Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC CANBERRA BREAKFAST WITH ADAM SHIRLEY
FRIDAY, 16 FEBRUARY 2024

SUBJECTS: Improving competition, increasing bulk billing in the ACT.

ADAM SHIRLEY, HOST: The Member for Fenner and he's also the Assistant Minister to the Treasury, Andrew Leigh, a very good morning to you.

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

SHIRLEY: I might ask you about your view on that, given, you know, numbers and, you know, Canberra and its low bulk billing rates from a practical perspective. But one thing that does matter, and it does matter a lot, is the role of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and whether it can crack down on dodgy, potentially corrupt, or at least behaviour that is against the spirit of competition. What is the new tool that consumers or businesses might have to bring their case, their concern, to the ACCC?

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC DRIVE WITH LEON DELANEY
THURSDAY, 15 FEBRUARY 2024

SUBJECTS: Improving competition, right to disconnect, unemployment, inflation.

LEON DELANEY, HOST: Joining me now, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury, Employment and pretty much everything else and our local member here in the seat of Fenner, Dr Andrew Leigh. Good afternoon.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARTIES, TREASURY AND EMPLOYMENT ANDREW LEIGH: Good afternoon, Leon. Great to be with you and your listeners.

DELANEY: Well, thanks for joining us today. What does it mean, this empowerment of consumers and small businesses act?

LEIGH: We've been doing a lot on the competition front, raising penalties for anti-competitive conduct, banning unfair contract terms, setting up the Competition Taskforce, and the next brick in that wall is a reform which will ensure that designated consumer and small business advocates will be able to bring systemic misconduct to the attention of the competition watchdog and have it dealt with. Right now, a complaint that's raised by a peak body is treated the same as every other complaint that comes through. This designated complaints power, which exists in other countries, will ensure that those systemic issues can be brought forward by consumer and small business advocates and get an answer within 90 days.

Competition And Consumer Amendment (Fair Go For Consumers And Small Business) Bill 2024
Second Reading Speech
House of Representatives, Thursday 15 February 2024

One of the summer's box office hits is Wonka—the prequel to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Without giving too much away, it's the tale of how Willy Wonka takes on the chocolate cartel of Slugworth, Fickelgruber and Prodnose.

Between them, the cartel controls the chocolate market. Prices are kept high. Innovators are kept out. Big chocolate has the police in its pocket, and is willing to use every bitter trick to preserve its sweet control over the market.

Joint Media Release with
Julie Collins MP
Minister for Housing
Minister for Homelessness
Minister for Small Business

IMPROVING COMPETITION BY EMPOWERING CONSUMERS AND SMALL BUSINESSES

Consumer and small business advocates will now have special powers to raise significant and systemic issues with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for investigation.

As part of its Better Competition election commitment, the Albanese Government is introducing legislation to establish a new designated complaints function within the ACCC.

National Multicultural Festival
Constituency Statements, House of Representatives
Wednesday, 14th of February 2024 

Canberra's multicultural story goes back to the 1940s, when skilled migrants flocked to the capital region to work on the Snowy Mountains Scheme. When Canberra Week began in 1977, it starred Al Grassby, the godfather of Australian multiculturalism, and honoured the First Nations and migrant communities. The National Multicultural Festival began in 1996 and has become our city 's largest festival, drawing support from volunteers in the diplomatic corps.

This weekend Canberra will celebrate the National Multicultural Festival, the event made possible by the dedication of numerous communities. I want to acknowledge some of the unsung heroes today: Andrew Yan and Robert Feng from the Chinese showcase; Jo Chivers and Duncan Smith from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander showcase; Toa Takiari and Elena Sione from the Pacific Islander showcase; Deepak Raj Gupta from India in the City; Tracy Dennis from the European village; George Karkazis from Greek Glendi; Lauren Harvey from Contact Canberra; Gonzales Olmos from Latin American Quarters; Bianca Abreu from Latin American embassies; Trevlyn Gilmour and Alicia Doherty from the USA showcase; Brooke Thomas from the belly-dancing showcase; Charles Koker from the African village; Malcolm Buchanan from the Celtic Irish showcase; Jacqui Dillon and Mandy Scott from community languages; Franco Papandrea from the Italian community; Suren Deonarain from the festival parade; Helen Musa from City News; and Lee Donnelly from Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets.

Treasury Laws Amendment (Cost Of Living Tax Cuts) Bill 2024
Treasury Laws Amendment (Cost Of Living—Medicare Levy) Bill 2024
Second Reading Speech
House of Representatives, 14th of February 2024

More people working, more people earning more, more people keeping more of what they earn. That's what's happening with Labor's bigger, better, fairer tax cuts. These tax cuts are better for workers, better for women and better for labour supply. Despite all the hand-wringing from those opposite, in their guts, the Liberal and National parties will back these cuts. They'll do so because they know that 84 per cent of taxpayers will be better off. They know that the average taxpayer is getting double the tax cut under this plan.

INCREASING GLOBAL TAX TRANSPARENCY

The Albanese Government is delivering on its promise to make multinational companies pay their fair share with consultations opening on exposure draft legislation to establish one of the world’s most comprehensive public country-by-country reporting regimes.

Public country-by-country reporting will provide the community with a better understanding of how much tax multinationals pay relative to their activities. It puts the onus on multinationals to be upfront about where they pay tax and how they plan their tax strategies. 

MERGER POLICY IS CRITICAL

Everyone benefits from healthy competition

Competition is about giving Australians more choice.

For workers, genuine competition between businesses provides greater opportunities to switch jobs, allowing them to make the most of their skills and secure better pay and conditions.

For consumers, competition provides more choice, allowing people to shop around and find better-value products and services. There is no better tool than competition policy for keeping real prices down.

Competition is also crucial if Australia is to make the most of the big shifts around digitalisation, growth in the care economy and the net zero transformation.

Joint Media Release with
Alicia Payne
Member for Canberra

David Smith
Member for Bean

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE

KEEPING THE AIS IN CANBERRA IS A WIN FOR AUSTRALIAN SPORT

As the federal representatives of the ACT’s three federal electorates, we welcome the Government’s decision to accept the recommendation of the Independent Review into the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Infrastructure to keep the AIS in Canberra. 

As we argued in our joint submission to the Independent Reviewers, Ms Erin Flaherty and Ms Robyn Smith OAM; the AIS has a proud history of sporting excellence and its future is in Canberra.

Keeping the AIS in Canberra avoids the considerable costs of relocation and allows those resources to instead be reinvested in upgrading and updating its facilities. It involves less disruption to the training regimes of athletes preparing for upcoming Olympic and Paralympic games.

Using Artificial Intelligence For Economic Research: An Agricultural Odyssey

68th Annual Conference of the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society
Australian National University, Canberra
7 February 2024

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people on whose lands we're meeting today and acknowledge all First Nations people present.

I am delighted to be here with you this morning to address the 68^th Annual Conference of the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. Founded in 1957, the Society has a long history of supporting economists and social scientists in Australasia to develop the knowledge and networks to tackle key challenges in applied economics, from agriculture to environment, to food, resources and agribusiness.

It's a pleasure to be back on the Australian National University campus for today’s conference. Not since 2010 have I been an economics professor, but I occasionally get to play one on stage. As you’ll soon see, I’ve leaned into that role today. Thank you for giving me the chance to crunch some data for your edification and entertainment. I haven’t written many economics papers that touch on agricultural issues, so I like to think that my teachers at James Ruse Agricultural High School would appreciate me finally putting my schooling to good use.

One of the pleasures of being an economist is analysing real-world problems. Yet the tools and techniques for conducting applied economic research are changing fast.
Today, I want to briefly discuss some of the opportunities and challenges that machine-learning algorithms present for applied economic research, and how those show up when we use them seeking to analyse the world. 
This is vital because how we conduct economic research will drive our responses to critical issues confronting the Australasian and global community, such as biosecurity, climate change, environmental degradation and energy system transitions.