Andrew Leigh

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, MORNINGS WITH SASKIA MABIN
FRIDAY, 22 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: Economic Reform Roundtable, tax, housing, securing the future of the NDIS

SASKIA MABIN: Andrew Leigh, welcome to the program.

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

SASKIA MABIN: It's certainly been a very busy week for you. Thanks for making time to speak to us. A few in the office have had a bit of a bugbear about it being described as a Productivity Roundtable, because I don't believe that table was actually perfectly round.

ANDREW LEIGH: Very astute of you. It's not like King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, it's in fact an oval table. Having stared at it for 29 hours this week, I can certainly speak to that.

SASKIA MABIN: Yes. Now, given all of those conversations across 29 hours, we know that there is an appetite for tax reform and I just listed the three points that Treasurer Jim Chalmers has made. It sort of has been pointed out that perhaps the government used the cover of this roundtable to go beyond what was talked at the election when Anthony Albanese played down the prospect of tax changes. Has this been, you know, a little bit conniving, a little bit scheming on that front?

ANDREW LEIGH: Not in the least. There were a whole range of discussions around tax, many of which surprised me in terms of the perspectives that were put and the ideas that were advanced. There was a clear focus on intergenerational equity, on making sure that the next generation have a fair go and are able to get ahead and buy a house. There's a big emphasis on looking at how challenges of the future will face us, such as electric vehicles, and how we make sure the tax system is fit for purpose in a net zero economy.

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

OPINION PIECE

Fair Play, High Performance: What Sport Teaches Us About Productivity

Published in Region Canberra

20 August 2025

Australia is a nation obsessed with performance. We admire grit, teamwork and ingenuity on the field, and we take pride in our reputation for punching above our weight in international sport. From the pool to the pitch, our athletes regularly outperform much bigger nations. Not because we’re richer, but because we’ve built systems that work: talent is spotted early, coaching is world-class, infrastructure is prioritised, and everything is measured. What gets measured gets improved.

But while our athletes keep breaking records, productivity has been limping. When our government came to office, labour productivity – the engine of long-term prosperity – had suffered its worst drop in nearly half a century. The 2010s were the slowest decade for productivity growth since the war. Australians are switching jobs and starting businesses less often. In too many markets, incumbents dominate. If these markets were sporting leagues, they would have one team, one trophy and one very bored mascot.

This matters. A sluggish economy means fewer chances for the aspiring entrepreneur, fewer pathways for the ambitious worker and a lower ceiling on our collective ambition. We would never accept a sporting competition in which the results bore no relationship to effort, where newcomers could never crack the starting lineup, or where legacy players always won regardless of merit. Yet that is exactly what is happening in parts of our economy. The lesson from sport is clear: if you want fair play and high performance, you need the right systems.

Sport teaches us that potential only becomes performance when talent is nurtured. Megan Still had never sat in a rowing boat until the Australian Institute of Sport tested her in 1988. She was so strong she tipped the scull each time she pulled the oars. The coaches took notice, and eight years later she won Olympic gold. Evonne Goolagong Cawley, watching tennis from behind the fence in Barellan, was invited in for a hit: a gesture that launched a career at the top of world tennis. Cathy Freeman’s speed was matched by the scholarships and training that allowed her to develop it. None of them would have reached those heights without systems that identified and supported their ability. The same principle applies in the economy. The next champion might not be holding an oar or a racquet. She might be writing code or sketching a business plan. Our challenge is to make sure she gets the chance to succeed.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO SYDNEY, MORNINGS WITH HAMISH MACDONALD
TUESDAY, 19 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: Regulatory reform, competition policy reforms, Labor’s abundance agenda, Economic Reform Roundtable, housing

HAMISH MACDONALD: Andrew Leigh, welcome to 702 Mornings.

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

HAMISH MACDONALD: Andrew Bragg, the Coalition Senator - one of your opposites in the Shadow Ministry had a bit of a hit out at you on the program yesterday, saying too much regulation. 5,000 new regulations. He says you've lumped $5 billion of new regulatory costs on businesses, 400 new laws onto the box. Has he got a point?

ANDREW LEIGH: Not in the least Hamish. Let me tell you what Andrew Bragg has done. He went to the Parliamentary Library and asked them to count up the number of regulations in Labor's last term. They came back with the answer 5,034. So, I got curious. I asked the Parliamentary Library how many regulations were passed in the Coalition's last term? They said 5,383. So, if Andrew Bragg was being honest, he'd be telling everyone that regulations have fallen under Labor. But of course, counting the number of regulations is a bit like working out the quality of a library by weighing the books. It’s not a particularly helpful exercise when you’re weighing up regulations to improve child safety, national security, or indeed regulations that reduce the regulatory burden.

HAMISH MACDONALD: Do you accept though, that people working and living in the real economy experience too much regulation? Like, we hear it day in, day out here from listeners - it's just too difficult to get things done.

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, if you're talking about areas like aged care or child care, then I think there's a demand for getting more regulation in some cases. If you're looking at the thicket of regulation that's slowed down housing approvals, then yes we've got a challenge. The key isn't to get rid of all regulation, it's about making regulation smarter. That's what Labor's been doing through our national competition policy reforms, through improving occupational licensing, making it easier for people to switch jobs and making it easier to approve clean energy projects. All of this is the hard work of sorting out regulation, rather than the easy job of just sitting back and pretending you can count regulations, then be done with it.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH LEON DELANEY
TUESDAY, 19 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: Economic Reform Roundtable, four day working week, AI, regulatory reform

LEON DELANEY: The federal Member for Fenner and Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities, Treasury and other things as well, Dr Andrew Leigh, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH: Morning Leon, great to be with you.

LEON DELANEY: Thanks for joining us today. It's a big day for you and your colleagues. It's day one of what I have described as ‘Woodstock for policy wonks and economic nerds’ - the productivity roundtable. What are you expecting?

ANDREW LEIGH: Three days in a windowless room talking policy. What can be more exciting for those of us who are excited about building stronger productivity growth, a more resilient country and dealing with some of the budget sustainability issues? This really is an exciting moment, and a great group of people have been brought together. I'm really expecting a productive conversation around issues of how we get regulation right, whether we can improve our tax settings and what we need to do to make the most of the artificial intelligence opportunities for the future. Now, the energy transformation is not just something we need to do for climate reasons, but also a great opportunity for a sun‑drenched country like ours, so there's great upside of potential for this three‑day conversation.

LEON DELANEY: Okay. A lot of commentary has suggested that it will be nothing much more than just a gabfest with very little, if any concrete value to be produced. And in that context, it seems a little odd that the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have both kind of downplayed expectations in recent weeks. Why have they done that?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, they've been very clear that decisions are made around the Cabinet table by the Cabinet, but that this conversation in the Cabinet room will help inform that. I think it's a great opportunity to build stronger consensus for some of what we need to do and to think through some of the big challenges for the economy. We know for example, in the area of capital attraction we need to do more. The government's got a significant agenda on competition, which you and I have talked about frequently Leon, and much of what we've done in the first term and have said we'll do in the next term will lead to a more dynamic and competitive economy. That's really fundamental to increasing the speed limit of the economy. Think of it like a sporting team, you've got to make sure that you get the athletes as fit as possible, that you get the team working together, and that the rules of the game are fair, and so you can do your best before you get on the field.

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, 18 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: Economic Reform Roundtable, Productivity Commission, Labor’s productivity agenda, competition reform, artificial intelligence, tax reform, social media minimum age, cancellation of Israeli MP Simcha Rothman’s visa

PATRICIA KARVELAS: To discuss the direction of this week’s roundtable, I want to bring in one of the figures in the government most focused on regulation, deregulation and competition - that’s the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition and Charities, Andrew Leigh. Andrew Leigh, welcome to the program.

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

PATRICIA KARVELAS: This is your Christmas week, is that right?

ANDREW LEIGH: Absolutely. Christmas comes early for policy wonks. Three days in the windowless Cabinet room talking about how to raise the speed limit of the national economy and how to deliver higher living standards for Australians.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Okay. So, business groups are framing this week’s productivity roundtable as a legacy moment for Australia. Is that what it is – a legacy moment for Australia?

ANDREW LEIGH: I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to bring together big thinkers to discuss big ideas around the Cabinet table. There’s the challenge of artificial intelligence, there’s the opportunity of skilling up Australians, there’s the moment where Australia can be a superpower in the renewable energies transition. All of that is going to be a discussion around the Cabinet table. Three days split into talking about resilience, talking about opportunities in productivity and talking about budget sustainability.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Danielle Wood says economic growth hasn’t been a priority for years. Were you too fixated on other issues in the last term for it to be a priority when it should have been?

ANDREW LEIGH: We had a big growth focus in the last term, and I enjoyed Danielle Wood’s speech at the Press Club today, where I attended. We talked about the importance of getting the national competition policy going again. We’ve reformed our merger laws. We’ve invested in the education system, which is a real key driver of productivity. And we’ve announced the scrapping of non-compete clauses to make it easier for people to move to a better job. Some of productivity is about boosting individual workers’ productivity capacity; some of it is about making it easier to move to a more productive firm; some of it is about encouraging more productive firms to grow and allow those less productive firms to exit the market. So, that reallocation process was really fundamental to how economists think about productivity, much in the same as sports people would think about how to raise the speed limit on the track or in the pool or on the sporting field.

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

OPINION PIECE

We must stay open: Five reasons tariffs are a bad idea

Published in The New Daily

14 August 2025

For more than half a century, open trade has helped make Australia more prosperous, dynamic and resilient. Yet around the world, support for openness is fraying. Big economies are turning inward. Tariffs are creeping back. Multilateral institutions are struggling.

At times like this, it’s worth reminding ourselves why Australia has done well by keeping our doors open, and why tariffs are rarely the answer.

The case for openness starts with the idea of comparative advantage. Just as most of us don’t cut our own hair or fix our own shoes, countries do better when they specialise in what they’re relatively good at, and trade for the rest. That’s why Australian miners export lithium to Korea, our farmers sell beef to Vietnam, and our universities teach students from across the Indo-Pacific.

We’re a small share of the global economy – just 0.3 per cent of the world’s population – so trading with others is essential. Trade supports nearly a third of our economic activity and one in four Australian jobs. It keeps prices lower for consumers, encourages innovation, and helps businesses grow to a scale that wouldn’t be possible on the domestic market alone.

It wasn’t always this way. In the late 1800s, most colonies slapped hefty tariffs on goods such as furniture, musical instruments and carriages. Federation removed internal tariffs, but high external tariffs persisted for decades. Only after World War Two did we begin serious cuts, first through global trade agreements, and then on our own.

From Whitlam’s across-the-board 25 per cent tariff cut in 1973, to the Hawke Government’s phased reductions in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Australia chose to lower barriers regardless of what others did. The results were clear: more competitive industries, better jobs, and stronger links to the region.

Today, we have 18 free trade agreements covering 30 economies, with more on the way. But the case for openness still needs defending. Tariffs may sound like a quick fix, but they come with real costs.

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

Fair Play, High Performance: What Sport Teaches Us About Productivity

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC STUDIES
ADELAIDE

THURSDAY, 14 AUGUST 2025

I acknowledge the Kaurna people, traditional owners and custodians of the Adelaide Plains, and all First Nations people present. Thank you to Jim Hancock and the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies for the invitation to speak with you today.

1. A Nation Obsessed with Performance

On most mornings, I start the day with a run through the bushland behind our home. I nod to the kangaroos, exchange grins with the kookaburras, and watch the sun rise over Canberra’s ridgeline. If I’ve pushed myself – sprinted up hills or chased a personal best – then whatever else the day holds feels a little bit easier.

Australians love to move. We hike, we swim, we ride, we play. In a sun-drenched country with open spaces and a culture of mateship, sport isn’t just recreation. It’s part of our national identity. Whether it’s a footy game in the park, a community netball match, or the roar of a stadium when the Matildas score, sport brings us together and brings out our best.

And when it comes to performance, few do it better. Australian athletes routinely punch above their weight. From the pool to the track, from cycling velodromes to cricket pitches, we overachieve. Not because we’re richer or more populous, but because we’ve built systems that work. Talent gets spotted early. Coaching is world-class. Infrastructure is a priority. Incentives are smart. And we measure everything, from split times to stride length, because we know that what gets measured gets improved.

So why is it that while our athletes keep breaking records, productivity seems to have pulled a hamstring?

When we came to office, labour productivity – the engine of long-term prosperity – had suffered its worst drop in 45 years. The decade ending in 2020 was the worst decade for productivity growth in the post-war era. We had seen a decline in the rate at which Australians switch jobs or start new businesses. Today, some of our largest companies are the same giants that topped the sharemarket a century ago. Economic mobility is stuck in second gear. In too many sectors, it’s not the best that win, but the biggest. Some markets are so concentrated, if they were sporting leagues, they’d have one team, one trophy, and one very bored mascot.

This isn’t just a technical problem. A sluggish economy means fewer chances for the aspiring entrepreneur, fewer pathways for the ambitious worker, and a lower ceiling on our collective ambition. We’d never tolerate a sporting system where a few legacy players won every match, newcomers couldn’t crack the starting lineup, or results bore no relationship to effort. Yet that’s precisely what we’re seeing in parts of our economy.

What if we treated productivity the way we treat sport?

What if we built an economy that celebrated effort, rewarded ingenuity, and gave everyone a fair shot?

What if we saw dynamism and decency not as opposing forces, but as complementary goals?

In this speech, I want to explore what sport can teach us about building a more dynamic, inclusive and high-performing economy. I’ll draw on stories of athletes and teams, of rule changes and coaching breakthroughs, of fair play and relentless ambition. Because when it comes to reforming our economy, we don’t need to start from scratch. We just need to look around the oval.

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

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, DRIVE WITH GEORGIA STYNES
WEDNESDAY, 13 AUGUST 2025

SUBJECTS: ACT Economic Reform Roundtable, national Economic Reform Roundtable, ANU

GEORGIA STYNES: I need to go now to Dr Andrew Leigh, who has been waiting very patiently. He’s the Federal Member for Fenner and the Assistant Minister for Productivity. Why are we talking about productivity? Because 27 local groups were invited today to meet, including local charities, to talk about productivity here in the ACT, and he joins me. Good evening.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Good evening Georgia, great to be with you.

GEORGIA STYNES: Yeah, great to be with you too. Tell me what happened today? What struck you today with the meeting?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, I was really impressed by the collaborative spirit that the attendees brought to the conversation. Alicia Payne, Dave Smith, Katy Gallagher and I got together a range of organisations across the business community, social sector, higher education, in order to talk about how we get more output and less burnout. We're not aiming to try and make people work harder; it's about getting smarter outcomes. And you know, one way of thinking about productivity Georgia, is it's a bit like if the economy was a bicycle - productivity is the oil on the chain. So, we had a whole lot of specific ideas that came forward. Things around computing infrastructure, building more housing, ensuring that we're better joining up university and vocational sectors and avoiding some of the unnecessary regulatory overlap with other jurisdictions.

GEORGIA STYNES: I understand the PM said there's low-hanging fruit. Is that what he's referring to, that could be acted on quickly?

ANDREW LEIGH: Look, absolutely. And one of our attendees made the point that just as the ACT was the first whole jurisdiction to roll-out the National Disability Insurance Scheme, so too we could be a testing ground for other new ideas - building on our strengths in innovation and the care economy and quality of life. Now, we're a smart city with a lot of big ideas and that was really on display today with the constructive conversation that we had.

GEORGIA STYNES: We're also a city that is growing rapidly, and you've also got obviously this national focus here as well. You heard there, probably the interview before. Thank you for waiting so patiently too. But there's a pressure on development, there's a pressure on here in Canberra, how to grow but not leave people behind. Do you see that though, in your role?

ANDREW LEIGH: Absolutely, and I know every time I chat to the ACT Government about things like their missing middle plan - their desire to see houses built more quickly. We know we need to bring to these conversations an environment lens, an agenda lens, they are things that are so important to the values of Canberrans. And we also need to make sure that we're encouraging the right levels of tourism to Australia, particularly where that's students coming to make their very first visit to the ACT which sets them on a lifelong path of recognising how great it is to have a national capital with all our wonderful national cultural institutions.

GEORGIA STYNES: Just very quickly though, because we're coming up to news. What is one specific outcome that you'll take to the National Roundtable?

ANDREW LEIGH: Look, I think one thing that I'll take forward is the importance of getting good transport networks, the importance of having a connectivity to other cities and the challenge that we're having with flight cancellations and the cost of flying here to the ACT.

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

OPINION PIECE

When the empirical strikes back

Published in The Canberra Times

11 August 2025

When a German bakery chain wanted to boost sales, it didn’t hire consultants or launch a splashy rebrand. Instead, it did something more radical: it ran a randomised trial. Half its stores offered staff a modest group bonus. The other half didn’t. After a few months, the results were in: a 3 per cent sales increase in the bonus group. For every dollar spent on bonuses, the company reaped $3.80 in revenue and $2.10 in operational profit.

It’s a reminder that in business – and in government – the most powerful tool may not be charisma or instinct, but curiosity. Randomised trials help us figure out not just what sounds good, but what actually works.

In Australia’s public service, that ethos is taking root. We’re seeing an emerging culture of testing and learning: through small-scale trials, behavioural nudges, and rigorous evaluation. From tax compliance letters to SMS reminders, government is using evidence to improve how it delivers. Not by guessing. By learning.

Public sector productivity isn’t about profit margins. It’s about outcomes that matter: fewer people stuck in long-term unemployment, shorter hospital wait times, better school completion rates. And improving those outcomes begins with one key question: what works?

Randomised trials give us answers. They compare two versions of a program – one with a new tweak, one without – and show whether the tweak made a difference. A redesigned letter. A new prompt. A brief coaching call. Some ideas turn out to be duds. Others change everything.

Take Services Australia. In one trial, the department sent a simple confirmation text message to people who’d submitted a form. Just a short note effectively saying “we’ve got it”. That tiny tweak cut follow-up calls by 11 percentage points, saving time for both staff and callers. Another trial found that a well-worded SMS reminder to income support recipients boosted on-time earnings reporting by 13 percentage points and cut payment suspensions nearly in half. The message saved 6000 hours of staff time a year.

The Tax Office tried something similar. Letters to tax agents that gently flagged possible over-claiming of work-related deductions resulted in average claims falling by $191 per taxpayer. Across the sample, that meant more than $2 million in reduced deductions.

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

Open Trade: Australia’s Strength

ASIALINK LEADERS SUMMIT 
CANBERRA 

FRIDAY, 8 AUGUST 2025

I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal People, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet, and extend that respect to all First Nations people here today.

It’s terrific to be back at Asialink talking about openness. Asialink is passionate about making the most of opportunities in Asia. It’s an ambition the government shares as we implement our Southeast Asia Economic Strategy (Moore 2023). People-to-people links are a valuable part of that strategy. So it’s fantastic to have initiatives like Asialink leading the way for the past 30 years (Asialink 2025).

There has been significant change over the past year. The global rules-based economic system that has underpinned decades of relative prosperity and stability for Australia is under strain. Intensifying strategic competition between our most important trading partner and most important security ally, regional conflicts and weakening multilateral institutions are all contributing to a more fragmented and less resilient world.

We’re eleven days out from the Economic Reform Roundtable. Building economic resilience in the face of rising fragmentation and global uncertainty will be a key theme. In this context, and in the face of increasingly frequent global shocks, we must ensure our economy’s ability to withstand, adapt and recover. It’s something that’s crucial to expanding your horizons. As the Treasurer has said, it goes to securing investment capital, shoring up supply chains and building more partnerships in our region (Chalmers 2025).

In other words, we’re seeking ideas and proposals on opening doors not closing them. And today I want to talk about the benefits of open trade, the ways economic engagement has helped Australia prosper, and the reasons why tariffs are not the answer. 

Doing what we do best

Nobel laureate and economist Paul Samuelson described free trade as the best example of an economic policy that might not be obviously beneficial, but is demonstrably welfare enhancing (Samuelson 1948,). Plenty of smart people don’t immediately see the case for open trade.

Trade is most beneficial when it leverages our comparative advantage. Most of us don’t cut our own hair, sew our own suits or cobble our own shoes – which is a relief, since in my own case, I’d end up looking like Mr Bean on laundry day. Thanks to specialisation in the labour market, we do what we do best. Then, we pay others to do what they do best.