Andrew Leigh Mp: Speeches & Conversations

Are you one of those people who worries about the fabric of society falling apart? Do you suspect our sense of community is disappearing? Has economic growth established a more cohesive neighbourhood around you, or has individualism taken over?    In This Mortal Coil, Indira Naidoo spoke with Andrew Leigh. He authored 'Disconnected', a book exploring the ways that Australian civic society seemed to be losing some of the glue that kept it together. The MP has also just released 'Reconnected' which offers itself up as a society builder's handbook and aims to offer a pathway for rebuilding community.

In Conversation with Rebecca Huntley about her climate change book.

ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical & Statistical Frontiers Virtual Public Lecture Constructing a new series of incarceration rates from 1860 to 2018, Australia now incarcerates a greater share of the adult population than at any point since the late nineteenth century. Much of this increase has occurred since the mid-1980s. Since 1985, the Australian incarceration rate has risen by 130 percent, and now stands at 0.22 percent of adults (221 prisoners per 100,000 adults). Recalculating Indigenous incarceration rates so that they are comparable over a long time span, Dr Andrew Leigh finds that incarceration rates for Indigenous Australians have risen dramatically. Fully 2.5 percent of Indigenous adults are incarcerated (2481 prisoners per 100,000 adults), a higher share than among African-Americans. The recent increase in the Australian prison population does not seem to be due to crime rates, which have mostly declined over the past generation. Instead, higher reporting rates, stricter policing pract

With Danielle Wood of the Grattan Institute and Peter Lewis of Essential Media    

The George Institute for Global Health hosted me for a virtual #GeorgeTalks. I was joined in conversation by Professor Anthony Rodgers, Head of the Cardiovascular Program at The George Institute. We discussed my book, Randomistas: How Radical Researchers Changed Our World.

Per Capita Australia CEO Emma Dawson and Andrew Leigh chat in a Facebook Live event on 8 May 2020.

How will COVID-19 Shape the Progressive Agenda for Australia's Future? -- Conversation with the Australian Fabians Opened by Victoria Fielding, Deputy Chair of the Australian Fabians. Moderated by Leon Cermak, SA Chair of the Australian Fabians. Conversation recorded via Zoom, broadcast live on Facebook.

ANU/CANBERRA TIMES MEET THE AUTHOR Andrew Wear will be in conversation with Andrew Leigh MP on Andrew Wear's new book Solved!: How Other Countries Have Cracked the World's Biggest Problems and We Can Too. Sometimes the solutions are closer than we think. Denmark will reach 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2030. Iceland has topped gender equality rankings for a decade and counting. Singaporean students beat almost all others in maths and reading. South Koreans will soon live longer than anyone else on Earth. The US city of Boston, global epicentre of biotech, has the most innovative square mile on the planet. How have these places and more achieved such remarkable success? Policy adviser Andrew Wear examines what has worked around the world and how we can apply the lessons at home, introducing us to inspiring community leaders, renowned authorities and visionary policymakers transforming the globe.            'A terrific idea, brilliantly executed. This book deserves to spark a national conversation.' - G

A Keynote panel at the Australasian AID Conference 2020. Debating RCTs, and other topics in impact evaluation Barton Theatre This year the Nobel prize for economics went to three economists who have promoted the use and importance of Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) in development economics and interventions. But how useful are RCTs in the real world of development assistance? And what more generally needs to be done to improve the quality and impact of impact evaluations, and to promote learning in aid? Chair: Professor Stephen Howes, Director, Development Policy Centre, ANU Panellists: Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP, Member for Fenner, ACT Dr Lant Pritchett, Research Director, RISE Programme; Fellow, Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University Dr Jyotsna Puri, Head, Independent Evaluation Unit, Green Climate Fund

Australia now incarcerates a greater share of the adult population than at any point since 1899. Much of this increase has occurred since the mid-1980s. Since 1985, the Australian incarceration rate has risen by 130 percent, and now stands at 0.22 percent of adults (221 prisoners per 100,000 adults). Recalculating Indigenous incarceration rates so that they are comparable over a long time span, I find that incarceration rates for Indigenous Australians have risen dramatically. Fully 2.5 percent of Indigenous adults are incarcerated (2481 prisoners per 100,000 adults), a higher share than among African-Americans. The recent increase in the Australian prison population does not seem to be due to crime rates, which have mostly declined over the past generation. Instead, higher reporting rates, stricter policing practices, tougher sentencing laws, and more stringent bail laws appear to be the main drivers of Australia’s growing prison population.

For all the talk about ‘uninterrupted economic growth’, Australia’s economy has underperformed in recent years. Economic growth has slowed, wages growth has declined, and productivity is in reverse. For the median household, living standards have fallen since 2013. At the heart of the malaise is a complacent federal government, which has done little to encourage dynamism in the economy. Too many sectors are dominated by cosy monopolists, too few start-up firms are challenging the incumbents, and there is too little genuine innovation. Over the past generation, the Australian economy has been lucky. But without more diversity and dynamism, our economy risks failing to deliver the outcomes that are essential to long-term wellbeing.

Andrew Leigh is in conversation with ANU Vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt on Andrew's new book with Joshua Gans, Innovation + Equality: How to Create a Future That Is More Star Trek Than Terminator.

In Melbourne, on 19 November, I launched Innovation + Equality:How to create a future that is more Star Trek than Terminator, which I co-authored with Joshua Gans. 

Michael Lester hosts the Innovation Talk program on Radio Northern Beaches. We chatted about my book with Joshua Gans, 'Innovation + Equality: How To Create a Future That is More Star Trek Than Terminator.'

Replication, Randomisation and Rigour: AIMOS 2019. This talk was delivered at the launch of the Association for Inter-disciplinary Meta-research and Open Science on 7 November 2019 at the University of Melbourne.

In conversation with Allan Fels about his new book Tough Customer - chasing a better deal for battlers. You can learn more about Allan's book here.

"Australia Disconnected - and Reconnected" - Address to the Power to the People Conference, Canberra 16 August 2019.

As part of ANU's Authors In Conversation series, I spoke with Adele Ferguson about Banking Bad, her account of corporate cover-ups, whistleblowers and how she broke the stories that led to the Banking Royal Commission.

Ten Ideas for Reducing Inequality - inequality won't fix itself. If we want a fair society with equal opportunity for everyone, we need to make public policy choices accordingly. Here are ten places we could start.