Twenty-first Colin Clark Lecture: November 2011/Competition Regulation in Australia: A Report Card

In this paper I present a ’report card’ on the current state of Australia’s competition laws, focusing on antitrust laws. I consider the three core antitrust provisions in the Australian Competition and Consumer Act (2010) – the laws against cartels, abuse of market power and anticompetitive mergers. In each of these areas, particularly cartels, I find that Australia’s laws could be significantly improved. I also consider more innovative reforms to Australia’s competition regulations, to improve the transparency of pricing and to reduce customer switching costs. I note that these reforms have been broadly successful.