Andrew Leigh

Tax privacy for the uber-rich

12 November 2015

'Protecting tax privacy for the uber-rich is a strange thing to take a stand on.' I wish I could claim credit for those words, but that is the title of Lenore Taylor's summary in The Guardian of the events of today. Rather than agree to getting its own multinational tax bill through the parliament, today has seen the government prefer to put the House in opposition to the Senate.

The government's multinational tax bill is a bill about which Labor has always been somewhat sceptical. After all, when one looks at the budget papers, where revenue estimates should be you only see a series of asterisks. But we have supported the government's multinational tax efforts on the basis that bipartisan activity in this area ought to be encouraged. In the same spirit, we would encourage the government to look at Labor's $7.2 billion plan for closing debt deduction loopholes.

SENATE SUPPORTS TRANSPARENCY OVER SECRECY

Joint Media Release with Senator Sam Dastyari

The Senate has today stood up for tax fairness by passing the Multinational Tax Avoidance Bill with important amendments that restore tax transparency.

Today’s amendments have reversed the Government’s shameful attempt to gut Australia’s tax transparency laws. Private companies earning more than $100 million a year will continue to be included in transparency reports published by the Australian Tax Office.

TAX PAPER DELAYED FOR MORE TURNBULL TALK

Joint Media Release with Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen 

Malcolm Turnbull loves the sound of himself talking about tax so much he has put off releasing the Government’s much-anticipated green paper until 2016.

The Government will now go into its third year in office without having even released its ideas on tax reform, let alone a real plan. 

This is acknowledgement from the Government that this term has been a wasteland when it comes to tax reform.

In an attempt to avoid acknowledging the delay, Treasurer ‘Sneaky’ Scott Morrison began slipping the new schedule into interviews today:

“There’s a budget next year, there’s a green paper we will be looking to release next year…”

- Scott Morrison, AM, 10 November 

LABOR WELCOMES LATEST MAJURA PARKWAY MILESTONE

Joint media release with Shadow Minister for Infrastructure Anthony Albanese and Senator for the ACT Katy Gallagher

Labor welcomes the completion of the Molongo River and Fairbairn bridges as part of Canberra’s $288 million Majura Parkway project.

The project will reduce traffic congestion for Canberra motorists by linking the Federal and Monaro highways and diverting trucks and other traffic moving through Canberra away from the city centre.

It will deliver more than $1 billion worth of economic, social and environmental benefits and carry at least 40,000 vehicles a day, including 6000 trucks, by 2030.

The ACT Labor Government and the former federal Labor government funded the project in 2011, each contributing $144 million.

Australian Crime Commission Amendment (Criminology Research) Bill 2015

10 November 2015

I note from the outset that Labor will not oppose the bill, which will be referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for further scrutiny and to give stakeholders an opportunity to raise their concerns. We have taken at face value the government's undertaking that this merger is not a savings measure, but I do believe that, as the member for Perth has so articulately outlined, we are merging together two organisations which necessarily have very different cultures. The Australian Crime Commission must take secrecy and privacy seriously. Lives are at stake in their investigations, and it is absolutely vital that they are able to protect confidences. But the Australian Institute of Criminology, which will be known as the Crime and Justice Research Centre, must instead have a culture of openness, disseminating data and research as broadly as possible.

The member for Perth shares many of my heroes in the world of criminology and good, evidence led criminal justice policy. Don Weatherburn was a strong influence on me as a whippersnapper becoming interested in data and public policy. Mark Kleiman's book When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishmentreshaped my view on crime and punishment. Bruce Weston's work on US incarceration shines a light on a path that Australia should not go down. Reformers on both sides of politics—Paul Papalia and Greg Smith among them—have shown that it is possible to take Australia down a path where we have less crime and less punishment.

UNTESTED TAX BILL NEEDS PROPER REVIEW

Scott Morrison should commit to a formal review of the Multinational Tax Bill by 2018, as recommended by the Senate Economics Committee this evening.

The committee’s report reflects Labor’s reservations about the Government’s untested approach to tackling multinational profit shifting.

It recommends the Bill be evaluated within three years of its 2016 start-date to determine whether it has successfully stopped companies siphoning profits offshore. 

With Treasury unable to say how much revenue the Government’s plan might return to Australia, and no other country having successfully implemented Australia’s approach, it is right that the tax Bill should be subject to serious evaluation in the future.

The Indian Festival of Lights 

9 November 2015

Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights, is the most widely celebrated festival of the people from the Indian subcontinent and across the whole world. Diwali means 'rows of lights', and it is the festival symbolising victory of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. Historically, Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama to his kingdom after an absence of 14 years.

To celebrate the event, Lord Rama's people put out little lanterns to illuminate his homecoming. Now, in recognition of this special time of the year, homes are decorated with candles, clay lamps, fairy lights and rangolis—intricate handmade artwork designs in colourful powder. The Festival of Lights is a joyful occasion of hospitality, community and generosity, marked with an exchange of decorative and enticing Indian sweets.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

666 ABC CANBERRA

MONDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Christmas Island; Liberals’ plan to raise the GST 

PHILIP CLARK: Parliament is back and I have Andrew Leigh, Labor member for Fraser, and Zed Seselja, Liberal Senator for the ACT, joining us now. Good morning gents. You're looking forward to it, can't wait, Andrew?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: It just doesn't get better than this, Philip. We have the nation’s leaders coming to this great city in order to make this country better. 

CLARK: Exactly right. Can we talk first about Christmas Island, there is some pretty disturbing news this morning about what's going on there. Is this sustainable into the future, what do you think, Andrew?

LEIGH: I'm really concerned about what's coming out this morning, Philip. It's not obvious what has happened but it does again point to the need for better transparency for Australia's detention facilities. Labor has called for more openness and for better access by third parties to detention centres. We believe, for example, that there ought to be a Children's Commissioner in place who has an independent remit to look at issues in Australia's detention centres. 

New Innovations Switch Things Up

The Chronicle

3 November 2015

When Gutenberg’s printing press emerged in 1440, it transformed the world. Today, three-dimensional printing is threatening to do the same. From hobby parts to medical implants, 3D printers are transforming manufacturing.

But while the technology promises a great deal, a decent 3D printer remains expensive – which is where Canberra firm Made for Me comes in. By allowing printer owners to rent out time to users, Made for Me lets more people have access to 3D printing.

I met the Made for Me staff on a visit to the Canberra Innovation Network in the city. Home to dozens of new firms, the network is brim full of ideas. It also boasts Australia’s youngest entrepreneur (10 year old Will G), and best gender diversity (half of the firms in the accelerator program are run by women).

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP INTERVIEW

PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

MONDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2015 

SUBJECT/S: Liberals’ plan to increase the GST

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning everyone. When it comes to tax reform, every problem for this Government seems to come back to the GST. It's said that to a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. For this Government, tax reform looks like raising or broadening the GST. The problem is, when you look at the big challenges Australia faces, the GST is exactly the wrong response.

If you look at inequality, which is now at a 75 year high, raising one of our most regressive taxes would hurt the most vulnerable. If you look at consumer confidence, it's very clear that with consumer confidence still fragile, jacking up the cost of spending could well do damage to the Australian economy. You've only got to look at Japan which raised its consumption tax and saw the economy slide into recession. If you look at the big challenge of housing affordability, it's very clear that putting the GST on mortgages as Dan Tehan has advocated today would just drive housing affordability further out of the reach of the typical household.

So whether it's inequality, consumer confidence or housing affordability, raising the GST is not the answer. And frankly, if you think that raising the GST to 15 per cent is the right answer for Australia, you're probably asking the wrong question.