Andrew Leigh

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 10 JUNE 2020

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) charities are the most trusted sector in Australian public life; and

(b) the Government's failure to act on fundraising reform is costing Australian charities over $1 million every month;

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) Australia's current framework of fundraising regulation creates unnecessary problems for charities and organisations who rely on donations from Australian supporters;

(b) current fundraising laws no longer meet the objectives that guided the decision to regulate donations;

(c) current fundraising compliance regimes do not allow charities to cultivate donor activity and make optimal use of the resources donors provide;

(d) meeting the requirements of Australia's seven different fundraising regimes is causing needless productivity loss for thousands of Australian charities and not-for-profits;

(e) Australia's current frameworks for investigation and enforcement have failed to adapt to the contemporary fundraising environment;

(f) current fundraising laws do not meet the donor-focused expectations and requirements that should govern fundraising regulation in the 21st century; and

(g) the mechanisms that regulate third party fundraisers should ensure the culture of third party fundraisers matches community perceptions of their clients;

I'm looking for a full-time office manager to join my team, working out of my electorate office in Gungahlin. Women and people from racial or ethnic groups that are traditionally underrepresented in politics are especially encouraged to apply.

This position will involve managing the office and coordinating my diary, plus lots of community engagement and local problem solving. In a typical day, you might be helping someone at the front counter with a Centrelink problem, coordinating a 5000-letter mailout, planning a campaign on local issues, and arranging an online community forum. Below, there’s some dot-points that will give you a better sense of what our office does.

One of the great things about Fenner is that constituents are passionate about issues big and small, from climate change to the local postbox. I share their desire to improve the quality of the democratic conversation. My office is guided by ten ‘Principles of Politics’, which are set out at the bottom of this post.

In an era when some people are turning to extreme parties of the right and left, the best way for mainstream parliamentarians to maintain the trust of our electors is to engage on big issues, be accessible in town hall meetings and mobile offices, and use conventional and new media channels. We send out a monthly email (‘The Leigh Report’), produce two podcasts (‘Andrew Leigh - Speeches and Conversations’ and ‘The Good Life - Andrew Leigh in Conversation’), and use Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter to expand the political conversation. We recently held our inaugural tele-town hall, engaging over the phone with more than 3000 constituents, and I expect we'll hold another one before too long.

If you want to know more about our values and the activities of the office, check out those social media channels or our website, www.andrewleigh.com.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS FIRST EDITION
WEDNESDAY, 3 JUNE 2020
 
SUBJECTS: US protests and the importance of protests in democracies; Indigenous incarceration; Australian economy; charities.
 
PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: Joining me now to discuss this is the Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury and Charities, Andrew Leigh. Andrew, good morning to you. Thanks for joining us. Before we get to the situation in Australia, you've spent so much time in the US, done a lot of work there. Just want to get your view on what you've seen over the past eight days now as we're continuing to watch live pictures of an eighth straight day of protests in the United States.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND CHARITIES: They’re shocking scenes and they really do remind you of 1968 and the riots that tore through the country then. The spark seems to have ignited a huge level of anger and frustration among so many Americans, not just at the treatment of African-Americans but at the huge level of inequality in America. And I worry too that it undermines America's ability to encourage other countries in the world to pursue a peaceful path to democracy, to ensure that they create opportunities for protesters to speak their mind – because protest is after all an essential part of a democracy.

ESSENTIAL WORKERS AT RISK OF LOSING JOBS IN CHARITY SECTOR

Hundreds of thousands of workers in mental health, patient support, employment services, emergency relief and health research could lose their jobs if the Morrison Government doesn’t take action to help the charity sector, new modelling has found.

A new report issued today by Social Ventures Australia and the Centre for Social Impact outlined concerns for the charities and not-for-profit sector, which is facing both falling revenue and increased demand for services amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

They found that a 20 per cent fall in revenue to the sector would put nearly 250,000 charity workers out of a job and see as many as one in six charities at high risk of closing down.

HOW FIRE HURT OUR FIRMS

The Canberra Times, 3 June 2020

When coronavirus hit, one thing many Canberra households didn’t have to rush out and buy were N95 masks.

That’s because we already had plenty in the cupboard from summer, when Canberra’s air quality was 22 times the hazardous rating. On some days in December and January, air quality in the bush capital was the worst in the world. People debated how many cigarettes you would have to smoke to do as much lung damage as just breathing our air. Was it half a pack, one pack or two?

The effect of the summer bushfires on Canberra was brutal. For weeks, outdoor activity was almost impossible. Restaurants, hotels, arts events, and the sporting sector were hit hard.

LINDA BURNEY MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR FAMILIES AND SOCIAL SERVICES

MEMBER FOR BARTON

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CHARITIES

MEMBER FOR FENNER

NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK

This week marks National Volunteer Week.

Recent events have reminded us of the importance of volunteers and their contribution to the Australian community.

Emergency relief services and food relief organisations have provided assistance with food and bills as well as ensuring our most vulnerable Australians remain socially connected during the pandemic.

AS AUSTRALIA BOUNCES BACK, LET’S MAKE SURE WE’RE NOT LEAVING PEOPLE BEHIND

The Canberra Times, 18 May 2020

Recently I heard from a Canberra woman who had changed employers last November. Her new employer told her she’d start off as a casual and then transition to permanency. When coronavirus hit, and the government announced its JobKeeper wage subsidy program, she hoped that it would apply to her. But as a casual who had been with her employer for less than year, she was excluded. As she wrote to me ‘This will have a long and lasting financial impact on our family’.

In another family, I heard the story of two children, aged 18 and 21, who had each been in casual jobs for 11 months. They’re ineligible too. A local Turkish restaurant told me that half their staff were international students. Because those workers are on temporary visas, they are ineligible for JobKeeper. The restaurant owners are worried they’ll have to close permanently. They pleaded ‘Save us from folding up.’

Labor supports the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme. More than that, we called for it. Early in the crisis when other countries had announced wage subsidy schemes, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it wouldn’t work in Australia. It was only under pressure from business, unions and the Labor Party that Mr Morrison changed his mind, recalled parliament and enacted the JobKeeper package. It’s the most important thing the government has done.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 13 MAY 2020

Recently I heard from a woman in my electorate who changed employers in November last year. Her new employer told her she'd start off as a casual and then transition to permanency. Today, she can't access JobKeeper and says: 'This will have a long and lasting financial impact on our family'. In another family, they told me that their two children, aged 18 and 21, had each been in casual jobs for 11 months. They're ineligible too. A local Turkish restaurant tells me that half their staff were international students who are ineligible for JobKeeper. They're worried they'll have to close and have pleaded to me, 'Save us from folding up.'

Labor supports the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme. More than that, we called for it. Early in the crisis when other countries had announced wage subsidy schemes, the Prime Minister said it wouldn't work in Australia. It was only under pressure from business, unions and the Labor Party that he changed his mind, recalled parliament and enacted the JobKeeper package. It's the most important thing the government has done.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

ABC NEWS CAPITAL HILL

WEDNESDAY, 13 MAY 2020

SUBJECT: Australia’s relationship with China.

GREG JENNETT, HOST: The international trade environment is rich with COVID context at the moment, and there’s plenty of interpretation that says Australia is being punished – barley, beef, other commodities, wine before that. Do you believe that is China’s motivation in at least temporarily  holding up some of these items?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND CHARITIES: Greg, I think it's really important when we're dealing with China to calm down and take the long view. This is a 5000 year old civilization. It's done more than any other country over our lifetimes to bring people out of poverty. We aren't helped by this talk of Thucydides traps and Cold War analogies and Chamberlain moments.

JENNETT: But what if they were true? What if these were Beijing’s motivations, that it is displeased that Australia is leading the charge on demands for investigations into this pandemic? Wouldn’t a country that respected its sovereignty forcefully rebut that and not expect to be punished via trade?

LEIGH: Take the long view doesn't mean you're not firm about your true values and about the institutions that underlie the international trading system. The World Trade Organisation has been a critical institution, and we should be strong supporters as a middle power engaged with the world of solving things through the World Trade Organisation. Australia has been a very extensive user of the anti-dumping system and China has not to date been bringing cases against our producers in a way in which we've been bringing them against theirs. But there's also-

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS FIRST EDITION

TUESDAY, 12 MAY 2020

SUBJECTS: Economic reform; the Treasurer’s economic statement; JobKeeper; the opportunity to rebuild the economy to benefit all Australians.

PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: We are joined now by Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury and Charities, Andrew Leigh, from Canberra. Andrew, good to see you. Thanks for joining us.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND CHARITIES: Likewise.

STEFANOVIC: So first of all, the NSW Premier has flagged this morning payroll tax and stamp duty relief. A lot of economic reform does come from the states. Is that something that you would support?

LEIGH: Absolutely. The states have both the most efficient and the most inefficient taxes, and the move that the ACT has made over recent years in transitioning away from insurance and stamp duty taxes towards a land tax base is textbook economic reform. It's sensible as a way of buffeting the shocks during the crisis to look at relief from the most inefficient taxes which could then be phased down.

STEFANOVIC: We did hear from a short time ago Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who says you know it's all about minimising risk and a strong recovery at the moment. How do you see it?

LEIGH: You look at Australia coming out of World War Two, and that was a period in which we decided we wouldn't just put the place together the way it had been in the 1930s, but we'd build a better country. There was a white paper on full employment put together by the Labor government, and then Robert Menzies to his credit embarks on a massive program of home building and the home ownership rate shoots up. We should be ambitious for Australia not just to return to the pretty stagnant economy that we've had for the last seven years, but to do something better - to invest in the sources of productivity through education and infrastructure, and to ensure that we've got a more egalitarian and a more connected nation. I'm confident that we can do all of that, but it will take a hard focus and a sense of bipartisanship that's been absent in recent years.