Andrew Leigh

Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Voice) Bill 2023
House of Representatives, Wednesday 24 May 2023

When this House sits at the beginning of each day we acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples. The stories of the Ngunnawal are fundamental to this great city. I've been privileged to learn from Tyronne Bell how to speak an acknowledgement of country in Ngunnawal language, and I use it when I'm giving public speeches on Ngunnawal land. I've been privileged too, to walk with Tyronne Bell around the hills of Mount Majura and Mount Ainslie, learning from him about how to understand the local environment. He's shown my kids and my wife Gweneth and I the scar trees and the bush tucker. When I was out running around Mount Majura and Mount Ainslie this morning with my headlamp on, I was thinking about Tyronne and how he helped me better understand the local landscape.

Bob Maguire – Australia’s Larrikin Priest
Condolence Motion
House of Representatives, Wednesday 24 May 2023

Father Bob Maguire was one of Australia's best-known priests, but to call him a priest is a bit like calling Nick Cave a guitarist: it's technically true, but it doesn't really capture the breadth of the bloke. Bob Maguire was born in 1934 in Thornbury, Victoria and worked as a beekeeper and army officer before becoming a parish priest for Sts Peter and Paul's Catholic Church, in South Melbourne, from 1973 to 2012. In that role, Father Bob campaigned on social justice issues, particularly homelessness. He engaged with communities through radio shows on 3AW and Triple J and frequently clashed with the government and church authorities.

AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR EVALUATION TO MEASURE WHAT WORKS

The 2023‑24 Budget includes $10 million over four years to establish an Australian Centre for Evaluation (ACE) in the Australian Treasury. The Australian Centre for Evaluation will improve the volume, quality, and impact of evaluations across the Australian Public Service (APS), and work in close collaboration with evaluation units in other departments and agencies.

The Australian Centre for Evaluation will help ensure government programs deliver value for money. The Albanese Government is committed to respecting taxpayers’ money and ensuring that we achieve results for Australians. This means knowing what works, and what can work better.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
6PR MONEYNEWS WITH KARALEE KATSAMBANIS
MONDAY, 22 MAY 2023

SUBJECTS: Designated complaints function at the ACCC, Treasury evaluation unit, and funding for ACNC.

KARALEE KATSAMBANIS (HOST): And welcome back to Money News, 133 8882 or you can send me a text 0487 999 882, as I said at the top of the show. I am delighted to be joined now by Dr Andrew Leigh who is Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury with some great new initiatives that he has introduced. Dr Leigh, good evening. 

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Good evening, Karalee, great to be with you and your listeners.

KATSAMBANIS: It is lovely. We've had you on the show a couple of times since last year. So it's always great to touch base with you. Now, one of the things that I really wanted to have you talk about is you have ‑ well, you have introduced a Designed Complaints function that's going to be introduced to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, better known as the ACCC. It's going to make it easier for consumer and small business groups, which you know there are a lot here in Western Australia, who lodge complaints about systemic issues. So can you just tell us why you have decided to introduce this? 

Rebuilding Communities in a ‘Friendship Recession'

The Daily Telegraph, 22 May 2023

How many people can you talk to without having to watch what you say? In 1984, Australian adults averaged nine trusted friends. A generation later it had fallen to five.

Two decades ago the typical person got together socially with others about once a week. In a new survey, the average person's response was closer to once a fortnight.

Even before the pandemic community engagement was declining. In Reconnected: A Community Builder's Handbook, Nick Terrell and I documented a drop in the share of Australians playing organised sport, volunteering, attending religious services, joining a union, donating to charity or joining community organisations.

Are we facing a friendship recession? The evidence certainly seems to point that way. Compared with four decades ago, Australians have almost half as many friends and we catch up with our mates only about half as often.

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DOORSTOP
WRECK BAY VILLAGE
FRIDAY 19 MAY 2023

Subjects: Housing investment in Wreck Bay Indigenous community, importance of housing to closing the gap, Wreck Bay’s PFAS class action

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY, ANDREW LEIGH: Kristy McBain and I are here in Wreck Bay village to announce a historic investment in housing in the local community. We know that for too long housing in this community has been in a state of disrepair. In the last Budget we allocated $5 million as an initial step to make a difference. In this Budget we announced a historic $45.1 million over eight years. This will be working in consultation with the community to repair and build the housing that the community needs. Closing the Gap is one of the critical issues for this government and at the heart of Closing the Gap is improving the quality of housing in Indigenous communities. The Wreck Bay community is an unusual one, it doesn’t have state or territory representatives, it only has representatives in the Federal Parliament. And as the member for Fenner I’ve been arguing consistently for more support for this extraordinary local community. We’ve also got a bill before parliament right now that will provide greater governance for the Wreck Bay community, allowing better long-term arrangements for the community. And we’re putting in place a new mobile tower which will improve the problems with mobile reception that we’ve known exist in this community. It was a policy we took to the last election and I’m very pleased to see the Albanese Government delivering on mobile coverage for the Wreck Bay community.

$45.1 MILLION FOR HOUSING IN WRECK BAY

The Australian Government is committing $45.1 million to invest in housing on Aboriginal Land in Wreck Bay Village in the Jervis Bay Territory as part of the 2023-24 Budget’s $1.9 billion investment in initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.

This investment will support a capital works program to fix the disrepair of the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council’s residential housing stock. This builds on our investment of $5 million in 2022.

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TV INTERVIEW
AFTERNOON AGENDA WITH KIERAN GILBERT
THURSDAY, 18 MAY 2023

SUBJECTS: Unemployment rate, minimum wage submission, Voice to Parliament.

KIERAN GILBERT (HOST): On one of our top stories today, an increase in the unemployment rate from 3.5 to 3.7 per cent. I spoke a short time ago with the Assistant Minister for the Treasury, Andrew Leigh.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Kieran, these are still extraordinary unemployment figures. To have an unemployment rate below 4 per cent is still essentially full employment in the Australian economy. Our Budget forecast that there would be a modest rise in the unemployment rate, but we do hope to maintain full employment because it's so important for ensuring that people have jobs, that we see equity in the labour market and that we see those steady wage rises, including the substantial wage rise number we saw this week.

Volunteering Australia Reception – National Volunteer Week
Government House, Canberra
Wednesday, 17 May 2023

Thank you all for joining us. My name is Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, pay my respects to their elders, and commit myself, as a member of the Albanese Government, to the implementation in full of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Your Excellencies, thank you for having us here today and for your passion and hard work on behalf of Australian volunteers. To Mark Pearce and Michael Drew from Volunteering Australia, thank you for the important work you do. And to all the volunteers and volunteer peeps in the room. Thanks for keeping the country running.

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TV INTERVIEW
AFTERNOON BRIEFING WITH GREG JENNETT  
WEDNESDAY, 17 MAY 2023

SUBJECTS: PwC scandal, deductible gift recipient listings, Stage 3 tax cuts, Housing Australia Future Fund

GREG JENNETT (HOST): Andrew Leigh, thanks for coming back on the programme. Why don't we start out around multinational taxation? Because it does seem with each and every further investigation by the Parliament, the PwC scandal only grows. For those who aren't familiar peddling ill-gotten information and profiting from it, AusTender shows that PwC still has on foot, millions of dollars worth of contracts. Will they pay a price with this government, financially, I mean, because of this sorry episode?

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Well, the first thing to say, Greg, is this was an appalling, shocking breach of trust by PwC. To effectively take this insider information and to use it to peddle a scheme for their clients is utterly outrageous. And I think the reaction you've seen across the community reflects that. I'm glad they set up an inquiry with Ziggy Switzkowski. I'd urge them to fully release the results of that inquiry. In terms of what it means for PwC's tenders, Katy Gallagher, as Finance Minister, has asked for a review of the conditions under which tenderers are selected and whether such a code of conduct should go to behaviour of this kind.