Andrew Leigh

Cost of Living
Matter of Public Importance
House of Representatives
7 February 2023

What chutzpah from those opposite to come in and talk to this parliament about the cost of living. Those opposite, who spent nearly a decade in office as a government whose ‘deliberate design feature’ was to place downward pressures on the wages of Australians. Those opposite, who in government ran a rolling energy crisis, with 22 failed energy policies driving upward pressure on bills. Those opposite, who hid power price rises from the Australian people until after the election. Those opposite, whose budgets included sports rorts, car park rorts, Leppington Triangle—who ran a veritable rortocracy. They put so much ill-considered money into the system as to have an adverse impact on the decisions of the Reserve Bank.

Since we've come to office we've seen 234,000 jobs created—the best record of an incoming government since records began. We've seen the strongest wage growth in the period since we've come to office that has been seen in Australia in a decade. I have to say that the chutzpah is pretty extraordinary, given that the mover of this matter of public importance himself said, when interest rates began to rise when his government was in office, that the rise had to happen. The member for Deakin said, 'I think households are in a position where they've prepared for this.' That cash rate, he said, 'wasn't going to last forever.'

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Let’s stop governments from making the same mistake twice
Australian Financial Review, 2 February 2023

In 1890, rust fungus wiped out much of Australia’s wheat crop, and the colonies had to import wheat. In response, farmer William Farrer used experiments to try to create a rust-resistant variety. Critics mocked his ‘pocket handkerchief wheat plot’, but Farrer’s hundreds of combinations finally produced ‘Federation Wheat’ – a rust-resistant strain that outperformed all others.

When it came to rescuing the wheat industry, Australia used careful experiments to find out what worked best. But too often, policies are rolled out with little or no evidence to back them up. Some of the worst decisions of recent decades – the Baby Bonus, rorted grants programs, privatisations of state monopolies – emerged from an evidence-free vacuum.

Truth, Celebration and Reconciliation
The Canberra Times, 1 February 2023

To understand the history of First Nations people is to hold two big facts in our minds.

One is the remarkable history of those who first occupied a continent. At least sixty thousand years ago, people settled in Australia, creating what is now the oldest known civilisation on earth. By the time Ancient Greece and Rome were getting started, First Nations people had already occupied Australia for tens of thousands of years.

The other big fact is what happened after settlers arrived and proclaimed British sovereignty on 26 January 1788. Over the next century, Australia’s Indigenous population declined, due to violence, disease and starvation. In 1788, there were around 800,000 First Nations Australians. By 1900, there were fewer than 100,000.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS NEWSDAY WITH TOM CONNELL
MONDAY, 30 JANUARY 2023

SUBJECTS: Industry Super Australia’s proposal to increase the frequency of superannuation payments; role of impact investing in super; Treasurer’s treatise in The Monthly.

TOM CONNELL (HOST): Lobby group Industry Super Australia is calling for a crackdown to ramp up the frequency of payments into superannuation. It claims putting such a mandate in the May budget would end the underpayment of workers estimated it to be as high as $5 billion a year. Joining me live is Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Treasury. Thanks for your time. Is the estimate right and where is it coming from? What are the types of people that are missing out on super?

ANDREW LEIGH, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CHARITIES, COMPETITION AND TREASURY: Well, Tom, it’s people right across the spectrum. We know that in recent estimates, around a quarter of Australians don't get their super paid on time, and for those who are affected, that can be up to $1,700. So we'll certainly give this Industry Super proposal the due attention it deserves in the interest of Australian workers. And frankly, if you don't end up paying your super, that's not much different from wage theft. So we need to make sure that Australian workers are taken care of. We're also appropriately concerned about making sure the regulatory burden on business isn't increased.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC CANBERRA WITH ROSS SOLLY
THURSDAY, 26 JANUARY 2023

SUBJECTS: Inflation figures; Impact of rising rates on mortgage holders; Australia Day debate; Cradle Mountain Run.

ROSS SOLLY (HOST): I nearly fell off my chair yesterday, if I was sitting on a chair at the time, in fact, I was walking. And I nearly fell into a bush when I heard the new - the latest inflation figures come out because it wasn't meant to be like this. We're supposed to be getting a cap on all of this. We're supposed to get things under control. Dr. Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Treasury. Good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CHARITIES, COMPETITION AND TREASURY: Good morning, Ross. How are you?

SOLLY: I'm okay. I've got over my stumble and fall into a bush yesterday. What did you think when you heard the figures?

LEIGH: Well, inflation is unacceptably high. This is the highest annual inflation since 1990: 7.8%. Particularly pushed up by domestic travel, international travel, accommodation, new dwelling purchases. Ross, the initial inflation story was a story of goods inflation, largely driven by supply chain blockages. But as with other countries, it's now started to bleed over to services inflation as well. Still, most of the price rises are in goods, but an increasing share is in services. So we think that inflation has peaked, but we won't know for sure until the next set of figures come out.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC 1206 WITH LEON DELANEY
TUESDAY, 24 JANUARY 2023

SUBJECTS: Reforms to process for approving the tax-deductibility of charities; The role of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission; Investigation into Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints; Referendum to implement an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

LEON DELANEY (HOST): Andrew Leigh, Federal Member for Fenner. Are you ever tempted to sit in Bob Hawke's chair?

ANDREW LEIGH, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CHARITIES, COMPETITION AND TREASURY: Oh, yeah, and I love going to Old Parliament House. There's just that sense of history radiating out of the walls. You know, you stand on the steps, you think about that moment in 1975, when Gough Whitlam stood there after the dismissal. You walk into the chambers, you can just you can get that sense of Curtin and Chifley and Menzies standing at the despatch box. It's just a magical place. We're so lucky to have it in the capital.

DELANEY: Yeah, I'm a big fan of the Museum of Australian Democracy, although, sad to say, I haven't actually been there for a little while. But I do remember Bob Hawke's office as being quite impressive and I just imagined myself sitting in the big chair. But you know what? They wouldn't let me.

LEIGH: Well, you can wander into the chambers, you can sit on those lovely padded green seats, remind yourself that these were rooms designed for ample bottomed men. And the decor of the place does sort of it feels very much like a cigar club to me. So while it's beautiful, it's also a relic of that kind of much more masculine era.

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RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO NATIONAL WITH CATHIE SCHNITZERLING
THURSDAY, 12 JANUARY 2023

SUBJECTS: King Charles III coin effigies, cashless society

CATHIE SCHNITZERLING (HOST): If you go through your wallet right now and you’ve got some coins in there, the silver and gold coins will have the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. She’s been on Australian coins since 1953 after her father King George VI’s death in 1952. But with her passing last year new coins with the face of King Charles will come into circulation. Last year the Royal Australian Mint confirmed they will begin minting coins with the effigy of King Charles III early in 2023. But is that still the plan?

Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Charities, Competition and Treasury. Hello, Andrew.

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES, AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: G’day, Cathie. How are you? 

SCHNITZERLING: Very well, thank you. When will the Royal Australian Mint start producing and circulating the new coins?

LEIGH: We’re expecting it in the second half of this year. There’s a more complicated process than you might imagine in terms of designing an effigy, having it cleared with Buckingham Palace and then testing that the dies work. One of the challenges in producing these coins, Cathie, is that the dies need to be able to last for some 200,000 to 300,000 coins. And so the image needs not only to be an appropriate likeness but also one that can be printed again and again. Now, coin production is mass manufacturing.

Monopoly is a Game Best Played at Home
Daily Telegraph, 4 January 2023

If your family pulls out a board game this summer, there’s a good chance that it’s the world’s most popular board game, Monopoly. The game has sold over a quarter of a billion sets, and more than half a billion people have played it.

If Monopoly makes your blood boil, then you’ll know how its designer once felt.

The inventor of Monopoly was a feminist writer and actress, Lizzie Magie. Born in Illinois in 1866, Magie grew up in the aftermath of the US Civil War when the ‘Robber Barons’ dominated her country.

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RADIO INTERVIEW 
ABC RADIO NATIONAL WITH SARAH DINGLE  
FRIDAY, 30 DECEMBER 2022 

SUBJECTS: Summer reading

SARAH DINGLE (HOST): The season of reading is upon us. What are you reading and what's on your list for this summer? Even if it's just an aspirational list, let's face it, we've all got them. Isn't it nice to think you have time to tackle that very big stack of books? Every day for the next few weeks, we'll be speaking to politicians of all stripes about the book they'll be turning to this summer, or books plural. Labor MP Andrew Leigh is one of those with books, plural, you have quite a list. Andrew Leigh, welcome.