This Month
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Why didn’t ACCC litigate Qantas?
Is what might be seen as regulatory brand ransom to force companies to admit to lesser charges and avoid the need to litigate, the way the watchdog should seek to uphold Australia’s consumer protection and competition law?
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Aviation
Qantas’ Hudson takes the chance to shed some Joyce baggage
Vanessa Hudson has finally accepted reality by making a deal with the competition watchdog over ghost flights.
- Jennifer Hewett
- Updated
- Aviation
Qantas pays $120m to settle ghost flights case
Customers on cancelled flights will receive up to $450 in compensation after the airline admitted it misled travellers and agreed to pay $120 million to settle.
- Updated
- Ayesha de Kretser and Lucas Baird
April
The merger that is paying competition dividends
The new deal laws out this week suggest that bringing Gina Cass-Gottlieb into the ACCC led to a poacher-turned-gamekeeper story for the ages.
- Ronald Mizen
Merger reforms ‘will stymie big tech buying up start-ups’
Citing Facebook parent Meta’s purchase of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, Gina Cass-Gottlieb said it was important the ACCC was able to think broadly about merger effects.
- Ronald Mizen and Hannah Wootton
- Opinion
- Competition
Deal makers trumped by economists in M&A shake-up
Lawyers and bankers will lose from the merger overhaul that attempts to tackle economic concerns that industry concentration has led to higher prices and fewer start-ups.
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- Company mergers
Labor gives the ACCC the merger revolution it wanted
The only real bright spot for business is that the government has rejected the regulator’s initial call for the test for approval to reverse the onus of proof.
- Jeremy Jose
Chalmers’ merger crackdown to shake up M&A
The ACCC will be able to block serial acquisitions and those that entrench the market power of big players, but Jim Chalmers rejected a “presumptive ban” on mergers.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Chalmers’ merger reforms will change dealmaking
The treasurer’s sweeping reforms will transform how deals are done in Australia, but could change the way the economy develops.
- James Thomson
The three big changes to merger laws and why they matter
In Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ landmark merger law proposal there are two key changes that will shift how deals are done, and one crucial area he did not touch.
- Hannah Wootton
- Analysis
- Competition
Chalmers embarks on legacy-building merger reforms
How the treasurer’s merger reforms end up working in practice will be known in just a few years. Whether they achieve their economic objective will not be known for decades.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- Mergers & acquisitions
Business relieved Gina Cass-Gottlieb didn’t win one key change
Jim Chalmers says a streamlined merger approvals process will deliver stronger, faster, simpler results. The ACCC gets more powers – just not as much as it wanted or business feared.
- Jennifer Hewett
March
The two pieces of advice that changed Gina Cass-Gottlieb’s life
The first was from pioneering lawyer Dame Roma Mitchell, and the second was from High Court chief justice Sir Garfield Barwick.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- The AFR View
We have to get the balance right in banking
Over-prescriptive and risk-averse rules on lending are not just a problem for bankers. They hobble the whole economy.
- The AFR View
When it comes to how we pay, Apple is coming for the big banks
Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn says policymakers need to be alert to the dangers of ceding important industries to global tech platforms without scrutiny.
- James Eyers
ACCC to target airlines as complaints flow
Bad service by the carriers will be an enforcement priority for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in 2024-25, which will begin with a lawsuit against Qantas in July.
- Ronald Mizen
Consumers think supermarket prices ‘unreasonable’: ACCC chairman
The competition watchdog’s chairman, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, has pledged to crack down on anticompetitive behaviour that raises the cost of living.
- Jenny Wiggins
February
Why it’s a dangerous time to make a big profit in Australia
Where once a strong result would be cause for celebration, today chief executives must walk a minefield of customer outrage, political indignation and investor agitation.
- Ronald Mizen
Banking and business lobby blast 583-day wait for ANZ’s Suncorp deal
The ACCC’s former chairman Graeme Samuel was also critical of the decision to block the deal, saying it was clear to him that it was wrong from the outset.
- Ronald Mizen
Woolworths chief Brad Banducci’s ominous temper flare
A Four Corners slip has made the Woolies CEO’s upcoming Senate appearance compulsory viewing.
- Myriam Robin
