Andrew Leigh

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TV INTERVIEW

SKY AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 8 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: Banking Royal Commission; Chinese bids for Ausgrid

KIERAN GILBERT: Andrew Leigh thanks very much for your time. The Treasurer says that the ongoing call by Labor for a Royal Commission is a populist whinge. He has also raised concerns that this could have unforeseen certain impacts in terms of our financial system. Are you cognoscente of the international reputation that we might be gaining from your calls for a Royal Commission here?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Kieran, like those Japanese soldiers who fought on past the end of World War II, I suspect Scott Morrison will be the last man fighting against a Royal Commission into the banks. The fact is, Australians want this. They've seen too many scandals, Storm, Trio, Westpoint and the rest. They've seen too many instances in which Australian banks have fallen short of the high standards we set for them. And that's why a Royal Commission is appropriate. Not just to look at particular breaches and have them aired, but also to look systematically - in a way that the current regulators can't – at whether we need to update our regulatory settings. 

Here's what some economic modelling has in common with the tobacco industry

It’s the sort of scenario Mad Men would slyly mock – advertising with handsome doctors extolling the health benefits of smoking. Today, the battleground isn’t lung cancer, its economics. Just as past generations had to battle those who spread confusion about cigarettes, today’s voters have to fight a manufactured smokescreen about economic reform.

Let’s look at how we got here.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

FIVEAA MORNINGS WITH LEON BYNER

FRIDAY, 5 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: Royal Commission into the banks; Competition policy.

LEON BYNER: Andrew Leigh, thanks for joining us today.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: It’s a pleasure, Leon.

BYNER: Has Labor worked out the terms of reference of its proposed Royal Commission into the banks?

LEIGH: It’s for the Government to set the terms of reference Leon, but we've been strongly urging them to do it. We believe there’s a range of issues which a Royal Commission could appropriately explore and that out of that could come a more ethical and a stronger banking sector than we have today. We need to take account of the fact that Australia has seen a whole range of problems in the financial sector. Timbercorp, Great Southern, Gunns, Storm, Trio, Westpoint, insider trading scandals within the NAB and the ANZ, bank bill-swap rates – there's just been too many of these incidents to write them off as ‘bad apples’.

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PRESS CONFERENCE

MURAL HALL, PARLIAMENT HOUSE

THURSDAY, 4 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 census

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: We’re now five days out from the Census, and many Australians are concerned about the Government's decision to increase the period for which names and addresses are kept from eighteen months to four years. Labor's been asking the simple question: who's responsible for the Census?

Finally, late yesterday, we got an answer. Michael McCormack fronted a shambolic press conference at 5pm yesterday afternoon. And instead of offering Australians answers and reassurances, he gave them a litany of excuses.  

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC RN DRIVE

TUESDAY, 2 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: Reserve Bank interest rates cut; Australia’s economic outlook; Medicare campaign; Royal commission into the banks; 2016 Census.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer. Welcome back to RN Drive.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks Patricia, great to be with you.

KARVELAS: Is the Treasurer right? We need to drive investment in this country don't we? 

LEIGH: We certainly do, Patricia. But the question is, how best to achieve that? As you've noted, the RBA cash rate has today been cut to the lowest level ever. Well below what the then Treasurer Hockey once described as "emergency levels". And that's partly because Australia along with many other countries in the world is facing extremely low inflation.

We've got sluggish demand right across the economy which is really struggling to make this transition out of the mining boom. The question then is what do you do about that? Because I think increasingly people are starting to wonder whether monetary policy has lost some of its bite. Maybe with more people relying on saving, there has been less of an impact of an interest rates cut. So that means again you don't want to have a Government which is turning away from investments in infrastructure and education and putting all of their eggs into the company tax cut basket.

WILL THE MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CENSUS

PLEASE STAND UP?

With just six days left until the Census, it is time that the responsible minister stands up.

The Government must explain the changes it has made to increase the period for which names and addresses are retained, and whether it has provided adequate resources to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

This is now a first order issue for the Turnbull Government. Since 1911, the integrity of the Census has never been so threatened as it is now. Any flaws in the delivery or response to the Census will be the Turnbull Government’s responsibility.

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TELEVISION INTERVIEW

ABC NEWS 24

MONDAY, 1 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 census; Reserve Bank interest rates.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: In just over a week, 24 million Australians will be accounted for in the Census. This is the first time the vast majority of census forms will be filled out online. The Bureau of Statistics will also be allowed to keep personal information, like names and addresses, for up to four years. Labor's Shadow Treasurer Andrew Leigh is arguing that the Government should be doing more to explain the process and the privacy protections that go with them. He's been talking to national affairs correspondent, Greg Jennett.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER:  I think it makes sense, Greg. We're doing many more things online and it reduces the person power required by census-takers in big cities, so they can deploy more of those resources into remote areas. And particularly in counting homeless Australians. Homelessness is a huge policy issue, so we need to be making sure there are enough talented census numerators engaging with the homeless population on census night.

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TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS KARVELAS

SUNDAY, 31 JULY 2016

SUBJECT/S: UN Secretary General; Northern Territory juvenile detention Royal Commission; Herbert result; 2016 Census.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Joining me now is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh from the Labor side of politics. Welcome to the program.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks Patricia, and as a fellow parent, happy Harry Potter day.

KARVELAS: Harry Potter day is indeed an exciting moment. Just on some news that's dominating this weekend, Kevin Rudd has released letters. He says show the Prime Minister had supported his candidacy for the UN Secretary General before ultimately refusing to back him. Doesn't that prove he wasn't up for the job? Why would you release these confidential letters?

LEIGH: Patricia let's go back to first principles. Australia has a history of former leaders being supported by governments of different political stripes. The Hawke Government supported Malcolm Fraser's bid to be head of the Commonwealth, the Howard Government supported senior parliamentarian Gareth Evans' bid to be head of UNESCO. And in government, the Rudd and Gillard Governments both made appointments of senior Liberals to important diplomatic posts including people like Brendan Nelson. So I do think that tradition is in danger now from a Government which seems to put partisan politics before the national interest. Kevin Rudd is eminently well qualified for a range of international posts. And the Government's decision not only to slap him down but to reject Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is a dangerous omen for where the Government is going.

JUST BECAUSE THE TURNBULL GOVERNMENT HAS MESSED UP,

DON’T SPOIL THE CENSUS

The Turnbull Government has botched explaining changes to the upcoming Census, leading to significant community confusion and concern.

But Labor urges all Australians to complete their Census forms accurately so that the Government’s failings do not mar our largest national information-gathering exercise.   

The Turnbull Government has extended from 18 months to four years the length of time that names and addresses collected in the 2016 Census will be retained by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Extraordinarily, there seems to be some confusion within the Government about which Minister is responsible for the Census. Treasurer Scott Morrison and Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer have left the task of explaining this change solely to the Australian Bureau of Statistics – which is already busy enough without having to do their jobs as well.

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION AND PRODUCTIVITY

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CHARITIES AND NOT-FOR-PROFITS

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE IN SERVICES

 MEMBER FOR FENNER

GAI BRODTMANN MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CYBER SECURITY AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL

MEMBER FOR CANBERRA

Andrew Leigh, the first Federal Member for Fenner, attended the Australian Electoral Commission’s Canberra office today to accept the formal declaration of the poll for the redrawn and renamed seat formerly known as Fraser.

“I feel deeply honoured to be representing the people of Canberra’s northside for another three years, and I thank them for the trust they continue to place in me,” Dr Leigh said.