Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC MELBOURNE WITH RAFAEL EPSTEIN

WEDNESDAY, 23 AUGUST 2023

TOPICS DISCUSSED: Competition review, Noncompete agreements, Productivity growth.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN (HOST): 22 minutes after 4 o'clock on ABC Radio Melbourne. Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, also Charities and Treasury. Good afternoon.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good afternoon, Raf, great to be with you.

EPSTEIN:  Should I fear this competition review will lead to something as significant as the sale of the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas?

LEIGH: We’re not aiming to break up firms or divest them, Raf. We’re just aiming to get more competition into the market, to make sure that new entrants are coming in not just for the ambition of being bought by the monopolists, but by the ambition of actually taking them on. Whether it's banking or baby food or beer, the Australian economy is a pretty concentrated one and it's become more concentrated over recent decades.

What the review about is in the short‑term, making sure we've got competition that puts downward pressure on prices and helps with the cost‑of‑living challenge, and in the long‑term making sure we have the sort of dynamic productive economy that creates well‑paying jobs and lays the foundations for productivity growth.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
NEWS RADIO DRIVE WITH GLEN BARTHOLOMEW
WEDNESDAY, 23 AUGUST 2023

GLEN BARTHOLOMEW (HOST): Australia has one of the most concentrated economies in the world and a lack of competition is seeing many of us pay more for goods and services. As the cost‑of‑living continues to rise the Federal Government today moved to explore tougher laws to stop monopolies and protect consumers from big companies with too much market power. The Assistant Minister for Competition and Treasury Andrew Leigh announced the review today, alongside Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and he joins us now. Andrew Leigh, good afternoon.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT, CHARITIES, COMPETITION AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Good afternoon, Glen, great to be with you.

BARTHOLOMEW: You've told this program in the past that you think there's just not enough competition in our economy. Is it failing consumers? Are we losing out as a result?

LEIGH: It's not just hurting consumers; it's also hurting suppliers. So you think about our farmers who are squeezed between concentrated suppliers of their fertiliser, and concentrated producers who are buying their products. You think about workers who have too few choices about where to work, particularly in regional markets, which can often mean they don't earn a fair wage. And of course to think about consumers who are hurt in areas from banking to baby food to beer, where there's often just a couple of big players. Market concentration has gotten worse over the last couple of decades. We've seen a rise in mark‑ups, we've seen a fall in the new business formation rate and in the rate of workers shifting to a better job. So all of that's the context in which we've set up this competition review aimed to take a broad approach to find practical reforms across the economy that will boost competition.

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TV INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS AFTERNOONS WITH TOM CONNELL
WEDNESDAY, 23 AUGUST 2023

TOM CONNELL (HOST): Let’s bring in the Minister for Competition Andrew Leigh, right now, to talk more on this. So there’s an issue here with the size of some companies in some sectors. What are the sectors that you look at, you’ve experienced, that you’ve seen that you just think they have players that are simply too big, something needs to be done about them?

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT, CHARITIES, COMPETITION AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: It’s a great question, Tom. And, really, if you look right across the Australian economy from banking to baby food to beer, you see too little choice and too few competitors. Australia’s economy is often characterised by being the land of the duopoly. We need to make sure that there’s more vibrant competition. That’s important for consumers because more competition puts downward pressure on prices. But it matters too for suppliers. It matters for our farmers. It matters for workers who need choices as to where they can work if they’re going to earn a wage that reflects their productivity.

So this reform review really is looking right across the Australian economy at opportunities to put in place the sorts of competition reforms that increased living standards by $5,000 per household under the Keating-Hilmer reforms of the 1990s.

CONNELL: So when this review was being sort of scoped with what it can do, how bold can it be? Is it free to say there might need to be government-enforced demergers? And I’m thinking of those areas you mentioned – beer and banking just for a couple of them. Massive amounts of mergers have happened over the past, not so much few years, but the past couple of decades. Does the review need the power to say "We’ve got to actually split some of these companies up?"

LEIGH: No, that’s not something that’s been a priority for us, Tom, but we are looking at merger reviews, as was brought to the government by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Originally when it was headed by Rod Sims and then again by Gina Cass-Gottlieb. And the Commission has a range of recommendations which the competition taskforce will consider.

We’re also open to bright ideas, whether they’re coming from states, territories, business, from the communities sector, from academic experts. We don’t believe we’ve got a monopoly over wisdom in this reform space. This is an area where we want to see a vibrant competition of ideas as we seek to deliver reforms that will in the short term help address the cost of living crisis and in the long term lay the foundations for productivity growth and living standards growth.

CONNELL: So this review is only going to look at laws that happen in the future? It essentially won’t be free to say competition is so bad we might need demergers? It can’t go into that area? Is that what you’re saying?

Joint media release with
The Hon Jim Chalmers
Treasurer

A MORE DYNAMIC AND COMPETITIVE ECONOMY

The Albanese Government is undertaking a review of competition policy settings to help build a more dynamic and productive economy. 

Greater competition is critical for lifting dynamism, productivity and wages growth, putting downward pressure on prices and delivering more choice for Australians dealing with cost-of-living pressures.

Australia’s productivity growth has slowed over the past decade, and reduced competition has contributed to this – with evidence of increased market concentration, a rise in markups and a reduction in dynamism across many parts of the economy.

We need to ensure our competition policy settings are fit for purpose in the face of the big shifts underway in our economy, so we can make the most of digitalisation, the growth in services, the net zero transformation, while supporting our nation’s most vulnerable.

Diary Manager - Office of Dr Andrew Leigh

I’m looking for a full-time executive assistant to join my team, working across both my Parliament House and Gungahlin electorate offices. Women and people from minority ethnic groups are traditionally underrepresented in politics, and are especially encouraged to apply.

The position will involve managing and coordinating my diary and acting as a first point of contact in my Parliamentary office. A typical day involves handling incoming invitations, organising my schedule and travel arrangements and making sure they run smoothly, and engaging with stakeholders and members of the public contacting the office.

But it’s not just logistics and people management - as a government office, we’re focused on using our time and energy in the best way possible to advance the priorities of the government and get great outcomes for our ministerial and electorate constituencies.

If you’re cheerful and resourceful and relish the challenge of juggling changing priorities in a busy environment, you’d be a good fit.

If you want to know more about our values and the activities of the office, look to the Principles of Politics at the bottom of this post, check out our social media (Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter) or our website, www.andrewleigh.com.

Building Community and Building Evidence: 15 Years of the Centre For Social Impact
Centre for Social Impact, Sydney
Wednesday, 16 August 2023

Social Mobility

I acknowledge the Gadigal people as traditional custodians of the land, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present.

I commit myself, as a member of the Albanese Government, to the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, including a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament.

It doesn’t matter who you talk to across the political spectrum almost everyone believes in a society where a child’s outcomes aren’t predestined from birth.

As A.B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson wrote in his poem ‘Boots’:

They called us ‘mad Australians’;
they couldn’t understand
How officers and men could fraternise

The poem captures Australia’s fundamentally egalitarian ideals. We prefer the word ‘mate’ to the word ‘sir’. We’re likely to think of ourselves as more country pub than country club.

Data and Evaluation: A Match Made in Policy Heaven
Data for Policy Summit, Canberra
Tuesday, 15 August 2023

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands and region.

I acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

I commit myself, as a member of the Albanese Government, to the implementation in full of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, including a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament.

Thank you to Life Course Centre for hosting today’s Summit and thank you for focusing your efforts on the causes of disadvantage in Australia.

Name a better duo is a popular social media caption.

I could name Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso but the entire Matildas squad is star studded.

I could name Canberra and Spring as a world-class combination, but the allergy sufferers may beg to differ.

So, today I’m going to break the internet and name data and evaluation as the most dynamic duo.

They’re a match made in policy heaven.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
6PR PERTH MONEY NEWS WITH KARALEE KATSAMBANIS
THURSDAY, 10 AUGUST 2023 

SUBJECTS: Multinational tax reform, price gouging and petrol prices, and the Royal Australian Mint winning international coin prizes,

KARALEE KATSAMBANIS: I am actually delighted to be speaking to Dr Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition and Charities and Treasury this evening.

Good evening, Dr Leigh.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT, CHARITIES, COMPETITION AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Good evening, Karalee. Great to be back with you.

KATSAMBANIS: It’s lovely to have you back on the show. Now, one thing I love is you’re always very available to our audience. You like to keep us up to date with what is happening in the Canberra sphere of some of the causes that you are, you know, in charge of and a lot of the legislation. You wear lots of different hats in Canberra.

One of the important things that we’ve followed on this show – and I know from all your extremely hard work during the election campaign before you came to power – is the multinational tax update. It’s something that’s pretty dear to your heart as well. You’ve really seen it through. What we can tell the listeners is the legislation has passed the House with support from both the Coalition and the Greens. However, what does it actually now mean? Can you explain that for our listeners and give a little bit of a background as well just in case some of them aren’t aware of it?

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RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC 1206 AM AFTERNOON DRIVE WITH LEON DELANEY
THURSDAY, 10 AUGUST 2023

 SUBJECTS: ACT Waterways, Volunteer Groups, Ending Loneliness Together.

LEON DELANEY: The Federal Government has announced a $3.2 million investment into improving Canberra's waterways, and Lord knows, our waterways need improvement. Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury and Assistant Minister for Employment, and of course, most importantly our local Member for Fenner, Dr Andrew Leigh, good afternoon.

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

DELANEY: Well, thanks for joining us. Your name is on this media release along with your colleagues, Alicia Payne, David Smith, and of course the Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek. But what exactly does this $3.2 million funding mean for the waterways here in Canberra?