Andrew Leigh

The Albanese Government has today reappointed Ms Nerida O’Loughlin PSM as a part-time associate member of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Ms O’Loughlin is the Chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and has been reappointed as an ACCC associate member until 13 October 2027.

In medicine, randomised trials are commonly used for evaluating effectiveness. When a new pharmaceutical is being tested, half the recipients will get the true treatment, while half will get a placebo. By tossing a coin to decide whether a person gets the treatment or the placebo, we can be confident that any observed differences are due to the real effect of the drug.

Increasingly, randomised trials are being used by governments and businesses too. Randomised trials of policing strategies have shown that hot spots policing reduces crime. A randomised trial found that when people in India were given a financial incentive to get their licence earlier, they were more likely to bribe the tester.  A randomised trial in Mexico found that road upgrades boost property prices and reduce poverty. A randomised trial with airline pilots found that providing feedback on fuel use led captains to be more economical, saving the airline a million litres of fuel.

TOPICS: Housing; banning unfair trading practices; card surcharging         

ROSS SOLLY, HOST: Dr Andrew Leigh, the member for Fenner, is also the Assistant Minister of Competition and joins us on the ABC Canberra Drive show. Dr Leigh, thanks for joining us.

ANDREW LEIGH: Pleasure Ross, great to be with you.

SOLLY: Just before we talk about that, you heard in the PM promo there, there's been some argy-bargy, some talk today about Anthony Albanese's decision to spend over $4 million on this beach house. Now, I think fair, look, whatever, you know, people work hard and how they spend their money is their business. But do you think it's a good look at this particular time, Andrew Leigh, for Anthony Albanese to be splashing out over 4 million on this beach house?

LEIGH: Well, the Prime Minister's gotten engaged to Jodie, who's a Coastie. There's no secret that she comes from that neck of the woods and has been there for three generations. I think it's appropriate that if he wants to look at having a place on the Coast so Jodie can be close to her family, then that's reasonable. In terms of what we're doing in order to make it easier for people to get into the housing market…

SUBJECTS: Card surcharges; Supermarket competition

MATTHEW PANTELIS, HOST: It is quarter to ten on 5AA. The Federal Government's promising to crack down on card surcharges over the next couple of years and these changes proposed won't take effect until January 1st, 2026. So, in about 15 or so months. We've been losing nearly a billion dollars in surcharges a year as we increasingly pay with tap and go. Some suggest the figure could be as high in surcharges as $4 billion raked in through the use of cards.

Well, that needs to stop. The competition charities, treasury assistant Minister is Dr. Andrew Leigh, and he joins me now. Andrew, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning, Matthew. Great to be with you.

PANTELIS: So, this is important to tackle, isn't it? I mean, it's basically just the icing on the cake that you don't necessarily notice in a transaction where you're told this will be $5.80 for that cup of coffee, check the credit card receipt later. It turns out it was $5.87 because it's a surcharge.

LEIGH: Card surcharges are sand in the gears of the modern economy. We all just find it annoying when we think we know what the price is and then suddenly find a surcharge being slapped on top of it. And small businesses hate them because they find themselves paying a bigger surcharge often than the big companies. So, it's putting small businesses at a competitive disadvantage.

TOPICS: Social media comments by ACT Greens candidate; Middle East conflicts; Live Nation; Non-compete clauses

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, HOST: Time to talk federal politics with the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury and the Member for Fenner, Andrew Leigh. Andrew, if this was a Labor or Liberal candidate, it just wouldn't be tolerated.

ANDREW LEIGH: I think that's right. I haven't seen the comments directly, but I think the Greens certainly need to answer for all of their candidates.

CENATIEMPO: I just want to, it's extraordinary that we've gotten to a point in Australia now where, you know, we used to have robust discussion and you know, Question Time was always lively and animated and there was always robust disagreement between the major parties. But we seem to have these fringe elements coming into our body politic now that are just dragging the level down to something that we've never seen before.

LEIGH: We find it very hard as the Labor Party in Parliament when we have the Greens agitating alongside people who are vandalising the electorate offices of Labor MPs. And then on the other side of us we've got the Coalition who are more extreme than our ally, the United States. Our Labor government has signed on to a joint statement with the UK, the US, Canada and New Zealand calling for a ceasefire and the Coalition won't support that. So hard to be a centrist in Parliament.

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, on whose traditional lands we meet, and pay respect to all First Nations people here today.

Thank you to Glenn Keys and his team for the invitation to address you and launch Aspen Medical Foundation’s first annual report.

Some starting presumptions. If you’re here today, it is highly probable you’re a friend to the Foundation, perhaps as a contributor to its initiatives, or as a beneficiary of them.

I will also presume you appreciate the role played by smart, innovative philanthropy in modern society.

The role of reimagining what’s possible.

Joint media release with The Hon Jim Chalmers MP | Treasurer

The Albanese Government has reappointed Dr David Gruen AO as the full‑time Australian Statistician to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for a further five years, beginning on 11 December 2024.

Dr Gruen has served as the Australian Statistician since 2019, providing outstanding leadership of the ABS through a unique period in history.

Dr Gruen is one of Australia’s best and most experienced economists and has a distinguished record of public service. He previously served as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and in the Department of the Treasury.

The Albanese Government is taking action to fight shrinkflation in our supermarkets and retail sector by strengthening the Unit Pricing Code to make it easier for Australians to make accurate and timely price comparisons.

The Government will also introduce substantial penalties for supermarkets who do the wrong thing and breach the Unit Pricing Code.

The practice of 'shrinkflation' is becoming increasingly common, where the size of a product is reduced, but the price at the supermarket is the same or even increases, taking advantage of Australians doing their groceries.