Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

3AW WITH TOM ELLIOT

FRIDAY, 6 MAY 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Budget.

TOM ELLIOT, PRESENTER: On the line now is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. Good afternoon.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good Afternoon Tom, how are you?

ELLIOT: Good, thank you. Now I saw Mr Shorten’s budget-reply speech and I have seen a summary of the savings measures. You claim to have found $71 billion, but of that $71 billion, $49 billion is rejecting the plan to cut the company tax rate to 25 per cent. Now that’s not going to occur for ten years. So really, is it appropriate to be claiming that is actually a saving, because that’s not going to happen for a decade?

LEIGH: Tom, our big budget challenge is over the decade. The Government recognised this themselves when they said that they thought that their tax plan was going to be one that operated over a decade. We can’t have this sort of short-sighted approach that says, “We can fix things for the next few years, but after that we’re gonna kick the problem off.” That’s why we’ve been focusing our costings on the decade to come.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA CAMPAIGN KICK-OFF EVENT

CANNING VALE

FRIDAY, 6 MAY 2016

*** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY ***

I am delighted be here in Perth, at this kick-off event for the 2016 election. And I'm excited by the coming campaign, because it will be Australia’s chance to answer the big question: what is the difference between the two major parties, and where do they want to take Australia?

In the light of Malcolm Turnbull’s budget for big business, the difference between Labor and the Coalition could not be clearer and therefore this election campaign presents an opportunity to actually talk about the future of our nation: about how Australia should pursue and achieve equality, innovation, and growth.

It was great to sit down during budget week with Michelle Grattan and outline a Labor vision for Australia. You can find the transcript below, or listen on listen online at The Conversation. 

BUDGETS AND POLITICS WITH MICHELLE GRATTAN

GRATTAN: Hello I'm Michelle Grattan and this is our budget podcast. Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh is with us today to talk about Labor's response to the Budget and its alternative. Andrew Leigh just starting with the big picture. In the very broadest terms, what kind of budget would a Labor government have delivered this week?

LEIGH: Michelle we would deliver a budget which face down Australia's big economic challenges. They include declining living standards: income per capita in real net terms has declined 4% since the government came into office. Flagging innovation which has seen too few Australian firms develop new to the world innovations. And rising inequality, where the gap between rich and poor now is the highest it’s been in three-quarters of the century. To answer those challenges requires a budget which doesn't give more to the rich than it does to the poor, and a budget which invests in the productive capacity of the nation rather than taking money out of the infrastructure, schools and hospitals.

WHO GOT SCOMO TO DROP TAX LOOPHOLE ACTION?

This morning’s revelations in The Australian that at the last minute Scott Morrison backed away from plans to effectively address tax avoidance by multinational companies have raised further awkward questions about his budget for big business. Why did Scott Morrison get cold feet, and who bullied him into backing down?

 Prior to his first budget speech, the Treasurer’s Office was briefing journalists that the Government would be reduce the so-called “safe harbour” level in thin capitalisation rules from 60 per cent of total assets to 50 per cent to cut the amount of debt multinational companies can load into their Australian subsidiaries. In fact, a definition of “thin capitalisation law” still sits abandoned in the glossary of terms for the 2016 budget, published online by Treasury.

MULTINATIONALS GET A BIG TAX BREAK AND A PRETEND CRACKDOWN

In the 2014 Budget, the Coalition slashed services for the vulnerable. Two years later, they are giving huge tax breaks to the big end of town.

At the same time, the Coalition want Australians to believe they are getting tough on multinationals.

In fact, Mr Turnbull is so desperate to give a tax cut to multinationals that he’s planning to define them as small businesses.

To understand the multinational tax measures in this budget, you have to go beyond the slogans and pictures to look at the hard numbers.

Tax Avoidance

Last year, Coalition MPs cheered when Tony Abbott told parliament:

“So far the only idea they have come up with is to spend $100 million on the ATO to raise $1 billion. Well, next time they will be telling us to spend $1 billion on the ATO to raise $10 billion. That is the problem. All they can think of is spending more and taxing more. They just cannot help themselves. I actually think that deep down the Leader of the Opposition is better than that, and I would ask him to start demonstrating that now.”

      Question Time, 5 March 2015

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

CNBC SQUAWK BOX

TUESDAY, 3 MAY 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Budget; Company tax cuts; Labor’s plan to clamp down on multinationals; Reserve bank meeting.

MATTHEW TAYLOR: Welcome back to the show, coming to you live from Canberra. Today of course we are counting down to the Federal Budget that will be handed down at 7:30 AEST tonight. It is the first Budget for Treasurer Scott Morrison and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in their respective new capacities. In terms of what's coming out in the Budget, not a lot of detail ahead of time, we do know that the Budget will be centred on small and medium size business with company tax cuts for small and medium enterprise. The definition or the classification of small business is going to change as well, those with a turnover of $5 million or less are going to be included so the net is really being widened on these tax concessions that are going to come through for small business reduced to about 27.5 per cent. We also know there are going to be tax cuts for income earners over $80,000 that is of course to stave off bracket creep, scrapping the budget repair levy, taxes on superannuation contribution for high income earners, an increase in the tobacco excise and also multinational tax avoidance. 

But let's get a bit of a look ahead to what the opposition is thinking may or may not be in the budget and some reaction to those early leaks. I am joined by Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer out here on the lawn this morning. Andrew, pleasure to see you thanks very much for chatting to us. I want to kick off on the company tax side point of view, what is the Opposition's response to that? Because broadening the definition of small business so a greater number of small and medium sized organisations going to benefit from a lower tax rate has got to be positive?

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Well Matt, we'll wait and see exactly what the Government is proposing but the other dimension to this Budget is that it comes down at a time when Australian living standards have fallen and our debt position has worsened. Since the Government came to office, Australian net debt has increased by about $100 billion. Labor's concerned that a company tax cut that was purely funded by increased borrowing could well have an impact on Australia's creditworthiness. We believe it's absolutely critical to maintain Australia's three AAA credit ratings - not just for households but of course for businesses who'd see their interest bills rise under a credit downgrade scenario.

CANBERRA RUNNERS

At 71 years old, Dick Telford tells me that he ‘only’ runs twice a day. Whippet-thin and fluid in his movements, Telford’s sport career started playing AFL for Collingwood and Fitzroy. When he switched to running, he realised he was pretty good at it. He’s run a marathon in 2 hours 27 minutes, and helped train Rob de Castella, Lisa Ondieki, Martin Dent and Carolyn Schuwalow through the Australian Institute of Sport.

There are few better cities for runners than Canberra. Loping around Lake Burley-Griffin, you might see the sun rise, and watch the kayakers spreading ripples across the smooth surface. On the dirt trails of Mount Ainslie, you’ll dodge kangaroos and test your muscles against the hills. Local ovals are perfect for beginners just starting jogging, or sprinters keen to feel the wind in their ears.

With three young boys and an unpredictable job, I find there’s nothing better than running to clear the cobwebs and keep the mind in perspective.  It’s also a great way to get to know the active and unpretentious running community. For an energetic start to the weekend, try the Saturday morning 5 kilometre Parkrun events organised every weekend at Gungahlin, Belconnen and Tuggeranong. If you want a bit more of a challenge, sign up for the YMCA’s Half Marathon on 22 May. Most of us won’t run as far or fast as Dick Telford. But with a runners’ paradise on our doorstep, why not take the chance to check it out?

Andrew Leigh is the shadow assistant treasurer and Member for Fraser. 

This piece was originally published in The Chronicle.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

SKY NEWS - THE LATEST WITH LAURA JAYES

MONDAY, 2 MAY 2016

SUBJECT/S: 2016 Budget; Labor’s plan to clamp down on multinationals; Higher education funding.

LAURA JAYES: Andrew Leigh thanks so much for your time.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure.

JAYES: There has been a lot of talk about income tax cuts in the budget tomorrow and the talk is that it will be at a $80,000 level, will Labor support that?

LEIGH: Laura, there has been a lot of talk about a lot of things in this budget. It has had the suggestion that the Government was going to cut company taxes, remove funding to public schools, that it was going to give income tax powers to the states and raise the GST. Rather than speculating, why don't we wait and actually see what's in the budget. We do know that a tax cut which comes in at $80,000 would only go to the top quarter of Australian workers and that would be something which would see the typical Australian worker miss out.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

ABC NEWSRADIO BREAKFAST

TUESDAY, 3 MAY 2016

SUBJECT/S: Parliamentary Budget Office policy costings, Labor’s policies, Government’s protection of the big end of town, Interest rates

MARK TAMHANE, REPORTER: Andrew Leigh, Good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning, Mark.

TAMHANE: Treasury has found a $20 billion hole in your policy costings, is that the end of all that extra revenue Labor promised to see all the Gonski education reforms through in full if elected

LEIGH: Well Mark,  let's go back a little bit. We announced this important policy on tobacco excise, making a controversial decision, and were attacked at the time by the Government. But our numbers were determined by the Parliamentary Budget Office and we're confident that the Parliamentary Budget Office stands at arm's length from Labor. 

This is the same outfit that did the costings at the last election. The Parliamentary Budget Office works with Treasury, using their numbers, and of course Labor's numbers will be updated as we get closer to the election. But the Government's really just trying to cover up the fact they've spent months attacking Labor and they're now adopting Labor policy.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

PARLIAMENT

MONDAY, 2 MAY 2016

SUBJECTS: Turnbull Government's plan for the election, not the economy; Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison hope Australians have collective amnesia; Labor’s plan for the economy and tax; superannuation; multinational tax; company tax cuts; income tax cuts; infrastructure

CHRIS BOWEN, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks everybody. After more than six months of telling the Australian people that they had an economics plan, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison are now telling us they’ll get around to announcing the economic plan tomorrow night. They haven’t had a plan. They had a plan to knock off Tony Abbott, but they had little idea about what to do next. We’ve seen six months of thought bubbles, half-baked ideas, policies which have lasted less than 24 hours, and now, Scott Morrison expects the Australian people to believe that he’s got it all together for tomorrow night.