Andrew Leigh

Both Leigh's parents are academics and both came from homes of social activists "in the Christian socialist tradition." His father's father, was a Methodist minister who seemed to have some sympathies for communism. "Keith thought they were wrong on God but had their hearts in the right place."[1] Leigh's maternal grandfather, a boilermaker and Methodist lay preacher, used the family's spare room to shelter a constant stream of refugees from places like Cambodia and Chile, who were escaping the regimes of Pol Pot and Augusto Pinochet.[1]

Leigh's early years of education were in Sydney, Melbourne, Malaysia and Indonesia before completing secondary education at James Ruse Agricultural High School in Sydney, New South Wales.[2] He graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in 1994, and a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours in 1996. He then obtained a Master of Public Administration degree and a PhD in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. At Harvard, Leigh was a Doctoral Fellow at the Malcolm Wiener Centre for Social Policy from 2002 to 2004, and a Frank Knox Fellow from 2000 to 2004.[3]

Before entering politics, Leigh worked as a lawyer for Minter Ellison in Sydney and Clifford Chance in London from 1995 to 1997. He was then associate to Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia from 1997 to 1998, senior trade adviser to Shadow Minister for Trade Senator Peter Cook from 1998 to 2000, and research fellow with the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. in 2001. Leigh also served as a principal adviser to the Australian Treasury from 2008 to 2009.

Leigh was Professor of Economics at the Australian National University from 2004 to 2010. He also had several visiting appointments at the University of Melbourne, New York University, the Research Institute of Industrial Economics and the University of Michigan.[4] Over his academic career, Leigh published over 50 journal articles in the disciplines of economics, public policy and law and over 100 opinion pieces. His research findings have been discussed in The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Christian Science Monitor, The Economist, The New York Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Time, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

In the 1995 NSW election, Leigh stood as the Labor candidate for the New South Wales state seat of Northcott, receiving an 8-point swing, but nonetheless losing by a large margin to Barry O'Farrell.[5]

On 24 April 2010, Leigh was selected as Labor's candidate for the Australian federal seat of Fraser[6] following the announced retirement of Bob McMullan. Fraser was a safe Labor seat.[7] Leigh was subsequently elected in the Australian federal election held on 21 August 2010.[8]

Leigh identifies as a social democrat, but within the Australian Labor Party he is aligned to no faction[1] He has argued that Labor MPs should have more autonomy to dissent from caucus decisions.[13]"Professors outrate politicians." In a 2002 book he co-edited with the political scientist David Burchell, The Prince's New Clothes: Why Do Australians Dislike Their Politicians? Leigh suggested a more aggressive media, which covers politics like sport and gossip, and a general breakdown in "interpersonal" trust were largely responsible for politicians' falling stocks.[1]

In making his first speech identified the American liberal Senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, as his role model.[14] In the central part of his speech, he spoke about the Australian Project:

"This Australian project is not finished. It’s not something that stopped with the end of the First World War or with the death of Ben Chifley....To me, the Australian project is about encouraging economic growth, while ensuring that its benefits are shared across the community. It is about making sure that all Australians have great public services, regardless of ethnicity, income or postcode. And it is about recognising that governments have a role in expanding opportunities, because no child gets to choose the circumstances of their birth."[14]

Leigh delivered by the Garran Oration of the Institute of Public Administration Australia. In 2006 he was awarded the Best Discussant Award at the Annual PhD Conference in Economics and Business in 2006 and the Early Career Award by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.[22] Also in 2011 Leigh was appointed a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In 2011, Leigh was awarded the Economic Society of Australia's Young Economist Award. This award, presented once every two years, is given to "honour that Australian economist under the age of forty who is deemed to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge."[23]

Leigh ran the 2017 Tokyo Marathon in a time of 2:42:48.[24]

• —; Burchell, David, eds. (2002). The Prince's New Clothes: Why do Australians Dislike Their Politicians. University of NSW Press. ISBN 978-0-86840-604-6.
• —; Duncan, Magregor; Madden, David; Tynan, Peter (2004). Imagining Australia: Ideas for Our Future. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74114-382-9.
• — (2010). Disconnected. University of NSW Press. ISBN 978-1-74223-153-2.
• — (2013). Battlers and Billionaires: The Story of Inequality in Australia. Black Inc. ISBN 978-1-86395-607-9.
• — (2014). The Economics of Just About Everything: The Hidden Reasons For Our Curious Choices And Surprising Successes. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74331-471-5.
• — (2015). The Luck of Politics. Black Inc. ISBN 9781863957557.
• — (2018). Randomistas. Black Inc. ISBN 9781863959711.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andrew Leigh.

• Official website
• Andrew Leigh – Archive of ANU academic work

• Search or browse Hansard for Andrew Leigh at OpenAustralia.org