- Introduction
- The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics is empowered to inquire into, and report on, the annual reports of government departments and authorities tabled in the House that stand referred to the Committee in accordance with the Speaker’s schedule.
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) annual reports stand referred to the Committee in accordance with this schedule. The Committee resolved to conduct an inquiry into the ACCC’s 2021 Annual Report on 9 August 2022, then extended the inquiry to cover the 2022 Annual Report and the 2023 Annual Report, through resolutions on 29 March 2023 and 29 November 2023, respectively.
- The ACCC is an independent Commonwealth statutory authority whose role is to enforce the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and a range of additional legislation. It also regulates national infrastructure, such as energy and telecommunications. The ACCC aims to protect consumers and strengthen competitive markets, thereby increasing the prosperity and welfare of all Australians.
- The ACCC has a chair, deputy chairs, commissioners and associate members. Appointments to the ACCC involve participation by the Commonwealth, and state and territory governments. The ACCC currently comes under the portfolio responsibilities of the Treasury. The ACCC’s role complements that of state and territory consumer affairs agencies which administer consumer protection legislation in their jurisdictions, and the consumer and competition policy work of the Treasury.
- The ACCC’s annual reports are joint annual reports with the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). The AER is an independent decision-making body responsible for regulating wholesale and retail energy markets and networks, under national energy legislation and rules.
Scope and conduct of the review
1.6The ACCC appeared before the Committee at a public hearing in Canberra on 11October 2022 and by videoconference on 14 February 2025 as part of the Committee’s review of the ACCC’s 2021, 2022 and 2023 annual reports. The witness lists for the public hearings are provided at Appendix A.
1.7Hearing proceedings were streamed on the Parliament’s website, allowing interested parties to view and listen to the proceedings as they occurred. The transcripts of the hearings are available on the Committee’s website. The ACCC’s responses to the Committee’s questions in writing are also available on the Committee’s website and listed at Appendix B.
1.8The ACCC also appeared before the Committee on 17 March 2023 in relation to the Committee’s inquiry into promoting economic dynamism, competition and business formation, as well as on 22 March 2024 in relation to the Committee’s inquiry into insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims. However, such proceedings are out of scope for discussion in this report.
Structure of the report
1.9The following chapter summarises key discussions at the public hearings in October 2022 and February 2025 in relation to both competition and consumer protection.
1.10Key competition topics included mergers and acquisitions (including discussion of major Government reforms), developments in natural gas markets, petrol taxation, greenwashing and the Net Zero transition, aviation and recent Government policy changes to improve competition and slot management at airports, and issues in Australia’s supermarket sector.
1.11Key consumer protection issues discussed included scams, the Optus data breach in September 2022 (and consumer data privacy more generally), relations between large and small businesses (particularly unfair contract terms), consumer protections for travellers, alleged misleading pricing claims by the major supermarkets, card payment surcharging practices, insurance industry issues, and the impact of breaches of consumer law on vulnerable customers.
1.12The chapter concludes with a summary of discussion of other issues relating to ACCC capability and performance, and the ACCC’s upcoming priorities.