion in material wealth… and inequality. A data-rich account of how the world has changed, and how we might do better still.
• Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington, The Big Con – consulting has its place, but the authors powerfully argue that it’s outgrown it. A book that preceded – and in some sense anticipated – the PwC scandal.
• Bradley Hope & Tom Wright, Billion Dollar Whale – the gobsmacking tale of Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal
• David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs – as an economist, I don’t buy the whole argument, but it’s well worth reading
• Judea Pearl, The Book of Why – this thoughtful discussion of causal inference contains insights for any social scientist involved in analysing data. A little too long, a little too dogmatic in parts – but brilliant nonetheless.

Politics

• Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox, Gradual – this compelling argument for gradual reform draws on examples of big reforms that started gradually (US social security). Big bang reforms, the authors argue, rarely work. Besides that, they aren’t what most voters seek.
• Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny – twenty lessons from the twentieth century about how to spot a burgeoning authoritarian, and what citizens can do to prevent the rise of tyranny.
• Paul Kenny, Why Populism? – one of the world’s academic experts in populism explores its troubling rise
• Philip McKibbin, Love Notes: For a Politics of Love – if there’s an antidote to angry populism, it’s the idea of a politics of love. Drawing on examples from Nelson Mandela to Māori culture, New Zealander Philip McKibbin sketches out what a politics of love might look like today.

Travel

• Adam Gopnik, Paris to the Moon – a wonderfully witty tale about writing and childrearing in the city of light
• Ari Shapiro – The Best Strangers in the World – so it turns out that Ari isn’t just a storytelling journalist, he’s also a singer for a major band (Pink Martini). Yes, I’m jealous. Yes, the book is fabulous.

E&OE Transcript
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC CANBERRA AFTERNOONS WITH LEON DELANEY
FRIDAY, 1 DECEMBER 2023

SUBJECTS: Productivity Commission interim report into philanthropy; Reform of tax deductions system for charity donations; House of Representatives Committee Report on Employment Services; Advanced manufacturing policy; Cost-of-living relief in MYEFO.

LEON DELANEY: Well, there's a lot going on in the Federal Parliament at the moment. I think there's only one more sitting week left to go. Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Assistant Minister for Employment, and local member for Fenner, Dr Andrew Leigh, good afternoon.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CHARITIES, COMPETITION, TREASURY AND EMPLOYMENT ANDREW LEIGH: Good afternoon, Leon. Great to be with you and your listeners.

DELANEY: I've got that right, haven't I? There's one more week to go.

LEIGH: There's a week for the Senate and a day for the House, an extra day to deal with any legislation that gets amended in the upper House.

2023 AUSTRALIAN IMPACT INVESTING AWARDS

Australian Impact Investment Awards, Sydney
Thursday 30 November 2023

Introduction 

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you and join in celebrating the Australian Impact Investing Awards. 

As you all know, your work today through impact investing creates vital opportunities to improve the lives of those who are disadvantaged in our community.

For this, I commend you, and congratulate today’s award recipients.

Recently, the Australian Government partnered with the New South Wales Government to trial an innovative homelessness intervention, called Foyer Central. 

This trial aims to provide accommodation and support services to young people exiting out of home care, or at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness in Sydney.