Andrew Leigh

EMPOWERING CONSUMERS AND SMALL BUSINESSES THROUGH A DESIGNATED COMPLAINTS FUNCTION

As part of the Albanese Government’s Better Competition election commitment, consumer and small business advocates will be empowered to raise systemic complaints within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) from July 2024. 

Currently there is no formal mechanism for consumer or small business advocacy groups to lodge complaints, to which the ACCC is obligated to respond. 

The Designated Complaints function will enable consumer and small business advocacy groups to submit a complaint to the ACCC where they have strong evidence of systemic market issues under the consumer law.

Condolence Motion Allan Gyngell
House of Representatives, 11 May 2023

Allan Gyngell was one of Australia's greatest public servants. He was happy to be a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's famous class of 1969, alongside Sandy Holloway, Rick Smith and John Dauth.

I first met Allan 30 years after that, in 1999. I was the Labor Party's trade adviser, reaching out to experts on behalf of my boss, Senator Peter Cook. As a 27-year-old staffer I was just the conduit for the shadow trade minister, but Allan took an interest in me and helped mentor me in my career. I'm not sure I ever knew anyone so influential yet so modest.

Condolence Motion John Kerin
House of Representatives, 11 May 2023

The last public event that I did with John Kerin was to introduce him as the guest of honour at ACT Labor's dinner celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Whitlam government at the Canberra Labor Club in December 2022.

John was physically frail but intellectually lively, and he told the stories of serving with Gough. And what better person to regale the dinner than a man whose first stint in federal parliament had coincided exactly with the Whitlam government? Elected in 1972 as member for Macarthur and unelected in 1975. At least his dismissal was by the voters. When John returned to parliament in 1978 it was as Gough Whitlam's successor as member for Werriwa. John won a three-way preselection contest and served the people of Werriwa until 1993.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS AFTERNOON AGENDA WITH KIERAN GILBERT
THURSDAY, 11 MAY 2023

SUBJECTS: Federal budget, inflation, migration, Opposition Budget reply.

KIERAN GILBERT (HOST): Now the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Dr. Andrew Leigh is an economist by trade. I spoke to him earlier and I asked him whether he thinks this week's Budget would make the inflation challenge worse.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Can you imagine, Kieran, as a Labor Government if we hadn't dealt with some of these cost of living pressures right now? You know there's people doing it really tough and I think it would -

Joint Press Conference with
Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher
Minister for Finance
Minister for Women
Minister for Public Service

Alicia Payne MP
Member for Canberra

David Smith MP
Member for Bean

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
ACT LABOR PRESS CONFERENCE
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
WEDNESDAY, 10 MAY 2023

SUBJECTS: 2023/24 Budget; Investments in Canberra; Income support; Housing affordability; Bulk billing; APS jobs

SENATOR THE HON KATY GLLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE:  Okay, well thanks for coming everyone. This is a really strong Budget for Canberra. Obviously a lot of the key measures in the Budget will flow through to Canberrans, so support around energy relief, the investments in Medicare, the cost of living package will flow through. Importantly, there's a couple of other areas that are really strong for Canberra which is the announcement around our National Cultural Institutions, over $600 million flowing into the ACT to deal with a decade of delay and of neglect and under resourcing and underinvestment in those important institutions. That was one of the key things that all of us as federal members in the ACT wanted to see. And indeed, it was one of the top issues that the Chief Minister had raised with me around areas he wanted to see further investment from the Commonwealth. The other area is in the public service. It's our big employer in town. So what happens to the public service matters to this city because a lot of the small businesses and other industry that's located in Canberra is linked to the strength of the public service. So in the last couple of Budgets we have addressed again, a decade of neglect from the former government, of under-resourcing, of underinvestment and that significantly impacted on services, not just to people in the ACT, but around the country. So in these two Budgets in October, and in May, you'll see that we've fixed up some of those issues around lack of staffing. We're addressing some of the conversion issues from contractors and labour hire back into permanent workers in the APS. And we're making sure that key service delivery agencies, many of them located here, actually have the money to do the work that the people of Australia need them to do. Whether it's processing passports, visas, looking after veterans, or supporting pensioners with their engagement with Services Australia and Centrelink. And so this matters to Canberra, it matters to Australia, but we've taken a really responsible approach to the APS and that will have significant impact on Canberra's economy. I might hand to my colleagues now and they'll make a few statements and then happy to take questions.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC 1206 AM CANBERRA WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO
WEDNESDAY, 10 MAY 2023

SUBJECTS: Structural deficit in the budget, funding for cultural institutions, changes to prescription fees, raising JobSeeker, increasing wages for aged care workers.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO (HOST): Morning. As we've been discussing all morning, last night Jim Chalmers handed down his -  well, he's calling it his second Budget, but let's be honest, it's the first real Budget for this Labor Government. To talk to us about it is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, and the Member for Fenner, Andrew Leigh. Andrew, good morning.

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

CENATIEMPO: The first surplus in 15 years. On the face of it, sounds like a good thing, but it doesn't really address the structural deficit. We go back into deficit next year and for the foreseeable future.

LEIGH: That's right, Stephen. So, there's a significant structural issue to be dealt with, and clearly, in one or two Budgets, we're not able to deal with the problems that have built up over nine years of Coalition misrule. But it is a welcome sign to be back in surplus, or the projected surplus that we've got. And that's largely off the back of better employment figures and better wage figures than we'd been anticipating. More Australians are in work and Australian's wages starting to rise. So, that's a really welcome story for the economy as a whole flowing through to the Budget.

Choosing Openness – Key to Future Prosperity

Munhwa Ilbo – 2 May 2023

None of us make our own running shoes, fix our own teeth, or build our own cars. We gain from living in societies where people specialise in what they do best, and work together to produce complex goods and services. So too it makes sense for the relations between countries that the free flow of goods and services has made people around the world healthier, wealthier, and wiser. From 2 May, in Incheon, the Board of Governors at the Asian Development Bank’s 56^th Annual Meeting are discussing these issues around “economic openness”. This year’s theme is ‘Rebounding Asia’, and member countries will be looking for the best way forward to rebound from the global economic downturn.

Choosing openness in the international economy

The Lowy Institute, 2 May 2023

The Covid pandemic was good for isolationists and xenophobes, and bad for globalisers and internationalists. Yet since the agricultural revolution, one of the keys to prosperity has been specialisation. None of us make our own running shoes, fix our own teeth, or build our own cars. We gain from living in societies where people specialise in what they do best, and work together to produce complex goods and services.

So too it makes sense for countries to specialise and encourage global commerce. The free flow of goods and services has the potential to make people around the world healthier, wealthier and wiser.

For medium-sized economies the benefits of specialisation are all around us. Hospitals are packed with imported products, from machines to vaccines. Much of what is sold in modern supermarkets comes from overseas. Trade brings new ideas and challenges local firms to serve their customers well.

Choosing Openness: How Regional Partnerships Boost Economic Dynamism
Yonsei University, Seoul
Tuesday, 2 May 2023

Introduction

Thank you to the Institute of East and West Studies at Yonsei University for inviting me to speak here today.

And to all attending students, thank you for coming along to listen.

I am honoured to be representing the Treasurer as Australia’s Governor to the Asian Development Bank for its 56th annual meeting of the Board of Governors.

It is a pleasure to be making my first visit to the Republic of Korea. Not just because my wife and I compulsively watched Squid Game. And not only because our three boys hope that their dad will return from South Korea fully ‘Gangnam Style’. They’re also hoping I’ll snap a selfie with NewJeans – whose performance at the Asian Development Bank reception will show the VIPs who the real VIPs are. OMG indeed.

In Australia, the cultural influence of the Korean Wave (Hallyu) is phenomenal.

In fact, South Korea’s cultural importance is on par with its economic importance to Australia.

Our bilateral relationship is underpinned by a shared vision for an open, prosperous and resilient Asia-Pacific region.

South Korea is Australia's fourth-largest two-way trading partner and third-largest export market (DFAT 2023).

Growing our economic, trade and investment ties with South Korea is a key priority for the Australian Government. 

We operate under a free trade agreement, which I will discuss later in more detail.

We also benefit from the Australia–Korea Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which is a program of enhanced bilateral cooperation under three pillars – strategic and security; economic, innovation and technology; and people-to-people exchange.

ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK MEETING IN REPUBLIC OF KOREA

I leave today for the Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Incheon, Republic of Korea.

It is vital that Australia is well represented at this important meeting for the Asia-Pacific region as we prepare to hand down the Budget next week.

Economic conditions are challenging throughout the world, including here in our own neighbourhood. Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine, a worsening food crisis and extreme weather events all threaten the region’s post-COVID recovery.