Andrew Leigh

Curtin University has just released the most comprehensive study of the Australian not-for-profit sector ever. The research tells us plenty that is useful about how the sector works. But if Kevin Andrews gets his way in scrapping the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, we'll lose that opportunity again.

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CHARITIES COMMISSION REVEALS MORE ABOUT NOT-FOR-PROFITS THAN EVER BEFORE

Thanks to the creation of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, we now know that the charity sector generates income of around $100 billion a year and employs over 900,000 Australians.

These findings are detailed in the first comprehensive report on what makes Australian charities tick, released today by Curtin University.

The report was made possible because in 2013 the charities commission began collecting Annual Information Statements from every registered not-for-profit detailing their finances and operations. 

I'm looking for a full-time electorate officer to join my team, working out of my electorate office in Braddon. The job entails lots of community engagement and solving local problems. In a typical day, you might be helping someone at the front counter with a Centrelink issue, assisting with a 2000-letter mailout, or arranging a community forum at the local football club. 

Fraser is not only the most populous electorate in Australia (with around 140,000 electors), but also one of the most engaged. One of the great things about Fraser is that people are keen to write in about issues big and small, from climate change to the local postbox. But it means that I need hardworking electorate staff to manage it all. 

The electorate team consists of 4 full-timers, plus a bevy of part-timers, volunteers and interns. There's a good sense of camaraderie, and it's a great way to help the community. 

If you're interested in grassroots politics, community organising and love Canberra, this job is likely to be a good fit. It won't involve policymaking or speechwriting, but a lot of writing, problem-solving, and digital engagement. 

The current incumbent is Damien Hickman, who is off to do great things with the National Rural Health Alliance. If you have queries about the job, you can call him on 6247 4396. 

The salary range is $48,017 to $64,532 (EO-A in the parliamentary jargon). 

Applications close Sunday 28 September. If you're interested, please send a covering letter, a CV and a writing sample (100-800 words) to [email protected]. 

The first day of the G20 finance ministers' meeting saw Joe Hockey engage in a pretty obvious attempt to pull the wool over our eyes about his (lack of) actions tackling multinational tax avoidance. Here's hoping the second day of negotiations today results in some real outcomes, not more bluster from the Treasurer.

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HOCKEY MISLEADING ON MULTINATIONAL TAX

Joe Hockey's G20 weekend is not off to a good start, with the Treasurer blatantly misrepresenting where Australia stands in the battle against multinational tax avoidance.

 

In a statement issued earlier today, Mr Hockey claimed that Australia has kicked off moves towards better financial transparency by committing to a 2017 start date for the Common Reporting Standard on banking information.

Over the weekend the G20 Finance Ministers will meet in Cairns to discuss multinational tax and profit shifting. This is an important opportunity for Treasurer Joe Hockey to show that he's serious about making major companies pay their fair share.

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THREE TESTS FOR JOE

When Joe Hockey emerges from the G20 Finance Ministers meeting on Sunday, he’ll be full of big talk about multinational profit shifting and tax avoidance.  

To date, the Treasurer’s only real action on multinational taxes has been to reopen the loopholes that Labor closed, gifting multinational tax companies tax breaks worth more than $1 billion.

So because we all know that Joe’s bluster dissolves faster than aspirin when any kind of scrutiny is applied, here’s three quick ways to tell if the Treasurer is simply spouting empty rhetoric yet again:   

The OECD has released an important report on action to tackle multinational profit shifting and tax avoidance. It's a welcome step forward, but now we need the Treasurer to step up and get its recommendations delivered both in Australia and around the world.

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OECD TAX PLAN MEANS CRUNCH TIME FOR HOCKEY

With the release overnight of a pioneering report on tackling multinational tax avoidance, it is time for Treasurer Joe Hockey to stop talking big and start taking real action.

The report outlines the first set of concrete multilateral initiatives to block base erosion and profit shifting. It has been prepared by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in consultation with representatives of more than 110 tax jurisdictions globally.

The release of these initiatives comes ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers meeting this weekend in Cairns. At that meeting Joe Hockey will have a much-needed opportunity to show he can deliver more than rhetoric when it comes to making major companies pay their fair share of tax.

To date, the Coalition’s only real actions on this have been to walk away from closing $1.1 billion in tax loopholes, and to stall on signing Australia up to new bank transparency measures.

There's been a lot of concern around recently about charity scams and 'front' not-for-profit groups which channel money to illegitimate purposes. It's a timely reminder that we need a central agency to monitor and regulate the charity sector.

Charity scammers prey on our goodwill, The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 16 September

THE charities had weighty names such as Friends of the Disabled Children’s Task Force, Friends of the Underprivileged Children’s Task Force and the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease of Australia Incorporated. Inspired by a deep sense of generosity, Australians donated more than a million dollars to them.

But it turned out that there wasn’t much evidence of that money going to the disadvantaged or needy. These charities have since been shut down.

All scammers are dodgy, but I’ve always regarded charity scammers as a particular form of low-life. While other scammers exploit greed, lust and ignorance, charity scammers prey on our goodwill. They take the great Aussie tradition of wanting to help the vulnerable, and use it to line their own pockets.

Today I've got an opinion piece in The Australian, supporting Chris Bowen's call for the independent Parliamentary Budget Office to be tasked with preparing budget forecasts and figures. 

The Coalition has already shown a worrying tendency to cook the nation's books, so it's time that power was taken out of the hands of governments altogether. 

Treasurer Joe Hockey trashes economic forecasts, The Australian, 16 September 

THEY called it “political monetary policy” — the tendency for interest rates to be cut in election years, fuelling a bubble that then had to be contained. In a series of important research papers in the late 1980s and early 90s, Harvard’s Alberto Alesina and co-authors showed that allowing politicians to set interest rates was causing a political business cycle.

Research such as this has underpinned the move across the developed world — including in Australia — to have interest rates set by independent central banks rather than by politicians.

Alesina argues that having an independent agency set interest rates and keep an eye on inflation brings two important benefits. First, independent central banks are less sensitive to sudden and short-term political pressures than elected governments. As a result, they tend to behave far more predictably — something that promotes economic stability. In particular, central banks have no incentive to manipulate monetary policy in the run-up to an election. They also don’t alter policy dramatically in the way that often happens after a change of government.

With news that Australian troops are headed back into Iraq, I joined Chris Hammer and Andrew Laming on Breaking Politics to talk about the humanitarian importance of their mission. Here's the transcript:

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

ONLINE INTERVIEW

FAIRFAX BREAKING POLITICS

MONDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2014

SUBJECT/S: Australian military involvement in Iraq; Joe Hockey dragging his feet on multinational tax avoidance; Indigenous affairs

CHRIS HAMMER: Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced that some 600 Australian military personnel will be deployed to the Middle East as part of a coalition combating ISIL in Iraq and Syria. Joining me to discuss that and other issues is Andrew Leigh, the Labor member for Fraser here in the ACT and also the Shadow Assistant Treasurer. And from Brisbane, Andrew Laming, the Liberal MP. Andrew Laming, where are you?

ANDREW LAMING, MEMBER FOR BOWMAN: I'm in the black swamp, the home of the famous flying foxes up here in Southeast Queensland so hopefully I won't be dodging any guano by flying foxes this morning.

HAMMER: Ok, Andrew Laming to you first: Australia is deploying troops to the Middle East, what do you understand their mission is and what do you understand the timetable is?

LAMING: Well it's very clear to everyone that ISIL is an emerging threat and that standing by and doing nothing will only guarantee the further movement of this group. I think Tony Abbott is absolutely right to commit Australia to this coalition; there is a reason for joining this coalition. We have high-level partners supporting us and finally there really are no voices proposing that we do anything else. I mean to sit by and allow what we're seeing in Northern Iraq to continue, we simply cannot contemplate that.

Despite trumpeting a newfound commitment to international banking transparency in today's papers, Joe Hockey is leaving Australia to lag behind other countries on tackling multinational tax avoidance. Here's my thoughts on what he needs to do ahead of this week's G20 Finance Ministers meeting in Cairns:

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HOCKEY STILL HEDGING ON INTERNATIONAL BANK TRANSPARENCY 

Treasurer Joe Hockey must clarify whether Australia is joining the Early Adopter Group of nations tackling multinational profit shifting, following news he has seen sense on signing Australia up to international bank transparency measures.

After months of stalling and pussy-footing, Mr Hockey has finally confirmed that Australia will implement the Common Reporting Standard on financial account information. The standard is an important measure for cracking down on international tax avoidance. It allows authorities to automatically exchange information about the contents of company and individual bank accounts held overseas.

Labor has repeatedly called for Australia to join a group of more than 40 Early Adopter nations which will start preparations to implement the standard in 2016.

At the moment there is a public appeal underway to raise funds for a National Peacekeeping Memorial on Anzac Parade, in my electorate of Fraser. Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to join servicemen and women from across Australia at the future site of that memorial to mark the 67th anniversary of Australian peacekeeping.

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67th ANNIVERSARY OF AUSTRALIAN PEACEKEEPING

Today, Australians came together at the future site of the national Peacekeeping Memorial on Anzac Parade in Canberra to celebrate the servicemen and women who have helped foster peace and stability overseas.

14 September marks the 67^th anniversary of the departure of the first contingent of Australian peacekeepers.

On this date, we pay tribute to the service of the tens of thousands of Australians who have since served overseas in fragile nations like Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands and Sudan.