Andrew Leigh

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TV INTERVIEW

SKY AM AGENDA WITH KIERAN GILBERT

MONDAY, 22 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: Chifley Institute on inequality; superannuation; Chinese investment; Country Fire Authority; same-sex marriage

KIERAN GILBERT: With me to discuss this and the other issues of the day – the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. What exactly does that mean? To stop trickle-down politics? I know Wayne Swan's used this quite a bit in terms of criticisms of the Business Council of Australia. As far as you see, what does that actually mean?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: It’s recognition of the fact that inequality's grown massively in Australia over the last generation. We've seen earnings grow three times as fast for the top 10th as for the bottom 10th. We've got the top one per cent share having doubled and the richest three Australians now having more wealth that the poorest one million Australians.

What Australia needs isn't more tax cuts for the top one per cent but a strategy to ensure that everybody shares in prosperity. Because otherwise you get the nasty politics you're seeing emerge in the United States and Europe. Part of which is caused by the increase in inequality in those places. 

Looking for the liberal Liberals
Labor Herald, 16 August 2016

When Malcolm Turnbull toppled Tony Abbott to become party leader for the second time, the partisan side of me was a little worried. I thought we’d see a PM with a strong inner core, guided by his values and confident in his instincts.

But, after nine months in office and eight weeks’ campaigning, Malcom Turnbull worries me no longer. In fact, I’m beginning to worry for him. I am worried Australia still does not really know what he stands for, and neither does he.

The Politics of Love

Collins Street Baptist Church

Melbourne
16 August 2016

This is the first time I’ve given a speech in a Melbourne church. Which is a bit neglectful, since I literally owe my life to a Melbourne church. Let me tell you the story.

In 1964, a man called Michael delivered the sermon at Ivanhoe Methodist on behalf of his father, Reverend Keith. He was lean and bookish – a runner and an academic-to-be. He had been in Sarawak in Borneo. In the congregation was Barbara, a blonde-haired young woman who had represented her school in debating championships, and was training to be a teacher. She had just returned from the highlands of Papua New Guinea. They got chatting, and he offered to drive her home. She lived a few hundred meters from the church – and said yes. They talked about religion, travel – and even some politics. And so my parents fell in love.

In a world where religion is too often a source of conflict, it is easy to forget that attending a church isn’t just an opportunity to meet your future spouse (by the way, if you’re single, feel free to take a moment to shoot a quick smile to your left and right). Those who attend a religious service regularly are more likely to volunteer time to community organisations, give money, or donate blood.[1] As someone who does not regularly attend church, I’m keenly aware of the positive role that our religious organisations can play in encouraging us to be better versions of ourselves.

Politics, too, provides an opportunity to be a better version of ourselves. After all, as Aristotle noted, politics is simply the art of working out how to live together. Politicians were at the heart of shaping Federation, creating the age pension, abolishing child labour, designing Medicare, and legislating native title. I’m honoured to serve in the same profession as Winston Churchill, Alexander Hamilton, Xanana Gusmao and Aung San Suu Kyi.   

[The report is available from ANU Press]

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

MONDAY, 15 AUGUST 2016

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 Thank you for that very generous introduction. Can I of course acknowledge we’re meeting on the traditional lands of the Ngunnawal people and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

Let me start by thanking Peter Drysdale for inviting me to speak at this event.

As all of you know, Peter was recently awarded the Order of Australia which, among many other things, was for his ground-breaking work as the intellectual architect of APEC.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

FIVEAA MORNINGS WITH LEON BYNER

THURSDAY, 11 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Census

LEON BYNER: Let’s talk the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Dr Andrew Leigh. Andrew, what’s your take on all this?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning Leon. My sense is that the frustration of Australians needs to be rightly directed at the Turnbull Government. They're engaging in a bit of point the finger exercise at the moment, trying to say "well it's the contractor" or "it's the Department". The fact is, Leon, as you well know there's a doctrine of ministerial accountability in Australia which says that the buck stops with the minister. And the attempts by Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison and the rest to find someone else to blame miss the fact that a good government has proper oversight even of a complicated process like running a Census. 

SPEECH LAUNCHING TURNER SCHOOL STEM FESTIVAL

TURNER PRIMARY SCHOOL, CANBERRA

THURSDAY, 11 AUGUST 2016

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Thank you very much for inviting here today everyone. I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet today, and pay my respects to elders past and present. I also recognize Andrew Neely for that terrific talk just now.

Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering are important because they all do the same thing.

They ask questions.

Science asks questions about why things are the way they are. Asking lots of questions, and then trying to find the answers to those questions, is one of the great keys to life.

I’ve got three little boys. Sebastian, Theodore and Zachary are always asking questions. And you know what? The answer, “Because that’s just the way it is,” isn’t very satisfying for them. And it shouldn’t be very satisfying for you either.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

THURSDAY, 11 AUGUST 2016

 SUBJECT/S: 2016 Census.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Before he became Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull sold himself as Australia's number one 'techspert'. But when something goes wrong, Malcolm Turnbull's the last to accept responsibility. He says today that he's "very angry" about a problem that was “entirely avoidable”.

Mr Turnbull, if it was "entirely avoidable" what steps did you take in order to avoid it?

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

WEDNESDAY, 10 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Census.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks very much for coming along today. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer.

This has been the worst-run Census in Australian history. One of the worst IT debacles Australia has ever seen. Make no mistake, from here the data from the 2016 Census will never be as good as the data from previous Censuses. 

That's because the Turnbull Government has botched their handling of the 2016 Census. The date for the 2016 Census has been set for many years. They have known the Census was coming and yet they failed to do the proper planning. 

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC NEWSRADIO

WEDNESDAY, 10 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Census.

MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Leigh joins me now.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning Marius.

BENSON: Your own response, are you surprised at this revelation?

LEIGH: Yes I am, but it is an inevitable result of the way in which the Government has so mismanaged the Census. The position of chief statistician, left vacant for more than a year, budget cuts and job losses at the Bureau of Statistics and a culture from the very top of this Government that suggests that public servants should embrace "fear of failure" as Malcolm Turnbull once put it. It works for a start-up, doesn't really work for a Government.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

2UE MORNINGS WITH LUKE BONA

TUESDAY, 9 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Census.

LUKE BONA: Dr Andrew Leigh, Shadow Minister for Competition and Productivity, is on the line here on 2UE. Good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning Luke, how are you?

BONA: Good. Before we jump into this and the Census, did you watch it?

LEIGH: No I didn't, unfortunately. One of the downsides of running around doing regular political duties, but sounds like an extraordinary game.

BONA: The tournament was extraordinary, it was just fantastic. Anyway, as John Stanley said: 'Bleatherslow shmetherslow'.