Some really good decisions from the Government on the passengers services. Simon Bridges and Craig Foss announced:

Currently there are separate categories and rules for taxis, private hire, shuttles, and rideshare operators. Under the changes, these services will be regulated under a single category of small passenger service, meaning one set of rules for all.

A good start – one simple set of rules.

“New technologies like smart phones and apps have changed the way the sector can operate. Modernising our rules will ensure they are flexible enough to accommodate new business models,” Mr Bridges says

“The Government has clearly stated our intention to encourage innovation and enable new kinds of services. Freeing up the regulatory environment will allow transport operators to compete on an even footing,” Mr Bridges says.

Some rules that impose costs on operators, but no longer provide any significant benefits, will be removed.

“Removing outdated rules will allow a broader range of transport services to develop throughout New Zealand, giving consumers more choice,” Mr Foss says.

People used to just pick whatever taxi was on a taxi stand. Now many people use apps to book a driver, and will swap firms based on quality.

The regulations being removed include:

• Signage requirements (including information about fares, mandatory branding, information supplied in Braille)
• An Area Knowledge Certificate
• Passing a full licence test in the preceding five years
• The need to belong to an approved taxi organisation
• Provision of small passenger services on a 24/7 basis
• Driver panic alarms, monitored 24/7 from a fixed location

These have all imposed a considerable cost and now little benefit. The q+a explains:

The Ministry’s review found that these requirements no longer add value. For example, GPS and mapping technology means that area knowledge is not as important as it was in the past. Removing these requirements means that the proposed regime will be more flexible, and reduces compliance costs. It encourages businesses to make their own decisions about what their services should include, depending on their customers’ needs.

They have also given an exemption from the silly rule about needing a video camera in the vehicle if:

1. Providing services to registered passengers only
2. Collection of driver and passenger information
3. Availability of driver and passenger information
4. Retaining a record of each trip.

Drivers still need a P licence and a full Police check. However the time taken to do this has dropped from 55 days to 20 days, and reduce further yet.  And the cost is likely to drop from $700 to under $200 which will make it easier for mreo people to become part-time drivers – say students between lectures or retired persons for a few hours a day.

Really good to see the Government not trying to protect incumbent industries with regulatory overkill, but instead responding to a new business dynamic by reducing regulatory obligations on all participants. The end result is better choices and prices for consumers.

On that note Uber has just announced their prices in Auckland and Wellington are dropping 20%. They are already a third cheaper than most taxis, so this will probably mean around half the price in future – great.

Reporters without Borders has released its 2016 Press Freedom Report and NZ has moved up one place to 5th place.

A slightly inconvenient fact with some of the deranged who would have you believe the media in NZ cower in fear because John Key complained to the Police over being bugged and Cameron Slater complained to the Police over being hacked.

The top 10 are:

1. Finland
2. Netherlands
3. Norway
4. Denmark
5. New Zealand
6. Costa Rica
7. Switzerland
8. Sweden
9. Ireland
10. Jamacia

Some other countries are Canada 18th, Australia 25th, UK 38th, and US 41st.

The bottom countries are:

1. Eritrea
2. North Korea
3. Turkemistan
4. Syria
5. China

Takes a lot to beat North Korea.

Stuff reports:

Geraldine and Peel Forest are a relative stronghold in South Canterbury for the Green Party, which received 12.5 per cent of the party vote at booths in the area at the 2014 General Election.

Frustration with the party’s inability to prevent partial state asset sales at a referendum in 2013 was evident in one member’s voice. She exclaimed she had spent “all my spare time” gathering signatures for a petition to force a referendum, which failed to change Government plans.

“Why are people so stupid?” one party member asked, prompting others to blame greed and New Zealand’s “really appalling media”.

Not everyone agrees with my views so they’re stupid.  Charming.

An audience member, who said he had been “looking up quite a bit on my wife’s iPad” asked if “these chemtrail things” were “real or not”.

Talking of stupid! …

Stats NZ reports:

Net migration from Australia continued to rise, with a net gain of 1,900 migrants. This is the highest annual net gain of migrants from Australia in about 25 years (since the August 1991 year) and the sixth consecutive month to show an annual net gain. One in five migrants arriving in New Zealand in the March 2016 year came from Australia, and most were New Zealand citizens returning.

This graph shows the trend:

Departures to Australia are at an all time low and arrivals from Australia at an all time high.

Stuff reports:

China will allow dairy to remain on the table as it progresses talks with New Zealand over an upgrade to an existing free-trade agreement.

But it’s not yet promising that formal re-negotiations will begin over an eight-year-old pact that the government would argue has fallen victim to its own success. 

Prime Minister John Key met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing overnight (NZ time), and said he left the meeting more optimistic than when he went into it, about China’s willingness to progress free-trade talks. 

If an upgrade to the China FTA is negotiated, will Labour oppose it?

Once upon a time this would have been a ridiculous question to ask, especially as they negotiated the China FTA.

But consider these two points:

1. Labour now regularly rails against the Chinese – everything from investing in a farm to buying a house to being an Chinese chef
2. The initiated the TPP agreement in Government yet denounced it in opposition

Greens and NZ First both opposed the FTA with China. Labour’s policy has been getting closer and closer to the Greens, so it is not impossible they’ll oppose any upgrade to the China FTA purely because it may happen under National.

Stuff reports:

Pop superstar Prince has died at home in the United States, aged 57.

The ‘Purple Rain’ singer – full name Prince Rogers Nelson – was found dead at a compound in Paisley Park, Minnesota on Thursday morning (local time), his publicist Yvette Noel-Schure confirmed.

Sad so many of the great artists die so young.

His full name was Prince Rogers Nelson. At one stage his name was .

For quite a few years now I’ve been fortunate enough to get review tickets to many plays in Wellington. So once or twice a month I get to go to the theatre and (generally) enjoy a play. They range from local productions of international classics to unique productions and premieres of local plays.

One of the things which I’ve got interested in, is how do these productions occur. Who decides what gets made? Who decides who takes part? What are the economics of the productions? What sort of work does it involve for playwrights, directors and actors? I enjoy seeing the final product, but what is involved in getting a play to the stage.

So over a few months I’ve interviewed various people such as author Dave Armstrong, actor Gavin Rutherford, and the Circa Council co-ordinator to increase my understanding of how it all works. I thought I’d do a blog post on it, as some readers may find it interesting also.

The playwright

I used to think that the playwright was the central figure in that they would decide to write a play, get funding for it, and then get a theatre to show it. But actually is the the director who is the central figure. They tend to be the ones who pick a script, decide they want to direct it, and then make a proposal to a theatre. Playwrights can submit directly, but more often it is a director who does the pitch.

So when a playwright writes a play, they may not have any guarantee it will be picked up. Sometimes a playwright and a director will form a bit of a partnership, where they work together from the concept stage.

The standard royalty on a play is 10% of sales.

So if you have a play run for four weeks and it gets 150 per night average at say $35, then you may get just under $15,000 for the play. If it is a big hit and goes to other theatres then you can multiply that. But also many scripts never get picked up. You may write six plays, and five never get picked up.

Also 150 a night average is something you may get in Circa One as it can seat 228. But Circa 2 has a maximum 98. And smaller theatres like Bats are even less.

The bottom line is you need to write quite a few plays a year to get a decent income, or have one become a nationwide tour.

The director

The director is the one who generally makes the pitch to a theatre. Often it may be in combination with a playwright. In fact author/director pairings are quite common.

The director decides the makeup of the company that produces a play. The theatre does have a veto, but in practice this has never been used. They may have some people in mind for particular roles, or do open auditions.

While the director is sort of the CEO for the production, they may not get paid more than any of the other principals. At Circa the company tends to split profits equally amongst all the principals (lesser roles may be paid a half share or be on a flat rate) such as the actors.

The theatre

At Circa the theatre takes 20% of the proceeds to cover the operating costs of the theatre. Hence when deciding what plays to put on, popular appeal is an important factor.

However it is not the only one. With two theatres, the larger Circa One can do the more populist shows, and more niche shows in Circa Two. Sometimes they may say yes to a show because they want to nurture the career of someone they see promising. As a non-profit trust they need to earn enough to cover costs, but beyond that it is not solely about maximum sales. Of course the more tickets sold the more they can do, and the better for the artists.

Other theatres may have different models. Some will assume most or all of the risk and pay artists a fixed rate, and have lots of permanent staff including a chief executive. Circa however has no CEO, but a Council of 12 volunteers who are active members. Some will be artists and some may be lawyers or business people. Their common calling is a love of theatre.

The Council decides who to hear pitches from, and consider submissions from directors and playwrights.

The major plays are a nine week effort. They have four weeks of rehearsals, one week of production and four weeks of performances. So the revenue from the performances has to cover the full costs of the whole nine weeks.

The theatre also acts as a sort of bank for each production. They will advance the money up front (along with TACT) to cover the costs, and get reimbursed once sales have begun.

There are also private sponsors who will sponsor a show. This money generally goes only to the company members, and not to the theatre.

Actors

The principal actors in a show are on a profit share. So the more actors in a show, the less money per actor. Lesser roles may get a half share only but generally all the actors tend to be an equal share.

The income from a nine week show generally ranges from $3,000 to $9,000. At the lower end, that would come to just $18,000 a year (and if constantly in a show).

Almost no stage actors in New Zealand can survive just on the theatre. They either have “day jobs” or they supplement their income from related activities such as voice talent for radio commercials etc. They do it because they enjoy it.

TACT

This is the Theatre Artists Charitable Trust. They play a key role by giving a grant for each production – around $3,000 per production member. This effectively gives them an income during the rehearsals and pre-production phase.

It was set up in 1987 and has gifted $5 million since then. Donors include Chapman Tripp, Deloitte and Vodafone.

Non actor production members

Generally each actor and the director gets a full share of  the co-op proceeds (after costs). The stage manager tends to get a full share also.

Other production members such as publicists, designers, operators, technical support will either get a half share or may be paid directly as an expense. In the end the decisions are made by the co-op as a whole as to what split is fair to everyone.

Summary

This won’t be of interest to many, but as someone who has seen scores of shows and enjoyed most of them, I have always been curious about how the shows actually come together, and what the economics of them are. There’s a lot of work and sweat to get a show to production.

Anne Tolley announced:

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley says the number of people receiving a main benefit has fallen below 280,000 for the first time since 2008.

“The number of people receiving a main benefit has fallen by 4,369 (1.5 per cent) in the year to March 2016, taking the total number of people receiving a main benefit to 279,891,” Mrs Tolley says.

“Those receiving Sole Parent Support continue to drive the biggest reduction in numbers, with a drop of 3,986 (or 5.7 per cent).

Benefit numbers peaked in December 2011 at 350,932. Since then they have fallen away 20% to 279,891.

Since December 2011 the individual changes are:

• Job Seeker Support down 18.4%
• Sole Parent Support down 26.1%
• Supported Living Payment (Invalids etc) up 1.7%

Politik reports:

Non-Government organisations joined public servants in a packed all day “hui” intended by Finance Minister Bill English to convince the Government agencies to start sharing the huge volumes of data they hold on New Zealanders.

Mr English wants the data shared so that social services can be directed more specifically towards at risk individuals and groups.

But public servants have been reluctant to share information – perhaps worried that the more they empower the non-Governmental groups, the more they are likely to take over social serviced delivery traditionally undertaken by state agencies.

Not just delivery, but analysis. Open up access to the crime and offending data, and you could well have some dedicated NGOs and charities discover patterns and links which will help with policies to lower reoffending.

But it was clear from a keynote speech from Finance Minister, Bill English, that he is finding pushback from the bureaucracy in supplying the data to the NGO’s.

“Access to data shouldn’t be the exclusive reserve of government – but that’s what it largely is because in many cases access is being decided ad hoc,” he said.

“Iwi, NGOs, and Pasifika – many of you here today – have told us getting information out of departments is not easy.

“It’s a negotiation. Agency by agency. Official by official.

“You’ve told us contracts are entered in to as if each negotiation was the first, with the each negotiation’s success dependent on who you are talking to.”

Mr English said that just saying “no” as an approach to data security had meant we have made only limited use of all the data the Government had gone to the trouble of collecting.

“Data has no value if it is not used,” he said.

“So let’s fix the system.

“Let’s reverse the presumption and make data sharing the norm rather than the exception by clarifying the rules.

“Because, actually, it’s your data.

“Specifically, the data we hold belongs to the people, and the whanau that you are working for and with.

“Some of you here today have spoken of data sovereignty.

“You, as citizens, and collectively as Iwi, Pasifika and NGOs acting on behalf of citizens, own the data held by public agencies.

“We agree with you.”

Great to hear Bill English say this and he has been the champion of open data. But as he notes there is bureaucratic resistance.

The key is indeed reversing the presumption, and here’s how it can be done.

Pass a law (statute or regulation) that says all datasets managed by crown entities and agencies must be made publicly available within five years, with two exceptions:

• Any details that could identify individuals should be with-held
• Agencies can apply to Cabinet for exemptions for specific datasets, to opt them out

The idea is to change open data from opt in for agencies to opt out.

From the Economist, good to see NZ well placed.

The Royal Society has done a useful report on the possible impacts of climate change on New Zealand.

Some reports are very alarmist and talk about 10 metre sea rises, which is near impossible in the next 100 years. They say the likely increase in the next 100 years is around 30 to 110 cms. That is credible as the current rise is around 3 mm a year.

The report usefully looks at key risks such as flooding, droughts etc. By their own admission they don’t focus on potential benefits such as longer seasons for pasture growth, reduced electricity demand in winter etc.

Stuff reports:

New Zealand’s international reputation has been damaged by Immigration NZ’s decision to deny an Iranian film director a visitor visa, a film festival director says. 

Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami was invited to speak at the screening of her film Sonita at next month’s Documentary Edge film festival. 

An immigration officer declined her visitor visa on the basis that she might become an overstayer. 

This is a pretty bizarre decision. Does Immigration NZ think she went to all the trouble of producing a film and having it screened in NZ, just so she could visit here and them overstay?

Jacinda Ardern, Labour’s arts, culture and heritage spokesperson, has added her voice to those frustrated by the decision.  

The denial “does not appear to be grounded in evidence or common sense” and will put New Zealand’s reputation at further risk of damage without resolution, she said.

I agree with Jacinda.

If someone is coming here for no specific reason, and has some risk factors, then you may need to be concerned about overstaying. But coming here to speak at the screening of a film you made is a very specific reason, and someone who makes films for a living is probably not that likely to try and hide in New Zealand, and become an illegal overstayer who lives off ash jobs picking fruit etc!

UPDATE: Immigration NZ has reversed the decision and granted the visa

The Herald reports:

Scenic Hotel Group founders Earl and Lani Hagaman are considering legal action over Labour leader Andrew Little’s claims about the timing of a donation from Mr Hagaman to the National Party a month before the hotel group was awarded a contract in Niue.

The $101,000 donation was made on 18 September, the last week of the election campaign in 2014. A month later Scenic Hotels won a contract to manage the Matavai Hotel on Niue, which is owned by a trust appointed by Foreign Minister Murray McCully on behalf of the Niue Government.

Mr Little said the timing “stinks to high heaven” and wrote to the Auditor General last week asking for an investigation into the donation and the handling of the contract, which was signed between Scenic Hotel Group and the hotel board in October 2014.

They should. Little has all bit accused them of bribing the NZ Government in order to win the contract.

The Auditor General is yet to decide whether to investigate but in a statement, the Hagamans said they would welcome an investigation from the Auditor General and would cooperate fully.

“In fact we request that an investigation occurs urgently in order to remove any doubt about the integrity and honesty of our name,” said Mrs Hagaman.

I really really hope the Auditor-General does investigate because it will end badly for Andrew Little. The highlight will be the testimony from the father of Jacinda Ardern as to what he thinks of being accused of being part of a corrupt bribe deal.

Lani Hagaman said the management contract for Matavai Resort Niue was gained by Scenic Hotel Group in an open and contestable process against other hotel groups.

The couple were also considering other legal options to address Mr Little’s attack.

“I can assure the public that for us the only thing that will ‘stink to the high heavens’ will be smell of roses which blossom from the fertiliser Andrew Little likes to spread around to gain his own notoriety.”

The politics of smear.

Ian Fitzgerald, the chairman of the Matavai Niue Limited which runs the Matavai has also now spoken, saying he would have “absolutely no concerns” if the Auditor-General looked into the process.

Mr Fitzgerald is one of four board members appointed by the Niue Tourism Property Trust to oversee the running of the hotel, which $18 million of New Zealand aid money has been invested in. The agreement was negotiated and signed between Scenic Hotels and the board rather than the Trust itself. Mr Fitzgerald said he was unaware Mr Hagaman had donated to the National Party and the board had only dealt with Scenic Hotels Group’s managing director, Brendan Taylor. It was in contract negotiations with Scenic Group for six months before the contract was awarded – well before the donation was made.

Have a think about how many people must have been in the corrupt bribe conspiracy for it to have worked.

First of all you’d have McCully, and the two Hagamans.

Then all three members of the Niue Tourism Property Trust which includes Ross Ardern, an MFAT Deputy Secretary and former High Commissioner Mark Blumsky.

But they didn’t decide the contract – the board they appointed did. So all four members of the board would need to be in on the conspiracy also.

So that’s a minimum of 10 people all in on the conspiracy.

Mrs Hagaman said in the past the couple had voted for Labour.

“One of the privileges of being a New Zealander is the ability to have freedom of choice and vote or donate to any political party one chooses. In the past both Earl and I have voted Labour but that was when the party had strong morals and direction and did not practice bully tactics on innocent people.”

If I was Angry Andy I’d consider apologising to the Hagamans and Mr Ardern and others.

Politik reports:

Goff also signalled an ambition for some central Government authority to be devolved to elements of the Super City. “Seventy percent of the growth in the country’s population and 95 percent of the growth in the working age population will be in Auckland.

“In terms of an organisation like ATEED (Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development)  – they will know more about promoting the city than NZTE (New Zealand Trade and Enterprise).  Transport Auckland will know more about Auckland’s needs than the Transport Agency.”

“Not immediately, but I think a case could arise for more authority and funding to be devolved from central to local government.”

Most people think the CCOs need to be reined in with their runway spending, but Goff thinks they need more powers and more money.

Shudder.

The NZ Initiative has released a report called “The Health of the State”. Main points are:

• Lifestyle regulations assume people do not always act in their best interests and must be protected from themselves.
• Some public health policies (current and potential) lack strong evidence.
• The report provides an economic toolkit to test the reliability of these studies.
• The report uses three policy case studies: food taxes; e-cigarettes; and alcohol marketing.
• The report concludes that some regulations are not based on sound evidence, and may not even improve health outcomes.
• In these cases, encroachments on freedom are even more unjustified.  

Some extracts from their case studies:

Food Taxes – The report finds that studies fail to prove that taxes will achieve their stated policy intention: reducing obesity. Many studies focus on proxies, like whether a tax will reduce consumption or expenditure of that good. But they do not consider whether people substitute to cheaper products or other unhealthy food.   

This is a key point I have often made. Food is very different to tobacco. Almost every substitute to tobacco is far far healthier for you. This is not the case for food and drink.

Despite aggressive policies by government to get New Zealand ‘smokefree by 2025’, the smoking rate is now only decreasing marginally. This suggests that those who continue to smoke either do not want to quit, or lack access to effective cessation tools. Meanwhile, e-cigarettes are a much safer alternative to conventional cigarettes, with the potential to reduce the overall harm of smoking. Yet these products currently face greater regulatory burdens than cigarettes and tobacco products that have proven risk.  

It’s bizarre that it is legal to buy and sell tobacco in New Zealand, but illegal to sell e-cigarettes!

Andrew Little posted on Facebook about his visit to the Auckland Jewish Community Centre.  A very nice post from him about the Jewish community.

Sadly the comments on the post (and no I don’t blame him for them) show how antisemitism is alive and well in NZ.

Jason Bryant doesn’t seem to understand (or care) about the difference between the state of Israel and Jews living in New Zealand. This is as bigoted as blaming the actions of Saudi Arabia on a New Zealand Muslim.

But it gets worse.

Sean Parkinson actually calls for death to all Jews. What a lovely chap. Would have been right at home in Nazi Germany.

And then we also have Michael Peacock with the conspiracy theories that Jews were behind 9/11 and running the world banking system,

They so hate Jews they can’t even see the point being made by Fraser Newman that blaming the actions of one country on all jews is like blaming the Kashmir violence on all Indians.

Quite sickening that such a positive post by Andrew Little gets such vile comments.

The annual press freedom debate is coming up, which is always a fun night which also raises money for the Media Safety and Solidarity Fund, a joint fund with the Media Alliance in Australia which help journalists and their families around the Asia-Pacific region.

Details are:

• Date: Thursday May the 5th
• Venue: The Backbencher.
• Moot: ‘That local body elections are a waste of time’
• Affirmative: David Seymour, Andrew Little, David Townsend.
• Negative: Judith Collins, Metiria Turei, Pinky Agnew.
• Chair: Jane Patterson.
• Tickets: $25 from Brent or Jane

Will be fascinating to see David Seymour and Andrew Little on the same time, and same for Judith Collins and Metiria Turei.

One News reports:

Answer the question Mr Little: Labour leader gets repetitive, won’t answer straight on Ardern link

It seems Labour leader Andrew Little isn’t keen to answer questions about the father of one of his MPs that is linked to a hotel deal in Niue that he has criticised.

I bet he won’t.

Either Little was unaware that Ardern’s father was one of the trustees, or he didn’t care. That means either incompetence or malice.

Mr Little yesterday came out swinging about the fact that the Scenic Hotel Group was given the contract to run the Matavai Resort on the tiny Pacific island, weeks after the chain’s founder gave a donation to the National Party.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully and Scenic have denied there is anything amiss, but that hasn’t stopped Mr Little speaking out about the deal, saying it stinks.

It emerged today that the father of Jacinda Ardern, Ross Ardern, is a trustee owner of the resort, and would have helped appoint the hotel’s board of directors, who organised the contract tender.

Mr Little was asked repeatedly by ONE News if his accusations reflected badly on Mr Ardern, but he wasn’t biting, giving the same stock answer every time.

Little went on about how the trustees were personally appointed by McCully and the decision stunk to high heaven. How can that not be seen as a slight on Mr Ardern (who is a very respected public servant)?

This graph from the Wall Street Journal is very powerful. It is backed up by almost every expert analysis of the situation in New Zealand – land availability is the biggest factor in house prices.

If you want cheaper house prices in Auckland, vote for a Council that will make more land available.

Andrew Little said:

“Kris Faafoi is a very talented MP whose hard work has earned him a place on the Shadow Cabinet. He is instantly recognisable to many New Zealanders and connects well when he’s on the road – an invaluable skill when working with the tourism industry.

When you read this carefully you see that Little is saying that Kris is being promoted because he used to be on TV and gets on well with people.

The Guardian reports:

George Osborne has said the British government would lose £36bn in net tax receipts, equivalent to 8p on the basic rate of income tax or 7p on VAT, if the UK leaves the EU and negotiates a bilateral trade agreement with the bloc.

The chancellor said a 200-page Treasury analysis of the impact of Brexit showed it would make British families poorer, and he accused leave campaigners of believing that was a price worth paying. But out campaigners said that the chancellor was talking down the British economy in an unpatriotic way.

The study concluded that a Canadian-style model, in which the UK negotiated a new trade deal with the EU that did not require freedom of movement, would reduce Britain’s GDP by 6.2%.

The Bremain campaign seems to be campaigning entirely on scaring people from Brexit, rather than the positive benefits of the EU. I’m not sure it is a good strategy.

Another group, Grassroots Out, argued that the £4,300 figure amounted to 21p a person a day in return for national sovereignty.

A good line.

The SMH reports:

The Senate has defied Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull just one day into a three-week special sitting of Parliament, handing him a double dissolution trigger and setting the stage for an unprecedented 75-day election campaign.

Mr Turnbull’s high-risk plan to hold a double dissolution poll on July 2 comes as two new polls found the Coalition tied or even trailing a resurgent Labor opposition.

It will be a fascinating election.

The winning party may also get a majority in the Senate as they have changed the law so preference deals between parties no longer have the same impact so you are less likely to get someone elected who had 0.5% primary vote.

That means the May 3 federal budget will now form a key element of the government’s re-election pitch and that a pair of untested leaders – neither Mr Turnbull nor Opposition Leader Bill Shorten have led their party in a campaign before – will fight for Australians’ votes in what shapes as a marathon political contest.

Mr Shorten is due to deliver his budget reply speech on May 5, and Mr Turnbull must visit the Governor-General no later than May 11 to formally issue the writs and announce the poll.

On Sunday, Mr Turnbull confirmed defeat of the ABCC bill would mean “there will be a dissolution of both houses and an election of the 2nd of July” and speaking after the Senate vote, Liberal Senate leader George Brandis said the restoration of the ABCC was an important part of the government’s economic agenda.

The election needs to be fought on more than the fighting union corruption. That is an important issue, but not the most important issue to every day Australians.