Spare a thought for more than 2 million small business operators who will never be offered a gift as enticing as the “multi-bagger" now featuring in quasi-judicial hearings in Sydney.

Also save some sympathy for those gullible enough vote Labor in NSW. They have to endure the constant revelations from the inquiry by that state’s Independent Commission Against Corruption into allegations that ex-minister Ian Macdonald helped Labor factional boss Eddie Obeid and his family gain tens of millions of dollars from the granting of mining exploration licences.