Professor Ian Harper, chair of Australia’s recent Competition Policy Review, shares the Panel’s recommendations for the future of Australia’s competition policies, laws and institutions. In 2015 and beyond, new circumstances will require new approaches to promote growth, innovation and entrepreneurship, ensuring Australia remains a player on the international stage.

1. Competition Policy Review
Final Report
Professor Ian Harper
Australian Institute of Company Directors Conference
Directorship:15
Kuala Lumpur, 21st May 2015

2. The Panel’s task
• Four-person Panel
– Ian Harper (Chair), Peter Anderson, Su McCluskey, Michael O’Bryan QC
• Twelve-month timeframe with broad terms of reference
• More than 150 stakeholder meetings including public
consultations across Australia
• Almost 350 submissions in response to an Issues Paper and
around 600 submissions responding to the Draft Report

3. The need for reform
Reform is essential
– to boost productivity & sustain living standards as
Australia’s mining investment boom wanes
– to respond to globalisation, population ageing & digital
revolution
A ‘reinvigorated’ agenda of microeconomic reform
– strengthening competition policy, competition law and
competition institutions

4. The reform challenge
• National Competition Policy (Hilmer Review) drove
competition into non-tradable sectors
• Now need to drive competition across the economy
• National challenge directed at all levels of
government
• Delivering benefits in all jurisdictions

5. Major forces for change
Globalisation
Ageing population
Digital revolution

7. Recommendations
• We recommend changes in three main areas:
– Competition policy
– Competition law
– Competition institutions

8. Priority policy reforms
• Greater choice & competition in human services with separation of
policy, regulation & provision
• Greater focus on competition in government procurement and
privatisation
• Competition consideration in intellectual property
• Reform transport systems (roads, sea and air)
• Competition considerations in planning & zoning
• Finish reform of electricity, gas and water

9. Competition law reforms
• Reform misuse of market power
– Focus on the competitive process
• Remove price signalling provisions
• Better, more streamlined mergers processes
• Simplified laws & lower regulatory burden
• Extend coverage of competition law to all government activities in
trade & commerce

10. Reforms to competition institutions
• Australian Council for Competition Policy
– An advocate for reform to replace National Competition Council
– A co-ordinator of trials across jurisdictions and a clearinghouse for ideas
• Access and Pricing Regulator
– A regulator to govern access and pricing in network industries (subsumes
Australian Energy Regulator)
• ACCC
– Improved separation of governance from day-to-day regulatory execution

11. Implementation
• Many reforms can be implemented unilaterally
• Benefits of a national approach
– room for co-operation & collaboration on pilots and trials
– building on reform momentum already underway in States and
Territories
• Final Report includes an implementation ‘roadmap’
– prioritisation and timelines
– model legislative provisions