Andrew Leigh has played down the significance of taking a $40,000 pay cut to stay on the Labor frontbench as the result of a factional deal to save left powerbroker Kim Carr. The effects test could stand in the way of cheap milk, nationally standard grocery prices and big chains opening up new stores in regional areas, he said. Leigh said he was concerned the effects test would result in a “lawyers’ picnic” that had been opposed by 10 of the last 12 competition reviews. “Let’s not worry about people in the top couple of per cent of the income distribution, we’re doing just fine.”Leigh said he felt “extraordinarily fortunate” to be in federal parliament and even more so to be on the Labor frontbench. In the reshuffle, announced on Saturday, Leigh was reappointed shadow assistant treasurer and shadow minister for competition, and gained responsibility for productivity, trade in services, charities and not-for-profits.

Source: The Guardian July 25, 2016 00:11 UTC