SO Malcolm Turnbull won. Just.
It means the Prime Minister has a mandate to tackle the most insidious, most under-reported problem in Australia.
I am referring to the seemingly inexhaustible criminality in the union movement that has been a stain on the national character for half a century. Australia the land of the Fair Go? Hardly.
Turnbull's victory will be a hollow one unless the Coalition can rally the numbers in the Senate to tighten the building code and give legislative teeth to the workplace watchdog, the Australian Building and Construc-tion Commission. 
The numbers are fascinating. And two "outsiders" from Queensland may well save the day and help rein in union law-breakers.
Come on down, Pauline Hanson and Gabrielle Buckley.
Gabrielle who? Gabe is a 40-year-old Bracken Ridge father-of-three, a web designer and frontman in a cowboy rock band. He plays guitar and harmonica and rattles out melodies by Johnny Cash, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Dylan. I'm beginning to like him already. Gabe was also David Leyonhjelm's Liberal Democrat Senate candidate in Queensland. Gabe is a veteran of four campaigns.
Last night, there was speculation he just may grab a seat. In what may have been a line from a Kenny Rogers ballad, Buckley told me he rated his chances as "somewhere between the flip of a coin and roll of a dice".
If Buckley doesn't win, the seat is likely to go to One -Nation's Malcolm Roberts, a mining engineer with an MBA.
Leyonhjelm has voted with the Coalition on industrial relations reforms in the past and is expected to do so again, perhaps with some tweaking of the proposed laws.
Hanson's One Nation team likewise is expected to back Turnbull. Others, including "Human Headline" Derryn Hinch and the Xenophons, see the obvious merits in an -industrial watchdog.
So there is some optimism on the conservative side that Turnbull may win the ABCC vote in the Senate, obviating the need for a joint sitting.
If there is a joint sitting, Bob "Silver Bodgie" Katter may also back the reforms -although I regard him as -untrustworthy since elect-oral commission disclosures showed he got large sums from the CFMEU ($150,000) and the ETU ($50,000).
But Turnbull will need the support of Pauline and Gabe and maybe others to defeat the combined might of Labor and the Greens, who have for years turned a blind eye to union thuggery and criminality in the building industry, especially in Queensland. Why? Is it because the CFMEU has pumped $7 million into Labor coffers since 2007?
So why do we need a watchdog? The building and construction industry employs a million Australians. It generated $300 billion in total income last year. Unfortunately the -industry is plagued by widespread disregard for the law. No less than 68 per cent of all work days lost during the   December 2015 quarter were in the construction sector.
The royal commission by former High Court judge Dyson Heydon showed existing laws covering unions that were introduced by Labor are hopelessly inadequate in preventing corruption and bullying. Said Heydon: "The industry is marred by unlawful and inappropriate conduct. Fear, intimidation and coer-cion are commonplace.
"Contractors, subcontractors and workers face this culture continuously." And: "At the centre of this culture and much of the unlawful and inappropriate conduct is the CFMEU." The planned Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Bill would impose the same -requirements of honesty and fair dealing that already exist for companies.
Minister for Employment Michaelia Cash says new laws are also needed to stop union bosses rorting members' money.
It amazes me how the Labor Party fails to see it has a moral and ethical responsibility to act in the best interests of its union members.
Meanwhile, the building -industry is under siege in Queensland and you are paying for it.
The spotlight was back on Queensland again after the CFMEU targeted the Commonwealth Games site at Carrara on the Gold Coast.
The Federal Court heard the crippling campaign left tradesmen with as little as two hours' work a day. Some snoozed, others had barbecues.
The Turnbull Government's plan to amend the building code and restore the ABCC was discussed at the stop-work meetings.
Fair Work Building and Construction told the Federal Court the meetings were "unlawful, illegitimate and unconscionable". The stoppages were aimed at intimidating the venue developer, Hansen Yuncken, into signing a new enterprise bargaining agreement, the court heard.
The Queensland branch of the CFMEU has strong links with the ALP. Union chiefs are facing charges over allegations of -improper document destruction, the building of an official's home, and questionable strike action.
In his final report, Heydon said the conduct of the CFMEU in Australia featured "unlawful behaviour" and "systemic corruption and unlawful conduct, including corrupt payments, physical and verbal violence, threats, intimidation, abuse of right-of-entry permits, secondary boycotts, breaches of fiduciary duty and contempt of court".
And he said the wrongdoing identified was not new. He said similar criminality was found at three separate royal commissions conducted over the past 40 years: the Winneke Royal Commission in 1982, the Gyles Royal Commission in 1992 and the Cole Royal Commission in 2003.
The Winneke Royal Commission found numerous corrupt payments and bribes being taken by members of the Builders' Labourers -Federation.
The Gyles Royal Commission found widespread illegal behaviour within the con-struction industry, including theft, extortion, secret commissions and improper and -irregular payments.
The Cole Royal Commission made similar findings.We are slow learners.