Treasurer Jim Chalmers will confront big companies with tougher laws to stop monopolies and protect consumers as part of a wider agenda to respond to a landmark report that warns of slower growth and lower living standards.
Former competition regulator Allan Fels urged the government to toughen the laws to prevent damage to the economy from industries dominated by a few companies that have greater power to push up prices.“There are signs the economy is stagnating due to a lack of competition, and the problem gets more serious every day that passes,” Fels said on Tuesday.The ACCC’s chair earlier this year suggested changes to require companies to gain approval before a merger.
ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb earlier this year suggested changes to require companies to gain approval before a merger, picking up options advocated by her predecessor, Rod Sims, but rejected by the Coalition when it was in power. “That level of concentration, according to all economic study, damages productivity. So if you want to promote productivity, you’ve got to improve competition.”Assistant Treasury Minister Andrew Leigh, a key figure in the new review, has warned in several speeches that market concentration is getting worse and is hurting smaller employers, with the new business startup rate lower in the 2010s than it was in the 2000s.