Andrew Leigh

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC CANBERRA DRIVE

TUESDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2019

SUBJECTS: The Banking Royal Commission.

ANNA VIDOT: On the line now, Labor's Andrew Leigh - Of course, Dr Andrew Leigh, MP here in the ACT - for the other side of things and also an economist. So with that hat on as well. Dr Andrew Leigh, welcome to ABC Radio Canberra.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks, Anna. Great to be with you too. 

VIDOT: You too. What does parliament need to do most urgently to try to bring the recommendations of the Royal Commission to life and start this, this process towards rebuilding trust in Australia's financial institutions?

LEIGH: I think the first thing would be to sit for as many days as necessary to deal with the Royal Commission's recommendations. What's extraordinary is the government has the Parliament sitting for only 10 days the first half of this year. And given the seismic nature of this royal commission's findings, I think it's absolutely incumbent upon the government to ensure that Parliament sits for as long as it needs to to implement the recommendations.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

5AA MORNINGS

THURSDAY, 31 JANUARY 2019

SUBJECT: Labor's plans to empower consumer and small business advocacy groups.

LEON BYNER: It just so happens that the Federal Opposition - who according to the polls are going to win government, you can never be sure, but that's what the polls say – have said that when we get into office, we’re going to make these laws much tougher. And so much so that what they are saying is that if a business is dealing with - a big business caught putting unfair terms into contracts with suppliers, they could face fines of up to $10 million. And this plan, Labor says, will help smaller businesses break into concentrated markets. Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer. Andrew, is this going to be properly enforced? Because so often we have laws which are there but we don’t use them.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Absolutely, Leon. We’ve said that we’ll increase the budget of the litigation department of the competition watchdog, so it’s able to go after more anti-competitive and anti-consumer conduct. Competition is terrific for consumers, but it’s got to work well and as you said, there have been too many instances recently where that hasn’t happened. We’ve had Nurofen selling different kinds of pain medications which only differ in the colour of the box. We had Dulux sell us cooling paint that doesn’t cool, Uncle Toby’s sold us protein oats that didn’t have any protein in them. The list of companies which have been reprimanded by the ACCC for anti-consumer conduct reads like a who’s who of the top end of town. So we need to get that balance right. That’s why we’re saying a Shorten Labor Government would ban unfair contract terms. We’d also create a supercomplaints power, so that consumer organisations and bodies like CHOICE could bring forward systematically concerns over consumers being ripped off.

CATRYNA BILYK
CHAIR OF THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON CHARITY FUNDRAISING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
SENATOR FOR TASMANIA

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

CHARITY SECTOR WEIGHED DOWN BY OUTDATED LAWS

The final hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Charity Fundraising in the 21^st Century, established by Labor, was held today in Brisbane.

The Committee heard further evidence from witnesses that the efforts of complying with outdated laws across multiple jurisdictions is making it difficult and costly for charities to operate in compliance across Australia and online.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC MELBOURNE DRIVE

WEDNESDAY, 30 JANUARY 2019

SUBJECTS: The Coalition’s policy paralysis on energy, dividend imputation reform, Labor’s plan to level the playing field for first home buyers, Liberals being challenged by former Liberals.

RAF EPSTEIN: Joining us from Brisbane is Senator Bridget McKenzie. She's the Deputy Leader of the Nationals and she is the Minister for Regional Services for Local Governance and Decentralisation - she fits it all on her card somehow. She's in Brisbane. Senator, welcome.

SENATOR BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Great to be with you, Raf. You forgot the most important one - I'm senator for our great state of Victoria.

EPSTEIN: I did too. Sorry. Andrew Leigh joins us. He is the ALP Member for Fenner in the ACT – half of Canberra, I think. He is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and right now a very big thank you to the Pulse FM community radio station in Geelong. That is where Andrew Leigh is. There is a seat or two, especially the Liberal Sarah Henderson’s seat, that I'm sure Labor's keen to pick up. Andrew, thanks for joining us.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Great to be with you, Raf. And it’s been great to be in Geelong with Libby Coker, our Labor candidate for Corangamite.

EPSTEIN: Just say the name as many times as possible.

LEIGH: Libby Coker, Libby Coker, Libby Coker. Thanks again.

Labor Will Give Consumers and Small Businesses a Powerful Voice

The competition regulator must formally respond to ‘super complaints’.

A Shorten Labor Government will allow recognised consumer and small business advocacy groups the power to make ‘super complaints’ to the consumer and competition watchdog. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission would be obliged to investigate and publicly respond to such complaints.

MADELEINE KING MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR SMALL BUSINESS
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR RESOURCES
MEMBER FOR BRAND
 
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

NEW SUPERCOMPLAINTS POLICY WILL SUPERCHARGE COMPETITION

Major consumer and small business advocacy groups will be empowered to make ‘supercomplaints’ about consumer rip-offs, under Labor’s latest policy to support competition and small business.

Many markets are heavily concentrated, and in recent years some of the biggest names in Australian business have been found to have engaged in anti-competitive and anti-consumer conduct. 

THE HON RICHARD MARLES MP

MEMBER FOR CORIO

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION AND PRODUCTIVITY

MEMBER FOR FENNER

LIBBY COKER

LABOR CANDIDATE FOR CORANGAMITE

LABOR TAKES THE WHEEL FOR MECHANICS IN CORIO AND CORANGAMITE

Labor is driving a better deal for car owners and independent mechanics with a plan to give them access to the technical information they need to get cars fixed.

No matter what you kind of vehicle you own, everyone should be able to choose where they get their car serviced. But independent repairers are struggling to get fair access to the standard service information they need.

FROM TRAIN WRECK TO FACT CHECK

Less than a day after an interview in which he muddled up full-time and part-time jobs, Mr Robert has been exposed as misleading Australians over Labor’s plans to reform the unsustainable system of refundable excess franking credits.

The Coalition has waged a scare campaign against Labor’s plans to close tax loopholes used by the wealthiest Australians.

Independent analysis has shown that 92 per cent of taxpayers are unaffected by the change to refundable excess franking credits. Eighty per cent of the benefits flow to the top fifth of retirees.

THE GOLDEN WHISTLE

The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 January 2019

When investigative journalist Bastian Obermayer received the millions of leaked files from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, he was not having a good day. As the German reporter told Fraud Magazine, the rest of his family were sick, and he had just changed his sons’ sheets when the email arrived. ‘It went from being a bad day to a very good one’.

The Mossack Fonseca leak showed that the Panamanian law firm had established shell companies that were being used to perpetrate tax fraud and dodging global sanctions. The Icelandic Prime Minister resigned, as did other prominent officials. The Australian Tax Office began investigations into 800 people identified in what became known as ‘the Panama Papers’.

Just knowing an insider might blow the whistle makes firms less likely to break the law. A recent study of Israel’s tax whistleblowing scheme concluded that it significantly increased the amount of tax paid; particularly in industries that are more prone to tax evasion. The scheme had a powerful deterrent effect on tax dodging. Once firms knew that there was an incentive for employees to report wrongdoing, they were more inclined to pay what they owed. Tax revenue increased by more than one-quarter.

Whether it’s tax or other kinds of corporate fraud, whistleblowers are crucial. A study by Alexander Dyck and coauthors analysed hundreds of US corporate fraud cases. They found that the Securities and Exchange Commission caught just 7 percent, while auditors detected only 10 percent. By contrast, the media uncovered 13 percent of fraud cases, while the employees exposed another 17 percent.

MADELEINE KING MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS

SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR SMALL BUSINESS

SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR RESOURCES

MEMBER FOR BRAND

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 

MAKING UNFAIR CONTRACT TERMS ILLEGAL: THIRD PARTY SUPPORT

‘Some big businesses have been snubbing their noses at the current legislation as it lacks any capacity to punish those who abuse their power. The ACCC, who governs this activity, are basically powerless to make certain big businesses stop adding these unfair terms. If the changes proposed by Mr Leigh are made then we will see an immediate change of attitude and behaviour from those recalcitrant businesses or they will be paying big hefty fines.’

- Peter Strong, Council of Small Businesses of Australia chief executive.