Andrew Leigh

MORRISON IN A MUDDLE

Today, a panicked Scott Morrison told Fairfax “the government has never entertained” changes to cash back on the dividend imputation.

But the Government’s own Re:think Tax Discussion paper (p.92) states:

There are some revenue concerns with the refundability of imputation credits.

In its haste to yet again defend inequitable tax breaks, the Turnbull Government can’t even remember what it was saying yesterday.

TUESDAY, 13 MARCH 2018

JEFF BORLAND SPEECH LAUNCHING RANDOMISTAS

MELBOURNE LAW SCHOOL

THURSDAY, 8 MARCH 2018

I’d also like to begin in our usual way by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which this event is taking place, and their elders past and present.

It is a great pleasure to be able welcome Andrew Leigh back to the University of Melbourne.

Andrew is MHR for Fenner and Shadow Assistant Treasurer.  If you watch TV news, you may have picked up that his other main political role is as the Canberra running partner for Bill Shorten.

LAUNCH SPEECH

Randomistas: How Radical Researchers Changed Our World

MARCH 2018

In 2013, a group of Finnish doctors published the results of a randomised trial of knee surgery performed for a torn meniscus, the piece of cartilage that provides a cushion between the thighbone and shinbone. This opera­tion, known as a meniscectomy, is performed millions of times a year, making it the most common orthopaedic procedure in countries such as Australia and the United States.

The randomised trial was based on ‘sham surgery’, in which patients consent to being assigned either to a regular treatment, or to being cut open and sewn up again without the operation being performed. Not only is the patient assigned to true surgery or placebo surgery based on the toss of a coin – they are not even told afterwards what happened to them.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

SKY AM AGENDA

TUESDAY, 13 MARCH 2018

SUBJECTS: Dividend imputation reform.

KIERAN GILBERT: Welcome back to the program. With me now the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. Thanks very much for your time. What do you think of the Government's argument that this is a double tax grab, that it's a distortion of the dividend imputation system now where some people will be double taxed and others won't be?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Kieran it's worth taking a step back just to explain how we got here. In 1987 Paul Keating put in place dividend imputation which ensured that people weren't taxed twice, that individuals got a credit for company taxes previously paid. But then in 2000, a time when there was a structural budget surplus of 1-2 per cent of GDP, John Howard and Peter Costello decided to make that refundable. They put in place a system no other country in the advanced world has in which the tax office would cut you a cheque.

GILBERT: What's wrong with that?

LEIGH: Well it's pretty unsustainable at a time when we have the budget deficit now soaring. It's eight times larger than when it was forecast. Gross debt just crashed through the half a trillion dollar barrier and the Turnbull Government is saying we should be taking money away from pensioners - saying that these payments aren't affordable. I think if we're looking at cheques the Government cuts, we probably should look first to the cheques that it's cutting to people who are not paying tax but instead getting cash refunds for dividend imputations.

GILBERT: Your former boss, Peter Cook in 1999 in the debate with Peter Costello, supported the change; "Labor included this proposal prior to the last election therefore we have no difficulty supporting the proposal because it is our policy, it builds on the reform accomplished by Labor 15 years ago and it improves the current tax system faced by low income investors especially retired Australians", that's what your former boss said.

LEIGH: Kieran, when this was put in place two decades ago it's true that Labor supported it and the budget was strong at the time. The budget is anything but strong and this is a tax concession which then was about half a billion dollars a year and now is ten times that, about $5 billion. And it’s projected to grow to $8 billion a year. 

IS THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY TOO SIMPLE?

INSURANCE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA ANNUAL FORUM

WEDNESDAY, 7 MARCH 2018

It is a pleasure to be speaking at the Insurance Council’s annual forum today. As part of Labor’s economic team, I have appreciated my engagement with the ICA over recent years. You have a strong working relationship with Bill Shorten, Chris Bowen, Katy Gallagher, Matt Thistlethwaite, Jim Chalmers and others on the Labor front bench. Smart oppositions use the time to engage with the community, craft policies, and prepare for the possibility of taking government. Regardless of your politics, I doubt anyone would disagree that this Labor opposition has produced more carefully crafted policy proposals than any opposition in a quarter of a century. We don’t just want to win the next election: we want to have a clear plan for growth in the decades ahead.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP INTERVIEW

SYDNEY

TUESDAY 6 MARCH 2018

SUBJECTS:  Time Use Survey announcement; Carmichael coal mine; Batman.

TANYA PLIBERSEK, DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Thanks very much for coming out this morning. I'm delighted to be with my colleague Andrew Leigh and with Professor Marian Baird to announce that if re-elected a Labor Government would commit around $15 million to the Australian Bureau of Statistics undertaking a time use survey in both 2020 and 2027.

The Randomistas and insights of Randomised Controlled Trials

Radio Interview on ABC RN Breakfast

Tuesday, 6 March 2018

It's no wonder we're questioning the value of private healthcare

The Age, 5 March 2018

In 1976, the Fraser government created Medibank Private to provide competition to private health insurers. As Malcolm Fraser himself put it: ''Full and open competition between Medibank and the private funds … will do much to cut down the total cost of healthcare.''

LABOR COMMITS TO TIME USE SURVEY

A Shorten Labor Government will deliver the evidence-base to help us better understand how government policies impact women.

A Labor Government will provide $15.2 million in funding to the Australian Bureau of Statistics to conduct the Time Use Survey in 2020 and 2027.

FEDERATION CHAMBER

MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2018 

Dr LEIGH (Fenner) (13:45):  Australia faces a crisis in housing affordability, with the homeownership rate now at a 60-year low. Nowhere is this clearer than in Batman. For example, in the suburb of Northcote the median property price is now $1.3 million. For many young people and families in Australia, owning their own home is simply out of reach.