Andrew Leigh

I attended the opening of eight new social housing units in O'Connor this morning. The bottom four units will be occupied by people with mobility impairments, while most of the top four units will be single parent families. For some of the tenants, it's the first place they've ever had to call their own.

SENATOR THE HON MARK ARBIB

Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development

Minister for Sport

Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness

ANDREW LEIGH MP

Member for Fraser

MEDIA RELEASE

28 October 2011

EIGHT NEW SOCIAL HOUSING DWELLINGS IN CANBERRA

Vulnerable people in Canberra will benefit from a new social housing development opened today, supported with $1.6 million from the Australian Government.

Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness Mark Arbib and Member for Fraser Andrew Leigh today welcomed the opening of the new development in David Street, O’Connor, which will offer safe and secure homes for people in need.

“This development will provide a stable home for seniors, people with disabilities and people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness,” Dr Leigh said.

“It features eight two-bedroom units, four of which are Class C Adaptable, which means they are easily modified for tenants with a disability.

“The units incorporate six-star energy rating and environmental design principles such as an underground rain water tank and gas boosted solar hot water units.

“I would like to thank the ACT Government for their involvement in the development and management of this housing development.

“Through this development, we are helping to reduce homelessness, and we are giving vulnerable people in Canberra a better future.”

The development, worth $2.1 million in total, is partly funded through the Australian Government’s Social Housing Initiative, which is designed to assist low income Australians who are homeless or struggling in the private rental market.

The Australian Government’s $5.6 billion investment under the Social Housing Initiative represents the single largest investment in social housing ever undertaken by an Australian Government.

Senator Arbib welcomed the new development which will provide security to some of the vulnerable people in Canberra in need of a home.

“These wonderful new homes will give some of our most vulnerable a place to call home,” Senator Arbib said.

“Under the Social Housing Initiative, around 19,600 homes are being constructed across the nation and will be completed by June 2012 – over 16,400 of these have already been completed.

“In the ACT, the Australian and ACT Governments are working together to deliver 421 new homes – 419 of which have been completed.

“Through the Initiative, the Australian Government has supported more than 15,000 jobs nationally, and helped shield Australia from the recession that hit most other economies.”

The Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) has elected 26 new fellows. Bizarrely, they've including a sitting politician. Have they no standards?

(On a more serious note, I'm chuffed to be joining in the same cohort as Lisa Hill, who taught me in my undergraduate political science degree, Stephen Bell, who marked my undegraduate honours thesis in 1994; and former ANU colleagues Dave Chalmers, Hal Hill, Jeff Bennett, Kaarin Anstey and Andrew Podger. Thanks too to my nominators - who I'll refrain from naming in case they'd like to maintain anonymity.)

For the past six months I’ve been lending out my marquee to community groups. It’s been very popular, and has been used to assist causes as diverse as motorcycle awareness and the Mount Rogers Explorer Day. Now I’ve got a small public address system which I’d be happy to lend to any community group that needs a bit of amplification. It’s simple to use, operates off a rechargeable internal battery (or mains power), and it comes with a microphone. It’s ideal for addressing small gatherings - indoor or outdoor. Phone 6247 4396 or email me at Andrew.Leigh.MP<AT>aph.gov.au to book either the marquee or the PA system for your event.

And while I'm talking about community groups, I’m also opening up a spot in my newsletter, the modestly-named Leigh Report, as a noticeboard for organisations that are seeking to expand their membership. It could be an appeal for volunteers or it could be a shout out to like-minded Canberrans who just don’t know you exist. Email the contact details of your organisation and a one-sentence summary of who in the community you’re trying to reach to Andrew.Leigh.MP<AT>aph.gov.au and I’ll try to include it in the next newsletter.

I've written and spoken before about the power of information to improve public services. So it's beaut to see that the MyHospitals website will from today contain information on hospital infection rates.

My video from my latest Capital Hill appearance with Kelly O'Dwyer, hosted by Julie Doyle.http://www.youtube.com/embed/77lQBT0GQoE

Here's my latest Sky AM Agenda appearance with my regular sparring partner Mitch Fifield. Kieran Gilbert's the host this time.http://www.youtube.com/embed/udhmXbUIBSI

In today's SMH, Peter Martin has a neat write-up of my Economics Letters paper with Christine Neill, which exploits Howard Government pork-barrelling to estimate the impact of fiscal stimulus on job creation. We find that the cost per job amounted to $10,000 to $31,000 over a three-year period.

Just a reminder about my community forum tomorrow night. The main focus of the forum will be Labor's plan for a National Disability Insurance Scheme, but I'll also be happy to take questions on any other local or national topics, from tax to terrorism, roads to refugees, postboxes to polio.

Details, details...

Venue: Belconnen Community Services, Swanson Court
Time: Tuesday 25 October 6.00-7.30pm

I hope to see you there. And in the event you can't make it along, here's a complete list of my coming mobile offices and community forums.

Due to a change in the way Hansard was formatted, Open Australia (main site, my page) has been out of action for several months. I'm pleased to say that this spunky interface for following parliament is now back online.

On Mon 14 Nov, 6-7pm, I'm giving a talk on 'The Economics and Politics of Teacher Merit Pay' at the Grattan Institute in Melbourne. Here's a summary:

The debate over merit pay can be summed up as follows: economists like it, voters love it, and teachers are divided. Can merit pay be made to work? Andrew Leigh MP will discuss these issues with John Daley, Grattan's CEO.

Looking across the international evidence, Andrew Leigh surveyed three sets of data that are relevant to answering this question: impact studies of teacher merit pay schemes, evidence on teacher attitudes to merit pay, and surveys of attitudes in the general public to merit pay. Looking at the existing merit pay plans, one is struck by the fact that they their incentive schemes are often very complicated, and most estimates are of short-run effects (so do not capture selection into the teaching profession).

Teacher attitudes are mixed, with new teachers more open to merit pay than their more experienced colleagues. US surveys find that voter support for merit pay is high and rising. I conclude with ten suggestions for future research on teacher merit pay.

To RSVP, click here.

(Incidentally,  Grattan is presently looking for a fellow to work in its cities program. If you liked Ed Glaeser's book, you should consider applying.)