Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

MELBOURNE

MONDAY, 14 DECEMBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Labor’s positive plans for the sharing economy; government set to fail its own economic test with MYEFO 

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: It's a real pleasure to be here today with Labor's candidate for the seat of Melbourne, Sophie Ismail. We've been here at Uber talking about Labor's ideas for the sharing economy.

Labor's plan for the sharing economy recognises the value that building innovative companies has for Australia. Bill Shorten and I announced this plan at an incubator centre in Canberra back in October, and it focuses principles such as the idea that primary property is yours to share; that the sharing economy should support good wages and conditions; that all firms should pay their fair share of tax and that we make sure that the sharing economy assists vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities.

Unfortunately, the sharing economy has been entirely left out from the Government's Innovation Statement which means it also misses the potential that comes from the growth of local sharing economy businesses in Australia - companies such as Camplify, Parkhound and many others.

I might just make a couple of comments on MYEFO before I throw to Sophie. The Government's economic update tomorrow will likely fail both its own test for the economy and Labor's test for the economy. When they came to office, the Abbott-Turnbull Government said that they would pay down debt faster and make sure that Australia was running a surplus in the first year and every year after that. Well we've seen deficits blowing out; doubled over the course of the last year alone. And the mini-budget is also likely to fail Labor's test and that of the Australian community. With sluggish growth, falling living standards, and high inequality, Australia now has a Prime Minister and a Treasurer that are looking to slash the best-targeted social safety net in the world. We know that this will not only hurt the most vulnerable but will also potentially impede growth because those in the middle and bottom of the distribution spend all of their pay packets. So the cuts to family support that remain on the table are a signal threat to growth in the years to come. I'll hand over now to Sophie. 

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TV INTERVIEW

SKY AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 14 DECEMBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Paris climate conference; savage cuts ahead in MYEFO; John Bannon.

DAVID LIPSON: Joining me now, Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Thank you very much for your time. 

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TRASURER: Pleasure, David.

LIPSON: Was the deal in Paris a good one?

LEIGH: I think it is. I think it sets that target of 1.5 degrees which we know is absolutely vital to keeping the Great Barrier Reef.

LIPSON: Well 2 degrees, but an ambition, I suppose, of one and a half.

LEIGH: Yes that's right. Certainly though it leaves Australia out from the pack with the rest. We know Australia's targets are now well in excess of what other countries have. We're failing to demonstrate the level of ambition that Britain, the United States, and now Canada - with their change of government - are showing. We're going to have the highest emissions per head amongst developed countries, and that really is going to challenge Australia's ability to make the change in a way that is economically responsible. We know that if we put off the task of dealing with dangerous climate change, it will hurt the economy more and it will hurt the environment more. 

MALCOLM TURNBULL’S IDEA OF HELPING STARTUPS: GIVE TAX BREAKS TO WORLD’S BIGGEST FIRMS

Malcolm Turnbull has buried a huge tax loophole for big businesses in the fine print of his Innovation Statement.

The Prime Minister talks a lot about supporting Australian startups and new businesses, but this decision could instead end up funneling millions in tax breaks to some of the world’s biggest firms. 

The Government has proposed changes to the tax deduction and depreciation arrangements for intangible assets like patents and intellectual property.

Currently, these assets must be claimed as tax deductions according to a timetable set by the Australian Tax Office– meaning their value can only be claimed back over either 8 or 20 years.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC NEWSRADIO

WEDNESDAY, 9 DECEMBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Government options to raise the GST.

MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Leigh, there are lots of kites on economic policy flying in Canberra today. None of them are Government policy so this is a fairly theoretical basis for any comment, but the Government has said it won't rule things out at the moment. There are options reportedly including a 15 per cent GST.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Marius, today Australia's premiers are considering an options paper prepared by the Treasury at the request of Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison. One of those options includes raising the GST to 15 per cent, and expanding it to include all food and all drinks as well as to water and sewerage bills. The total impact of that on Australian households would be $4,500 every single year. This, from a party that ran a scare campaign on a carbon price, seems pretty rich to me.

BENSON: But it's only an option. Isn't that the way you should conduct reasonable negotiations – put everything on the table, including the things that you don't agree with yourself, just so you can clarify the lines of debate?

LEIGH: Well if the Turnbull Government doesn't want to go ahead with this, they shouldn't be preparing options papers on it for consideration by the states and territories. The fact is, Marius, we know that smart tax reform involves looking at those taxes that have the biggest drag on economic activity. We know from all the sensible economic analysis which has been done that this involves first looking at taxes such as insurance taxes and stamp duties. Yet they don't even seem to be in the mix. What's in the mix is a huge hit to low and middle income households in Australia, which would make inequality worse at a time when it is as high as it's been in three-quarters of a century.

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RADIO INTERVIEW

RN BREAKFAST

WEDNESDAY, 9 DECEMBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Government options to raise the GST; Tony Abbott becomes the Australian Donald Trump.

ALISON CARABINE: Andrew Leigh, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Good morning Alison.

CARABINE: Now we learned today that the Treasury has modelled eight separate options for increasing the GST and/or extending the base – where does that take the debate on tax reform?

LEIGH: Alison, the Prime Minister has spent this week talking about the importance of being innovative and agile, but I don't see anything innovative or agile about whacking up the GST to 15 per cent and putting it onto bread and bananas. If you're raising $45 billion then that is effectively saying to every Australian household: you're going to pay $4,500 more tax every year. It's a bit strange given the Treasurer was telling us we don't have a revenue problem.

CARABINE: But the Government is not increasing the GST to 15 per cent. The Government commissioned this modelling at the behest of the states, and as Scott Morrison has put it: the debate is still in the discovery process. It's all about the provision of information and the Government is not signing up to any of these options at this stage.

LEIGH: I don't think Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison need much arm-twisting in order to start looking at raising the GST. It's been pretty clear that this has been their number one tax reform option. What troubles me, Alison, is that there's nothing particularly innovative or agile about raising the price of a loaf of bread by 50 cents. Labor has a range of reform options which would see us meet the gap between what the Government brings in and what it spends – which is currently running at about 1.5 per cent of GDP – but without slugging those at the bottom.

LABOR’S PLAN FOR INNOVATION IN DEAKIN

Joint media release with Candidate for Deakin Tony Clark

Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh and Labor candidate for Deakin Tony Clark have today visited the Centre for Regional Knowledge and Innovation at Realm to discuss Labor’s plans for powering a new wave of Australian start-up businesses.

We know that new businesses are the biggest job creators, so providing an environment where start-ups can flourish will be central to growing more jobs in Melbourne’s East. 

During their visit to the centre, Leigh and Clark talked with local entrepreneurs about Labor’s plans to co-invest in breakthrough companies through our $500 million Smart Investment Fund. 

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RADIO INTERVIEW

BBC WORLD SERVICE NEWSHOUR

SATURDAY, 5 DECEMBER 2015 

SUBJECT/S: Gun regulation

OWEN BENNETT-JONES: President Obama has in the past sometimes cited Australia's gun laws as a model for the United States. They were toughened there in 1996 after a gunman went on a killing spree in Tasmania. We've brought together Kate Andrews who is a spokesperson for US Republicans Overseas, and Andrew Leigh, a member of the Australian Parliament for the opposition Labor party who began by recalling the mass shooting in 1996 that lead to a tightening of gun laws.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: The Port Arthur massacre took place in a remote tourist destination in Australia when a single gunman killed 35 people at a tourist attraction. If you think of Australia as being a country that's 14 times smaller than the United States, you'd have to think of that as a mass US shooting that cost more than 400 lives. So it had a huge effect on the Australian political conversation. The then-conservative government headed by Prime Minister John Howard decided to work with the states and territories to tighten gun laws and put in place a significant gun buyback.

AUSTRALIA RICHER FOR GREATER INSIGHTS INTO CHARITIES AND NON-FOR-PROFITS SECTOR

Joint media release with Shadow Minister for Communities Claire Moore

Labor welcomes the Australian Charities and Non-for-profits Commission’s release of the Australian Charities report – the commission’s first comprehensive analysis of financial data on the local charity sector.

Labor believes that the charities and the not-for-profits sector is the backbone of Australia’s community life. The commission’s report confirms their enormous contribution, revealing the sector represents $103 billion of activity around the country. Over 2 million people now volunteer with a charity or not-for-profit, and these organisations also employ another 1 million Australians.

The commission’s good work in registering and monitoring charity activity means we now know more about where and how they do good than ever before. For example, the report finds the greatest number of charities are operating in the areas of education, research and health, while religious charities also play a significant role.  

As we come closer to Christmas, the contribution of some charities and not-for-profits will be particularly clear as they support thousands of Australian families with food, shelter and the festive cheer so many of us take for granted.  

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TV INTERVIEW

SKY PM AGENDA

THURSDAY, 3 DECEMBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Dodgy Liberal Party-Greens deal to water down tax transparency measures; Mal Brough.

DAVID LIPSON: Labor are fuming today over a deal the Government has struck with The Greens to get its multinational tax bill through the Parliament. It led to one member of the Coalition offering to 'take it outside', and other attractions –a lot of raised voices and gesticulations as well because Labor are not happy with this deal at all. To explain why, I'm joined by the Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh. Thanks very much for your company this afternoon.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure, David.

LIPSON: This deal, as well as forcing multinationals to disclose their tax arrangements, will also mean around 300 companies, big companies worth over $200 million in earnings a year, will have to disclose their tax arrangements. Why then is it a bad deal?

LEIGH: David, it's important to go through the history on this. If we go back to 2013, Labor put in place transparency laws that would have seen companies with turnover above $100 million have the ATO report on their tax paid. That information was set to flow in just a couple of weeks' time. The Greens supported that right up until a fortnight ago, but have now back flipped and raised the threshold to $200 million. What that means is that about two-thirds of the private companies whose tax would have been disclosed will now be kept secret. The Greens have done a deal with the Government for tax secrecy and Australians will pay the bill.

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DOORSTOP - CHRIS BOWEN & ANDREW LEIGH

CANBERRA

THURSDAY, 3 DECEMBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Dodgy Liberal Party-Greens deal to water down tax transparency measures.

CHRIS BOWEN, SHADOW TREASURER: Well thanks for coming.

Overnight the Liberal Party and the Greens Party engaged in a backroom deal to let Australia's large private companies continue to avoid tax transparency.

Let's be very clear; the Turnbull Government has been for whatever reason desperate to see large private companies continue to avoid scrutiny and transparency when it comes to the amount of tax they pay.

Now they have a new Coalition partner in Richard Di Natale’s Greens. The Australian Greens under Richard Di Natale’s leadership are the tax transparency traitors of Australian politics, traitors to those Australians who want to see everybody paying their fair of tax.

They've become the gutless Greens.