The Competitive Edge

Partners Elizabeth Avery and Simon Muys take us through the latest on the merger reform debate, how the ACCC's position has evolved and how its package deal might be unbundled.   Plus time is a flat circle with supermarket inquiries and the cozzie livs, disrupting the Chocolate Cartel with Willy Dubs, expensive typos from Mariner I to the latest real estate scams, and dance hall revivals from West...

Special Counsel Amelia McKellar guides us through the multiverse of multijurisdictional ("MJ") mergers, and how to navigate the conjunction of thresholds, deadlines, agencies and advisers and arrive at the singularity of success. Plus submissions at 20 paces in the merger reform debate, Apple tells the regulators they've been holding it wrong, lessons in Wonkanomics, and a busy year ahead for the...

OECD Competition Committee Chair Professor Frédéric Jenny joins us to talk about the long arc of the competition law universe, from the Chicago School through COVID to climate change, digital platforms and artificial intelligence. Plus motorways and Rebel Wilson, the inaugural GCR Live conference in Sydney, greenwashing ocean-bound plastics, both kinds of RPM, the Government response to Reppo No....

Even as maximum corporate penalties go through the roof, there may be more deterrence in pursuing a business's officers and employees. Partner  Liana Witt  talks us through individual liability for competition law contraventions and how not to end up as the anti-hero. Plus Treasury consults on changes to the merger process; new leadership and new expectations for the Productivity Commission; the H...

Partner Geoff Petersen gives us the buzz on the new National Energy Objectives, which now include the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the ACCC's authorisation of Brookfield’s acquisition of Origin Energy on green grounds, and what they mean for competition as the energy transition accelerates. Plus A.I. from the Beatles to Bletchley Park; the full line-up of the Competition Review Expert Ad...

Partner Louise Klamka reads the contrails on the airline sector, including the ACCC's case against Qantas and its rejection of Qantas's acquisition of Alliance, the Government's Aviation White Paper, the Senate Inquiry into Bilateral Air Service Agreements and the need to look closely at the role airports play in aviation competition. Plus competition vs climate in the Brookfield/MidOcean acquisit...

NYU antitrust legend Eleanor Fox joins us to discuss the evolving nature of antitrust; the tensions between agencies, lawmakers and courts; and convergence and divergence between competition law jurisdictions. Plus negotiating AI in Brussels and Hollywood, a clearer picture of the FTC's case against Amazon's "Project Nessie", and late changes to the High Court's starting seven. All this and more w...

Partners Elizabeth Avery and Louisa Klamka return from the International Antitrust Forum in the home counties with all the latest on competition practice and enforcement around the world. Regulators are embracing novel theories of harm, but what do the courts think? All will be revealed – to the extent permitted by the Chatham House Rule. Plus the Matildas make the anti-siphoning list, the ACCC te...

Partner  Jeremy Jose  brings us up to date on the rolling boil that is gas market regulation in Australia. What's the latest on the gas trigger, the price cap and the mandatory code of conduct, and how is this helping us towards net-zero? Plus consumer protection and the Women's World Cup, record penalties for the ACCC with more on the runway, more to the Triple Threat than meets the eye, a new ki...

Former Human Rights Commissioner Prof  Ed Santow  of the UTS Human Technology Institute joins G+T's  Simon Burns ,  Andrew Hii  and  Jen Bradley  to discuss A.I. governance and ethics, sexy powerpoints and The Simpsons. Plus the Microsoft/Activision merger levels up, the ACCC grapples with greenwashing, the Tower of Babel is looking kind of shaky, and what's the deal with Secure-a-Spot not securin...

Collaboration or Collusion? Partner Elizabeth Avery and lawyer Radha Rathi run the ruler over agreements between rivals for sustainability goals, as authorities around the world weigh the competitive landscape against the actual one. Plus traffic lights for toll roads, the sound of mergers, dark patterns in the FTC's case against Amazon, a Marxist critique of artificial intelligence, and fusion ce...

Climate change and sustainability partner Ilona Millar takes us through the new obligations and imperatives facing many businesses to address their environmental impacts -- individually or through industry collaborations. Plus the ACCC solves a cashflow problem in the Prosegur/Armaguard authorisation, the global golf merger gets into the rough, fresh legs on the field of competition and regulation...

US DOJ economist  Dr Brian Clark  joins us to talk about equity and antitrust, labor and monopsony markets, and what Stephen King has in common with poultry processors. Plus the latest on Microsoft's Activision acquisition from the CMA, DG COMP, the FTC and the ACCC, Woolworths' Karabar carry-on, Justice French's arsonist bounces into life, and lawyers learn the limits of large language models.  ...

Springtime in Washington: G+T lawyer Anna Belgiorno-Nettis spoke at the world's largest antitrust meeting and now reports back on equity and fairness in competition law, how the major antitrust jurisdictions are getting things done, and how Australia stacks up. Plus the world's friendliest conference and the Chatham House rule, the latest on digital platforms, including the UK's DMU and DMCC and t...

Special Counsel Sarah Lynch brings us all sorts of reports on ports, as NSW Ports scores a win against the ACCC and critical infrastructure and privatisation remain in the crosshairs for regulators and enforcers. Plus the ACCC's plans to overhaul merger approvals and turn back the Qantas acquisition of Alliance; the new Stanford AI Index and our own index of Als and Alis; severed Viking heads and...

It's been a busy first year for the new Australian government, with big changes in competition and consumer law and regulation and plenty more to come. Dr Leigh MP tells us what brought him to his portfolio, what keeps him going and how he sees concentration in Australian markets. Plus the Productivity Inquiry meets the Economic Dynamism Inquiry, a virtual ecosystem of digital ecosystem news from...

Partner Simon Muys returns from the International Bar Association Competition Conference in Italy with the latest developments in European competition law, digging into the  Jarndyce- scale Intel litigation and the Illumina/Grail blood offering. What do these trends reveal and what do they mean for Australia in a time of global antitrust coordination and domestic change? We ask the Machine.   Plus...

ACCC Chair  Gina Cass-Gottlieb , consumer advocate  Gerard Brody  and G+T partner  Elizabeth Avery  discuss the role of fairness in competition and consumer law and the proposed prohibition on unfair trading practices . With a special introduction from Assistant Minister for Competition  Dr Andrew Leigh . Plus a course change for privacy protections with the Attorney-General's Report, cartels and...

Dr Philip Marsden is a Professor of Law and Economics, an ultra-marathon runner, an antitrust rapper and a co-author of the Furman report into digital competition, and he joins us to talk about all these things and more. Plus everything that's happened since the last episode: regulations, consultations, user locations, triangulations, revised variations, and artificial intelligence gets fast and f...

Half-time at the ACCC's five-year Digital Platform Services Inquiry sees the agency reflecting on changes in the high-tech sector and recommending a new approach to regulation, with up-front or ex-ante rulemaking in additional to traditional enforcement. Digital Platforms Branch General Manager Kate Reader discusses the ACCC's proposals and what they would mean for big tech, small business and con...

Group leader Elizabeth Avery reports from a world tour of competition law conferences with an update on the new progressive antitrust which is quickly occupying the mainstream in the US, Europe and beyond. Plus  ex ante  or up-front regulation on the horizon with latest Interim Report in the Digital Platform Services Inquiry, an update on merger reform proposals, a lamentable rise in poetry scams,...

Our illustrious alum the Hon Michelle Rowland, Minister for Communications, joins us to talk about the broadband repair job, sports broadcasting in the age of streaming, cyber security and the road from G+T to the Ministry. Plus new penalties for privacy breaches after Optus and Medibank; antitrust tackles the gender pay gap in Mexican football; and we're going a bit crazy waiting for DPSI Interim...

Are regulators ready for AI? Or do they need AI to help them? Peter Waters decodes the multiple challenges regulators face, and reprograms us for an innovation mindset as AI reaches from human brains to horses' feet, from detecting cartels to creating questionable art. Plus a new sequel to the Hilmer and Harper reforms, new merger process proposals on the horizon, and small duchesses and scant bat...

It's state vs state as national regulation lags behind environmental imperatives. Special Counsel Geoff Petersen takes us through how regulated industries are shaped by the turbulent history of federalism - including Mark Twain's train ride to Albury. Plus the real takeaway from the Optus hack, new maximum penalties, an overhaul of unfair contract terms provisions and we raise the curtain on Opera...

USC  Professor Danny Sokol   joins Partner  Louise Klamka  and Special Counsel  Haidee Leung   to interrogate the need for digital specific regulation. Why the rush for  ex ante  rules?  What are the risks for Australia's transition to a more digital future? And what does all this have to do with soup? Plus two red lights from the  ACCC  for Qantas, what The Merge means for the future of Web3, no...