CEDA – Competition Policy Reform

Keynote speaker The Hon Minister Bruce Billson

1 July 2015

Introduction: Zaven Mardirossian

Hi everyone and thanks for joining us today for this highly-anticipated event.

As Michael mentioned, my name is Zaven Mardirossian and I head the competition

department at Arnold Bloch Leibler.

First, I would like to thank our friends at CEDA for the opportunity to chair this event. Today’s
another example of the very important role that CEDA plays in promoting public debate in
this country.

Minister Billson will today provide his comments and views on the Competition Policy
Review.

Afterwards, there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

The Review
The Review Panel was chaired by Professor Ian Harper, who addressed a CEDA function
only a couple of months ago. The Review will forever be known as the Harper Review.

The Review released its Final Report in March, just 12 months after it commenced.

It’s a credit to the Review and its staff that they were able to complete their work so quickly.
The Review’s terms of reference were very broad. Their objective no less ambitious. The
team was tasked with the first major review of Australia’s competition law, policy and
institutions for 20 years.

Their report follows in the footsteps of the Hilmer Review - which was widely credited with
significantly boosting the productivity of the Australian economy.

Boosting productivity is no less important to the Australian economy today. Australia and the
world have changed dramatically since 1993. From the outset, the Review put its work in the
context of some of the major forces now shaping the economy. They include the digital
revolution, the rise of Asia and the aging population.

The Final Report is wide-ranging. It makes more than 50 recommendations relating to

Australia’s competition laws and institutions. The recommendations also cover human
services, transport, intellectual property, government activity in business, infrastructure,
utilities, supermarkets and, of course, small business.

For example, under the recommendations, businesses dealing with government can now
have greater confidence that government will abide by the same standards businesses are
expected to comply with. The joint venture defence for cartel conduct would also be
expanded. So too the application of our consumer law to overseas businesses.
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These three recommendations alone will be of significant benefit to many industries,

including construction, retail and the online economy. They will also create a more level
playing field for Australian businesses currently competing against imported products, which
are not required to comply with our laws against unsafe goods, or misleading and deceptive
behaviour.

In my view, it’s a bit of a shame that most of the headlines have concerned the debate about
the so-called “effects test” for misuse of market power in section 46.

In reality, it is the recommendations in other areas that are likely to deliver improved
economic performance; that of course being the main game.

It’s critical that our political leaders take up the challenge, and opportunity, presented by the
Harper Review. For Australia, the stakes are simply too high to put the Review into the “too-
hard basket”.

At Arnold Bloch Leibler, we have been big supporters of the Review process. We’ve taken
the opportunity to make extensive submissions at each stage of the consultation process.

We were pleased that almost all of the views we and our clients raised were endorsed in the
Final Report.

Introduce Professor Allan Fels AO

Now let me introduce our first speaker, Professor Allan Fels.

Allan is one of Australia’s leading and best-known authorities on competition policy. He is a

visiting professor at Melbourne, Monash and Oxford Universities and an Officer of the Order
of Australia.

Allan was of course for many years the Chairman of the Trade Practices Commission and
the ACCC. He was then the Foundation Dean of the Australia and New Zealand School of
Government until 2012, when he was appointed Professor of Government.

We have been delighted to work with Allan for many years, as a consultant to Arnold Bloch
Leibler.

Allan has been very prominent in the public debate about the major issues regarding the
Harper Review. It is very fitting that he is here to address us today.

So please join me in welcoming Professor Allan Fels to the microphone.

Introduce The Hon. Bruce Billson, MP

It’s now my pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker for today, the Minister for Small
Business and Federal Member for Dunkley, the Honourable Bruce Billson MP.
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Minister Billson has no doubt spent many hours poring over the Harper Review’s Final
Report, since it was handed to him in March.

He has certainly engaged in extensive consultation on the Review, with key industry
stakeholders and the legal community.

The Review has not shied away from making recommendations that may be considered
controversial or politically courageous. The government is to be commended for allowing the
Review to open up public debate.

We have not agreed with every aspect of the Review’s Final Report.

For example, we think the Review was an opportunity to improve the ACCC’s immunity
policy for cartel conduct — a policy which is instrumental in enabling the ACCC to find out
about illegal cartels. It is critical that the immunity regime provides certainty for applicants
that immunity will be granted if the relevant criteria are satisfied. Without that certainty,
applicants will not come forward with information, fearing self-incrimination and prosecution.

As for the “effects test”, and speaking from the viewpoint of a competition litigator, it seems to
me the proposed law delegates a lot of the difficult issues to the courts to sort out - on a
case-by-case basis. This means it will take a long period of time before we have clear judicial
precedents on predatory pricing, refusals to deal, information sharing, access to essential
facilities and other situations.

Of course, those precedents may not meet the high expectations of the “effects test”.

Let me now introduce, our guest of honour, the Honourable Bruce Billson MP.

Minister Billson was first elected to Federal Parliament in March 1996, representing the outer
Melbourne coastal electorate of Dunkley.

As a part of the Howard Government, he was a Parliamentary Secretary in the portfolios of

Foreign Affairs, Trade and Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. He also served
as the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence from
2006 to 2007.

From December 2009, he served as the Shadow Minister for Small Business. He was sworn
in as the Minister for Small Business in the Abbott Government in September 2013.

As a former small business owner, he is well placed to understand and address the issues
facing small business owners. He has made a commitment to restoring confidence in the
sector, encouraging growth and driving employment and innovation.

Please join me in welcoming Minister Bruce Billson.