Andrew Leigh

THE HON BILL SHORTEN MP

LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS AND ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS

MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG

BRENDAN O’CONNOR MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS

MEMBER FOR GORTON 

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION AND PRODUCTIVITY

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE IN SERVICES

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CHARITIES AND NOT-FOR-PROFITS

MEMBER FOR FENNER 

TRADIE PAY GUARANTEE

A Shorten Labor Government will protect sub-contractors working on Government projects from being left unpaid when dodgy businesses go bust through the implementation of the Tradie Pay Guarantee.

Labor will establish a new requirement for large Commonwealth construction projects that would see project bank accounts established that use cascading statutory trusts, ensuring that all businesses down the supply chain involved get paid on time.

Labor will also develop a national framework to ensure that no sub-contractors or small businesses are left out of pocket as a result of dodgy “phoenix activity”.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

2GB MONEY NEWS

MONDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2019

SUBJECTS: Labor’s plans to make mergers fairer; Banking Royal Commission and Labor’s Banking Fairness Fund.

ROSS GREENWOOD: I want to take you to the Labor Party and its policies. As you know and as we saw today, Labor remains well ahead in the polls and so you've got to watch the policies to understand what's taking place in a prospective Labor Government after the May federal election. Now a few of them are important. One of them quite clearly is in regards to banking. And this is about though the government saying or rather Labor saying that if elected it would actually hit the banks to pay some $640 million to create a fund to allow more Australians access to compensation if the wrong thing is done to them by their banks. Now this would include more broadly - not just the big four banks, but it would include the likes of Macquarie, the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, the Bank of Queensland would be in there as well, contributing to this fund. Now that tops up what is already available through the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, which has been increased in terms of its payouts in the last little while. Second thing is also, as a part of this, Labor will fund more financial counsellors that will help people and small businesses to take on the banks. So at the moment there is a a number of them out there, say there's 500 or so, they’re saying they'd like to see a thousand out there. But on top of that also a few other bits and pieces, say for example when big companies merge, is competition taken out of the marketplace or not? We’ll again hear Labor as saying they want the ACCC to go back and review mergers and after they've happened see whether the desired consequences have actually occurred. Now to help us out here, let's bring in Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and the Shadow Minister for Competition and Productivity is on the line right now. Andrew, as always, many thanks for your time.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: A pleasure, Ross. A lot to get through there.

GREENWOOD: There is a lot to go through. Let's start with your portfolio specifically and that's this area of the ACCC and mergers. Now clearly there are some mergers that take place you look back in hindsight and say it was actually just a concentration of power - they got more power, they were able to basically clean up their competition. Is that the desired you know sort of effect of what you're trying to achieve here?

LABOR WILL MAKE MERGER ANALYSIS SMARTER

Corporate misbehaviour at the expense of everyday Australians will be targeted under a Shorten Labor Government, which will require the competition watchdog to learn from its track record on approving mergers.

Many sectors in Australia are heavily concentrated, which can lead to firms using their market power to raise prices. Despite this, there is currently no official process for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to decide whether it made a mistake in allowing mergers.

From 1989 to 2018, the number of mergers in Australia increased seven-fold, from 259 to 1909, with the total value of merger transactions rising from US$34 to US$146 billion. As every sports fan knows, if you don’t learn from your past performance, you’re less likely to improve in the future.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS
MONDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2019

SUBJECTS: Newspoll; Wage growth; Hayne Royal Commission; Climate change policy.
 
KIERAN GILBERT: With me now is Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. Andrew thanks very much for your time. Is it your view - and I know you’re not someone who comments on polls fortnight to fortnight but in the broad sense, is the issue of border protection and boats not a first order issue for most people that cost of living as Simon Benson put it before, the hip pocket remains the most decisive matter ahead of the election.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Sure does, Kieran. For many Australians, the fact is that everything is going up except their wages. They're feeling a squeeze on the household budget caused by rising energy prices, caused by the fact that the Government's been unable to put in place a serious energy policy. The Government don’t have a single policy that will boost wages. Unlike Labor who will immediately restore penalty rates and make sure that we're having proper workplace bargaining. And the Government at the same time has been focused on their internal infighting on working out who's Prime Minister, who's Treasurer, rather than setting the policy levers that are absolutely essential to get business humming again. We need to get productivity growth up and really see the economy fulfilling its true potential.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC CANBERRA
MONDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2019

SUBJECTS: Franking credits, school chaplains, climate change, Ita Buttrose.
 
TIM SHAW: Last week, ACT Liberal senator Zed Seselja met with retirees at a forum at Parliament House. He was with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, looking at Labor's planned changes to franking credits. Senator Seselja joined me on the program on Wednesday ahead of the forum and he said it will leave thousands of retirees worse off. It's always good to get the other side's view. Dr Andrew Leigh, Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Federal Labor MP for Fenner, is on the line. Good morning, sir.
 
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning, Tim. How are you?

BRINGING THE HIGH FLYERS DOWN TO EARTH

The Canberra Time, 23 February 2019

When Clive Palmer was recently revealed to have registered his Cessna Citation X in the Cayman Islands, sources close to the billionaire said that it was for three reasons: ‘for tax benefits and cheaper operational and maintenance costs’.

The idea that Palmer can save money by getting his jet serviced in a small island 15,000 kilometres away is, frankly, ludicrous. Indeed, his $4 million plane may never even have touched down there. But the Caymans charges no taxes, and is notoriously uncooperative with other governments - which is helpful when your creditors are chasing you for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Those who choose to use tax havens are mixing it with a group of characters that make the bar-room scene in Star Wars look like a church picnic. As recent leaks have revealed, tax havens are used by drug dealers and extortionists, kidnappers and kleptocrats. Many have just a virtual presence - one building in the Caymans is home to 18,000 companies. Others visit occasionally, just to ensure that the lawyers are keeping their affairs secret and untaxed.  According to one estimate, four out of every five dollars in tax havens are there in breach of other countries’ tax laws.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 20 FEBRUARY 2019

Last Tuesday, on a perfect Canberra morning, it was my pleasure to join the Indigenous Marathon Foundation's Closing the Gap Fun Run and Walk. It was 7 am on a crisp day and there we were at the shore of Lake Burley Griffin at the aptly named Reconciliation Place.

The Indigenous Marathon Project, run by the Indigenous Marathon Foundation, was established by Rob de Castella and has, to date, sent dozens of young Indigenous Australians through its training program. The capstone is the New York marathon, but Indigenous Marathon Project participants then go back to their communities to set up Deadly Fun Runs. It is both a leadership program and a community engagement program. I commend Rob de Castella, one of my great heroes, for his initiative in setting it up.

We think that communication and engagement are vital to support healthy politics and democracy.

Andrew is the Federal Member for Fenner and the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, and for Employment. We try to keep people all around the country up to date on the work Andrew and the government are doing, and we try to flag policies and ideas that might affect specific parts of Andrew's audience. 

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 18 FEBRUARY 2019

Canberra's 59 service stations charge petrol prices that are on average 7.4 per cent above the national average. Like many Canberrans, I've grown sick and tired of the excuses given for these high prices.

I commend the Barr government for its announcement that it will put in place a select committee inquiry, commission a detailed analysis by the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission and immediately act to reduce misleading petrol signage at petrol stations, where petrol stations attempt to lure people in with headline prices that customers can't receive.

As Andrew Barr has pointed out:

Canberra families are paying hundreds of dollars more than the equivalent New South Wales family each and every year.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 18 FEBRUARY 2019

  This is a great day for small business, because Labor's access to justice amendment has passed the Senate and looks as though it may now pass the House. This is a great opportunity for the 45th Parliament to come together and address the market power imbalance between large business and small business.

A bit of history. In 2017 the Senate passed Labor's private senator's bill to provide access to justice for small business. There was no crossbench opposition. It was a bill that united Centre Alliance, the Greens and Senators Bernardi, Leyonhjelm and Hinch. Even Senator Gichuhi supported the bill prior to her joining the Liberal Party. Yet, when it came to this place, the Liberals refused to debate it.