Blogs and opinion pieces on Australian Competition Law

General - Bank competition - Petrol competition - Supermarket competition - National Broadband Network (NBN)

For opinion pieces relating to the Harper Review see Harper Review Media Page

Caron Beaton-Wells, Will Rod Sims' tougher approach pay off for the ACCC? (The Conversation, 7 September 2011)

Bradley, Name Changes and Fiddling: the TPA and the CCA (The New Lawyer, 14 December 2010) (inc price signalling)

Clarke, No New Competition Minister (Competition Law Blog, 20 September 2010)

Clarke, Which party has the best competition policy? (Competition Law Blog, 15 August 2010)

Durie, Politics scores over policy as the minority government outsmarts independents (The Australian, 27 November 2010)

Durie, The number of players in the NSW electricity market looks like declining (The Australian, 10 December 2010)

Gans, Antitrust and Apple (CoRE economics, 13 July 2010)

Gans, Apple's media core (The Age, 13 April 2010) (on possible competition issues with Apple and the iPad)

King, Are the AFL and NRL subject to antitrust? (CoRE economics, 27 January 2010)

King, Google and antitrust (CoRE economics, 1 December 2009)

King, 'Graeme Samuel: We’ve lost principled, analytical debate in this country' (The Conversation, 26 April 2012)

King, 'Hockey’s GrainCorp decision opens competition can of worms' (The Conversation, 3 December 2013)

King, 'Privatisation in Australia: as the ACCC opens a can of worms, what are the lessons on government ownership and regulation?' (The Conversation, 6 January 2014))

King, 'Why (inefficient) businesses want to limit competition' (The Conversation, 13 June 2013)

Alexandra Merrett, 'An ambitioius agenda for Harpers's competition review' (The Conversation, 1 April 2014)

Russell Miller, 'The Harper Review – let’s focus on what will make a real difference' (The Conversation, 2 April 2015)

Graeme Samuel and Stephen King, 'Let companies compete and consumers take the gains' (AFR, 7 April 2015)

Martyn Taylor, 'Digital disruption, big data… now Harper?' (AFR, 2 April 2015)

Zumbo, Our toothless consumer watchdog (The Punch, 27 October 2010) (small business rant)

Zumbo, So who really is the new Labor competition minister? (The Punch, 15 September 2010)

Durie, Politics behind tough on banks agenda (The Australian, 7 December 2010)

Gans, Dumping exit fees (CoRE economics, 8 November 2010)

Gans, Is there bank collusion (CoRE economics, 1 December 2010)

Gans, Let's talk about them exit fees (CoRE economics, 12 December 2010)

King, ATM fees and bank reform (CoRE economics, 27 November 2010)

King, Competition and banking (CoRE economics, 14 July 2009)

King, Senate banking inquiry (CoRE economics, 2 November 2010)

King, What should we be doing with the banks? (CoRE economics, 5 November 2010; AFR, 4 November 2010)

Zumbo, How Swan can actually make the banks pay (The Punch, 10 November 2010)

Caron Beaton-Wells and David Byrne, 'Fixing the fixers of petrol prices is no easy task' (The Conversation, 27 August 2014)

David Byrne, 'Price cycles and signalling in the petrol industry: what other markets can tell us' (The Conversation, 28 May 2012)

Dawson, 'The ACCC's 2014 resolution to end fuel discounts' (The Drum, 1 January 2014)

King, No petrol price reprieve for motorists this year' (The Conversation, 16 January 2014)

King, On petrol and pricing (CoRE economics, 23 May 2009)

Alexandra Merrett, 'Are shopper dockets anti-competitive? Good luck proving it' (The Conversation, 5 September 2013)

Caron Beaton-Wells, 'Supermarket monsters can be agents of change' (The Conversation, 7 July 2015).

Caron Beaton-Wells, 'Harper Review: a mixed basket for Coles and Woolworths' (The Conversation, 2 April 2015)

Beaton-Wells, 'Toughen up: what Australia’s supermarket code could learn from the UK' (The Conversation, 27 November 2013)'

Durie, Competition Watchdog set to rule on retail giants (The Australian, 5 June 2013)

Durie, ACCC to finally opine on Woolworths' plan for Glenmore Ridge store (The Australian, 4 June 2013)

King, FactCheck: do Coles and Woolies control 80% of the market? (The Conversation, 7 July 2013)

King, Food inflation and supermarket silliness (CoRE economics, 9 November 2009)

King, 'Groceries, power & fuel: crunch time for competition review' (The Conversation, 17 December 2013)

King, 'Graeme Samuel: the problem with petrol, the NBN and the 'scare campaign' against supermarkets' (The Conversation, 27 April 2012)

Alexandra Merrett, 'Supermarket Monsters: a reality check for another Australian myth' (LinkedIn Pulse, 7 October 2015)

Merrett, ACCC grocery inquiry will take a long time to bear fruit (The Conversation, 20 February 2013)

Merrett, 'ACCC signals strategic change in battle with supermarkets' (The Conversation, 6 May 2014)

Alexandra Merrett, 'Coles' milk deal gives supermarket suppliers a reason to be sour' (The Conversation, 23 April 2013)

Alexandra Merrett, 'Are shopper dockets anti-competitive? Good luck proving it' (The Conversation, 5 September 2013)

Alexandra Merrett, 'Too big to care: will Coles and Woolies lift their game in 2015?' (The Conversation, 2 February 2015)

Zumbo, Mr Emerson, tear down this supermarket duopoly (The Punch, 11 November 2009)

Zumbo, What are you really doing about grocery prices, PM? (The Punch, 17 March 2010)

Alexandra Merrett, Solution cobbled together in haste won't fix things (The Australian, 18 March 2013)

Gans, Confusion of broadband (CoRE economics, 21 June 2010)

Gans, Continuing confusion on braodband (CoRE economics, 22 June 2010)

Gans, How much is the NBN going to violate competition laws? (CoRE economics, 16 October 2010)

Gans, NBN: A Little Summary (CoRE economics, 16 September 2010)

Gans, NBN: There they go again (CoRE economics, 13 October 2010)

Gans, The NBN's Big Contradiction (CoRE economics, 5 December 2010)

Gans, 'Turnbull: "It has been trench warfare between the ACCC and Telstra for a long time"' (The Conversation, 1 September 2011)

King, Broadband policy (CoRE economics, 11 August 2010)

King, Is Telstra the developed world's most integrated private telco? (CoRE economics, 15 March 2010)

Beaton-Wells, Less rhetoric, more restraint required in 'cartel crackdown' (The Conversation, 28 March 2011)

Clarke, ACCC v Bridgestone Corporation (Competition Law Blog, 21 June 2010)

Clarke, Bank competition again – the Zumbo claims (Competition Law Blog, 12 November 2010)

Clarke, Banking competition (Competition Law Blog, 24 November 2010)

Dobbie, Are Cartels a Bad Thing? (BNET, 26 August 2009)

Durie, Pratt's tale straight out of the box (John Durie Blog, The Australian, 9 October 2007)

Durie, Punters paid for Pratt price rigging (John Durie Blog, The Australian, 17 October 2010)

Gans, Inside a cartel (CoRE economics, 8 November 2008)

King, E-book pricing (CoRE economics, 3 August 2010)

King, The problem with cartels (CoRE economics, 22 January 2009)

King, When competition gets too tough, how about collusion? (2 August 2010)

Clarke, Price signalling bill introduced (Competition Law Blog, 22 November 2010)

King, Price signalling and competition (CoRE economics, 9 November 2010)

Durie, Predatory pricing laws a nonsense (John Durie Blog, The Australian, 11 October 2007) (Birdsville amendments)

King, Predation in the air (CoRE economics, 24 October 2009)

King, 'Words matter. That's why the ACCC has got it wrong' (The Conversation, 3 September 2014)

Alexandra Merrett, 'Explainer: what is the competition ‘effects test’?' (The Conversation, 1 April 2015)

Samuel and King, 'The effect of the ACCC's ambitions is dangerous' (Australian Financial Review, 12 August 2014, page 47)

Darch, 'Clearance Trifecta' (In Competition, 6 October 2014)

King, APRA and bank mergers (CoRE economics, 1 October 2009)

King, FoodWorks and grocery wholesaling (CoRE economics, 21 July 2009)

King, Mergers and collusion (CoRE economics, 4 December 2010)

King, Mergers and tacit collusion (CoRE economics, 29 May 2010)

King, Samuel's 'new toy' is a bit old (CoRE economics, 19 February 2010) (on coordinated effects in merger analysis)

King, Transparency and mergers (CoRE economics, 2 October 2010)

Clarke, ACCC v Metcash (Competition Law Blog, 24 November 2010)

Durie, ACCC is right to challenge Metcash ruling (The Australian, 9 September 2011)

Durie, Decision by Metcash, Franklins open challenge to competition watchdog (The Australian, 23 November 2010)

Durie, Metcash chief Andrew Reitzer defies ACCC ruling on Franklins (The Australian, 24 November 2010)

Clarke, Creeping Acquisitions Bill Introduced (Competition Law Blog, 27 May 2010)

Clarke, Creeping Acquisitions - They Won't Go Away (Competition Law Blog, 9 March 2010)

Clarke, Creeping Acquisition Amendments Revisited (Competition Law Blog, 4 February 2010) (Definition of market)

Clarke, No need for ‘substantial’ markets for mergers? (Competition Law Blog, 22 January 2010)

Clarke, Senate Committee rejects amendments to merger laws (Competition Law Blog, 13 May 2010) (Richmond Amendment)

Durie, Craig Emerson plans changes to the law to stop creeping takeovers (The Australian, 22 January 2010)

King, Creeping aquisitions (CoRE economics, 4 July 2009)

King, Creeping acquisitions and changes to the Trade Practices Act (CoRE economics, 10 May 2009)

King, Further Richmond Lunacy (CoRE economics, 2 December 2010)

King, Goodbye to substantial markets? (CoRE economics, 22 January 2010)

King, Mergers, synonyms and the Richmond amendment (1 December 2010)

Clarke, Telstra fined more than $18m for competition law breaches (Competition Law Blog, 30 July 2010) (access, compliance)

Alexandra Merrett, 'Government Inc: time to revisit competitive neutrality' (The Conversation, 14 July 2014)

Clarke, Telstra fined more than $18m for competition law breaches (Competition Law Blog, 30 July 2010) (access, compliance)

Clarke, ACCC v Bridgestone Corporation (Competition Law Blog, 21 June 2010)

Clarke, ACCC v Bridgestone Corporation (Competition Law Blog, 21 June 2010)

Clarke, C7 ... again (6 December 2009)

Clarke, Telstra fined more than $18m for competition law breaches (Competition Law Blog, 30 July 2010) (access, compliance)