Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC WITH LEON DELANEY

Subjects: Stepping Stone Café charity work; Supporting the charity sector; Reducing inflation without increasing joblessness; Whyalla Steelworks Support Package.

20 FEBRUARY 2025

Leon Delaney, Host: Now the Federal Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment and our local member here in the seat of Fenner, Dr Andrew Leigh. Good afternoon

Andrew Leigh: Good afternoon, Leon. Great to be with you

Delaney: Well, thanks for joining us. There's a lot of things going on, but let's start with your opinion piece today about strengthening charities, strengthening democracy and strengthening the community. You make particular reference to the Stepping Stone Cafe right here in your own electorate. Why is that?

Leigh: Stepping Stone just won the Australian Local Hero Awards, beating out all of the contestants from other states and territories. So, I'm pretty proud of what they do. They've got a cafe in Strathnairn and Dickson, employing people who would otherwise be struggling to find work. They've helped over 60 migrant and refugee women to get into employment. And I was spotlighting them, Leon, not only because I'd like to see more people pop in and pick up a coffee, but also because what Vanessa and Hannah have done is really a reminder of the strength of charities throughout the community. Charities are out there improving the environment, helping in kids sport, strengthening the arts and assisting the most vulnerable. And we as a government have not only ended the Coalition's nine-year war on charities but also sought to rebuild and strengthen the relationship between the government and the charitable sector.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO

25 FEBRUARY 2025

Subjects: Boosting bulk billing; Cultivating charities and creating community

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, HOST: Time to catch up with the Assistant Minister for Charities, Competition and Treasury. Or have I got that in the wrong order? A Member for Fenner, Andrew Leigh. Andrew, good morning.

ANDREW LEIGH: No wrong order, Stephen! Great to speak to you.

CENATIEMPO: Too many bits in there, so. Yeah, anyway, but they're all important. Let's talk about this $8.5 billion policy. Why is it that both sides of politics seem to think that bulk billing is the only thing that matters?

LEIGH: Well, Medicare is a fundamental Australian institution. It means that you can go and see a doctor when you're sick without worrying about the cost. And certainly, for many Canberrans, that cost has been adding up. We know that getting a bulk billing doctor here in Canberra, if you're on a low income but you don't have a Health Care Card, has become increasingly tough. So, this policy is a gamechanger. It will ensure that more Australians can see a bulk billing doctor. It'll be critical here in Canberra. And as you said, Peter Dutton, the man who once said there were ‘too many free Medicare services’, is signing up to this at the last minute because he realises that his record on health is dismal.

Helping Charities and Strengthening Communities

20 February 2025

The Albanese Government is helping Australia’s 62,000 charities by ensuring that states and territories collaborate effectively with the federal government – reducing unnecessary paperwork.

We’re taking the practical step of including representatives from all states and territories on the advisory board of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). This will include the greatest representation from state and territory governments since the Board’s inception in 2013.

This move builds on the substantial body of work that Labor has done to support charities, and aligns with recommendations in the Productivity Commission’s landmark Future Foundations for Giving report.

These strategic appointments aim to ensure the diverse interests of our communities are effectively represented, fostering a consistent national approach to regulatory and policy matters within the charity sector.

The ACNC Advisory Board supports the Commissioner by offering informed advice on matters affecting charities and strengthening the governance and effectiveness of the sector.

This article appeared in Community Directors Intelligence and the Community Advocate on 20 February 2025

In 2015, a group of young Australians had a simple yet ambitious vision: to use hospitality to change lives. They believed that something as universal as sharing a meal could also build a stronger community.

A decade later, that vision has made a real difference – Stepping Stone Café, located in my electorate of Fenner in the ACT, has helped over 60 migrant and refugee women to participate in meaningful work. Last April, I recognised the café as my monthly “community champion” for its contribution to inclusion and opportunity, and on Australia Day 2025, its founders, Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello, were named Australian of the Year Local Heroes.

Their philosophy is simple: participation strengthens society. “We dream of a society where diversity is celebrated, where all people are empowered and able to live the lives that they choose,” Hannah said upon receiving the award. By breaking bread together, newcomers and locals don’t just share food – they build community, foster belonging, and strengthen democracy itself.

It is initiatives like Stepping Stone Café that our government seeks to support – not just because their work is virtuous, but because when charities thrive, democracy thrives.

That’s why our focus has been strengthening the operating environment for charities and not-for-profits, so they can all do what they do best – serve communities. We have made significant progress and the path to a stronger sector is clearer than ever.

The Real Cost of the Coalition’s Public Service Cuts

Published in The Canberra Times

17 February 2025

When Labor took office, veterans seeking support after serving their country faced an unthinkable situation—a backlog of 42,000 claims, with some veterans waiting over two years just to have their case looked at. This was not an accident. It was the direct result of a decade of deliberate underinvestment in the public service, of staffing caps that starved frontline services, and of an ideological obsession with outsourcing.

Labor set out to fix it. Today, 97 per cent of that backlog has been cleared. Veterans’ claims that once took over 100 days are now allocated within two weeks. But the lesson from this crisis is clear: when governments neglect the public service, Australians suffer. And now, the Coalition wants to take us back.

The Coalition have made their priorities clear. They plan to cut 36,000 public service jobs, slashing the workforce by 20 per cent. This is not speculation. Nationals leader David Littleproud has said outright, “the first thing we’ll do is sack those 36,000 public servants in Canberra.” Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor has dismissed investment in the public service as “unnecessary spending.”

Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025
House of Representatives
13 February 2025

My three boys are now in secondary school or graduated, but this bill certainly brings back memories of the great benefits that they got from their time in early childhood, attending the Acton Early Childhood Centre. I would sometimes cycle, with one of my boys on the back of the bike, to the campus at ANU. It's a lovely spot, surrounded by areas where the kids could walk and where they could enjoy playing. They had little carts and so they could be out and active in the play spaces. There were chickens for the kids to engage with, and there were educators who were dedicated to spending time with the kids—reading to them, singing to them, nurturing them.

Later, we moved our youngest to the Wiradjuri Preschool and Child Care Centre on the campus of the University of Canberra. Their motto is, 'We care, we share, we love to learn.' Wiradjuri had a smaller outdoor space, but they made terrific use of it. They enjoyed taking the kids for walks across the University of Canberra campus. I'm not quite sure what the young students made of these little tackers being taken across the campus, but the educators used the space to their best abilities.

What we really appreciated about Wiradjuri was the way it operated as a kind of teaching hospital model, where those students who were studying early childhood would come in and be mentored by experienced early childhood educators. They had two pictures on the wall, one of Gough Whitlam and one of Vincent Lingiari. They would tell the kids about that wonderful moment when, in the land handback, Whitlam poured a handful of sand into Vincent Lingiari's hand and Vincent so generously, so extraordinarily said, 'We are all mates now.'

Opinion Piece: Clearing up Charity Change

Published in Gladstone Today

13 February 2025

The definition of chutzpah is the guy who spills a drink and then complains that the waiter is taking too long to clean it up. In his column, Colin Boyce complains about the impact of reporting requirements for non-profits. What he fails to tell readers is that it was his party - the LNP - who put in place this requirement.

Before 2021, not-for-profit organisations that self-assess had not been required to report annually to the tax office. In their 2021 budget, the Morrison Government changed that, requiring non-charitable not-for profit organisations that self-assess as income tax exempt to lodge an annual self-review return with the tax office.

Under the change made in 2021 by the LNP, the first self-review return was due between 1 July 2024 and 31 October 2024.

Unfortunately, while the LNP parties changed the law, they left the hard work of implementing it to Labor. It was up to Labor to ensure that the change operated as smoothly as possible.

Under our government, the tax office allocated additional staff to process these annual self-reviews. Lodgement has been extended by five months, to 31 March 2025.

Mandating Cash for Essential Services
House of Representatives
12 February 2025

We've seen a significant change in Australians' spending patterns over the course of the last couple of decades. As the government's consultation paper on the cash mandate makes clear, in 2007, the Reserve Bank estimated that about three-quarters of retail transactions were conducted by cash. In 2022 that number was down to 13 per cent. That's why, on 18 November last year, the Treasurer and the Assistant Treasurer announced a cash mandate for essential services which would ensure an ongoing place for cash in society.

Right now, 94 per cent of businesses accept cash. We know that the risk of cash not being accepted looms large for particular groups of vulnerable Australians. Some of those have been mentioned in this debate: older Australians, migrants, lower income Australians and the unbanked. These are Labor's people. These are the people who typically suffer when the coalition is in office and who Labor has fought to look after in every budget we've brought down since we've come to office. There are around 1.5 million Australians for whom cash makes up over four-fifths of their retail transactions. For them, it's more than a payment method; it is a lifeline.

But cash is also an important backup in instances of natural disasters. It is a form of financial system resilience. The government's consultation paper quotes numbers from the Reserve Bank around the frequency of such outages. They have occurred hundreds or, in some categories of outage, thousands of times per year. While the system has a resiliency rate of over 99 per cent, those outages, when they occur, can be extremely damaging. We've seen, in the instance of floods and fires, the online payment systems struggle to keep pace. It is therefore critical that cash is available.

So the government has announced a mandate to ensure that Australians can continue to pay cash for essential items if they want to, while providing appropriate exemptions for small business. That announcement has been well received by community groups, by the business community and by individuals who prefer to use cash. Cash Welcome campaign spokesperson Jason Bryce said: ‘This is exactly what we have been asking for.’

Whether it's at the supermarket or filling up at the petrol station, when Australians are paying for things they need they will have the comfort of knowing that they can pay in cash.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC MELBOURNE MORNINGS WITH RAFAEL EPSTEIN

Subjects: Labor’s plan to make it easier for first home buyers with HECS-HELP loans to get a mortgage; Comparative Advantage; Free Trade; Tariffs

12 FEBRUARY 2025

Rafael Epstein, Host: Pretty big announcement from the Federal Government today. They're going to let the banks, when they lend you money for a mortgage, they can relax the rules when it comes to the debt you owe for your university degree. So, you might say, woohoo, fantastic. You can borrow more or borrow sooner. Is it financially smart? Andrew Leigh joins us. He speaks for the Albanese government on this.

Andrew is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment. Andrew Leigh, good morning.

Andrew Leigh: Good morning, Raf. Great to be with you.

Epstein: Is it a good idea?

Leigh: Certainly is. We need to make sure that more Australians get into housing and to the extent that lenders have been taking into account your HECS debt, that can sometimes hold young people back from home ownership. And the fact is HECS is not a debt like any other, it's a debt whose repayments stop if you lose your job. It's proportional to your income. It is a repayment that occurs through an income contingent loan. And so, taking that off the table when lenders are considering how to allocate funding and who to lend to is really important in terms of boosting home ownership rates.