Ross Solly:
Dr Andrew Leigh also got a nice little boost on the weekend – a positive swing. He didn’t need it. He was comfortable enough already, but he got even more of a swing on the weekend. Andrew Leigh, I guess when you wake up on a Sunday morning, it’s better to have that than the opposite, and what do you take away from that? Good morning to you.
Andrew Leigh:
Good morning Ross. Yes, just a sense of being really grateful to the people of Canberra for the support that we received. Really humbled by the chance to get back into the job of making life better for Australians and for Canberrans, and also just really relieved that those attacks on Canberra were so resoundingly rejected at the ballot box.
Solly:
Yeah, I want to talk a little bit more about what we can read into some of the Canberra results in a moment. But Andrew Leigh nationally, it was such a rejection of what the Liberal Party stood for in this election. What was it in the end? I mean when you were out and about, when you were listening to people what was it that people hated about what the Liberal Party was offering?
Leigh:
I think there really was a sense that the Liberal Party was too much echoing what was going on elsewhere.
Solly:
Too Trumpian? Too Trumpian do you think?
Leigh:
That sort of imported right wing culture war. I think the attacks on Welcome to Country ceremonies that Peter Dutton engaged in just contrasted with Anthony Albanese focusing on bulk‑billing, on the energy transition, on the important resourcing of our schools, and on the work we’re doing around competition reform. All of that is practical work that people can see in their everyday lives. I think people didn’t want that sort of the nasty punching down that was being offered by the Liberal Party.
Solly:
Let’s look at locally. You yourself and Alicia Payne both had healthy swings towards you, but David Smith is in a tight contest in the electorate of Bean. At the moment, he’s slowly edging ahead on the postal votes as they come through. But what is the message? Why do you think that David Smith struggled so hard against a strong independent candidate Andrew Leigh?
Leigh:
I’m not entirely sure Ross – I think that’s the honest answer. We’ll see as things play out this week. I’m still hoping that Dave manages to get back. He’s an incredibly hard‑working local member, and I think his engagement with his local community through everything from the door knocking to the community stalls to doing the big walk around Canberra with Menslink. You know, he’s a very connected grassroots local member. He was certainly up against a campaign which would have significantly outspent him. And one of the reasons that we moved to bring those ACT‑style expenditure caps into the federal parliament was in order to stop some of these very deep pocketed, funded campaigns of the kind that went up against Dave Smith.
Solly:
To be fair though, the campaign of Jesse Price was also up against a pretty formidable election machine in the Labor Party. I mean, for an independent to take on a machine as powerful as the Labor Party, it’s probably balancing out when it comes to the funding Andrew Leigh.
Leigh:
Well I think within the seat, if you look within the seat of Bean – we’ll see when the AEC returns come through, but I would guess the Climate 200 money significantly outmatched what the Labor Party was spending in that seat. David Pocock last time round ran a nearly $2 million campaign at the previous election. You know, that’s the introduction of big money politics into Canberra which we saw at the previous election and we’ll see this time round how that campaign was but I suspect that’s another fairly deep pocketed campaign.
Solly:
But is there not a message that’s also being delivered to the Labor Party? The fact that David Pocock’s vote has almost doubled, that Jesse Price – she might not win, but my goodness she’s gone within a whisper of doing it. Is there a message there for the Labor Party and it’s standing in Canberra?
Leigh:
Look, I don’t think any of us 4 Labor representatives; Alicia, Dave, Katy, or myself take our positions for granted. We’re out there working every day. We understand the trust that our local constituents place in us and the importance of engaging in the community. Alicia’s pioneered work with deliberative democracy, I’ve been out there doing telephone town halls and engaging on social media, podcasts in‑person, monthly email reports. You know, you do everything you can in order to try and engage with people in a really quite fractured environment where it’s tougher than ever to connect with voters.
Solly:
You don’t think there’s any message there that some Canberrans feel they’ve been taken for granted?
Leigh:
Look, I think there’s always ways in which we can do better. We need to continue to learn that – learn from ways to better connect to the community. But I’m also pretty proud of what this Labor government has delivered for Canberra. Everything from the national institutions funding, getting rid of the overdependence on consultants and contractors, and bringing back permanent public servants in order to do important work. Canberrans got our fair share of infrastructure spending and the bulk‑billing packages. All of that work really was focused locally, and with Katy Gallagher as Finance Minister, you have that certainty that the ACT’s views are taken into account around the Cabinet table and the Expenditure Review Committee.
Solly:
Andrew Leigh, congratulations once again on another successful campaign and being re‑elected in the electorate of Fenner. Thank you.
Leigh:
Thank you Ross, take care.
Solly:
Dr Andrew Leigh, who is returning for another term.