ADAM SHIRLEY:
Listener, you might have a charity that you've been giving to month on month for decades. Which one and how much can you set aside? I mean, given our previous conversation, it might be very tough for you to spare any dollars and cents. What about if it's part of your pay slip, a fortnightly or monthly deduction? It comes straight out. You don't really see it in your account before it goes straight to a charity. Given Christmas is the time of giving, this could be front of mind for you. The Federal Government wants you to think about it because it wants to double philanthropy in Australia by 2030 above levels. Right now, the government reckons there's a lot of untapped potential in something called workplace giving. Dr Andrew Leigh is Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury and is with us now. Dr Leigh, good afternoon.
ANDREW LEIGH:
Good afternoon, Adam.
SHIRLEY:
How much giving have you done personally yourself through the years?
LEIGH:
Partly, I give to international causes - some of the charities picked through GiveWell, such as the Against Malaria Foundation. Then locally, I'm a big supporter of the Indigenous Marathon Foundation, Rob de Castella's program, which builds elite indigenous leadership, and then also has a terrific community dimension through the ‘Deadly Fun Runs’ that Rob sets up. So I've been running with them, raising the profile and also raising some money for them over the years. But there's so many great charities out there, Adam, and you would know so many of them because you're a great promoter of them for the work that you do on the radio station.
SHIRLEY:
And we've just been talking about some local problems and real challenges that people in northern New South Wales, other parts of the state, are facing, with floods and fire impact still from a couple of years ago. How is it that the Federal Government still sees potential to double philanthropy in a few years when there's a lot of areas that need giving right now?
LEIGH:
There certainly is. And this isn't about asking charities to do more so government can step back. What we want is for government to step up in partnership with the charity sector. After the 9 year long war on charities under the former government, we've now got a government that wants to partner with charities. Doubling philanthropy in Australia is an ambitious goal, but it takes us to the level of per capita giving that New Zealand has, and I believe that's eminently achievable.
SHIRLEY:
Yeah. How do you think it can be done, then?
LEIGH:
One way is through workplace giving. As you mentioned, workplace giving has the simplicity that you don't need to claim a tax deduction at the end of the year, because the money just comes out of your pay packet. Yet, if you look at Australian workers, you've got some 4 million people who are in a workplace that has a workplace giving program. You only just over 200,000 are participating in those programs. So only about 5 per cent of employees at a workplace which has a workplace giving program are actually part of that program. We held a roundtable recently with the Business Council of Australia, talking with a range of employers about things they've done to boost workplace giving, things like employer match programs or making signup more straightforward. We're keen to see if we can spread some of those good ideas across other workplaces.
SHIRLEY:
Do you reckon it's within the grasp of a lot of people in the real world, given cost of living, as we hear so much about increasing power prices, rents, the mortgage payments that people are facing now, it's certainly a challenge.
LEIGH:
But those are pressures that people in other countries which have higher levels of giving are facing. If you look at New Zealand, for example, there's cost of living pressures there. The United States, which has a much higher level of philanthropy, people are facing a lot of pressures there. So we're certainly not demanding that people give, but I think it's a great thing to do. There's actually a lot of evidence that when people give money to charities, that there is what's called a ‘helper’s high’: the warm sense of having given back to the community. There was a lovely randomised experiment which gives 2 groups of people $30 at the beginning of the day. At the end of the day, those who've been given $30 to spend on themselves are not as happy as those who've been given $30 to donate to others.
SHIRLEY:
So, Dr Leigh, are there plans to track this to see if businesses and people who work there can meet this goal of doubling philanthropy by 23?
LEIGH:
Absolutely, Adam. We need to make sure that we're tracking those numbers. And actually, if you look at the last financial year, you've seen a drop. There were 211,000 people who were giving through workplace giving the year before last, and then it went down to 206,000. So that does suggest that we've gone in the wrong direction just in the last year. We're keen to turn that around in partnership with business and just creating more opportunities for people to give back. It's hard to squeeze into a busy life, but sometimes it's not just that it's hard to find the money, it's also sometimes hard to find the cause. So this is also about linking up people with the causes that they're passionate about, whether that's the arts or the environment or social justice causes, or helping out during disasters, as you mentioned before.
SHIRLEY:
Dr Andrew Leigh with you on Drive. Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Adam Shirley as well. Across Sydney, Canberra and New South Wales. Just before we wrap up, Dr Lee, Kevin Rudd obviously has been announced as the new ambassador to the US today. You worked with him for a few years at Parliament House. You know him more than most. What are your sentiments, your responses to that announcement today?
LEIGH:
Kevin's first passion is foreign policy and he's very well respected within the United States foreign policy establishment. Through his work in New York, he's become known as an authority on China. I think, given that the relationships in our region are one of the things that the Americans look to us for, he's a natural appointee for the ambassadorship to the United States.
SHIRLEY:
Dr Leigh, appreciate your time. Thank you for it.
LEIGH:
Thank you, Adam. Take care.