BEN DAVIS:
Minister good afternoon. A review of competition law, will this give the ACCC more power?
BRUCE BILLSON:
Well g’day to you Ben and to your listeners. The real key thing that this review is seeking to ensure is that the ACCC has the tools and the teeth to do its job in the modern economy we have now and the one that is emerging. It was some 22 years ago when the toolkit we have today was devised. You and your listeners know the economy has changed dramatically – there are new commercial strategies at play, new technologies at play and it’s well past time when we need to make sure those laws and that competition framework is up to the task.
BEN DAVIS:
So its gives them a bit of muscle and a bit of bite now? Is that what it is hoped to do?
BRUCE BILLSON:
There are a few areas Ben where we think the toolkit is a bit thin. There are also provisions in the law like predatory pricing, which have proven to not really live up to the billing that they had when they were introduced, we’re saying lets learn from that experience.
We also see areas of conduct in the business community and marketplace that seem to fall some way short of being fair competition. We are concerned that consumers aren’t always getting the best value for money and we are really making it tougher for efficient businesses in the economy to thrive and prosper. So we really need to get this right to make sure we can drive jobs and growth in the economy and deliver durable benefits to our consumers.
BEN DAVIS:
Minister we get a lot of calls to this program and we speak to the ACCC a lot about the supermarket duopoly and when it comes to their pricing, especially in petrol here in Queensland. What will that mean for the supermarkets – the duopoly – and perhaps petrol prices?
BRUCE BILLSON:
Well there is a bit going on in that space as you know around shopper dockets. Cross subsidisation seems to be an issue which has potentially risked undermining independent fuel operators and diminishing competition. This is one of the key areas of focus for the review because when these laws were largely crafted, the two major supermarkets had about 40 per cent of the market share. It’s nearly 80 per cent today and that creates a couple of really dominant players. They’ve got extraordinary influence in the supply chain and on smaller businesses, and also on the shape and nature of the market.
We’ve asked the review panel to look at the current economy and to make sure the toolkit can deal with it. We need fair competition, a chance for efficient businesses big and small to thrive and prosper and to make sure consumers have value, choice and innovation. These are all key parts of our agenda to boost economic growth, economic activity and job opportunities.
BEN DAVIS:
Have you got a timeline on the review Minister and when we might get some findings out of it?
BRUCE BILLSON:
We have given the panel 12 months and we are optimistic they can go through the very broad terms of reference within that timeframe. We have asked them to let us know if they need more time but more particularly, we have asked them to prioritise their work on the areas where we will see the biggest gains from changes and readjustment to the policy framework that we have.
So they’ve got some wriggle room but we do want to get on with this because as you said in your intro – a lot of these discussions have been going on for a long time and we can’t stand still any longer.