Andrew Leigh

THE HON JIM CHALMERS MP

TREASURER

SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER

MINISTER FOR FINANCE
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE

THE HON ANDREW LEIGH MP

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE

GOVERNMENT ACTING SWIFTLY ON COMMONWEALTH SURCHARGES

The Albanese Labor Government will stop passing on debit surcharges from the ATO and Services Australia to make sure these everyday payments don’t cost Australians more from 1 January 2025.

Following the New South Wales Government’s announcement on 23 October 2024 that Service NSW and Revenue NSW had unlawfully collected merchant fee charges, we established a multi-agency Taskforce to examine the issue at a federal level.

As a result, we received advice that the collection by a Commonwealth entity of a payment surcharge is likely unlawful in certain circumstances without a legislative basis to permit it.

Long runs and audiobooks go together like mystery and midnight. Over the course of 2024, I’ve enjoyed a variety of books – and even a few in print. Some are published in 2024, but many are just ones that I’ve consumed this year. Favourites below, in case they pique your reading interest.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - 20 NOVEMBER 2024

At the outset, I acknowledge the remarkable valedictory speech that the House has heard from the member for Maribyrnong. On a personal note, it was a real honour to serve as a shadow minister when the member for Maribyrnong was the Leader of the Labor Party, and it is a great honour to serve alongside him as an assistant minister in the Albanese government.

It's pretty extraordinary to hear the words of the former housing minister and now shadow housing minister. It's no surprise that he has scurried out of the chamber, given his lacklustre record when it came to housing. Under the former government, for most of their time in office, we didn't have a housing minister. Under the former government, homeownership rates in Australia fell to a 50-year low. Under the former government, building approvals were at an almost decadal low. Under the former government, there was a skills deficit through the entire construction industry. Under the former government, they went for their last five years failing to hold a meeting of state and territory housing ministers. Under the former government, social housing increased by less than 10,000 homes over nine years, compared to a 30,000-home increase under the Labor government that had preceded them.

THE HON JIM CHALMERS MP TREASURER

THE HON DR ANDREW LEIGH MP

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY

HISTORIC MERGERS REFORM PASSES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The Government has passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Mergers and Acquisitions Reform) Bill 2024 through the House of Representatives. This is a major milestone in building a stronger, more competitive and more productive economy. 

These reforms are the largest shakeup of Australia’s merger settings in half a century.

The Government has released a consultation paper on Australia’s implementation of the OECD-developed Crypto Asset Reporting Framework and associated amendments to the Common Reporting Standard. 

The Crypto Asset Reporting Framework is a new transparency framework responding to the rapid growth of crypto asset markets globally and the challenges this presents for addressing tax evasion and tax avoidance.

The new reporting framework will improve visibility over incomes made through crypto assets to increase compliance with local tax laws via automatic exchange of information between revenue authorities. It works by compelling crypto asset intermediaries operating in Australia to report data on crypto related transactions to the Australian Taxation Office.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 20 NOVEMBER 2024

I thank those members who have contributed to the debate. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Mergers and Acquisitions Reform) Bill 2024 delivers a new, faster, stronger, simpler, more targeted and more transparent merger system that will help deliver what we all want: a stronger, more competitive and more productive economy. Our country is facing some of the most significant structural changes in our history, with increasing digitalisation, particularly artificial intelligence; the net zero transformation; and the rise of the care economy. We need to ensure workers aren't unfairly prevented from shifting to a better job. We must look after the most vulnerable.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 19 NOVEMBER 2024

The creation of the National Broadband Network flowed out of the botched privatisation of Telstra under the Howard government. Telstra was privatised by the Howard government starting in 1997, selling off 49 per cent initially and then selling Telstra into minority public ownership in 2006. That meant, when the Rudd government came to office and called for tenders to build the National Broadband Network, Telstra, then under majority private ownership, produced an extraordinary document. Asked to show how it might build a national network serving 98 per cent of the population, Telstra turned in a desultory 12-page letter which wasn't compliant with the requirements at the time. That meant Telstra had to be removed from the request for proposals process, and then the National Broadband Network flowed. We can only imagine how much more straightforward the process of building the National Broadband Network would have been if Telstra had worked constructively with the government in 2008, but it was not possible, largely because of the decision that the Howard government had made to privatise Telstra.

Subjects: Electoral reform; Supermarkets; National Competition Policy; Renewable Energy

KIERAN GILBERT, HOST: Let's return now to politics. Joining me is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh. Thanks for your time. A big focus this week on electoral reform. The Crossbench, the Teals - not happy. They're saying that the big parties are ganging up on this reform and trying to rush it through. What do you say to that?

LEIGH: Kieran, this is about trying to get our democracy as healthy as it can be, ensuring that big money doesn't dominate. I think that all Australians want to see elections decided by who's got the best ideas, not who's got the deepest pockets. But increasingly we're seeing billionaire donors around the world influencing election campaigns. We don't want to see that happen here.

GILBERT: But their argument is for an independent, without a profile, sometimes, like the Teals, they might need to spend more than a million dollars to help build their profile up against an incumbent Labor or Liberal candidate. Why not allow that if they can generate that sort of support in a seat?

LEIGH: Well, because ultimately, we need elections to be decided on one person, one vote – rather than one dollar, one vote. We need the elections to be a contest of ideas, not a contest of cash. And we're seeing increasingly around the world the influence of deep pocketed donors on elections. This has been a reform that's been a long time coming. Labor has been very consistent. The way in which we've argued for these spending caps, they've existed here in the ACT for quite a while and I think they've worked very well.

SUBJECTS:  Cash mandate for essential goods and services; regional banking; credit and debit card surcharges; limiting the influence of billionaire donors on Australian democracy.

ROSS SOLLY, HOST: It's 20 minutes to 9. Andrew Leigh is the Member for Fenner, he's also the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Assistant Minister for Employment, and he joins us on the Breakfast Show. Andrew Leigh, good morning to you.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning, Ross, great to be with you.

SOLLY: It's great to have your company as well. Look, a lot of talking about this announcement that your government's going to make today. Well, first of all, let's work out what are essential goods and services where people will still be able to pay cash?

LEIGH: Well, Ross, 94 per cent of businesses right now accept cash, and we need to ensure that cash remains a viable payment approach for the minority of Australians who use it for the majority of their purchases. So, this cash mandate is something that's been put in place in other countries; Spain, France, Norway, Denmark, some of the US States have it already. You can think of it as about ensuring that those who are using cash don't get left behind by businesses saying, "We're not taking your cash any longer".

University of Canberra Panel on ‘Who Will Save the News?’ - Canberra, 14 November 2024

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, on whose lands we are meeting today, pay tribute to all First Nations people presents and recognise the important work that the University of Canberra does towards Closing the Gap.

It's a pleasure to be part of the University of Canberra's Research Showcase. You've brought your research here to the city. It is a reminder of what a terrific job the University of Canberra does in enriching the public debate in the nation’s capital.

Let me start with a story. In 1992, some friends and I decided that we wanted to run to be the journalists and editors of the Sydney University newspaper Honi Soit.