Ross Solly:
ABC Canberra Breakfast, you are with Ross Solly and the Member for Fenner is here with us this morning. Andrew Leigh, good morning to you.
Andrew Leigh:
Good morning, Ross, great to be with you.
Solly:
And it is great to be with you. Are you ready for our listener questions this morning?
Leigh:
Born ready.
Solly:
Great, I’m very happy to hear it. So, we have a few people calling in already. Our number is 1300 681 666. If you’ve got a question you’d like, this is your opportunity. You hear enough of me banging on and asking questions, let’s get your questions. Now let’s go first of all to Steve. Good morning, Steve.
Steve:
Good morning, how are you?
Solly:
Yeah, good thanks Steve. Andrew is listening.
Steve:
Yes, so my question goes towards appropriate investment into the ACT. I’m aware that in the last couple of days you announced $5 or was it $3 million that went into developing the Kingston Foreshore. But as you’re aware, some of the other states are getting multi‑billion dollar investments, an example would be the Whyalla Steelworks that got multi‑billions to support its local community sustain itself, and also Victoria and Queensland and some of the other states have been getting huge amounts of investment from the Commonwealth.
Solly:
Hobart getting…
Steve:
I’m just wondering…
Solly:
Hobart getting a football stadium Steve, for example.
Steve:
Yeah, yeah. And I’m just wondering with 4 Labor members here in the ACT it is 4, isn’t it? I think it is?
Solly:
Yeah, well 3 Lower House and one in the Senate – yep.
Steve:
Yep, yep. Why it is that they’re not investing $2 billion that we need, that we deserve as part of this national community to develop the tram?
Leigh:
Thanks Steve and it’s really important that the ACT gets its fair share of infrastructure spending. We saw in the last year of the Morrison government we got about a fifth of our fair share of infrastructure spending, and now with the Finance Minister being an ACT Senator you always know the ACT will have a seat at the table.
There’s the big War Memorial re‑development and there’s the National Security Precinct – around a billion dollars of significant construction works. We’ve contributed to the light rail development, as we have to the planning of the Kingston development that you mentioned.
But then there’s also some unique ACT investments, so on the issue of bulk billing not only are we providing bulk billing incentives across the country and practice incentives for practices that go pure bulk billing, but there’s also an ACT‑specific investment of $10 million to bring 3 pure bulk billing centres to the ACT.
We’re investing in ACT roads, ACT hospitals and ACT schools, which are the best funded in the nation. So, there’s a big investment taking place in the ACT.
Solly:
Sorry, would you say Andrew Leigh then that the ACT’s getting a good deal from the Commonwealth at the moment, we’re not being forgotten about?
Leigh:
Absolutely. You’re never going to be forgotten about when you’ve got a Prime Minister who lives in this city and a Finance Minister who represents it.
Solly:
Steve, are you happy with that?
Steve:
Not really, no.
Solly:
I mean he just he listed off quite a few projects there, which he says which Andrew Leigh says the Commonwealth are helping out with or providing money for.
Steve:
Well I don’t I don’t think that investment into health, which is also being applied to the other states. I mean it’s not like we’re getting that very, very specific funding that would be offset from other states getting the same benefits through the health system. I just don’t I just don’t think that putting investment into, you know, the secret intelligence agency or whatever building it is – into the National Security Precinct, is actually helping us as a local community. I really don’t think that’s the case. And I know that most of the people I know are still grumbling about the lack of services and the diminishment of services as a consequence of the funds being invested into the tram. I just don’t think that that’s an appropriate channel of where those monies should be going.
Solly:
All right.
Leigh:
Well Steve, let me just take you to our last Budget. So, our last Budget had $50 million for ACT roads, $331 million over the decade for ACT schools, an additional $50 million for our hospitals. And the big issue at the last election was between a Coalition that was going to take 40,000 public service jobs out of Canberra, and a Labor government which has invested in the public service, moved away from consultants and contractors into ongoing permanent jobs. There has never been a government which has taken the public service as seriously as ours and ensuring that we invest in it as stewards of the nation’s public policy.
Solly:
Thank you for your question Steve. Our phone number is 1300 681 666 if you’d like to ask the Member for Fenner Andrew Leigh a question this morning. It’s 19 minutes to 9. Good morning Suzanne.
Suzanne:
Good morning, thank you for taking the call.
Solly:
You are welcome.
Suzanne:
I have a question regarding a gas reservation policy. Labor has a once‑in‑a‑lifetime opportunity to raise this issue and get a gas reservation policy passed. That is because the Greens, David Pocock and independents are on side. The Teals and also LNP now has no chance of blocking it. I’m just wondering why the timidity not even to raise the issue given that a fair gas price would be surely the only way we could control energy costs?
Leigh:
Thanks Suzanne. We certainly have made sure that the gas producers are doing more to provide domestic supply and were very concerned a couple of years back when it appeared that Australian gas was being sold overseas for cheaper prices than it was available to our domestic producers. Gas over the course of the next couple of hundred years is going to be phased out. But in the short‑term it provides a firming role which supports the renewables transition, in a period in which battery technology is still developing.
So, the Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has talked about the importance of making sure Australian users get access to Australian gas. There’s of course the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism, there’s the Code of Conduct which we put in place in 2023 after we had those big price surges after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and then there’s heads of agreement with some of the major gas exporters.
We have been very concerned about the importance of securing an ongoing gas supply for Australian firms and it also has to be said that our gas exports do play an important role. They’re geo‑strategically vital in relationships with countries such as Korea and Japan. So, we’re certainly not going to be breaking any of those long‑term deals that we’ve made.
Suzanne:
But is there a reason that we can’t actually have a gas reservation policy? The kind that Norway has, for example? The Australia Institute found that Australians pay between 4 to 7 times more for gas than other large gas producing nations, including the US, Russia, Qatar and Canada. We’ve got to solve this. And the way even David Pocock says, the only way to do this is to actually have a policy that requires a certain amount to be set aside for local use.
Leigh:
You’ve got a range of long‑term contracts with important trading partners. So, we’re certainly not going to be tearing up those agreements, but we have said very clearly to the gas companies that they need to do more in order to supply gas to domestic industry.
We’re doing careful work engaging with them, which is about making sure that we have more gas available to sustain domestic industry. Through the Future Made in Australia plan, we’ve got strong ambitions for Australian industry to continue to prosper under this government. The Prime Minister has been a strong advocate of Australian manufacturing and part of that is going to be powered by Australian gas.
Solly:
Suzanne, thank you so much for your question this morning. It’s quarter to 9 on ABC Canberra Breakfast. 1300 681 666 is our phone number. If you’d like to jump the queue, we have a lot of questions coming in on the text line, but if you’d like to jump the queue, if you really feel you need to get an answer then you can jump the text line by calling 1300 681 666.
Andrew Leigh, Chris Bowen has announced this plan for 3 hours of free electricity for people in New South Wales, Southeast Queensland and South Australia. Now David Pocock is saying why is the ACT being left off? Why are we not part of this? And did you fight for this and why have Canberra residents been left off this plan?
Leigh:
Solar Sharer applies to people who are covered by what’s called the default market offer, so that covers New South Wales, South Australia and Southeast Queensland. We’re able to immediately influence the default market offer in those places, but we would very much like to see this rolled out in other jurisdictions. You’ve now got a situation where the spot market price for energy in the middle of the day is sometimes turning negative, and so it makes perfect sense that those savings are passed on to consumers.
Solly:
Yeah.
Leigh:
And of course, one of the great things about this Ross, is that it’s effectively a form of demand management and so you’re encouraging people to use energy when it’s cheapest to charge batteries…
Solly:
Yeah, which I think we all understand.
Leigh:
…and charge cars.
Solly:
We all understand that, but I think the question is here why was the ACT – I mean all around us, people on either sides of us will be able to access this, but here in Canberra we’re not going to be able to. Why not, Andrew Leigh? And what are you doing about it to try and get us on that list?
Leigh:
We’re consulting with the states and territories on a national roll‑out. Of course, you’ve got to have a smart meter because you’ve got to have a meter which ensures that it can measure how much energy you’re using at a particular time of day. So, the smart meter roll‑out will come alongside the work that we’re doing in order to expand this. Chris Bowen is already consulting with states and territories about making this happen across the country.
Solly:
But why were we not included in the initial roll‑out?
Leigh:
Because the initial measure was focused on jurisdictions where there’s a default market offer in place. That’s a mechanism we could use quickly in those jurisdictions. That means millions of customers are benefitting from it and I hope the ACT will come into that system down the track.
Solly:
Are you talking to the ACT government about it?
Leigh:
Chris Bowen is engaging directly as the responsible Minister.
Solly:
Okay. Question here from Maddy Northam from the CPSU this morning for you Andrew Leigh. ‘What steps can Canberrans take to stop the CSIRO CEO and Minister Ayres making further cuts to the CSIRO? The CEO has flagged more cuts in a fortnight, and this comes on top of hundreds of job cuts under this Labor government.’
Leigh:
Maddy thanks very much for the question. We’ve increased the CSIRO’s budget and they will make decisions independently about how they do their staffing. I support the CSIRO’s independence. I think it is important that they’re able to make independent decisions as the national science body. We will continue to fund them well. The government takes science very seriously. We’ve just had the Prime Minister’s prizes for science, with 2 Canberrans picking up awards in teaching and in research. So, we are a pro‑science government that is boosting funding. The CSIRO are going to make their own decisions.
Solly:
So, if the CSIRO is cutting jobs it’s not because of money, Andrew Leigh, is that what you’re saying?
Leigh:
They’re making reallocation decisions across programs that they have and they’ll be doing that based on where they think their science investment needs to be. The Minister Tim Ayres has set a new statement of expectations which will set long‑term expectations for the Institution, but the Minister doesn’t micromanage staff.
Solly:
No.
Leigh:
And doesn’t tell CSIRO which particular programs to be maintained.
Solly:
No, I guess that’s right. But I guess on the other side of things they are getting Commonwealth funding and you are an Assistant Minister in this region and there may well be constituents of yours, Andrew Leigh, whose jobs might be on the line here. I think it’s probably well within your right to go forward and say, ‘I’m here on behalf of my local constituents, I just want to know are you going to cut jobs and what are you doing to find alternatives?’
Leigh:
Yeah, we will continue to increase funding for science. The science budget has been a priority for us. We’ve always had a Science Minister…
Solly:
Yeah, but will you lobby the CSIRO? Will you talk to the CSIRO, at least on behalf of your constituents, Andrew Leigh?
Leigh:
Yeah, look, I’m always interested in knowing what the CSIRO are working on. I’m not sure it makes sense for Ministers to say that every program the CSIRO has ever set up needs to continue in perpetuity. I respect that there will be new areas of science they want to invest in, and in certain instances that’s going to mean moving away from previous areas that they’ve been working on.
Our responsibility as a government is to fund them well and provide them with that degree of independence that allows them to focus on the big questions. I mean this is an institution that developed Wi‑Fi while working on fast Fourier transforms. So, they are at the cutting edge of science and I believe they ought to have that independence and that capability to dive on to the big picture questions.
Solly:
Martin from Chifley says, ‘While it’s great that the federal government is investing in a new aquatic centre at Regatta Point, there are 2 other aquatic facilities in Canberra that need the federal government’s help, which is Big Splash in Macquarie and the Phillip Pool in Woden. Can the federal government provide funding so that the ACT government can buy back the Crown leases so that these facilities can be upgraded for the community and not lost to re‑development? That would be a great Christmas present for the Belconnen and Woden communities’. That’s from Martin.
Leigh:
Yeah look, I mean I love those 2 facilities. Woden pool is just a beautiful environment. I’m a northsider as you know Ross, but a swim in Woden pool is something quite magical. And Big Splash is great fun, although I think given our weather Canberra has always struggled to keep a water park financially viable in the way that these things just, you know, are able to run for a few extra months of the year in Brisbane and therefore work better.
Water parks and pools are principally going to be an ACT government responsibility. As the federal government, the ACT government will come to us with infrastructure asks from time to time. Our focus tends to be, or the projects they bring to us to ask for our support tend to be ones with greater national significance. Think about major arterial roads, major planning precincts and that kind of thing. The ACT government doesn’t tend to come to the federal government to ask for support for aquatic parks and pools, although of course as a Canberran I love those facilities.
Solly:
Eight minutes to 9 on ABC Canberra Breakfast. This is from Mike. Mike says, ‘The ACT government unlike other jurisdictions, has funded education to the Gonski level for many years but the federal government hasn’t come to the party for as many years, resulting in significant major holes in our education budget. Will the federal government repay what they were meant to pay over all these years so we can fill this funding gap that has developed?’ That’s from Mike, Andrew Leigh.
Leigh:
Thanks, Mike. That’s not my understanding. My understanding is that the federal government has fully Gonski funded the ACT schools and has continued to do so. As I mentioned before, in the last Budget there was $331 million extra for ACT schools over the course of the decade. We have the best funded schools in the nation, and that is a credit to the ACT and federal governments for providing those resources which have allowed our schools to thrive. If you look at the raw scores not adjusted for socio‑economic status then we top the nation.
Solly:
I know I’ve got to let you go very, very soon for parliamentary business. This question though, ‘Why is the Labor government promising the United States $1.44 trillion of Australian superannuation money – investment there, when the Prime Minister is out across Asia touting for more investment here?’
Leigh:
It’s interesting. Now, if you look back a decade or so ago we were really a big net capital importer, but as a result of universal superannuation now, Australia is both receiving a portion of international investment and also making investments overseas. That provides a lot of stability to Australian superannuation accounts, and it means that we’re not just at the whims of what’s happening to the Australian market.
So having a bit of your super in overseas shares tends to be an investment strategy that is recommended by the experts. That means of course you go into the United States – the world’s biggest economy, and at the same time Canadian pension funds and overseas investors are investing in Australia. Those linkages are financially good, but they also provide some stability to the system and help contribute to a safer world.
Solly:
I’m going to try and squeeze in one more question. This is from Phil. G’day Phil.
Phil:
G’day gents, how are we?
Solly:
Yeah good. Have you got a quick one or Andrew Leigh, Phil?
Phil:
Yeah I do. Andrew, you mentioned we’ve got 4 members of parliament on both sides here. At what point do those Members work with the local parliament and I use that term very, very loosely and instigate a review of the government’s arrangements in the ACT? We’ve got a track record of very poor fiscal management. The national capital looks appalling; even the basic services aren’t being delivered. There’s some street signs that are, you know, pretty trashed, verges aren’t mowed, the city looks untidy, health system’s in disarray, project after project is poorly managed. That’s the nature of the question.
Solly:
It’s a fair question too Phil – Andrew Leigh?
Leigh:
Thanks Phil. I have to do my democratic duty and be in the parliament which is about 300 metres away in 4 minutes so let me give a very quick answer to that, which is that we meet regularly with the ACT government and have a very strong working relationship and collaboration which means that we’re focused not only on making sure we’re delivering for Canberrans in the short‑term and our health, education, life expectancy outcomes are very strong but also that we’re making those investments for the long‑term.
Solly:
Do you think do you agree with Phil, Andrew Leigh, that the ACT is looking a little bit run down at the moment? Do you think he’s right?
Leigh:
Whenever it rains, the grass needs to be mowed, and really the length of the grass is more a function of the challenges of whether it’s been raining or not. I think this is a beautiful city. I’m enormously proud to have the privilege of representing it in the federal parliament.
Solly:
I know you’re more of a long‑distance runner, but you better get sprinting. Thank you Andrew Leigh.
Leigh:
Thanks Ross, really appreciate it.
Solly:
You are more than welcome. So, there’s Andrew Leigh. Sorry we didn’t get to all the questions. As you heard, I think you could almost hear the bells ringing in the background. Andrew Leigh having to skedaddle this morning to get down into the House of Representatives.