Andrew Leigh

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION AND PRODUCTIVITY

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE IN SERVICES

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CHARITIES AND NOT-FOR-PROFITS

MEMBER FOR FENNER

CATRYNA BILYK

CHAIR OF THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON CHARITY FUNDRAISING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

SENATOR FOR TASMANIA

COALITION DELAYS DRAIN CHARITIES’ FUNDS AWAY

The Coalition is costing the nation’s charities millions of dollars by failing to update Australia’s outdated fundraising laws.

As Justice Connect’s Sue Woodward notes, “We still have regulations that talk about collection tins on poles that date back to collecting from people in horse-drawn carriages. Obviously this is ridiculous.”

At the same time, our patchwork of state and territory laws doesn’t properly recognise the existence of the internet and mobile phones.

Most important, Australia lacks uniform national fundraising laws. Charities who raise money online are placed in the invidious position of either spending a week doing the paperwork to register in every state and territory, or just registering locally, and hoping they don’t get caught.

Labor established the Senate Select Committee on Charity Fundraising in the 21^st Century because we want to work with charities, not against them.

LABOR AGAIN LEADING ON POLICY, WHILE THE COALITION PERFORM BACKFLIPS

Labor is again leading the policy discussion with the Coalition today scrambling to catch up on taxpayer appeal reforms we announced in August.

Last Wednesday, Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert said he was happy with the tax office’s processes in dealing with appeals:

“…Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert is satisfied with the ATO's reforms.” (Australian Financial Review, 24 October 2018)

Today, Mr Robert says:

“There are some things we are going to do in terms of looking at better ways for taxpayers to sit down with the Tax Office.”

 ASIC TO LOOK INTO STUART ROBERT

Labor welcomes confirmation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that it will make a new series of inquiries into Stuart Robert’s directorships.

The inquiry follows media reports that Mr Robert’s resignation as a director of Cryo Australia only occurred after media inquiries, rather than testimony he gave parliament, and examine whether he was in breach of the Corporations Act.

The public deserve to know that everything has been done to ensure that he has done no wrong, particularly since the allegations surrounding his involvement as a director of companies would fall under his responsibilities as the Government Minister in charge of monitoring companies and their directors.

CHARITY COMMISSIONER’S COMMENTS REFLECT AN OUT-OF-TOUCH GOVERNMENT

Labor is saddened by the most recent comments by the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits commissioner Gary Johns.

The revelations have come last night in evidence before Senate Estimates, where the Commissioner publicly confirmed he still holds troubling views about charities, welfare recipients and indigenous mothers.

SENATOR MCALLISTER: Dr Johns, you've previously argued that people on government allowances should be required to take contraception. You've described Indigenous mothers as cash cows, attacked Indigenous charities and criticised Beyondblue. Have you done anything to dispel any perception of bias that might have arisen from those previous public comments?

JOHNS: No and I don't need to as the commissioner.

FEDERATION CHAMBER, 24 OCTOBER 2018

National apologies are a point for a country to look at its past through the harsh eye of the present, and to own up to the wrongdoings of current or past generations. We think of the moment when Britain apologised for the killing of protesters on Bloody Sunday, when the United States apologised for its internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, when the Papacy apologised for the persecution of Galileo, when Japan apologised for its treatment of comfort women and, of course, when Australia apologised for the treatment of the stolen generations.

These are not a moment in which the hurt goes away and in which all the harm is suddenly absolved by dint of an apology, but they are crucial moments for a nation to own up to its past and to say, 'We did the wrong thing and we will endeavour to do better in the future.' That's what this House is doing with this apology today to the victims of childhood sexual abuse by institutions.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

CANBERRA

WEDNESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2018

SUBJECTS: The Coalition’s war on charities.

Good morning. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Minister for Charities and Not-for-Profits. This week is Charity Fraud Awareness Week, and there’s been no bigger fraud perpetrated on the charities of Australia than the appointment of a charities critic to head the charities commission.

Let's not remember just in the hours after Australia was celebrating the historic same sex marriage vote, the Coalition snuck out the fact that they were appointing Gary Johns to head the charities commission. Gary Johns is somebody who has a history as a charities critic.  He’s attacked the Indigenous charity Recognise, the mental health charity Beyond Blue. He’s criticised the ability of environmental charities to advocate and called for the repeal of the Charities Act 2013, which would throw Australian charities law back to the 1600s.

Under this government, we've seen an ongoing war on charities - attacks on environmental charities, social services charities, legal charities working to help the most vulnerable. We've seen from the Coalition six different ministers responsible for the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission. We've seen this prompt two open letters to the Prime Minister from the sector, complaining about the way in which they've been treated.

It's time to crack down on phoenix activity in Australia

The Canberra Times, 24 October 2018

When Megan was seven years old, her dad lost his job.

The factory where he worked closed and his full time job suddenly vanished, along with any payouts he may have been entitled to.

Megan told me that she loved her childhood with her father. Not having to work meant he could walk her to school every day and help her organise her toys.

To her, there was nothing wrong – but it was a different story for her parents.

Looking back as an adult, Megan realised the walks to and from school were because her family could no longer afford the petrol. They weren’t helping her organise her toys for pleasure - it was a way to sell some to pay household bills.

COALITION UNCOOPERATIVE OVER COOPERATIVES AND MUTUALS REFORMS

Almost two years after Labor unveiled our policy on the co-operative and mutual sector, and almost a year after the Coalition said they would back the reforms, the Morrison Government is still yet to draft all the necessary legislation.

In November 2016, we announced that a Shorten Labor Government would amend the Corporations Act to define mutual enterprises and implement reforms to facilitate new financial instruments for member-owned firms such as credit unions, building societies, insurance providers, and mutuals such as motoring societies.

Labor’s cooperatives and mutuals reforms will promote ethical competition and productivity, as well as encouraging social investment and the well-being of workers and small businesses.

Maths fun factor is highly probable

The Chronicle, 23 October 2018

‘Maths explains why a sunflower’s seeds spiral in the way they do, maths explains the sprawling shape of a river delta meeting the ocean, and maths explains why bees around the world build their honeycombs in such a perfectly hexagonal arrangement.’

Eddie Woo has been called the Kim Kardashian of Australian maths teaching. With more than 400,000 followers to his ‘WooTube’ channel, he specialises in making maths fun.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS AGENDA

MONDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2018

SUBJECTS: The Coalition loss in Wentworth, New Zealand resettlement offer, Kevin Rudd.

KIERAN GILBERT: Let's bring in now the shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh and Andrew it has been a long time coming, this apology, and of course I guess the process started under Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: It's a really important moment, Kieran, for the survivors to be told ‘we believe you’ and to hopefully begin that process of healing. But we will be judged not just by our words, but also on our actions, and it is vital that we implement the findings of the Royal Commission in full.

LAURA JAYES: Andrew Leigh, can I ask you about the results out of Wentworth now? Are there any lessons for Labor here because I note that your primary vote was only around the 9,000 mark - the Greens were only 2,000 behind.

LEIGH: Labor voters were following the strategy that Scott Morrison outlined for them in his press conferences the week before the by-election. He said it was important that Labor didn't come third because that'd give Kerryn Phelps the best chance of winning. Labor voters heard that message and many of them would have put Kerryn Phelps ahead of Tim Murray in order to make sure that the conservatives for the first time since Federation didn't hold this seat.