Andrew Leigh
Fenner · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“I move: That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969 , it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works and on which the committee has duly reported to Parliament: Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation—Deco…”
“The proposed works were referred to the public works committee on 3 March 2026. Following its inquiry, the committee has recommended that the House of Representatives resolve that it is expedient to carry out the proposed works.”
“When the Leader of the Opposition became leader, getting rid of the first woman to head the Liberal Party, he said that his party needed to 'change or die'. I don't think many Australians thought that they were going to choose door 2, but that's what's happening right now. The modern Liberal Party won't change, and it's choosing to die.”
“From today, Labor is putting in place six months of paid parental leave. But the shadow treasurer has called paid parental leave 'a very bad scheme', saying: … that is not my choice that women have children; it's not. It's genetic. From today, Labor is delivering tax cuts for every working Australian.”
“But when asked the same question, the Leader of the Opposition said things like, 'I don't quite know what you mean by that question,' and, 'Do you want to define it for me?' and, 'There's all these vague words running around.' Asked seven times, he couldn't back in multiculturalism.”
“For small business, we've changed the R&D tax credit so that every dollar of R&D tax credit drives 20 per cent more research and development. For Australians who are looking to afford medicines, the health minister has been putting a record number of drugs through the PBS and driving record funding through our hospital system.”
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“Under this bill, individuals will still be able to volunteer their test results with written consent where it benefits them, and insurers can still use symptoms, diagnoses and family history to ensure policies remain properly risk rated. The value of being able to volunteer test results was highlighted, in Dr Tiller's A-GLIMMER Final stakeholder report , by the case of Frank, whose father had Huntington's disease and who had a 200 per cent premium loading applied to his policy due to his family history. But he had a genetic test result showing that he did not inherit the Huntington's disease variant and so was not at risk of Huntington's disease. He had to take the insurance company to the complaints tribunal in order to finally reach a settlement.”
“It tells Australians, especially those at higher risk of heritable conditions, that their decision to undertake genetic testing won't jeopardise their access to life insurance or force them into more expensive or restricting policies. Better uptake of genetic testing also improves medical research, and that means better prevention, earlier treatment, stronger public health outcomes and advances in scientific knowledge. Right now, people are being deterred from taking part in genetic tests as part of scientific research for fear that, if those results are revealed to them, they will then be obligated to reveal them to potential life insurers and therefore pay more.”
“There is also the PALB2 variant, which raises the risk of prostate and breast cancer in men. The presence of large datasets linked to genetic information is improving the quality of the information that can be gleaned from genetic testing every day. In coming years, we can expect the cost of genetic testing to fall and the information provided by genetic testing to improve. We can expect that getting a genetic test will be more valuable in determining your risks of cancer, your risks of having an adverse reaction to particular drugs and your risk of passing on a disease to your children. It is important that Australians are able to take advantage of these advances in science and not be held back for fear that getting a genetic test will drive up the cost of life insurance. This ban will restore certainty.”
“I commend the work that has been done by Jane Tiller and fellow researchers, and indeed some of the examples that I've quoted have been drawn from the A-GLIMMER final stakeholder report, of 2023. As others in the debate have noted, this has been an issue of long standing. I commend the former assistant treasurer Stephen Jones and the current assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, for their work in bringing these reforms to the parliament. This bill aligns the Insurance Contracts Act and the Disability Discrimination Act so Australians have certainty and protection, not fear and confusion, when they're making decisions about their health. Genetic testing saves lives, and we have more and more examples of tests which are revealing genetic variants. I mentioned before the BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants.”
“The Royal College of Pathologists has found that 95 per cent of people carry at least one genetic variant that affects their response to commonly prescribed drugs, and the Australian Medical Association says that genetic testing has 'the capacity to rapidly transform health care in Australia'. The ability of life insurers to distinguish between applicants based on genetic history can have implications for particular ethnic groups. For example, Jewish people are 10 times more likely than the general population to have a high-risk variant of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which significantly increase risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancers. The ability of life insurers to discriminate based on genetic tests effectively places a larger burden on Jewish Australians.”
“The UK has had a ban in place since 2001, but in Australia many people are deterred from getting genetic testing because of the fear that it might drive up the cost of getting life insurance. They're having to choose between looking after their health and looking after their financial security. This is a particular problem given how great the improvements have been in genetic testing over recent decades. The cost of sequencing a full genome has gone from millions of dollars and many years down to hundreds of dollars and minutes. The ability of those genetic screens to detect conditions has significantly improved.”
“Ian has familial hypercholesterolaemia, a condition which leads to high cholesterol levels and the risk of heart attack at an early age. He's on cholesterol-lowering medication which controls his cholesterol levels, and when he applied for life insurance, those levels were similar to or lower than the general population. But because he had a genetic result, he had a loading placed on his premium. 'Ian' is a pseudonym, but the story is very real and it's a story that's being repeated across a host of different contexts. A 2021 survey by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia found that around 10 per cent of individuals who disclosed a genetic test result had insurance cover offered on less favourable terms or had cover declined. Other countries have long banned insurers from discriminating based on genetic information.”
“The committee further recommended that the department include a full accounting of its staff consultation processes for the proposed works in the post-implementation report of the project. The department has advised that it notes the committee's recommendations and will provide full information about the staff consultation processes for the proposed works in the post-implementation report of the project. On behalf of the government, I would like to thank the committee, ably chaired by the member for Makin, for undertaking a timely inquiry and for its consistent focus on the inclusion of the voices of public servants in Public Works Committee approvals. I commend the motion to the House. Question agreed to.”
“The estimated cost of the works is $34.95 million, excluding GST. The project was referred to the public works committee on 2 September 2025, and, following its inquiry, the committee recommended that the House of Representatives resolve that it is expedient to carry out the proposed works. Subject to parliamentary approval, construction is expected to commence in mid-2026 and be completed by March 2027. The committee also recommended that the department ensure that current staff involved in the day-to-day operations of the Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre are consulted on the proposed works and are provided an opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed design.”
“On behalf of the government, I would like to thank the committee, ably chaired by the member for Makin, for undertaking a timely inquiry. I commend the motion to the House. Question agreed to. I move: That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969 , it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works and on which the committee has duly reported to Parliament: Department of Home Affairs—Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre Hawk Compound Redevelopment. The Department of Home Affairs seeks approval from the parliament for upgrade works at the Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre, located at Northam, approximately 90 kilometres north-east of the Perth central business district.”
“The project was referred to the public works committee on 8 October 2025, and, following its inquiry, the committee recommended that the House of Representatives resolve that it is expedient to carry out the proposed works. Subject to parliamentary approval, construction is expected to commence in June 2026 and be completed by December 2027. The committee also recommended that the department exercise its two lease-renewal options at the expiration of its current lease on 3-5 National Circuit in 2036 to maximise value for money to the Commonwealth of the proposed works unless significant considerations prevent such an extension. The department has noted this recommendation and advised that it will consider exercising lease renewal options in the context of planning for the 2036 expiry of the department's current lease.”
“I move: That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969 , it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works and on which the committee has duly reported to Parliament: Attorney-General's Department—Proposed Fit-out of Existing Leased Premises at 3-5 National Circuit, Barton, Australian Capital Territory. The Attorney-General's Department seeks approval from the parliament to fit out existing leased premises at 3-5 National Circuit, Barton, ACT. The project will enable the department to consolidate from three buildings into one building in Canberra and reduce its leased space in Canberra by 6,817 square metres, or by 26 per cent. The estimated total cost of the proposed works is $39.93 million, excluding GST.”
“The works seek to provide fit-for-purpose office space and consolidate the non-customer-facing staff in the Illawarra region into one site by 2027. The estimated total cost of the proposed works is $22.34 million, excluding GST. The project was referred to the public works committee on 2 September 2025. Following its inquiry, the committee recommended that the House of Representatives resolve that it is expedient to carry out the proposed works. Subject to parliamentary approval, construction is expected to commence in March 2026 and be completed by February 2027. On behalf of the government, I would like to thank the committee, ably chaired by the member for Makin, for undertaking a timely inquiry. I commend the motion to the House. Question agreed to.”
“On behalf of the government, I would like to thank the committee, ably chaired by the member for Makin, for undertaking a timely inquiry. I commend the motion to the House. Question agreed to. I move: That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969 , it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works and on which the committee has duly reported to Parliament: Services Australia—Proposed Fit-out of Leased Premises at 90 Crown Street, Wollongong, New South Wales. Services Australia seeks parliamentary approval to proceed with the proposed fit-out of leased premises at 90 Crown Street, Wollongong, New South Wales.”
“The proposed works were referred to the Public Works Committee on 2 September 2025. Following its inquiry, the committee recommended that the House of Representatives resolve that it is expedient to carry out the proposed works. Subject to parliamentary approval, work will commence in June 2026 for practical completion in November 2026. The committee also recommended that the ATO continue to enhance and refine their change management practices, ensuring that it incorporates robust staff consultation procedures for the design and delivery stages of proposed works to effectively capture all affected staff. The ATO has accepted this recommendation and advised that the committee's recommendation will be reflected in subsequent ATO public works proposals that are referred to the committee.”
“On behalf of the government, I would like to thank the committee, ably chaired by the member for Makin, for undertaking a timely inquiry. I commend the motion to the House. Question agreed to. I move: That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969 , it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works and on which the committee has duly reported to Parliament: Australian Taxation Office—Proposed Fit-out of Leased Premises, Levels 5 to 10, 152 Wharf Street, Brisbane. The ATO seeks approval from the parliament to fit out levels 5 to 10 of their existing leased premises at the Wharf Street, Brisbane site. The estimated total cost of the works is $29.2 million excluding GST.”
“Stage 1 will provide a new high-containment laboratory wing containing three main laboratory suites with a connection into the existing building via an accessway, part replacement of high-risk equipment, external services and enabling works. Stage 2 will be the subject of a separate Parliamentary Works Committee referral. The estimated total cost of stage 1 works is $372.2 million excluding GST. The proposed works were referred to the Public Works Committee on 2 September 2025. Following its inquiry, the committee recommended that the House of Representatives resolve that it is expedient to carry out the proposed works. Subject to parliamentary approval, construction is expected to commence in 2026 and be completed by late 2028.”
“I move: That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969 , it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works and on which the committee has duly reported to Parliament: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation—Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness—Stage 1 Part Life Refit. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation seeks approval from the parliament to undertake the first stage of the proposed part-life refit at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness at Geelong, Victoria. The refurbishment will be delivered in two stages.”
“The new facilities will support the organisation to undertake research and development for government and industry across agriculture, biodiversity, environment and biosecurity. The estimated total cost of the works is $37.9 million, excluding GST. The proposed works were referred to the Public Works Committee on 2 September 2025. Following its inquiry, the committee recommended that the House of Representatives resolve that it is expedient to carry out the proposed works. Subject to parliamentary approval, construction is expected to commence in April 2026 and be completed by August 2028. On behalf of the government I would like to thank the committee, ably chaired by the member for Makin, for undertaking a timely inquiry. I commend the motion to the House. Question agreed to.”
“I move: That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969 , it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works and on which the committee has duly reported to Parliament: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation—Black Mountain Greenhouse Redevelopment. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation seeks approval from the parliament to replace critical greenhouse infrastructure at Black Mountain in the ACT that was damaged during a hailstorm in January 2020. The project will provide new and refurbished greenhouses with supporting facilities to replace the greenhouse infrastructure and capability damaged by the hailstorm.”
“Labor is putting an end to that—a cost-of-living measure and a fairness measure, because good businesses offering fair exits from subscriptions shouldn't be competing with dodgy players who are making it hard to get out of subscriptions. Only Labor prioritises consumers. Only Labor is passionate about competition reform. Only Labor will deliver on putting downward pressure on prices, putting upward pressure on wages and improving the living standards of all Australians.”
“We're helping Australians get a better deal at the checkout. Labor has a broad agenda for supermarket competition. Whether through ensuring that farmers get a fairer deal through our new mandatory Food and Grocery Code of Conduct—which every member of the coalition in the House voted against—or whether through Choice's quarterly grocery price monitoring or whether through our first-in-16-years ACCC review of supermarket competition, Labor has provided an additional $30 million to the competition watchdog in order to crack down on misbehaviour by supermarkets. On top of that, we will soon be bringing to parliament measures to ban unfair trading practices, subscription traps and drip pricing. As Matthew Cranston from the Australian reported at the beginning of the week, Australians lose some $46 million a year to subscription traps.”
“The previous speaker, the member for Wannon, spoke about cost of living in general. I'm very happy to take on the member for Wannon on cost of living any day of the week. He is, after all, part of a party that went to the last election promising to raise income taxes for every Australian. Australian taxpayers are due to receive two further rounds of personal income tax cuts, which will add to the first round of tax cuts that commenced in July 2024. We're putting in place a new thousand-dollar instant tax deduction from 2026-27, which will reduce paperwork and provide tax breaks. We've cut student debts. We've provided cheaper medicines. We're making it easier to see a bulk-billing doctor. We've backed increases to minimum and award wages—something the coalition never did. We're helping Australians get a better deal on their energy bills.”
“The energy minister has issued an instruction that the minimum stock obligation should now be updated weekly, not quarterly, and that's in addition to the further reporting obligations that he put in place when we came into office in 2022. We're also taking pressure off those fuel reserves by increasing the share of Australia's vehicle fleet that are electrified. When we came to office, some two per cent of cars sold were electric. That's now up to 14 per cent. That means there are fewer motorists placing demand on those fuel supplies. We've also seen changes within the electricity grid. Gas usage in the electricity grid in summer 2025 was about half what it had been in summer 2022. Global gas prices often follow global oil prices. This means the Australian electricity sector is less subject to those pressures.”
“Under the coalition, Australian fuel reserves were kept in the Northern Hemisphere—kind of a strange definition of 'Australian fuel security', you might think! It might have been very handy for the United States to have a bit more Australian fuel sitting in Texas and Louisiana, but it's an odd place to keep your fuel safety net—on the other side of the Pacific. Under the coalition we saw six of Australia's eight refineries close. If refinery closures were an Olympic sport, they would have swept the podium! Labor have worked to boost the minimum stock obligation. We have on hand some three billion litres of diesel and some 1½ billion litres of petrol.”
“We have not had a single ship carrying oil to Australia that has been unable to get through. As the energy minister told the House during question time, 18 vessels have arrived this month. We are seeing spikes in demand, not any disruptions to supply. What can political leaders do? Well, it's incumbent on all of us not to be fanning the flames but to be very clear with Australians that this is not the time for panic buying. We've seen that from some of those on the other side of the House, to their credit—the former leader of the Nationals, the member for Maranoa—but we have not seen it from every coalition state member or federal member around the country. Labor have worked strongly to ensure that Australia's fuel reserves are healthy. Australia's fuel reserves are now healthier than they have been at any time in the last 15 years.”
“Labor has convened relevant forums: the National Coordination Mechanism to respond to emerging supply chain issues, the Trusted Information Sharing Network and the National Oil Supplies Emergency Committee. We've seen very volatile global oil prices. They jumped over the last few days to over $120 a barrel, falling back to $80 a barrel and then rising to $90 a barrel over a matter of hours. Australia is not immune to the uncertainty and volatility in the global economy, but our measures are about ensuring that petrol suppliers are doing the right thing and ensuring that the small minority of bad actors can't hurt regional Australians or farmers. We need to be clear: Australia is not experiencing a fuel shortage. We're seeing localised disruptions due to significant spikes in demand.”
“Labor knows that if we are to get productivity going again after it languished for the nine years in which the coalition was in office, we need competition reforms that'll work for Australians. Today the Treasurer, the energy minister and I announced that we will task the ACCC to ramp up fuel price monitoring, reporting weekly, with a focus on unusual price spikes. We'll work with industry to increase fuel supply to service stations, including by helping the fuel sector secure ACCC authorisation to coordinate supply and unlock bottlenecks. This follows the Treasurer having written to the ACCC last week asking them to ensure that motorists aren't being taken for mugs. The ACCC has issued their own statement to retailers.”
“We've reformed Australia's merger laws—the biggest overhaul of our merger laws in 50 years—to ensure that the competition watchdog is able to properly scrutinise mergers and keep a lid on excessive market concentration in the economy. We've got national competition policy going again, with a $900 million productivity fund, working with the states and territories to try and get those sorts of productivity-boosting competition reforms that turbocharged productivity and boosted household living standards to the tune of some $5,000 a household in the 1990s. Reflecting that 1990s experience, we've refreshed the National Competition Council, now chaired by Marcus Bezzi, and we're working collaboratively with states and territories on a robust competition agenda.”
“We raised that maximum dollar figure from $10 million to $50 million—a five-fold increase—because, under Labor, penalties will not be a cost of doing business. Today, the Treasurer, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and I have announced that a Labor government will double penalties for false or misleading conduct and cartel behaviour, up to $100 million per offence, across the economy. This very clearly demonstrates that only Labor can be trusted when it comes to looking after consumers and ensuring we have a more competitive and dynamic economy. Under the coalition, we saw a rise in market concentration, an increase in mark-ups and a decrease in the small-business-creation rate, and we saw significant signs that the Australian economy wasn't as dynamic. Under Labor, we've set about putting in place a strong competition agenda.”
“At the beginning of 2022, after claiming that only the coalition could be trusted to keep petrol prices low, the Morrison government saw petrol prices hit 216c a litre in Sydney and 212c a litre in Melbourne. What did fuel companies face if they were engaged in a breach of the competition law? They faced not a serious penalty but a slap on the wrist—a $10 million penalty, that really wasn't a penalty; it was the entrance fee to the bad behaviour club. The fuel industry is one of our more concentrated industries. The big four have more than two-thirds of the market, compared to just a fifth for the big four fuel retailers in the United States. And so, when we came to office, we raised the penalties for anticompetitive conduct.”
“Joint Standing Committee on the Parliamentary Library—Mr Pasin be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Wallace be appointed a member of the committee. Joint Standing Committee on Treaties—Mr Pike be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Wood be appointed a member of the committee. Question agreed to.”
“Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade—Mr Thompson be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Wallace be appointed a member of the committee. Joint Standing Committee on Migration—Mr Pike be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Rebello be appointed a member of the committee. Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme—Mr Thompson be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Pike be appointed a member of the committee. Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia—Mr Thompson be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Ms Price be appointed a member of the committee.”
“Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights—Mr Rebello be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Hawke and Mr Wood be appointed members of the committee. Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement—Mr Chaffey be appointed a member of the committee. Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Anti-Corruption Commission—Mr Pike be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Hawke be appointed a member of the committee. Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit—Mr Kennedy be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Buchholz be appointed a member of the committee. Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters—Mr R Wilson be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Small be appointed a member of the committee.”
“Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability—Mr Caldwell be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Pike be appointed a member of the committee. Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs—Mr Thompson be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Hawke be appointed a member of the committee. Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings—Mr Pike be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Ms Price be appointed a member of the committee. Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services—Mr Violi be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Buchholz be appointed a member of the committee.”
“by leave—I move: That Members be discharged and appointed as members of certain committees in accordance with the following list: Standing Committee on Appropriations and Administration—Mr Pasin be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Mr Hawke be appointed a member of the committee. Standing Committee on Communications, the Arts and Sport—Mr Venning be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Ms Price be appointed a member of the committee. Standing Committee on Economics—Mr Violi and Mr Pike be discharged from the committee and that, in their places, Mr Hamilton and Mr Caldwell be appointed members of the committee. Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations, Skills and Training—Mr Violi be discharged from the committee and that, in his place, Ms McKenzie be appointed a member of the committee.”
“Closing the Gap requires programs that deliver measurable change in school readiness, justice outcomes, health and wellbeing. It requires governments willing to test, learn and adapt. The Australian Centre for Evaluation is helping to build that culture of learning across the Commonwealth. By supporting rigorous trials, especially those led by First Nations organisations, it strengthens the link between commitment and outcome. The dashboard tells us where progress is falling short; rigorous evaluation shows how to move the line.”
“Justice Our Way, an Aboriginal led program supporting women transitioning from correctional centres back into community, is being evaluated using a stepped wedge experimental design. The evaluation will measure reoffending alongside health, wellbeing and community connection. In a domain where incarceration rates remain deeply troubling, credible evidence on what reduces reoffending carries direct relevance to Closing the Gap targets. These projects operate within realistic budgets and timeframes. They confront practical challenges—ethics approvals, recruitment, retention, access to administrative data—while maintaining methodological rigour. They demonstrate that experimental approaches can be embedded in community led work, with cultural authority and partnership at the centre of these randomised trials.”
“Last year, the Paul Ramsay Foundation's Experimental Evaluation Open Grant Round committed $2.1 million to seven organisations to undertake rigorous evaluations over three years. The Australian Centre for Evaluation is supporting the grant round at various stages. Two of these funded projects are Indigenous led initiatives. Yiliyapinya Indigenous Corporation is evaluating its Yili program, a brain health and healing program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. The evaluation uses a culturally informed, randomised design to examine impacts on educational engagement, wellbeing and social reintegration. An Aboriginal organisation is leading both delivery and the framing of evidence about its impact.”
“A long-term randomised study of health assessments found increased service use but no overall mortality reduction. Each of those trials improved our policy understanding. Some identified interventions worth scaling, whilst others prevented expansion of programs that didn't deliver despite the best of intentions. Together, they demonstrate that rigorous evaluation in First Nations contexts is feasible and informative. Evaluation in this space demands respect for First Nations data sovereignty and cultural authority. Reviews of programs such as Connected Beginnings have highlighted how inconsistent data collection and barriers to sharing can limit understanding of population level impacts. Strong evaluation requires good data, ethical design and meaningful involvement of Indigenous evaluators. Methods must be fit for purpose.”
“A Victorian trial found that sending personalised letters to parents increased influenza vaccination rates among Aboriginal children, while pamphlets alone made little difference. A school based program in remote communities targeting executive function and self-regulation showed gains reported by parents and carers, shaping how such interventions are delivered across home and school settings. Other trials delivered harder lessons. A cluster randomised trial across Aboriginal community controlled health services had mixed results on whether training and support lifted rates of alcohol screening and brief intervention. A pilot randomised evaluation of a smoking cessation app for Aboriginal Australians revealed low engagement and significant implementation barriers, prompting redesign rather than full-scale rollout.”
“Replacing unfamiliar contexts with local references produced a substantial gain, roughly halving the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. A carefully designed trial revealed how assessment design itself can shape performance. In a report last year, Patrick Rehill, Ethan Slaven, Harry Greenwell, Peter Bowers, Scott Copley and Eleanor Williams of the Australian Centre for Evaluation identified 369 published randomised policy trials conducted in Australia since 1976. More than two dozen of these trials were undertaken in First Nations communities. Some of those trials show strong positive effects. Early childhood intervention that began during pregnancy reduced dental decay among Aboriginal children by more than 80 per cent in early follow-up.”
“It supports rigorous methods, including randomised trials where appropriate, so policy is tested rather than assumed. Evidence from past trials shows why this matters. In the Northern Territory, the School Enrolment and Attendance Measure linked welfare payments to school outcomes and school attendance. In a study run by Rebecca Goldstein and Michael Hiscox, around 400 children were randomly assigned to treatment, and a similar number to control. Attendance did not improve. The trial provided clarity in a contested policy area and informed a shift towards community led approaches to school attendance. In Dubbo, a study by Isabella Dobrescu and colleagues tested whether culturally relevant exam passages improved literacy outcomes.”
“The latest Closing the Gap dashboard is troubling. Nineteen national targets—four on track, and several improving, yet still off the pace required to meet the 2031 goals. In areas such as incarceration, youth detention and suicide, the trajectory is headed the wrong way. In others, including family violence, baseline data is still incomplete. The gap narrows in some places and widens in others, and, in too many domains, progress lacks momentum. If outcomes are uneven, our response must be sharper. Closing the Gap rests on partnership, and partnership must be matched with precision. Governments need to know which policies shift outcomes and which leave them unchanged. That requires disciplined evaluation. The Australian Centre for Evaluation is strengthening that discipline across government.”
“Subscription traps are one of the issues that Canberrans have spoken to me about repeatedly. We know that subscription traps are a scourge for many households who sign up to subscriptions only to find they can't cancel as easily as they got in. Whether it's an online service or a local gym, people want to be able to cancel their subscriptions with an ease that reflects modern society.”
“Here in the ACT, we're also ensuring that cheaper home batteries are available to more Canberrans; 4,500 Canberra households have taken up a battery in order to bottle that solar energy and put downward pressure on their energy prices. Cheaper home batteries have been rolled out right across the ACT, with many households taking advantage of the moment to upgrade their solar installations. With solar and batteries, households are able to bring down their energy bills and have less impact on the environment. I've appreciated the jobs that that's created and the chance to meet apprentices in workshops in Fyshwick and Mitchell, and I know more work is going on across the ACT. Cheaper home batteries are a Labor legacy which will be vital in reducing pressure on the grid and reducing the household bill pressure that Canberrans face.”
“The National Broadband Network was an invention of the Rudd and Gillard governments that was left on hold when the coalition government decided that running fibre cables to the box in the street would be good enough. But we know now, with more people working from home and an average of 25 devices connected to the internet in a typical household, that you need fibre to the premises to make it work. That's why, here in the ACT, Labor is rolling out broadband to 97,000 more Canberra homes. That's 2,500 kilometres of additional fibre cable, ensuring people can work from home and do teleconferences, online education and telehealth. We're ensuring that the National Broadband Network is available to more Canberra businesses and more Canberra households.”
“Labor created Medicare and Labor has always set about making bulk-billing stronger. In the ACT, bulk-billing rates are among the lowest in the nation, and we've worked assiduously since coming to government to boost bulk-billing rates for Canberrans. We're now seeing fully bulk-billing clinics reopening across Canberra, revitalising that promise that, when you go to a Canberra doctor, you can show just your Medicare card and not need to pull out your credit card. We've increased bulk-billing incentives so they cover all patients, and provided additional incentives to fully bulk-billing practices. We're also funding a $24 million plan to roll out three fully bulk-billing clinics right across the ACT. Labor created Medicare, and only Labor will strengthen bulk-billing in Canberra.”
“Better distillation of the evidence and better creation of new evidence will help to build the case for better economic and social reform. Our government is committed to evidence based policy. You can see that in the record number of randomised trials we're putting in place and in the rigour with which we are training public servants through the evaluation profession. I commend all of those public servants who've engaged in the Australian Centre for Evaluation's evaluation training, which is raising the quality of evaluation understanding right across the Public Service and better serving the Australian people. With rigour and a 'try, test, learn' approach, we can better serve the Australian people.”
“Rather than making decisions based on a single study, we should be drawing together all of the available evidence, weighting more highly the higher quality evidence and bringing out what health researcher Julian Elliott has called 'living evidence reviews'. Living evidence reviews came out of COVID, with the notion that you needed to continuously update the evidence. The Campbell Collaboration in social science and the Cochrane Collaboration within medicine have done a very good job of producing systematic reviews, but we now need to make them continuously updated so policymakers and practitioners can immediately reach out and find out what is the best evidence on any particular topic that they're engaged in.”