Competing fairly

Law changes needed to tackle market power

Australia must do all it can to align the interests of business and society through sound laws that address some of the more damaging consequences of market power, ACCC Chair Rod Sims said today.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on ‘Tackling Market Power in the Covid-19 Era’, Mr Sims said it was crucial for Australia to tackle the issue of market power as it sought to recover economically from the pandemic and deal with the implications of an ever-growing digital economy.

September 2020 interim report

On 23 October 2020, the ACCC released its first interim report as part of its inquiry into markets for the supply of digital platform services. This report provides an in-depth focus on online private messaging services in Australia. It also updates the ACCC’s previous analysis in relation to search and social media platforms and identifies competition and consumer issues common across these platforms.

ACCC to monitor competition in the domestic airline market

The ACCC welcomes today’s direction from the Australian Government to actively monitor and regularly report on the domestic air travel market, particularly in relation to its competitiveness.

The aviation industry globally has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and is a critical industry to Australia.

“A strong aviation industry is vital for Australian consumers and the economy more broadly, and for our way of life,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.

“We welcome this opportunity to help ensure competition in this market at this time.”

Concepts paper

On 19 May 2020, the ACCC released a concepts paper seeking views on each of the issues to be covered in a mandatory code to address bargaining power imbalances between Australian news media business and each of Google and Facebook.