Andrew Leigh

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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'.

Unlike a number of Australian politicians tonight, I will be putting my name and address on my Census forms.

I will be doing this because the Census is an important national information gathering exercise and the integrity of its data flows through to many things that government does. It also affects the way in which non-government organisations try to work out how to deploy their resources.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC AM

TUESDAY, 9 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Census; Superannuation.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: For more on the Census, I am joined live in our Parliament House studio by shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh.

Andrew Leigh, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning, Michael.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: So a number of politicians are not putting their names on the Census forms – are you?

ANDREW LEIGH: Yes I will be. I believe that the Census is an important national information gathering exercise.

But Michael I have been disappointed with the way in which the Government has explained their changes to the Census. They've more than doubled the period for which names and addresses will be retained. They've known for months they were making this change and yet successive ministers – Kelly O'Dwyer, Alex Hawke, Michael McCormack – have failed to make the case for that policy change to the Australian people.

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PRESS CONFERENCE

SYDNEY

MONDAY, 8 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 census.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks very much everyone for coming along today. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer. We've today heard from Michael McCormack, the Minister responsible for the Census, who one day before the Australian Census has told Australians that their concerns are “much ado about nothing”. 

Frankly, the process we're facing has been a comedy of errors from the start. The Government decided some months ago that it would extend the period in which names and addresses were retained in the Census from 18 months to 4 years. A policy decision which, under the doctrine of ministerial accountability, should have been explained by the responsible ministers. 

But the responsible ministers have been nowhere to be seen. When it was Kelly O'Dwyer, Alex Hawke, and now Michael McCormack, we've barely heard a peep from the Government as to why they've made this policy change that sees names and addresses held for more than double the length of time than they had been in previous Censuses.  

COULD THE MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CENSUS PLEASE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY?

 With Australia’s five-yearly Census happening tomorrow, Minister Michael McCormack must do more to directly address community concerns about the Turnbull Government’s decision to increase the period for which names and addresses are retained.

The Coalition has let the situation deteriorate to such an embarrassing state that ABC Riverina, in Mr McCormack’s own electorate, invited an Associate Professor from the Charles Sturt University on air this morning to discuss the changes.

It seems that Mr McCormack is unable to explain the Census changes to his own constituents, let alone the nation.

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TV INTERVIEW

SKY AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 8 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: Banking Royal Commission; Chinese bids for Ausgrid

KIERAN GILBERT: Andrew Leigh thanks very much for your time. The Treasurer says that the ongoing call by Labor for a Royal Commission is a populist whinge. He has also raised concerns that this could have unforeseen certain impacts in terms of our financial system. Are you cognoscente of the international reputation that we might be gaining from your calls for a Royal Commission here?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Kieran, like those Japanese soldiers who fought on past the end of World War II, I suspect Scott Morrison will be the last man fighting against a Royal Commission into the banks. The fact is, Australians want this. They've seen too many scandals, Storm, Trio, Westpoint and the rest. They've seen too many instances in which Australian banks have fallen short of the high standards we set for them. And that's why a Royal Commission is appropriate. Not just to look at particular breaches and have them aired, but also to look systematically - in a way that the current regulators can't – at whether we need to update our regulatory settings. 

Here's what some economic modelling has in common with the tobacco industry

It’s the sort of scenario Mad Men would slyly mock – advertising with handsome doctors extolling the health benefits of smoking. Today, the battleground isn’t lung cancer, its economics. Just as past generations had to battle those who spread confusion about cigarettes, today’s voters have to fight a manufactured smokescreen about economic reform.

Let’s look at how we got here.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

FIVEAA MORNINGS WITH LEON BYNER

FRIDAY, 5 AUGUST 2016

SUBJECT/S: Royal Commission into the banks; Competition policy.

LEON BYNER: Andrew Leigh, thanks for joining us today.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: It’s a pleasure, Leon.

BYNER: Has Labor worked out the terms of reference of its proposed Royal Commission into the banks?

LEIGH: It’s for the Government to set the terms of reference Leon, but we've been strongly urging them to do it. We believe there’s a range of issues which a Royal Commission could appropriately explore and that out of that could come a more ethical and a stronger banking sector than we have today. We need to take account of the fact that Australia has seen a whole range of problems in the financial sector. Timbercorp, Great Southern, Gunns, Storm, Trio, Westpoint, insider trading scandals within the NAB and the ANZ, bank bill-swap rates – there's just been too many of these incidents to write them off as ‘bad apples’.