Andrew Leigh

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP 
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

The Next Chapter for Australia’s Charities

Speech To The Australian Charities And Not-For-Profits Commission All-Staff Meeting,
Melbourne

Friday, 7 November 2025

Good morning everyone and thank you for having me. I acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation, and all First Nations people present today.

It is great to be back with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission team, the people who underpin Australia’s trust in the charitable sector.

Every time I speak with you, I am reminded that while the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission’s work might not always make the front page, it helps sustain the institutions that hold our society together. You are the quiet custodians of public confidence, the reason Australians can give, volunteer and partner with charities knowing those organisations are accountable and well-governed.

A Sector that Matters

Australia’s 65,000 registered charities are as diverse as the people they serve. They feed the hungry, preserve the environment, keep the arts alive and offer comfort in crisis. They are the sports coaches, the shelter workers, the conservationists and the advocates giving voice to those who might otherwise go unheard.

In total, the sector employs over one in ten Australian workers and mobilises the energy of millions of volunteers. It is a remarkable engine of social connection and compassion. And it functions well because you make sure it can be trusted.

Strengthening the Foundations

Since coming into government in 2022, we have worked to strengthen those foundations. We have improved the deductible gift recipient system, so community foundations, the backbone of local philanthropy, can now access tax-deductible status through a clear new pathway.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH ROSS SOLLY
THURSDAY, 6 NOVEMBER 2025

SUBJECTS: Albanese Government funding for the ACT, bulk billing, National Security Precinct, Australian gas, Future Made In Australia, Solar Sharer CSIRO, aquatic facilities in Canberra, Gonski funding for ACT schools, superannuation,

ROSS SOLLY: ABC Canberra Breakfast, you are with Ross Solly and the Member for Fenner is here with us this morning. Andrew Leigh, good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning, Ross, great to be with you.

ROSS SOLLY: And it is great to be with you. Are you ready for our listener questions this morning?

ANDREW LEIGH: Born ready.

ROSS SOLLY: Great, I'm very happy to hear it. So, we have a few people calling in already. Our number is 1300 681 666. If you've got a question you'd like, this is your opportunity. You hear enough of me banging on and asking questions, let's get your questions. Now let's go first of all to Steve. Good morning, Steve.

STEVE: Good morning, how are you?

ROSS SOLLY: Yeah, good thanks Steve. Andrew is listening.

STEVE: Yes, so my question goes towards appropriate investment into the ACT. I'm aware that in the last couple of days you announced $5 or was it $3 million that went into developing the Kingston Foreshore. But as you're aware, some of the other states are getting multi-billion dollar investments, an example would be the Whyalla Steelworks that got multi-billions to support its local community sustain itself, and also Victoria and Queensland and some of the other states have been getting huge amounts of investment from the Commonwealth.

Senator The Hon Murray Watt
Minister for the Environment and Water
Senator for Queensland

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Member for Fenner

Alicia Payne MP
Member for Canberra

Canberra's National Seed Bank Upgrade Expands Capacity To Safeguard Native Species

Thursday, 6 November 2025 

The National Seed Bank has undergone a major upgrade at its current Canberra site, to safeguard more of Australia’s native plants for generations to come.

The Australian Government has invested $5.7 million to support the centre in delivering expanded seed storage and more research opportunities, at the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

The facility will play a vital role in protecting more than 4,000 species from threats such as climate change, fire and habitat loss.

Upgrades to the National Seed Bank include:

• Larger seed biology lab for studying seed traits and germination
• New seed preparation lab for cleaning and sorting seeds
• Expanded incubator room for testing seed germination under different conditions
• Specialist imaging rooms — separate seed X-ray and microscope spaces
• Bigger seed dry room to reduce seed moisture before storage
• State-of-the-art walk-in seed vault at -20°C for long-term preservation
• Dedicated cold room at 4–5°C for medium-term storage
• New office and meeting spaces to support research, collaboration and volunteer activities

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP 
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

Opinion Piece

The hidden productivity revolution brewing in Australian social enterprises

Published in SmartCompany

5 November 2025

When the morning rush hits a small café in Melbourne’s Collingwood, the smell of coffee hides a quiet revolution. Behind the counter at STREAT are young people who’ve experienced homelessness and other forms of disadvantage, now training in hospitality. Every flat white poured helps someone build skills, confidence and independence.

STREAT is part of a growing movement of social enterprises proving that doing good can also be good business. These are firms that trade for purpose as well as profit, and they’re changing what productivity looks like in Australia.

Across the country, around 12,000 social enterprises employ more than 200,000 people. They operate in construction, recycling, retail, logistics and food. They compete in the market, pay wages, and reinvest their earnings in people and communities.

Good Cycles in Melbourne employs young people who’ve struggled to find steady work, maintaining e-bike fleets for councils and delivery companies. The more contracts they win, the more lives they change. Outlook Australia runs a recycling facility that employs people with disability, combining environmental and social sustainability in one business model. And in regional New South Wales, Chocolate on Purpose blends Indigenous bush foods with handmade chocolate, creating jobs, celebrating culture and showing that ethics and enterprise can thrive together.

What unites these ventures is a belief that inclusion is not a cost but an investment. When someone who has been locked out of the workforce finds a foothold, productivity rises. Skills grow. Confidence returns. Spending power flows into local communities. The economy becomes not just larger but fairer and stronger.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

Opinion Piece

Setting Australian talent free

Published in The Policymaker

4 November 2025

A dynamic economy depends on movement. When people change jobs, ideas travel with them. A nurse brings new techniques to her next hospital; a software engineer introduces smarter code to her new firm. Economists call this allocative efficiency. Most people just call it getting a better job. 

Yet in too many workplaces, that movement is quietly being stifled. Over the past decade, clauses that prevent people from joining competitors, known as non-compete clauses, have crept into millions of contracts. Once reserved for senior executives, they now appear in agreements for teachers, carers, tradespeople, even baristas. 

A survey by the e61 Institute found that around one in five Australian workers, some three million people, are bound by a non-compete. Often these clauses are slipped into contracts automatically, copied from old templates without discussion or scrutiny. Many workers only discover them when they try to leave a job and are told they cannot. 

What began as a narrow tool to protect trade secrets has become a broad restraint on opportunity. The effect is to trap people in roles that may no longer suit their skills or family circumstances, and to deprive the wider economy of the benefits that come when talent moves freely. 

Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher
Minister for Finance
Minister for Women
Minister for the Public Service
Minister for Government Services 
Senator for the ACT

The Hon Andrew Giles MP
Minister for Skills and Training

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
Member for Fenner

Alicia Payne MP
Member for Canberra

David Smith MP
Member for Bean

Free TAFE Proving Popular In The ACT

4 November 2025

New data released by the Albanese Labor Government has revealed there have been more than 685,000 Free TAFE enrolments across Australia since the start of the program.

The program, a commitment made by the Government during the 2022 election and introduced in 2023, encourages Australians to upskill with qualifications that local communities need, helping to address skills shortages in key areas like construction, care, and manufacturing.

The data also revealed that there have now been more than 190,000 courses completed – seeing more Australians starting careers as nurses, carpenters, aged care workers, electricians and early childhood educators.

In the ACT, among the most popular Free TAFE courses are Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care, Certificate IV in Cyber Security, and Certificate III in Community Services.

Canberrans are benefitting from significant savings as a result of Free TAFE, with a student undertaking a Certificate IV in Cyber Security able to save up to $3,400 on their course, while a student training in a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care can save up to $2,500.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH ROSS SOLLY
TUESDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2025

SUBJECTS: $2.8 million in Albanese Government funding for precinct planning in Canberra (urban Precincts and Partnerships Program), Sydney to Canberra rail line

ROSS SOLLY: So, as I mentioned there's a bit of an event going on down at the Kingston train station this morning with the federal government announcing it's going to kick some money in towards getting that project - that housing project up-and-running. Mary Goode is down there. Good morning Mary.

MARY GOODE: Good morning Ross. Yes, Canberra residents could be living by the Kingston railway station and jump on the train for a faster service to Sydney. That's where what's being imagined down here this morning. We've had Chief Minister Andrew Barr, the federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and Member for Bean, David Smith all here this morning, as well as Member for Fenner, Andrew Leigh who I'm joined with right now. Good morning Andrew Leigh, what's the Commonwealth offering here today?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, thanks very much Mary. It's a really exciting $5.8 million joint investment. So, it'll be $2.8 million from the federal government, $3 million from the ACT Government, and the long-term plan is about 5,000 new housing units in Kingston and Fyshwick. This is a big precinct as people would know and it's pretty underused at the moment. It's a rather sleepy area, ironically around our main train station.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP 
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

The Productive Power of Purpose: Why Doing Good Is Good Economics

Social Traders Breakfast Event – ‘How Social Enterprise Drives Productivity'

Parliament House, Canberra

Monday, 3 November 2025

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, and pay my respects to Elders past and present. I extend that respect to all First Nations people joining us today.

Good morning everyone.

If you’ve chosen a breakfast about productivity over a sleep-in, that’s proof you already believe in getting things done.

Today we’re talking about a simple but powerful idea: that doing good is not the opposite of doing well. That the most productive economies are those that make the best use of their people, all their people.

Because productivity isn’t just about working faster. It’s about working smarter, and in a fair society, it’s also about making sure no one’s potential is wasted.

Inclusion enhances productivity. When more Australians are empowered to reach their potential, the economy allocates talent more efficiently.

That’s true for women entering male-dominated fields, for people with disability finding meaningful work, and for Australians from disadvantaged backgrounds building careers.

The statistics may not always capture the gains immediately, but the long-term benefits are undeniable. Productivity is what creates fiscal room for generosity, social room for imagination, and personal room for choice.

And that’s where social enterprises come in.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP 
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

Opinion Piece

The Power of Proximity: Why Getting Cities Right Matters

Published in The New Daily

2 November 2025

Cities are the beating hearts of Australia’s economy. They are where ideas collide, industries cluster and opportunity multiplies. But they are also where the nation’s biggest productivity challenges and cost pressures are most visible. If we want to lift living standards, we have to get our cities right.

For decades, economists have known that when people and firms cluster together, they become more productive. Workers share knowledge, businesses specialise and innovation spreads faster. Recent research from the e61 Institute shows that Australians who live in our capital cities earn on average around $8,000 more each year. Even after adjusting for education and occupation, about half the gap reflects what researchers call the “place effect” – the productivity advantage of being in a dense, connected environment.

Tracking the same workers over time, e61 finds that those who move to a city experience an enduring wage lift of around $12,000 after seven years. Cities don’t just pay more, they make people more productive. A city is an accelerator.

But not everyone benefits equally. Knowledge workers gain the most. For trades and care workers, the advantage is smaller or even reversed. High housing costs and long commutes risk undermining the rewards of city life for many Australians.

Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher
Minister for Finance
Minister for Women
Minister for the Public Service
Minister for Government Services
Senator for the ACT

The Hon Mark Butler MP
Minister for Health and Ageing
Minister for Disability and the NDIS

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
Member for Fenner

David Smith MP
Member for Bean

Delivering more bulk billing for the ACT

Friday, 31 October 2025

The Albanese Government is making the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation over 40 years ago, an $8.5 billion package delivering on our commitment to strengthen bulk billing, support GPs, and make healthcare more affordable for all Australians.  

From 1 November, for the first time, bulk billing incentives will be paid to GPs for every patient they bulk bill. Previously these incentives were only available to children under 16 and concession card holders.

This landmark reform will boost the number of fully bulk billing practices to around 4,800 nationally by 2030, triple the current number.

Patients and families in the ACT are already seeing the benefits of our Government’s investments to strengthen Medicare and deliver more bulk billing.

An additional 44,784 bulk billed visits have been delivered in the ACT since we tripled the bulk billing incentive for children under 16 and concession card holders.

We expect more than 200,000 additional GP visits in the ACT will be fully covered by Medicare each year, saving families hundreds of dollars in out-of-pocket costs and ensuring they only need their Medicare card, not their credit card, when they visit the doctor.