Andrew Leigh

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
FRIDAY, 19 JUNE 2026

SUBJECTS: Budget; Tax reform implementation details; start-ups

ROSS SOLLY: So you’ve been hearing in the news all morning that the government announced yesterday that there will be changes to its capital gains tax policy and the way that trusts are taxed. There’s also going to be a walking back of the powers that Jim Chalmers had as Treasurer. All of these things were causing a considerable amount of angst in many circles. And despite the government saying that they’re going to push through and they’re going to hold their nerve, in the end, they were unable to do so.

Dr Andrew Leigh is the Member for Fenner, and also the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury and joins us this morning. Dr Leigh, good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning.

ROSS SOLLY: Crikey, what happened there? Are you still with us, Dr Leigh?

ANDREW LEIGH: I certainly am, yes. All is good on my end.

ROSS SOLLY: No, there was a big squeaking noise there. I’m not sure what it was. So why – tell me why that your government has decided to make these changes?

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

Credit Where It’s Due: Insolvency, Trust and Economic Dynamism

Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association National Conference
Gold Coast

Friday, 19 June 2026

I acknowledge the Yugambeh people, traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, and pay my respects to Elders past and present. I also acknowledge any First Nations people with us today.

Thank you to the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association for the invitation to join you.

This is a room that sees the economy from a particular angle. Economists tend to see businesses as dots on a chart. Government departments might see them as ABNs, PAYG obligations and line items in national accounts. Consumers see them as the café downstairs, the builder next door or the app that either works beautifully or ruins a Saturday afternoon.

You see them when the numbers no longer add up.

That gives this profession a rare kind of knowledge. You see the spreadsheets, the security interests, the family guarantees and the conversations that begin with someone saying: ‘I thought we had more time’.

You also see what happens when the system works. A viable business can be restructured. A creditor can get a fairer return. A debtor can understand their obligations. A fraud can be stopped before it corrodes confidence. A person whose life has been knocked sideways can regain a place in the economy.

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

From Fine Print to Fair Play

Virtual Address to the National Consumer Congress
Sydney

Friday, 19 June 2026

I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to their Elders, and all Indigenous people joining today, including those working every day to make markets fairer for First Nations communities.

Thank you to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for convening the National Consumer Congress, and to everyone here from consumer organisations, regulators, community groups, academia, business and government.

Your theme is ‘Making it count: What does it take to achieve real change?’

For consumer policy, that question is trickier than it might seem at first blush.

Announcing a reform is only the first step. It also has to reach the kitchen table, the checkout screen, the call centre and the complaints desk. It’s one thing to have consumer rights. It’s another to be able to exercise your rights without needing the advice of a King’s Counsel and the tenacity of a blue heeler.

Consumer protection counts when it changes what people actually encounter. When a parent buying a child’s toy online can trust that it is safe. When a shopper can see the real price before they pay. When cancelling a subscription is not treated as an endurance sport. When a faulty product is met with a remedy, not a shrug.

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

Competition Policy for Invisible Agents

Economic Society of Australia (NSW Branch) Conference on ‘The Invisible Mind – The Economics of AI’,
Sydney

Wednesday, 17 June 2026

I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, on whose lands we meet today. I pay respect to their elders, and all First Nations people present. Thanks to Professor David Orsmond and your Economic Society of Australia (NSW Branch) colleagues for organising today’s conference.

The title of today’s conference is The Invisible Mind, which is wonderfully evocative. It sounds like a lost Hitchcock film, or perhaps the name of a popular philosophy podcast.

Since Adam Smith, economists have talked about invisible hands. Today I want to talk about invisible agents.

An invisible agent is an AI system that acts for someone in a market. It may search, compare, recommend and buy. It may set prices, design bids, screen suppliers and negotiate contracts. It may work for a consumer, a firm, a platform or a payment provider. Often it acts at machine speed, across many transactions, with a human setting broad instructions rather than watching each step.

Economics has always cared about agency. We ask who has information. We ask who has incentives. We ask who bears risk. We ask who captures the surplus.

AI agents place a mysterious intermediary into the mix.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO
TUESDAY, 16 JUNE 2026

SUBJECTS: Political donations; One Nation; competition reform; productivity

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Alright, time to talk federal politics now with the Member for Fenner and Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh. Andrew, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning, Stephen. Great to be with you.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: This is a debate that needs to be had about public funding of elections. You know, Simon Holmes à Court is arguing that the major parties have built a wall around themselves, effectively cutting smaller parties out because they get a higher return on these per vote allowances and that independents, you know, and my point to him is, you know, I mean, his teal candidates basically play by the same rules, but there are imbalances here?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, we have publicly funding elections so people don't have to rely on deep-pocketed donors and anyone's able to run for election. And the reason that kicks in at 4 per cent is to make sure that people don't just gum up the ballot and run when they've got absolutely no chance of winning. Because when you've got 30 candidates on a ballot, then it makes it pretty complicated to people.

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

Keeping Markets Open: Competition Policy for the Many

Ashurst Competition and Consumer Law Panel,
Sydney

Tuesday, 16 June 2026

I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay respects to all First Nations people present. Thank you to Ashurst for hosting us today. It’s a pleasure to join Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb for this important conversation.

Around the world, proponents of open markets are having to argue our case again.

For much of the postwar era, the case felt almost self-evident. Economies that traded, competed and welcomed new ideas tended to become richer. Countries that turned inward tended to fall behind. Australia’s own experience fits that pattern. Our prosperity has been built in large part by opening up: to trade and investment, to talent and technology, to the discipline of competition.

Australia once sheltered behind high tariff walls and ‘protection all round’. Then we became more outward-looking and more competitive. The reforms of the 1980s and 1990s asked Australian firms to compete more vigorously at home and abroad. That transition carried real pressure. It also boosted productivity and raised living standards.

Today, advocates of open markets are on the back foot. In Australia and around the world, populism is on the march. On the far left, that emerges as a critique of big business and foreign investment. On the far right, it manifests as calls for increasing tariffs and slashing skilled migration.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING, WITH PATRICIA KARVELAS
MONDAY, 15 JUNE 2026

SUBJECTS: Middle East conflict; US-Iran ceasefire deal; fuel supply; tax reform; new social and affordable housing in Canberra; One Nation; AI

PATRICIA KARVELAS: For more on this and the US around ceasefire, we're joined by Assistant Minister for Competition, Andrew Leigh. Welcome to the program.

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

PATRICIA KARVELAS: There is a deal now reached between the United States and Iran to end hostilities. Are we any safer than we were before this war began, in your assessment?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, I'm very pleased that this deal will hopefully ensure that Iran returns to the commitment that it made in 1970 in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty not to pursue a nuclear weapon. What Australia has been urging on Iran is to clear up some of the uncertainty that surrounded its nuclear program, which is what has worried many countries.

Iran, of course, has been engaged in problematic activities here in Australia which is why we expelled the Iranian Ambassador. And we have, as well as commending countries such as Pakistan that have brought this deal to the negotiating table, have also been calling on the US and Iran to ensure that this is a lasting peace which covers the conflict in Lebanon and which leaves the world safer than it was before.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: But just to be clear, the Australian Government did support the US initially bombing Iran. Do you still think that that was the right decision?

ANDREW LEIGH: We supported the moves of the United States to ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon and we were very clear at the outbreak of hostilities the issues that have arisen with Iran in Australia backing terrorist activities.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA, AFTERNOON AGENDA WITH TRUDY MCINTOSH
FRIDAY, 12 JUNE 2026

SUBJECTS: Rebuilding trust: the future of Australia’s charities and community life; 2026 Budget; tax reform; One Nation

TRUDY MCINTOSH: Meantime, one Labor frontbencher is making the case this week for Australia to develop a trust agenda to encourage more Aussies to get involved in their community and help with charities too.

Joining me is the man himself – Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. It's a mouthful. Andrew, nice to see you.

ANDREW LEIGH: Lovely to see you Trudy.

TRUDY MCINTOSH: It strikes me though, this trust agenda argument you're putting forward. Is it hard as a Labor frontbencher to make the case for building trust a month after a Budget that contains such big, broken promises?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, building trust and community is fundamental to how we work as a democracy. We need those strong charities and not-for-profits engaging in the community so we have a chance to rub shoulders with people who think differently from one another. Democracy is ultimately a contact sport and we need to see ourselves as participants engaging face-to-face rather than just angrily shooting off at one another on social media. Part of this is the social media minimum age but part of it is also backing charities, as our government has done after the 9-year war on charities that was waged by the other side of politics.

I was speaking at the National Press Club about the value of a high trust society, not just because we're healthier and happier but also because our economy works better when people trust one another.

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

Responsible Business in a World in Transition

Australian Treasury,
Canberra

Thursday, 11 June 2026

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, on whose lands we meet today, and all First Nations people present.

Thank you, Michael, for your leadership as Chair of the Board overseeing the Australian National Contact Point. The AusNCP is Australia’s National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises: the Treasury-based body that promotes responsible business conduct and helps handle complaints when concerns are raised about multinational enterprises.

My thanks also to Shiv Martin, who will guide the panel discussion shortly, and to my fellow panellists. Each of you brings serious expertise to the question of responsible business conduct, which is another way of saying that if I say anything foolish in the next ten minutes, it will have a very short shelf life.

Thank you also to the members of the Governance and Advisory Board, who provide crucial oversight and impartial advice drawing on their expertise, organisations and networks across the community, to the AusNCP team in Treasury, and to everyone who has helped mark this 50th anniversary of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

Anniversaries are funny things. At 50, a person might buy reading glasses and start developing suspiciously strong opinions about lumbar support. But for an international instrument, 50 is something different. It means endurance. It means adaptation. It means having survived governments, recessions, technological upheavals, and at least a few acronyms that have tested the patience of innocent bystanders.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
NATIONAL PRESS CLUB Q&A
CANBERRA
WEDNESDAY, 10 JUNE 2026

SUBJECTS: Fertility; early childhood education; social media; tax reform; Rebuilding Trust: The Future of Australia’s Charities and Community Life; stamp duty; tax deductibility of donations to independent schools; Australian National University; deductible gift recipient regime; community foundations; One Nation

TOM CONNELL, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB PRESIDENT: Thank you Assistant Minister. You detailed the decline of participation in groups and organisations in groups themselves. There’s also been a decline in the fertility rate. Now, speaking from personal experience, once you have kids you get very conscious of the community – is the playground up to scratch, are the footpaths safe, how’s the local school going? Do you think there’s a link between the two and if so, is there anything the government can do about that or not?

ANDREW LEIGH: It’s a great question Tom. I’m delighted by it because it was not the question I expected you to start off with. Normally – for those who don’t often attend Press Club talks – basically we give a speech and then the questions are about what’s on the front page of the papers. And so, Tom I know you’re doing your bit for the country. Congratulations on your upcoming third child. But you’re right, the fertility rate is falling.

My read of the evidence is that the best thing that a country can do if it wants to raise its fertility rate is to invest in early childhood services. It became one of the priorities for the Prime Minister. He set it out in his early budget replies, making clear that we wanted to move away from a situation in which some professional women found themselves working the second or the third day for free.

So, significant investment in the early childhood system. Taking away the financial burden of return to work is good for productivity but my read is it’s also really good for fertility. Unlike a Baby Bonus, it’s an investment which flows through the education of young Australians - a service that isn’t just babysitting but is a core part of the education system. And as we look to raise wages in that sector and improve professionalisation, we’ve not only seen a greater uptake but also an improvement in the quality of the early childhood sector.

TOM CONNELL: Yeah, I’m not sure if the groups on Auckland Island were studied as to who were parents and who were not – there’s my working theory though. The other thing that’s increased a lot in this century is everything being online. So much so that you now say something is ‘IRL’ if it’s actually in real life, which is kind of bizarre we’ve got a term for that if you think about it. Do you see a link to that as well? Because there are lots of online groups but that aspect of physically meeting up and starting the small talk and finding you’ve got something in common with someone who you didn’t think can often lead to so much more. Is that another change? Again, is there anything the government can do about that, or not really?