Andrew Leigh

The Turnbull Government has broken its promise to Australian small business owners to hold an independent review into a key automotive repair industry agreement within three months of the 2016 federal election.

It has been reported today that independent car service and repair businesses are complaining that they get limited access to standard servicing information from car manufacturers, despite the 2014 Agreement on Access to Service and Repair Information for Motor Vehicles.

As a result, their ability to offer competitive or even cheaper car servicing prices to consumers faces significant restrictions. 

PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

 THURSDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2016

In the 240-year history of the American republic, no candidate has ever before been elected president without previous military, executive or legislative office. Elections determine power, not truth. It remains true today as it was yesterday that Donald Trump has called women ‘pigs’ and has made fun of a reporter with a disability. He has advocated a ban on Muslim migration and has called Mexicans criminals and rapists. He has claimed that President Obama was born in Kenya and only admitted to Harvard through affirmative action. He has dismissed an American born judge as a ‘Mexican’ who would not fairly hear his case and attacked the parents of a Muslim soldier killed in action.

As Nick Kristof, the New York Times columnist, noted summarising Trump's behaviour over four decades, 'I don't see what else to call it but racism.' These remain facts and those who say that the people in Australia should refrain from stating these facts are effectively saying that when someone is powerful, we should not call out sexism and racism. It was reasonable for those on the other side of the House to describe Mr Trump as 'terrifying', 'kind of weird' and his comments on women 'loathsome'. And those who made these comments should not now refrain from them.

What should progressives do on the day after a Trump victory? A temptation is to retreat but it is vital to remember that reform is two steps forward, one step back. As the great American Martin Luther King once wrote, 'Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.' The great American Martha Nussbaum wrote that many of those who transformed their countries have drawn on the ethic of love including Jawaharlal Nehru, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela and Vaclav Havel. As the great American Barack Obama once put it, '… whenever we exaggerate or demonize, or oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose. Whenever we dumb down the political debate, we lose.' And an increased partisanship cannot be met by increased partisanship.

Today is the day in which many progressives are naturally sad and angry, wishing to pull the blanket over their heads and retreat from political life. But I urge progressives to remember the words of another great American progressive, United States senator Cory Booker, who spoke about the politics of love at the recent Democratic National Convention. He concluded with a wry smile that 'love trumps hate'. Maybe not every day, but in the long run.

OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE , CANBERRA

 WEDNESDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2016

***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

Last month, Australian life expectancy hit a new high – 80.4 years for men, and 85.5 years for women. That means a baby born today can expect to enjoy about 30,000 days on the planet.

You can see this as a lot or a little. Compared with past generations, this is an extraordinary amount of time. In cosmic terms, it’s a mere blip.

But rather than asking “how long do I have?”, the better question is “what can I do with the time that I have?”. For most of us, that comes down to doing good work. A typical career lasts around 80,000 hours of work. How do we make the most of that time?

Adam Smith, one of the founders of modern economics, is best known for his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. But in an earlier work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith gave what I think is one of the best answers to the question of how we should spend our lives. He wrote:

‘To be amiable and to be meritorious; that is, to deserve love and to deserve reward, are the great characters of virtue… The consciousness that it is the object of such favourable regards, is the source of that inward tranquillity and self-satisfaction with which it is naturally attended… Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely; or to be that thing which is the natural and proper object of love.’

Talking with people in business, I’m often struck by how well Smith’s words encapsulate what we do. Most people don’t just want to make money; they want to be the kind of person that others look up to. In Smith’s formulation, most of us want to be ‘lovely’.

The Labor Party has committed to a suite of innovative policy reforms designed to support Australia’s Cooperative and Mutual Enterprises sector.

A lack of competition for the big banks is one of the reasons that the rorts and rip-offs we’ve seen in the financial services sector continue to harm consumers. Mutual banks and credit unions can help increase competition to get better outcomes for Australians.

At the moment, member-owned firms like these are at a competitive disadvantage to corporations in accessing capital to expand their operations, competing on a level playing field, and staving off hostile takeovers.

Labor is making a commitment to implement key bipartisan recommendations in the Senate Economics References Committee’s March 2016 report into cooperative, mutual and member-owned firms.

These reforms will facilitate fairer access to capital for credit unions and building societies to compete effectively with large banks, clearly define mutual enterprises and director’s duties in the Corporations Act, and remove unnecessary regulations and thresholds.

Labor will:

Today the Turnbull Government has taken its attack on the public servants at the Australian Bureau of Statistics to the next level.

Agency management have just announced to its staff that up to 150 jobs need to be cut in the next few months.

The ABS is announcing these job cuts just two weeks after admitting to a Senate Economics Committee that it will be spending an extra $30 million trying to fix the 2016 Census – the worst census ever and one of Malcolm Turnbull’s biggest stuff-ups.

Now the very public servants who have worked so hard to rescue the census disaster are being forced to pay the price for the Turnbull Government’s mismanagement with their jobs. 

WHEN BUSINESS DOESN'T PAY ITS BILLS, The Daily Telegraph, 3 November 2016

Yesterday, I rang my supermarket. It was just a courtesy call, letting them know that from now on I would be paying for my groceries 60 days after scanning them at the checkout. I assured them it was nothing personal – simply a matter of improving my cash flow.

Alright, I’m pulling your leg. But you can only imagine a company’s reaction to getting such a call from a regular consumer. Yet this is exactly what many large Australian companies are doing to their suppliers right now.

Earlier this year Rio Tinto told many of its suppliers that, with no compensation, it would now pay its bills after 90 days instead of 45 days (in 2014  it was 30 days). This followed BHP’s decision last year to pay its suppliers after 60 days instead of 30 days. Woolworths is also reportedly increasing its payment terms from 30 days to 60 days. Mars, Kellogg, Procter & Gamble and Heinz are also pushing for more generous payment terms. In April, Murray Goulburn retrospectively cut the price it paid to farmers, then asked them to pay back the difference.

Vale Chris Stokman, The Chronicle, 1 November 2016

In 2005, a group of community activists at the Canberra City Uniting Church established an Early Morning Centre to provide breakfast to those sleeping rough or doing it tough. For nine years, until her unexpected passing earlier this month, the Early Morning Centre has been run by Chris Stokman, one of Canberra's great community activists.

Chris loved Canberra. She had worked in the federal public service, she knew the nooks of our city, and she never wanted to live anywhere else. And she was the best of Canberra: a woman who was always more interested in helping others than looking after herself.

Under Chris's leadership, the Early Morning Centre grew from providing breakfast to offering legal support, basic medical care, shower facilities and laundry - critical services for those sleeping rough. 

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION AND PRODUCTIVITY

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CHARITIES AND NOT-FOR-PROFITS

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE IN SERVICES

ACTING SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE

MEMBER FOR FENNER

E&EO TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC DARWIN MORNINGS WITH ADAM STEER

TUESDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2016

SUBJECT/S: Andrew Robb working for Landbridge

ADAM STEER: Andrew Leigh is the Opposition's Assistant Treasury spokesman. Andrew your Labor colleagues in the Northern Territory don't seem concerned. Are you?

ANDREW LEIGH, ACTING SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE AND SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Well I'm concerned that Malcolm Turnbull sets high standards for his ministers and his former ministers, Adam. I think it's really important that Territorians know that Malcolm Turnbull's out there on their side, not standing by someone else's profit-making activities after politics. 

STEER: Are you really suggesting the former minister might disclose classified information to the Chinese?

LEIGH: I think that's why the ministerial standards require that ministers don't lobby, advocate or have business meetings with members of the government, public servants or defence force for 18 months after leaving the job. One wonders about the value that Andrew Robb is able to bring to Landbridge if he's not engaged in any of those lobbying activities. I think it is incumbent upon Malcolm Turnbull to be very clear about how he's making sure that his former minister abides by that code of ministerial standards.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOOSTOP INTERVIEW

PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

MONDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2016

SUBJECT/S: Andrew Robb’s appointment to Landbridge; Asylum seeker policy.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: My name is Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer. The ministerial code of ethics is the stamp of honesty that a Prime Minister puts on their Government. Compliance with that ministerial code of ethics says everything about the ethical bar that a Government sets for itself. 

We've learnt today that although Julie Bishop and Scott Ryan were aware of Andrew Robb's appointment to the Landbridge role two months ago, Malcolm Turnbull has only just found out. We have seen considerable concern within the Government. One senior Defence official was said to be ‘unprintably’ surprised about the decision that Mr Robb has taken. 

This raises serious questions for the Turnbull Government. Malcolm Turnbull has to answer why he was only informed today about the fact that Mr Robb has taken this role, shortly after being a key negotiator for the China Free Trade Agreement.