Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

RN BREAKFAST

THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2015 

SUBJECT/S: Labor’s positive plans for the sharing economy; Joe Hockey’s valedictory.

FRAN KELLY: Later today Labor leader Bill Shorten and his Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh will announce Labor's new sharing economy policy. Labor asked for, and received, more than 500 policy submissions from interested parties including Uber, GoCatch and Airbnb. Andrew Leigh joins us now. Andrew, welcome back to RN Breakfast.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks Fran.

KELLY: Labor's policy lays out six economic principles for the sharing economy. But it doesn't really offer solutions yet, which is the hard part of this – how to regulate the sharing economy, isn't it?

LEIGH:  Well Fran this is about a national conversation on the sharing economy. We know we've now got one in 200 Australian homes listed on Airbnb, and within a year of setting up in Sydney one-tenth of Sydneysiders had used Uber. So it is important that smart governments move ahead of this and create the environment for innovation to flourish, but also an environment in which we make sure that sharing economy firms are paying their fair share of tax, they're supporting good wages and working conditions, they're providing access for people with disabilities, they're looking after public safety and they’re playing by the rules.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TELEVISION INTERVIEW

ABC NEWS BREAKFAST

THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Labor’s positive plan for the sharing economy; Marriage equality.

VIRGINIA TRIOLI: Labor is today unveiling its policy on the sharing economy and Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh joins us now from Parliament House. Andrew Leigh, good morning. Thanks for making time for us.

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure, Virginia.

TRIOLI: Let's stay with that example of Uber, the ride-sharing service, Airbnb and the like. What sort of regulation should be in place?

LEIGH: Well Labor's view is that we need regulations that maintain good standards but also encourage new firms to emerge. We'd like the next Uber or Airbnb to be an Australian firm. So we want to create an environment where sharing economy companies like Pawshake – the petsitter – and Parkhound – that solves parking problems – can emerge. To do that, we need to make sure that the sharing economy abides by a basic set of principles. Bill Shorten and I will be running through those principles later today but they include making sure that firms pay appropriate wages and conditions; that Australian safety standards are upheld; that sharing economy firms pay their fair share of tax; and that people with disabilities have more opportunities rather than fewer as a result of the sharing economy. 

LABOR’S NATIONAL SHARING ECONOMY PRINCIPLES

Joint Media Release with Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten

Labor has today announced our plan to embrace the sharing economy and see all Australians share its benefits. 

New services like Airbnb, AirTasker, Camplify and GoGet are changing the way Australians buy and sell things. They are also changing how we think about work and the line between private property and public goods.

There is huge economic and community potential in this emerging peer-to-peer market. 

Australia must embrace it, while ensuring we have the right rules in place to protect workers, consumers and the public good.

Labor’s plan is based on six principles. 

Principles for a Sharing Economy

House of Representatives

22 October 2015

Ahead of an AFL game at the MCG, Michael Nuciforo and Robert Crocitti were driving around East Melbourne looking for a place to park. As they put it:

As we drove past parked car, after parked car, after empty space that required a parking permit … It then hit us. Wouldn't it be great if we could just knock on someone's door and ask to park at their place for a small fee? … The more we thought about it, the more it made sense … We don't need more parking spaces, we just need to utilise the parking spaces we already have.

Parkhound is one of the many sharing economy services that have emerged in Australia over recent years. Uber, Lyft and Sidecar are transforming transport for many Australians and offer the potential of dealing with traffic congestion. Victorian freeway speeds have dropped from 68 kilometres an hour to 45 kilometres an hour over the last decade as our roads have become increasingly choked. 

Customs Amendment (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2015, Customs Tariff Amendment (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2015

House of Representatives

22 October 2015

I sometimes wonder how Australia's founding fathers would regard debates in this place were they to know that we would be sitting here with both sides of the parliament supporting trade liberalisation and supporting better engagement with China. Indeed, at the very moment this debate is taking place, the Queen of England is hosting Xi Jinping for a state dinner in London.

Federation was founded around a protectionist settlement. That protectionist settlement was one with which the Country Party and the Labor Party were agreed. As late as 1948 Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley told parliament: 'If the matter had been left to us, we should not have initiated a conference to discuss the lowering of world tariff barriers.'

Belconnen Magpies

House of Representatives

22 October 2015 

For five years now, I have been a patron of the Belconnen Magpies Aussie Rules football club. It is a club with a proud history—originally known as Turner Football Club, then the Bees and then the Blues. Then, after its merger with the West Canberra Football Club, it became the Belconnen Magpies in 1987 and moved to its headquarters in Kippax in 1991.

Although I have not gotten to as many games as I would like to this year, I did get out to 'The Nest' at Kippax to see the Magpies' convincing 118-35 victory against the Ainslie Tricolours on 29 August. The ACT AFL competition grand final was held on 19 September. Playing in both the first and second grade matches were, of course, the Magpies. Alas—despite a thrilling semifinal victory against Tuggeranong on 5 September—the first grade side was narrowly upset by Queanbeyan, 95-71. The Magpies second grade team also fought to the end, but ultimately went down to Tuggeranong 87-39.

Constituency Statement 

Federation Chamber 

19 October 2015

It was my great pleasure last Thursday night to attend not one but two innovation events in the ACT. In Braddon, just across the road from my electorate office, The Studio Braddon is opening—a bright, beautiful and bold space hosted by Maylee Thavat which provides working opportunities for NGOs, for innovative businesses and for women returning to work. The Studio benefits from getting the National Broadband Network, but, alas, my electorate office, a stone's throw away, does not. It is again a testament to the great benefits that the National Broadband Network is bringing to Australia. The Studio Braddon complements a similar space that exists in O'Connor.

I also had the pleasure of speaking at the 10th anniversary of Capital Angels, an ACT based network of 'angel' investors, who talked about many of the important start-ups here in the ideas city. I would like to acknowledge Michele Troni, Nick McNaughton, Stephen Hardy, Ian Cox, Doug Stuart, Keith Ayotte, Bob Quodling, Uwe Boettcher and the indefatigable Anna Pino for their support of innovative businesses here in Canberra.

Canberra is not just the national capital but also the social capital and the creative capital of Australia, and it was terrific to be inspired by those two groups of innovators last Thursday.

Tax Laws Amendment (Combating Multinational Tax Avoidance) Bill 2015

House of Representatives

19 October 2015

I move the second reading amendment which has been circulated in my name:

That all the words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"while not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that its revenue impact is unquantified, and calls on the Government to adopt Labor's fully-costed multinational tax package to raise $7.2 billion over the next decade".

Labor's position is to support the Tax Laws Amendment (Combating Multinational Tax Avoidance) Bill 2015. Labor has been calling for more action on multinational taxation for over two years and we will not be standing in the way of significant action on multinational taxation—or even insignificant action, which may well be what this bill being debated before the House is. We are taking a constructive position on this and we are willing to work with those opposite. We hope that, in return, the hand of constructive bipartisanship might be returned, and the government might look seriously at Labor's $7.2 billion package tackling a different set of loopholes from those addressed in this bill.

Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Trustee Governance) Bill 2015

House of Representatives

20 October 2015

Labor's position is to oppose the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Trustee Governance) Bill 2015, as previous opposition speakers have noted. The government is proposing to end more than two decades of successful joint governance by employer and employee nominated fund directors and instead force boards to take on both an independent chair and one-third independent directors. It is passing strange that a so-called 'liberal party' is seeking to mandate how independent investment funds structure their activity.

It is clear, as I will outline in my speech, that the effect of the government's proposals would be to increase administrative costs for funds and thereby drive down member returns. Perhaps we should not be surprised that a so-called 'liberal party' that opposes the use of markets in tackling climate change is again wanting additional red tape when it comes to Australia's superannuation funds. The Mckell Institute has nicely summarised the government's bizarre motivations on the issue by asking: 'When a system is working better than the alternative, why tamper with it?' Alas, I am concerned that this is being driven by ideology and not by evidence.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TV INTERVIEW

SKY AM AGENDA

MONDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2015

SUBJECT/S: Polls; Multinational tax; China Australia Free Trade Agreement; Tax transparency; Australian Building and Construction Commission.

KIERAN GILBERT: This is AM Agenda, with me now is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Andrew Leigh. Good to see you. I know you don't like talking about polls that much; you never have. But this one is pretty clear in terms of every category: in terms of the leadership attributes, the primary vote, the two-party vote, the preferred Prime Minister. It's all showing that people are quite pleased to have Mr Turnbull in the top job. 

ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Yes, Kieran. I don't like talking about polls mainly because it takes us away from the deeper conversations about issues and ideas that I know you care about as well. I think what this shows is that Malcolm Turnbull has been campaigning as a Labor member on the streets: he's been talking about the issues of cities; and about start-ups, which Labor has been on about for years. The problem is that when he gets to the Parliament, he still votes like a Liberal. He still votes for tax secrecy rather than tax transparency; he doesn't seem to have any proposals on multinational tax that raise any money and we're yet to see anything constructive to tackle inequality in the tax system.