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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“This week the Treasurer, the Assistant Treasurer and the Minister for Communications have announced that they have secured from the major banks a moratorium on bank branch closures for 2½ years. That involves the National Australia Bank committing to a new moratorium on regional branch closures and the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac extending their existing moratoriums, alongside the conditions imposed by the government on the ANZ and Suncorp, ensuring no regional branch closures by those banks before 31 July 2027. This is important because, since 2017, 36 per cent of bank branches in regional Australia have closed.”
“There is also a pleasure in using cash. As the assistant minister responsible for the Royal Australian Mint, I can't help noting that the Mint is the biggest manufacturing enterprise here in the ACT, churning out a range of fabulous coins that Australians can enjoy. The Bluey Dollarbuck, the Donation Dollar, the Year of the Snake lunar coin, the tooth fairy coin and the desert life series of coins are among the wonderful coins churned out by the Royal Australian Mint, encouraging Australians to continue to reflect on our culture and our history while paying in cash. The government has also been concerned about securing regional banking services, because, if you don't have regional banking services, it can be hard to get hold of that essential cash that the member for Calare has so rightly talked about in this debate today.”
“The consultation paper sets out a proposal that essential goods and services would include: most bread and cereal products; meat; seafood; milk and cheese; fruit and vegetables; tea; coffee; children's clothing; utilities, including water, sewerage, electricity and gas; child care; cleaning and maintenance products; personal care products; medicines; fuels; spare parts; car maintenance and repair services; postal services; pet products; veterinary services; preschool; primary and secondary education; and compulsory insurance. The government recognises the importance of cash being available in those categories. A cash mandate isn't unusual. A range of US states have them in place, including Colorado, Massachusetts and New York, as do a range of countries, including Austria, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.”
“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. Labor's targeted approach balances the needs of the community with the impact on business. We want to avoid putting extra pressure on small businesses through big fines, particularly at a time when they're doing it tough. We are consulting on exactly what the definition of 'essential services' would be.”
“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.”
“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.”
“The Treasurer's office has been pleased to discuss the issue with the member for Calare on 11 occasions since June of last year and welcomes his thoughtful engagement with it. 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.”
“At the outset, I'd like to acknowledge the hard work that the member for Calare has done, not only on this bill but on a whole range of issues through his career. He served with dignity in the New South Wales state parliament, and then in the federal parliament since 2016. He stood up for veterans, making the case to his own party that they needed to deal with the backlog in veterans' claims, and he has taken a principled stand to move to the crossbench. I haven't heard any members of the National Party in here with the passion, dedication and focus on the issue of cash that the member for Calare brings to the debate, and the government acknowledges his important contribution.”
“The cuts wouldn't just hit Canberra; almost 63 per cent of the Public Service workforce is based outside the capital. The election is a choice: do we invest in a public service fit for purpose or let right-wing ideologues weaken the institutions that hold the country together? If you want a government that works, don't backtrack with Dutton.”
“In Home Affairs, staffing cuts weakened Australia's ability to combat organised crime and human trafficking. Labor made a different choice. We lifted the staffing cap, reduced reliance on consultants and prioritised permanent skilled Public Service jobs. The result? Paid parental leave approvals, done in 31 days under the former government, went down to three days under us. Youth allowance applications that once took 28 days now take 10. At Services Australia alone, 3,000 additional frontline staff cleared half a million claims in just 10 weeks. The coalition's plan would undo this progress. The reality is simple. Cutting 36,000 jobs won't make government services disappear; it'll just push the work back onto private consultants at a higher cost to taxpayers and with less transparency.”
“Public servants process 121 million Centrelink and Medicare claims each year, manage aged care and the NDIS, handle border security and protect our nation from cyberthreats. Under the coalition, the Public Service was deliberately hollowed out. A staffing cap forced departments to rely on 54,000 private contractors. Between 2013 and 2022, departmental spending increased 35 per cent, yet Public Service staffing fell four per cent. The result? Longer wait times, declining service standards and essential government functions outsourced to overpriced consultants. At Services Australia, underfunding led to robodebt, unresolved claims and a blowout in processing times. Pressures on our biosecurity system put Australia at risk of pest outbreaks.”
“When Labor took office, veterans seeking support faced a backlog of 42,000 claims, with some waiting over two years to have their case looked at. This was the direct result of a decade of public service cuts and outsourcing. Labor set out to fix it. Ninety-seven per cent of the veteran claim backlog has been cleared. Veterans' claims that once took over 100 days are now allocated within two weeks. But the coalition wants to backtrack. The coalition plan to cut 36,000 public service jobs, reducing the workforce by 20 per cent. This isn't speculation. The Nationals leader has said outright: The first thing we'll do is sack those 36,000 public servants … The shadow Treasurer has dismissed investment in the public service as 'unnecessary spending'. But what they call 'unnecessary spending' are essential services.”
“The Leader of the Opposition's economic chops have been summed up in Lech Blaine's Q uarterly E ssay , where he wrote as follows: Dutton is the paperback version of Howard: the same message but less weight. Economics is not his emotional priority, beyond a tribal allegiance to tax loopholes for the rich; penalties for the poor; and hostility to trade unions. This is why he spends most of the time fighting culture wars. His grievances are well practised and sincerely held. But the moment he moves off his preferred turf, Dutton becomes clumsy and unconvincing. Lech Blaine went on to interview former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who said—”
“Well, they've been out to lunch for three years, and now they want taxpayers to pay for the bosses' lunches. A good economic policy should boost growth, boost fairness and put downward pressure on inflation. But this policy announced by the opposition does none of those things. We should have got a bit of a hint of the Leader of the Opposition's economic capacity when he ran to roll Malcolm Turnbull back in 2018. It's been a little forgotten since then, but he had a big policy idea then, and that was to smash a big hole in the GST. It was a policy so bad that it was described by Scott Morrison as an 'absolute budget blower' and by Malcolm Turnbull as 'very expensive'.”