Labor will work in the national interest - Sky AM Agenda
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY AM AGENDA
MONDAY, 11 JULY 2016
SUBJECT/S: Budget equity; Corporate tax cuts; Marriage equality; Federal election result; Gough Whitlam’s 100th birthday.
KIERAN GIBERT: With me now, Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh. Good morning to you. The results are now done, I want to ask you first of all about this message from both leaders yesterday about the need to have a more constructive Parliament It seems very much in the national interest to do that and to have that. Particularly where the budget is right now. How do you make that sit with your message yesterday that the Labor Party has a mandate as well in some respects after the election?
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: We absolutely do Kieran. As you well know, what a mandate means is that you need to after the election what you said you'd do beforehand. The Prime Minister's mandate for example means that he has pledged before the election but no one will pay more to go to a GP. He now needs to deliver on that after the election.
Read moreLooking for a New Electorate Staffer
I'm looking for a full-time electorate staff member to join my team, working out of my electorate office (currently in Braddon, but slated to move northwards sometime in the next year).
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 5000-letter mailout, or arranging a community forum at the local football club. A more detailed rundown of tasks is at the end of this ad.
Read moreAustralians wanted positive policies not three word slogans - Sky AM Agenda
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY AM AGENDA
TUESDAY, 5 JULY 2016
SUBJECT/S: 2016 election; AAA credit rating; Labor’s positive plans for the economy.
KIERAN GILBERT: This is AM Agenda, with me now is Labor Frontbencher, Andrew Leigh. Andrew Leigh thanks for your time. Do you think Labor is still a chance of forming Government here?
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Absolutely, Kieran. Still the underdogs, still a longshot but you can see us coming home in a Leicester City finish here.
GILBERT: Did it frustrate you though that there was talk of Labor leadership on the Sunday? Clearly Mr Albanese was asked yesterday do you intend to challenge and he said no. So it has been shut down now, but the fact that that emerged on Sunday must have been frustrating given how Bill Shorten has proved so many people wrong in his performance in this election?
LEIGH: Kieran I think the only problem that Bill Shorten is going to have when he walks into the next room of Labor supporters is getting the applause to die down so he can speak. He has performed an extraordinary feat. It's like landing Juno on Jupiter what he has managed to pull off over the last three years. Getting us to work as a united team, putting the positive policies up and showing that what Australians really want is a political party with a plan rather than with a three word slogan.
Read moreLABOR'S POSITIVE PLAN FOR THE ACT - Media Release
SENATOR KATY GALLAGHER
SENATOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
DR ANDREW LEIGH MP
MEMBER FOR FRASER
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR FENNER
GAI BRODTMANN MP
MEMBER FOR CANBERRA
DAVID SMITH
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR THE SENATE IN THE ACT
LABOR DELIVERING FOR CANBERRA THIS ELECTION
Labor believes that a smart nation needs a smart capital. A Shorten Labor Government will deliver for the ACT.Labor’s plans for the ACT demonstrates our commitment to a growing, vibrant Australia.
In contrast, the Abbott-Turnbull Government’s commitment to a $50 billion tax cut for large companies will not deliver jobs or growth for Canberra.
Read moreMedicare privatisation will hurt low and middle income Australian households - Sky NewsDay
PETER VAN ONSELEN: As promised, I am joined now by Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Dr Andrew Leigh live from the nation's capital, thanks for joining me. Do you reckon it's tricky to describe the biggest faux pas of the campaign in your National Press Club talk as Malcolm Turnbull is saying that politicians don't always do what they say when the next sentence that followed that was him talking about the Labor Party and not about himself? ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Peter as you know, Malcolm Turnbull was referring to parties, plural, and it did come from a political party which promised no cuts to health, no cuts to education and no cuts to ABC and SBS and basically then treated that as a to do list over the course of the last few years. We've seen a party that promised that the budget would be in surplus in their first year and every year after that. |
Reforming fine and penalty processes to make offenders pay - Labor Herald
Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh argues there is a better way for governments to manage the onerous, expensive and often self-defeating process of jailing people who fail to pay their fines.
Reforming fine and penalty processes to make offenders pay
Imagine if you owed the government money, and to teach you a lesson, the government decided to spend a few thousand dollars on you.
Wouldn’t make much sense, would it? Yet right now, that’s happening across Australia, with states and territories spending up to $770 per day per offender locking up people for unpaid fines.
Sentencing fine defaulters to time in prison puts unnecessary strains on government budgets and the community. Law-abiding taxpayers have to pony up to build and maintain prisons.
Read moreFive minutes with Andrew Leigh - HerCanberra
As the Federal Election looms, each party will spend the next few days frony and centre in the media spotlight trying to win your vote.
But beneath all the noise, what exactly is being promised to Canberra and in particular, Canberra women? Ahead of the election, Laura Peppas caught up with Federal member for the seat of Fraser, Andrew Leigh, to find out which issues he will be focusing on if he is successful.
What do you think are the most pressing issues for women in this election?
I think healthcare is number one for many Australians; making sure we’ve got a strong and accessible healthcare system, that you can see your GP when you need to and that you don’t have long wait times for elective surgery. As a father of three boys, I’ve spent my fair share of time sitting in emergency rooms worrying about seeing a doctor when you need to. I’m aware just talking to families in the electorate, of how important public accessible healthcare is for people.
Read moreAustralians need a Government that isn't hiding a corporate tax giveaway in 10 years time - ABC NewsRadio
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC NEWSRADIO
WEDNESDAY, 29 JUNE 2016
SUBJECT/S: The Turnbull Government’s fantasy costings; Marriage equality.
MARIUS BENSON, HOST: Andrew Leigh, good morning.
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning, Marius.
BENSON: A pretty healthy bottom line from Scott Morrison yesterday. A billion out, but more than $2 billion back.
LEIGH: Over the first four years, Marius, the difference between the two parties is 0.2 per cent of GDP in terms of deficit. But if you are looking at the structural deficit, if you are looking over the medium term, that is when the real difference emerges. The Government's company tax cut costs $14 billion in the tenth year, and our changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount make $8 billion to the budget. So while the Government has a stick of dynamite with a long fuse blowing out the budget in the tenth year, Labor has sensible savings that build over time. And that is why our budget plan isn't just better for the bottom line, it's also better for Australia.
Read moreThe political art of living together - Canberra Chronicle
Doing Democracy Decently
Scientist, historian and philosopher, the Greek thinker Aristotle had a rare ability to cut through complexity.
Politics, he said, is the art of working out how to live together. It’s as simple and as difficult as that.
In this final week of the campaign, it’s useful to remember that elections aren’t just about choosing a government. They’re also a chance to have a conversation about where we want to go as a nation.
The job of nation-building in Australia isn’t finished. It didn’t end with Chifley, Menzies or Whitlam. Australia is a work in progress. Each of us has the responsibility to build a better nation, for the brief time we have available to us.
Read moreLabor’s positive plans for the budget - Sky News Transcript
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY NEWSDAY
MONDAY, 27 JUNE 2016
SUBJECT/S: Brexit; Labor’s positive plans for the budget.
PETER VAN ONSELEN, HOST: Thanks very much for your company. As promised, I'm joined now by the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh, live from the nation's capital. Thanks for your company.
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure, Peter, great to be with you.
VAN ONSELEN: Let me ask you, before we get to domestic matters, the once great Britain, what does this exit vote mean for the island nation?
LEIGH: Peter, it is pretty bleak for the European Union and for Britain itself. Britain is a sixth of the European Union so this is as if Florida and California had just voted to leave the United States. It will leave Britain focused much more inward and the risk for Australia is rising tendencies towards populism and protectionism on both sides of the Atlantic now. You look over at the United States and the Republican frontrunner there looks quite similar in some ways to the person who might well become the next Prime Minister of Great Britain. Both of whom have more than a passing similarity to Australia's Deputy Prime Minister.
Read more