Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY AFTERNOON AGENDA WITH TOM CONNELL
FRIDAY, 31 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Impact of non-compete clauses on productivity, Issues paper on non-compete clauses, Inflation figures, superannuation reform.

TOM CONNELL: Welcome back. Well, for people that perhaps are looking to venture out, start their own business, perhaps start afresh in the same industry, they sometimes get a big surprise. A non-compete clause that they've signed maybe many years ago means they're very restricted on doing so. Labor, we think, are going to do something about this. Joining me is Andrew Leigh, who's Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. Thanks for your time. So, submissions on this are flooding in. I think they're closing today.

So, what happens? You go through these and you decide how hard to act. Presumably, you're going to hear from business too, that are going to say, we build up this IP; this is our property as well, and don't go too far. How are you going to balance that?

MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: If you're a business who's looking to start up, then non-competes really are an impediment. If you're hiring in a full employment economy, typically you're going to be hiring workers from another firm. But if all those workers are locked up by clauses that say they can't work in your city for 12 months, you're not going to be able to hire the same number of people, which is a drag on productivity. We know one in five workers are bound by non-compete clauses, including not just executives, but early childhood workers, security guards and the like, and that they are potentially a drag on wages and a drag on productivity.

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TV INTERVIEW
AFTERNOON BRIEFING WITH MATT DORAN
FRIDAY, 31 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Trump verdict, Impact of Peter Dutton’s mismanagement of immigration, Former government’s stacking of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Issues paper on non-compete clauses.

MATT DORAN, HOST: Bit of ground to cover today with the Assistant Minister for Charities, Competition and Treasury, Andrew Leigh. He joins us now in the studio. Andrew Leigh, welcome back to Afternoon Briefing.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks, Matt.

DORAN: It would be remiss of me not to ask you about events in the United States. Pretty remarkable seeing a conviction against Donald Trump, considering he could still be the occupant of the White House, even with this conviction against his name. Does it sort of change how the government has to plan for a potential change of government, knowing that this is hanging over?

MR BILL WOOD AM
Constituency Statement, House of Representatives
Thursday, 30 May 2024

Labor people are proud of the fact that ours is Australia's oldest and greatest political party, formed in 1891, 133 years ago. But Bill Wood had a special claim. He could say he had been a member of the Australian Labor Party for more than half its existence.

APPOINTMENT OF ASSOCIATE MEMBERS TO THE ACCC

The Albanese Government has appointed Mr Adam Suckling and Dr John Small as part‑time associate members of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Mr Suckling is a member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and has been appointed as an ACCC associate member until 24 July 2028.

Dr Small is the Chair of the New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC) and has been appointed as an ACCC associate member until 7 June 2025.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC BREAKFAST WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO
TUESDAY, 28 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Impact of social media on teen mental health.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, HOST: Talking federal politics and a couple of interesting topics that I want to discuss with Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, and the Member for Fenner. Andrew, good morning.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning, Stephen. Great to be with you.

CENATIEMPO: Social media has become, well, a major talking point for a whole bunch of reasons at the moment and I want to just get your personal view on this, because your view on social media has changed in recent times.

LEIGH: I used to think a couple of years ago that this was just part of what was going on with the worsening of young people's mental health. But increasingly now, the more I read, works by people like Jonathan Haidt, the more I'm concerned that this really is the number one culprit, in terms of the worsening mental health of young Australians. And the worsening is really substantial. Rates of depression have doubled, social phobia has tripled, rates of panic disorder are up fourfold, and there's an extraordinary 47 per cent of young women who say they've experienced a mental disorder in the last year. All of this has come about in the 15 years since smartphones and social media emerged. Even the set of randomised trials, which look at what happens when people take a break from social media, show an immediate improvement in mental wellbeing.

THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE ROUTE TO POLICY DESIGN

One morning, an American woman by the name of Anita Kramer woke up and could not move her left arm. Kramer called 911 and during her assessment, doctors discovered she had a narrowing in a major blood vessel in her brain. She had an intracranial stent inserted. Less than a week later, a second stroke left Kramer more disabled than the first.

Stenting was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2005, following a promising study that did not use a control group. The stroke rate was better than expected, so the procedure was approved. Thousands of patients received stents.

Six years later, in 2011, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a randomised trial. It found that those who got a stent were more than twice as likely to have a stroke in the next month than patients in the control group (who were assigned to medical therapy). Five patients in the treatment group died, compared to one in the control group. The results were so dramatic that the study was terminated early.

REPAIRING PRODUCTS AND REINVIGORATING COMPETITION
Opening remarks to the Griffith University Law Futures Centre
23 May 2024, Brisbane

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge the elders, customs and traditions of the Jagera and the Turrbul, from both sides of the Maiwar and all First Nations people present today.

I would like to thank Griffith University Law Futures Centre for inviting me to provide opening remarks ahead of the lecture by Assistant Professor Anthony Rosborough.

I thank Professor Leanne Wiseman for organising this event and bringing everyone together – including students, researchers and policymakers – to consider the right to repair through the lens of competition policy and market power. Having had the pleasure of speaking at your 2022 Australian Repair Summit, it’s terrific to be joining you again.

To those of you attending today, I thank you for advocating on behalf of Australian consumers and business.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC ADELAIDE DRIVE WITH JO LAVERTY
WEDNESDAY, 22 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Unethical fundraising practices, Reform to the Privacy Act, ‘Randomistas’ and the value of randomised trials.

JO LAVERTY, HOST: We all know times are tough. We're tightening our belts, and so collecting for charities must be a very difficult job. At the moment, people are giving less because they can afford less. But then there are those charity collectors who go that little step further to try and commit you to ongoing payments, and sometimes it's without you realising. Andrew Leigh is the Federal Assistant Minister for Charities and is saying that this is not cool. He has made a speech to the Fundraising Institute of Australia. Minister, welcome. This sounds diabolical that the elderly people in particular are signing up for ongoing payments that they simply can't afford.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks for taking an interest in the story. I'm not sure I'd describe it as ‘diabolical’. I think most charities are out there doing the right thing, adhering to strict ethical codes. But I did want to flag to the charitable fundraising industry that this small number of problematic cases really does risk tarnishing the whole sector. I told the story about a 73-year-old from Bendigo, about a 79-year-old from Queensland, both of whom found that they had signed up to many, many ongoing donations, and their families felt that they were perhaps just a bit confused about how many sign-ups they'd made, and it was draining their bank accounts at a remarkably quick rate.

TOGETHER WE THRIVE: CELEBRATING THE IMPACT OF VOLUNTEERING
Queensland Volunteering Awards, Volunteering Queensland
Brisbane City Hall, Brisbane
22 May 2024

I acknowledge the Jagera people and the Turrbal people as the Traditional Custodians of these lands and pay respects to all First Nations people present.

I am pleased to join you today to celebrate the contribution of volunteers across Queensland. I acknowledge the Governor of Queensland, Jeanette Young, and thank the organisers, Volunteering Queensland for the vital role you play in Australia’s national volunteering infrastructure and for the work you do to promote connected and inclusive communities.

Happy National Volunteer Week to all volunteers here today.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC BRISBANE BREAKFAST WITH STEVE AUSTIN
WEDNESDAY 22 MAY 2024

SUBJECTS: Future Made in Australia plan, Value of evaluation in public policy, Impact of beauty on electability, Australian Centre for Evaluation, Benefits of Digital ID.

STEVE AUSTIN, HOST: My next guest is a federal parliamentarian, I went back and read his first, his maiden speech to parliament and he said, and I quote; “My research has also taught me that good intentions are not enough. What we need in Australia policy today is not more ideologues convinced that their prescriptions are the answer, but modest reformers willing to try new solutions and discover whether they actually deliver results.” The person that said that is Australia's Assistant Minister for Employment, Treasury and Competition. He's also the Charities Minister, and he's in Brisbane this morning, representing the Prime Minister at the Queensland Volunteering Awards this morning at city hall. Andrew Leigh, lovely to see you back in Brisbane.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: Great to be back with you and your listeners.