Andrew Leigh

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH ROSS SOLLY
THURSDAY, 6 NOVEMBER 2025

SUBJECTS: Albanese Government funding for the ACT, bulk billing, National Security Precinct, Australian gas, Future Made In Australia, Solar Sharer CSIRO, aquatic facilities in Canberra, Gonski funding for ACT schools, superannuation,

ROSS SOLLY: ABC Canberra Breakfast, you are with Ross Solly and the Member for Fenner is here with us this morning. Andrew Leigh, good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning, Ross, great to be with you.

ROSS SOLLY: And it is great to be with you. Are you ready for our listener questions this morning?

ANDREW LEIGH: Born ready.

ROSS SOLLY: Great, I'm very happy to hear it. So, we have a few people calling in already. Our number is 1300 681 666. If you've got a question you'd like, this is your opportunity. You hear enough of me banging on and asking questions, let's get your questions. Now let's go first of all to Steve. Good morning, Steve.

STEVE: Good morning, how are you?

ROSS SOLLY: Yeah, good thanks Steve. Andrew is listening.

STEVE: Yes, so my question goes towards appropriate investment into the ACT. I'm aware that in the last couple of days you announced $5 or was it $3 million that went into developing the Kingston Foreshore. But as you're aware, some of the other states are getting multi-billion dollar investments, an example would be the Whyalla Steelworks that got multi-billions to support its local community sustain itself, and also Victoria and Queensland and some of the other states have been getting huge amounts of investment from the Commonwealth.

Senator The Hon Murray Watt
Minister for the Environment and Water
Senator for Queensland

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Member for Fenner

Alicia Payne MP
Member for Canberra

Canberra's National Seed Bank Upgrade Expands Capacity To Safeguard Native Species

Thursday, 6 November 2025 

The National Seed Bank has undergone a major upgrade at its current Canberra site, to safeguard more of Australia’s native plants for generations to come.

The Australian Government has invested $5.7 million to support the centre in delivering expanded seed storage and more research opportunities, at the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

The facility will play a vital role in protecting more than 4,000 species from threats such as climate change, fire and habitat loss.

Upgrades to the National Seed Bank include:

• Larger seed biology lab for studying seed traits and germination
• New seed preparation lab for cleaning and sorting seeds
• Expanded incubator room for testing seed germination under different conditions
• Specialist imaging rooms — separate seed X-ray and microscope spaces
• Bigger seed dry room to reduce seed moisture before storage
• State-of-the-art walk-in seed vault at -20°C for long-term preservation
• Dedicated cold room at 4–5°C for medium-term storage
• New office and meeting spaces to support research, collaboration and volunteer activities

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP 
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

Opinion Piece

The hidden productivity revolution brewing in Australian social enterprises

Published in SmartCompany

5 November 2025

When the morning rush hits a small café in Melbourne’s Collingwood, the smell of coffee hides a quiet revolution. Behind the counter at STREAT are young people who’ve experienced homelessness and other forms of disadvantage, now training in hospitality. Every flat white poured helps someone build skills, confidence and independence.

STREAT is part of a growing movement of social enterprises proving that doing good can also be good business. These are firms that trade for purpose as well as profit, and they’re changing what productivity looks like in Australia.

Across the country, around 12,000 social enterprises employ more than 200,000 people. They operate in construction, recycling, retail, logistics and food. They compete in the market, pay wages, and reinvest their earnings in people and communities.

Good Cycles in Melbourne employs young people who’ve struggled to find steady work, maintaining e-bike fleets for councils and delivery companies. The more contracts they win, the more lives they change. Outlook Australia runs a recycling facility that employs people with disability, combining environmental and social sustainability in one business model. And in regional New South Wales, Chocolate on Purpose blends Indigenous bush foods with handmade chocolate, creating jobs, celebrating culture and showing that ethics and enterprise can thrive together.

What unites these ventures is a belief that inclusion is not a cost but an investment. When someone who has been locked out of the workforce finds a foothold, productivity rises. Skills grow. Confidence returns. Spending power flows into local communities. The economy becomes not just larger but fairer and stronger.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

Opinion Piece

Setting Australian talent free

Published in The Policymaker

4 November 2025

A dynamic economy depends on movement. When people change jobs, ideas travel with them. A nurse brings new techniques to her next hospital; a software engineer introduces smarter code to her new firm. Economists call this allocative efficiency. Most people just call it getting a better job. 

Yet in too many workplaces, that movement is quietly being stifled. Over the past decade, clauses that prevent people from joining competitors, known as non-compete clauses, have crept into millions of contracts. Once reserved for senior executives, they now appear in agreements for teachers, carers, tradespeople, even baristas. 

A survey by the e61 Institute found that around one in five Australian workers, some three million people, are bound by a non-compete. Often these clauses are slipped into contracts automatically, copied from old templates without discussion or scrutiny. Many workers only discover them when they try to leave a job and are told they cannot. 

What began as a narrow tool to protect trade secrets has become a broad restraint on opportunity. The effect is to trap people in roles that may no longer suit their skills or family circumstances, and to deprive the wider economy of the benefits that come when talent moves freely. 

Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher
Minister for Finance
Minister for Women
Minister for the Public Service
Minister for Government Services 
Senator for the ACT

The Hon Andrew Giles MP
Minister for Skills and Training

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
Member for Fenner

Alicia Payne MP
Member for Canberra

David Smith MP
Member for Bean

Free TAFE Proving Popular In The ACT

4 November 2025

New data released by the Albanese Labor Government has revealed there have been more than 685,000 Free TAFE enrolments across Australia since the start of the program.

The program, a commitment made by the Government during the 2022 election and introduced in 2023, encourages Australians to upskill with qualifications that local communities need, helping to address skills shortages in key areas like construction, care, and manufacturing.

The data also revealed that there have now been more than 190,000 courses completed – seeing more Australians starting careers as nurses, carpenters, aged care workers, electricians and early childhood educators.

In the ACT, among the most popular Free TAFE courses are Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care, Certificate IV in Cyber Security, and Certificate III in Community Services.

Canberrans are benefitting from significant savings as a result of Free TAFE, with a student undertaking a Certificate IV in Cyber Security able to save up to $3,400 on their course, while a student training in a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care can save up to $2,500.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH ROSS SOLLY
TUESDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2025

SUBJECTS: $2.8 million in Albanese Government funding for precinct planning in Canberra (urban Precincts and Partnerships Program), Sydney to Canberra rail line

ROSS SOLLY: So, as I mentioned there's a bit of an event going on down at the Kingston train station this morning with the federal government announcing it's going to kick some money in towards getting that project - that housing project up-and-running. Mary Goode is down there. Good morning Mary.

MARY GOODE: Good morning Ross. Yes, Canberra residents could be living by the Kingston railway station and jump on the train for a faster service to Sydney. That's where what's being imagined down here this morning. We've had Chief Minister Andrew Barr, the federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and Member for Bean, David Smith all here this morning, as well as Member for Fenner, Andrew Leigh who I'm joined with right now. Good morning Andrew Leigh, what's the Commonwealth offering here today?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, thanks very much Mary. It's a really exciting $5.8 million joint investment. So, it'll be $2.8 million from the federal government, $3 million from the ACT Government, and the long-term plan is about 5,000 new housing units in Kingston and Fyshwick. This is a big precinct as people would know and it's pretty underused at the moment. It's a rather sleepy area, ironically around our main train station.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP 
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

The Productive Power of Purpose: Why Doing Good Is Good Economics

Social Traders Breakfast Event – ‘How Social Enterprise Drives Productivity'

Parliament House, Canberra

Monday, 3 November 2025

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, and pay my respects to Elders past and present. I extend that respect to all First Nations people joining us today.

Good morning everyone.

If you’ve chosen a breakfast about productivity over a sleep-in, that’s proof you already believe in getting things done.

Today we’re talking about a simple but powerful idea: that doing good is not the opposite of doing well. That the most productive economies are those that make the best use of their people, all their people.

Because productivity isn’t just about working faster. It’s about working smarter, and in a fair society, it’s also about making sure no one’s potential is wasted.

Inclusion enhances productivity. When more Australians are empowered to reach their potential, the economy allocates talent more efficiently.

That’s true for women entering male-dominated fields, for people with disability finding meaningful work, and for Australians from disadvantaged backgrounds building careers.

The statistics may not always capture the gains immediately, but the long-term benefits are undeniable. Productivity is what creates fiscal room for generosity, social room for imagination, and personal room for choice.

And that’s where social enterprises come in.

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP 
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 

Opinion Piece

The Power of Proximity: Why Getting Cities Right Matters

Published in The New Daily

2 November 2025

Cities are the beating hearts of Australia’s economy. They are where ideas collide, industries cluster and opportunity multiplies. But they are also where the nation’s biggest productivity challenges and cost pressures are most visible. If we want to lift living standards, we have to get our cities right.

For decades, economists have known that when people and firms cluster together, they become more productive. Workers share knowledge, businesses specialise and innovation spreads faster. Recent research from the e61 Institute shows that Australians who live in our capital cities earn on average around $8,000 more each year. Even after adjusting for education and occupation, about half the gap reflects what researchers call the “place effect” – the productivity advantage of being in a dense, connected environment.

Tracking the same workers over time, e61 finds that those who move to a city experience an enduring wage lift of around $12,000 after seven years. Cities don’t just pay more, they make people more productive. A city is an accelerator.

But not everyone benefits equally. Knowledge workers gain the most. For trades and care workers, the advantage is smaller or even reversed. High housing costs and long commutes risk undermining the rewards of city life for many Australians.

Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher
Minister for Finance
Minister for Women
Minister for the Public Service
Minister for Government Services
Senator for the ACT

The Hon Mark Butler MP
Minister for Health and Ageing
Minister for Disability and the NDIS

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
Member for Fenner

David Smith MP
Member for Bean

Delivering more bulk billing for the ACT

Friday, 31 October 2025

The Albanese Government is making the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation over 40 years ago, an $8.5 billion package delivering on our commitment to strengthen bulk billing, support GPs, and make healthcare more affordable for all Australians.  

From 1 November, for the first time, bulk billing incentives will be paid to GPs for every patient they bulk bill. Previously these incentives were only available to children under 16 and concession card holders.

This landmark reform will boost the number of fully bulk billing practices to around 4,800 nationally by 2030, triple the current number.

Patients and families in the ACT are already seeing the benefits of our Government’s investments to strengthen Medicare and deliver more bulk billing.

An additional 44,784 bulk billed visits have been delivered in the ACT since we tripled the bulk billing incentive for children under 16 and concession card holders.

We expect more than 200,000 additional GP visits in the ACT will be fully covered by Medicare each year, saving families hundreds of dollars in out-of-pocket costs and ensuring they only need their Medicare card, not their credit card, when they visit the doctor.

Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher
Minister for Finance
Minister for Women
Minister for the Public Service
Minister for Government Services
Senator for the ACT

Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury 
Member for Fenner

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
SCULLIN GENERAL PRACTICE
FRIDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2025

SUBJECTS: Albanese Government delivering more bulk billing for the ACT, Senate QT, child care and child safety, ACT Liberals

ASSISTANT MINISTER LEIGH: Thanks very much everyone for coming along today. My name is Andrew Leigh, the federal Member for Fenner and it's terrific to be here with Katy Gallagher the day before bulk billing incentives kick off. Canberra has traditionally had lower levels of bulk billing than many parts of Australia, and we have worked assiduously since coming to government in 2022 to turn that around.

We've increased bulk billing incentives, but these new incentives that come into place tomorrow are going to be a game changer. We will be rolling out bulk billing incentives for all patients and putting in place practice incentives at the same time. And as a result, the Scullin General Practice from tomorrow will be bulk billing every single patient. It currently bulk bills around 70 per cent of its patients, but it will go to 100 per cent bulk billing from tomorrow. And across the ACT, the health department has had nine inquiries from different practices who are keen to switch to become fully bulk billing practices.

Bulk billing is the beating heart of Medicare, and Medicare is Labor invention. So, that's why Labor is so committed to ensuring that we get bulk billing rates up here in Canberra and across Australia. People in the regions often feel they like can't afford to see a doctor as a result of the cost of living, and we're turning that around by creating incentives for more GPs to go to pure bulk billing.

Today is also the 50th anniversary of the Racial Discrimination Act - another terrific Labor innovation, and we're really proud to be celebrating the Racial Discrimination Act today, as well as the new initiative that takes effect tomorrow. I'll hand over now to Katy Gallagher to say a few words.

MINISTER GALLAGHER: Thanks Andrew. It's lovely to be here with you and with the doctors at the Scullin Medical Practice. We really do appreciate Scullin Medical Practice allowing us to come and visit them and hear about how the tripling of the bulk billing incentive is going to make a difference to their Practice, and most importantly to their patients. We know that Canberra and the region surrounding us really has a lot of pressure around bulk billing, and we've been looking at every lever available to us to make sure that we're doing everything we can.

Ultimately, it is a doctor's choice about who they bulk bill, but governments can help by making sure those incentives work. And so, we're looking at, obviously, the tripling of the bulk billing for 16 year-olds or under 16 year-olds and concession card holders. That drove an extra 44,000 bulk billed presentations in the ACT. So, 44,000 additional bulk billed patients with that incentive. And we're going to watch exactly what happens when that incentive kicks in for everybody on the first of November. This is happening around the country, where we know that there are higher bulk billing rates than here in the ACT, but we know, again, that Medicare and bulk billing was on life support when we came to government. We've been doing Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, we've tripled the bulk billing rate for concession card holders; we're now doing this one. It's a huge investment, but we know it's the right thing to do.

The other thing for the ACT obviously, is the three additional bulk billing clinics that we promised at the last campaign. We are going through the process of tendering those now, and we are doing everything we can to get those up-and-running as soon as possible. We know that something additional had to be here in the ACT, and with Andrew, Alicia and David, we were able to argue for essentially, some special measures happening here in the ACT. So, we've got the change happening tomorrow and then over the next few months we'll have the results of that tender process and hopefully get those clinics up-and-running as soon as possible as well. Thank you.