Portfolio — 1 April 2026

The Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, Dr Andrew Leigh, delivered an active day in the House on 1 April 2026, moving two substantive bills through second reading and paying parliamentary tribute to a former Chief Justice — a day that collectively illustrates the breadth of his portfolio responsibilities.

The day's most significant legislative development was the second reading of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026. The bill establishes a principles-based general prohibition on unfair trading practices, targeting conduct that distorts consumer decision-making but sits outside existing misleading or unconscionable conduct provisions — including the use of design elements to place unreasonable pressure on purchasing decisions [TA-260401-house-6ae0f5f9fd41:s017].

Two specific regimes sit beneath the general prohibition. The drip pricing regime requires mandatory transaction-based charges to be disclosed at the same point as the base price, eliminating the practice of revealing fees only after the consumer has committed time and attention to a purchase. The subscription regime mandates clear disclosure of costs, duration, renewal terms and cancellation methods, requires reminder notices before trial periods end or subscriptions renew, and obliges cancellation to involve only reasonably necessary steps.

The Assistant Minister placed the bill within a cumulative reform sequence that includes the overhaul of merger laws, increased ACCC funding, prohibition of unfair contract terms, strengthened unit pricing, mandatory food and grocery codes, and a tenfold increase in maximum Competition and Consumer Act penalties from $10 million to $100 million [TA-260401-house-6ae0f5f9fd41:s017].

A further tranche is signalled: the government will consult publicly on extending unfair trading protections to small businesses and franchisees, with legislation to follow later in the sitting year.

The Assistant Minister also introduced Schedule 1 of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering an Efficient and Trusted Tax System) Bill 2026, which removes the $2 minimum threshold for tax-deductible donations to deductible gift recipient entities [TA-260401-house-6ae0f5f9fd41:s120]. That threshold has sat unchanged in nominal terms since 1927 — the Henry tax review previously recommended raising it to $25 — and its removal is designed to enable organisations to aggregate microdonations from round-up platforms operated by Woolworths, Myer, Rounda, GoGive and ING, then issue end-of-year tax-deductible statements covering amounts that may total hundreds or thousands of dollars for individual donors.

The Assistant Minister framed the measure within the government's goal of doubling philanthropy by 2030, alongside a broader package that includes establishing a charities commissioner, streamlining the deductible gift recipient system, and lifting distribution requirements from giving funds to six per cent [TA-260401-house-6ae0f5f9fd41:s120].

The two bills share a structural logic: both address friction embedded in existing frameworks — hidden fees in consumer markets and an obsolete nominal threshold in the donations system — where incremental deterioration has accumulated without legislative correction. The Assistant Minister's framing of each reform as one element in a deliberate multi-instrument program is consistent across both bills.

Separately, the Assistant Minister paid tribute to Sir Anthony Mason, recounting his career from World War II service through to his retirement as Chief Justice in 1995, and highlighting landmark decisions — including Mabo v Queensland (No. 2), Dietrich v The Queen, and the implied freedom of political communication cases — that moved the High Court toward flexible constitutional interpretation [TA-260401-house-6ae0f5f9fd41:s116].