Andrew Leigh

CRACKING DOWN ON ILLEGAL PHOENIX ACTIVITY

Federation Chamber, 20 June 2018

In May 2017 Labor announced that a Shorten Labor government would take significant action to tackle illegal phoenix activity. We said, in particular, that we would put in place a director identification number, dealing with the problem that, right now, it is tougher to open a bank account than to register as a company director. One of the consequences of this was brought home through media reports which noted that a member of this House was registered multiple times as a director. That, I assume, was inadvertent, but the fact that it could occur at all illustrates the problem in our current system.

THE SECRET GST DISTRIBUTION REPORT

Federation Chamber, 20 June 2018

Another critical issue that the government is failing to act on is the GST distribution report. The Productivity Commission handed its report on GST distribution to the government on 15 May. The government has to table the report in parliament 25 sitting days after receipt. There will be only 15 sitting days between receiving the report and the date of the by-elections in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia that occur during the winter break.

FAIRER MARKETS

Federation Chamber, 20 June 2018

We've seen yesterday Apple Australia receiving $9 million in fines as a result of misleading consumers about their rights under Australian Consumer Law to get their products repaired. This is another slap-on-the-wrist penalty, following penalties in the Nurofen case which were noted by a number of experts and jurists to be inadequate.

BANKING ROYAL COMMISSION

Federation Chamber, 20 June 2018

Then we have the Liberals' approach to banking misconduct. Following the Storm Financial collapse in 2009, Labor's Bernie Ripoll convened a parliamentary joint committee inquiry into the role of the financial services sector, spending nearly a year examining the industry and producing an important report.

YOUR CAR, YOUR CHOICE

Federation Chamber, 20 June 2018

Over a year ago, Labor called on the government to act on the problem that's facing independent mechanics who aren't getting access to the software updates they need to fix modern cars. Modern cars are computers on wheels, with 20 to 50 onboard computers. Without access to those data, independent mechanics can't fix cars. Independent mechanics account for about four in five mechanics in Australia.

TACKLING THE HOUSING AFFORDABILITY CRISIS
 
MASTER BUILDERS NATIONAL LEADERS SUMMIT
 
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
 
WEDNESDAY, 20 JUNE 2018 

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today and thank Hedley Davis and Denita Wawn, as well as my ACT colleague Zed Seselja.
 
As you know, Australia is facing a housing affordability crisis. We now have the lowest home ownership rate that we've had in 60 years. There are over 500,000 Australians in rental stress and almost no housing that is affordable for low-income Australians. In the early 1980s the ratio of house prices to incomes was 2:1. Now, it's over 5:1. We're a nation that is increasingly struggling to house our young people.

TURNBULL MUST ACT ON POOR CHOICE AND ROTTEN APPLES

Malcolm Turnbull needs to stop focusing on giving big business a billion dollar handout and instead ensure they are playing by the rules.
 
Apple has been fined $9 million by the Federal Court for making false or misleading claims to customers with faulty iPhones and iPads in a case that backs Labor’s calls for increased fines for breaches of consumer law.
 
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had taken the tech giant to court amid complaints it had told customers they weren't entitled to a repair or replacement after they had a third party fix devices that were disabled by an iOS software update.

Federation Chamber

18 June, 2018

Over the years, the Liberal Party has accepted a number of significant foreign donations, including $14,000 from Kazumasa Ikoma of Japan, $50,000 from Kin Chao Sun of Hong Kong and $1.5 million from British citizen Michael Ashcroft. For over a year, Labor has refused to take foreign donations, but the Liberal Party still remains open to taking foreign cash.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 18 JUNE 2018
 
SUBJECTS: Dividend imputation reform, Income tax cuts.
 
KIERAN GILBERT: With me now, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Thanks very much for your time. The Labor Party, a spokesperson has advised or pointed out this morning that the individual author within Treasury of this report which has questioned Labor’s numbers is a former staffer of Mitch Fifield and Kelly O’Dwyer and a former Vice President of the Young Liberals Student Association. The point though that Angus Taylor has made and others have made, Simon Birmingham, is that this has been ticked off by senior levels of Treasury. So is Labor really impugning the reputation of the Treasury in this?
 
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Kieran, you’ve got to take a step back and recognise how Labor does our costings. We do them through the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is an equal status coster to the Treasury. And the whole purpose of the Charter of Budget Honesty, in setting up the Parliamentary Budget Office, is we wouldn’t have the kind of debacle we’re seeing from the Coalition today. Our policies have been costed by a body which has an equal status to the Treasury. To spend taxpayer money attacking Labor policies is a terrible waste. Why aren’t they spending resources working out how to scrap the tampon tax? This should be paid for Liberal Party funds if they want to attack Labor policies.

Alex Hutchinson's Endure explores the mind-body influence on sports performance

Andrew Leigh

The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 June 2018

PHYSICAL ENDURANCE

Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

Alex Hutchinson

HarperCollins, $39.99

Humans are amazing. Members of our species have held their breath for 24 minutes, deadlifted 500 kilograms, free dived deeper than 200 metres, and pulled a 99 tonne truck. Humans have long jumped nearly 9 metres and high jumped almost 2½ metres. A person has swum 225 kilometres. Another skydived at 1300 kilometres an hour.

And we keep getting better. Cycling and swimming were among the sports that saw new world records set at the Commonwealth Games. There have been 100 metre races in which almost everyone finished in less than 10 seconds. Sometimes the improvement is remarkable, as when competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi doubled the hot dog eating record in 2001, devouring a gut-churning 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes.