Competition

As 2011 fast comes to an end it’s timely to reflect on the significant policy reforms that gave small businesses a helping hand during the year. Central to these reforms has been the move towards Small Business Commissioners around the country.

The year started off with the South Australian Small Business Minister, Tom Koutsantonis, launching a period of wide ranging consultation with small businesses in that State.

With South Australia’s draft small business commissioner reforms unveiled in February and explained during information briefing sessions across Adelaide and regional South Australia, there was considerable excitement amongst small business and farmers that they would finally have an independent person to turn to in the event of a dispute with a larger business.

Continue reading "Zumbo’s wrap: What 2011 meant for small business" »

Have you ever taken a case to court? Are you a small business person who has taken a franchisor or a shopping centre landlord to court? Did your lawyers charge you an arm and a leg? Did your legal and court costs spiral out of control?

The sad reality is that the cost of justice is now unaffordable for many people including small businesses. With lawyers charging anything up to $1,000 plus an hour for legal advice, it’s clear that the average consumer or small business simply cannot afford to go to a lawyer, let alone to court.

There is no shortage of stories where a small business person has been hit with tens of thousands or more of legal costs from their own lawyers. Then there is the potential of having to pay for the other side’s legal costs if the small business person loses.

Continue reading "Law: the ultimate monopoly" »

We always hear about how important small business is to the economy, but we don’t often hear about governments standing up for small businesses when it comes to effective competition and consumer laws. Why? Quite simply because small businesses are all too often the ignored members of our society.

The small business sector is a big employer and small business people put in some of the longest working hours operating their businesses. They can be super efficient because it’s their money on the line. There are no corporate overheads or bloated performance bonuses because the money they make is generally put back into the business.

Small businesses survive on their excellent customer service and help drive innovation and product choice in their chosen areas of the economy. While they keep the big players honest, they can be victims of abuses of market or contractual power by those big players.

Continue reading "Small businesses aren’t muppets. They’re a BIG deal." »

If you’re willing to sleep around, don’t be surprised if your partner gives you the cold shoulder.

This week the nation cried foul at the thought of Qantas, our beloved flying kangaroo, shooting through to Asia.

First of all, Qantas hasn’t done a runner. As CEO Alan Joyce says, the company is looking to shed 1000 of its 35,000-strong Australian workforce and establish two news carriers in Asia to increase its global competitiveness.

Continue reading "Qantas is perfectly entitled to spread its wings" »

Well, the time has come for Graeme Samuel to finish up as ACCC Chairman. His departure will no doubt provoke mixed feelings and for that reason it’s worth pondering some of the alternative perspectives on Samuel’s tenure at the ACCC.

There will be those that will applaud his departure for the simple reason that they believe that Samuel could have done much more to promote vigorous and effective competition in a wide variety of sectors. With key Australian sectors having become more highly concentrated during Samuel’s time at the ACCC, there is a real and growing danger that consumers will increasingly be price gouged.

Samuel doesn’t appear to be too concerned about the growing concentration in key sectors. Free market theorists like to say that Australia is a small market and because of that we shouldn’t be too concerned if we end up with just a couple of large and powerful companies dominating particular sectors.

Continue reading "ACCC boss departs not with a bang but a whimper" »

So the ACCC has allowed another acquisition that over time will be detrimental to competition and consumers.

If you were not otherwise distracted by the upcoming extended long Easter/ANZAC day weekend, you would have noticed that last Thursday the ACCC put out a media release stating that it will not be opposing the Woolworths acquisition of the Cellarmasters Liquor Group.

Now apart from sending out the release just before a long weekend where for obvious reasons less media attention would be given to the ACCC failure to act, the ACCC’s decision not to oppose the Woolworths acquisition is not surprising. In fact, the ACCC only opposes a tiny number of mergers and acquisitions under our existing competition laws.

Continue reading "Woolworths the fresh booze people" »

There is a glossy protest poster which rural conservative MPs put up in their parliamentary offices in Canberra last month. It features a bag of groceries under the words “Can you afford to pay Labor’s carbon tax?”

It’s a fair question. Oddly it’s a question being put by the same group of people who are conspiring to make sure that we all pay much more than we need to for our milk.

The National Party and country Liberal MPs have been joined by consumer advocates and competition crusaders in denouncing the conduct of supermarket giant Coles in forcing a price war not only over milk but beer, petrol, even barbecued chooks.

Continue reading "Check out the hypocrisy in the war on supermarkets" »

The so-called supermarket milk price war is not the only thing heating up. The debate surrounding the future of brand name products on our supermarket shelves is also heating up.

Central to both is the growing power of Coles and Woolworths. Together the supermarket giants operate 87 per cent of full line supermarkets over 2,000 square metres. As we know, they have spread their tentacles to petrol, liquor and banking services.

Like major armies on the march, Coles and Woolworths first establish a beachhead in a particular targeted sector of the economy and then spread out to take more and more territory in that sector until they are either stopped or they march their way to “victory.” Once victorious they can impose their “way” on those they deal with, including suppliers and even consumers.

Continue reading "The death of brands is much closer than you think" »

ATM fees have long been a sticky topic. For many people, paying an ATM transaction fee is an unwelcome but accepted fact of life.

For Indigenous Australians in remote communities however, ATM fees can have a significant impact on their life, swiftly eroding their humble bank balance.

This is the finding of a report released late last year by the feisty Australian Financial Counselling and Credit Reform Association (AFCCRA), titled “ATM Fees in Indigenous Communities”, which focussed on excessive ATM fees in remote communities.

Continue reading "When banks rob people at ten bucks a hit" »

With Australia continuing to have some of the fastest growing food prices in the developed world, you have to wonder if Australian consumers are being milked by the major supermarket chains.

After all, Coles and Woolworths control over 87% of Australian supermarkets over 2,000 square metres. That clearly gives them plenty of market power which allows them to push up grocery prices and hence Australia’s food inflation.

Sometimes, however, they keep us guessing about their real agenda. So while we are hearing a lot about fresh milk prices coming down, we don’t hear much about what’s happening with other prices being charged elsewhere in the supermarket or at petrol bowsers linked to Coles or Woolworths.

Continue reading "Don’t be fooled, the supermarkets are milking us" »

As entertaining as the game was, the best action in yesterday’s Super Bowl was off the field.

In the second quarter, Motorola ran a one minute ad which parodied Ridley Scott’s bold, apocalyptic 1984 Apple ad.

In Scott’s ad, Apple seemed to be implying that the world of personal computing, circa the actual year 1984, was dominated by a Big Brother-like power (IBM, anyone?) more reminiscent of Orwell’s fictional 1984.

Continue reading "Motorola taunts Apple: “Who’s Big Brother now?”" »

Were you watching petrol prices in the lead up to Christmas 2010? If you were, then you would have noticed that the average retail price of unleaded petrol was going up around Australia.

So what was behind the price hike in the lead up to Christmas? Well, there were a number of possible reasons, all of which meant that motorists were generally paying more than they needed to for petrol during the festive season. Some of these reasons, as we will see, also meant that motorists were paying inflated prices in some places.

Let’s start at the retail end and work our way back to international petrol and oil prices.

Continue reading "Why petrol is so freakin’ expensive during the holidays" »

Rather than go in to bat for Australian consumers, local retailers are supporting a campaign to reduce competition and make us pay more. With that attitude, it’s little wonder so many of us are looking online when we go shopping. 

Electronics retailer Gerry Harvey kicked off the war against consumers last November when he called on the government to remove the GST exemption for goods purchased online from overseas.

He also revealed that lobbying of politicians to effect this outcome had been underway for some time. 

Continue reading "Big retailers are declaring war on competition" »

As the public anger against the four big banks continues, we wait with an air of expectation for Wayne Swan’s latest bank “reform” package to be announced.

This is not Swan’s first “reform” package. He announced one before and while some may have been excited about that earlier package, any excitement quickly faded as that package fizzled and the four big banks continued to thumb their nose at the Federal Treasurer.

Until independent competition and the conditions that allow independent competition to flourish are restored, consumers will continue to be gouged by the four big banks. Here’s a 12 point plan that might help provide a coordinated and targeted approach to the restoration of independent competition.

Continue reading "12 things Wayne Swan can do to tackle the Big 4 banks" »

Have you ever wondered what impact our competition regulator, the ACCC, is really having? Well just ask around small business circles and you will hear the word “useless” more often than not. Perhaps small businesses are a bunch of “whingers” or perhaps they are sick and tired of feeling second rate with the ACCC not understanding how small businesses are being driven out of business as a result of anti-competitive practices by the big end of town.

And, don’t stop at small businesses. Ask motorists what they think of the ACCC and its Petrol Commissioner. Ask them if they know who the Petrol Commissioner is and what he does. Ask borrowers what they think of the ACCC decisions to allow the majors to take over St George and BankWest. Again, the words “toothless tiger” are not uncommon.

Now that’s really sad as the ACCC should command respect, and fear in potential wrongdoers. Clearly, the ACCC should be a world class competitition regulator. It’s staff members are professional and many have been there a long time.

Continue reading "Our toothless consumer watchdog" »

Have you or anyone you know owned a franchised business? If not, are you considering buying a franchised business?

More generally, what do you think about franchising as a business model? Well, for many people franchising is seen as a potentially exciting way of doing business.

However, for a growing number of people the shine has well and truly worn off and for these people franchising is a trap for the unsuspecting ; a trap that too many rogue franchisors are setting for prospective and existing franchisees.

Continue reading "Exposing the franchising trap" »

Competition in corporate Australia has always been fierce.  Everyone wants the best people, systems, products and services.

But behind the smiles and claims to the contrary, everyone from the Chairman down wants to get one up on their direct competitors on every metric that matters. 

At stake are bonuses, bragging rights and most important of all, continued survival in the corporate jungle.

Continue reading "Indigenous skills: let market forces triumph" »

While enjoying a nice Saturday afternoon news came through that Julia had announced her new ministry. Immediately this author combed through the list looking for the name of the new competition minister. Alas, there was no specific mention of competition on the list of portfolio responsibilities. Nor was there specific reference to consumer affairs on the portfolio list.

Now that’s disappointing. Was the omission of an express mention of competition and consumer policy an oversight? Or was there an implication that these were not considered sufficiently important in the new Labor minority Government?

Well there is an old saying that if you have a choice between a conspiracy or a stuff up, then you first go for the stuff up. That makes sense as references to conspiracies usually attract suggestions of paranoia. So let’s stick to the possible stuff up theory.

Continue reading "So who really is the new Labor competition minister?" »

Have you ever wondered where you can buy the cheapest petrol or groceries? Well, if you have, then you would know that such information is not readily available.

You may try and search for the information, but in Australia you will soon find that there is generally no single place to get it. Yes, there may be some pricing information out there but it may be very limited, out of date or not in a readily accessible form.

In practice, this lack of full price transparency places you, the consumer, at a severe disadvantage. How many times have you driven by a petrol station offering one price only to find another service station down the road offering a cheaper price? What if you had decided to go into the first service station to buy your petrol only to later drive by the cheaper service station down the road? We have all been there and felt ripped off in the process.

Continue reading "Transparent fuel and grocery prices: time for another go?" »

With petrol prices on the rise again and a federal election fast approaching, the Federal Government is scrambling to get some runs on the board. After the Fuelwatch debacle and with the first ACCC Petrol Commissioner having resigned very quickly, the Government’s tough talk on petrol prices has remained just talk.

So why does the Federal Government continue to fumble the ball so badly on petrol prices? Well, quite simply because of their continued failure to tackle the underlining problems. These problems are far reaching and together they ensure that the oil companies and Coles and Woolworths maintain and extend their stranglehold of over the petrol industry.

In fact, the Federal Government’s repeated failure to tackle the dominance of the oil companies and Coles and Woolworths lies at heart of their failure to deliver on their election promise to put downward pressure on petrol prices. Like their promise to do the same for grocery prices, the petrol promise has delivered nothing for motorists.

Continue reading "Why Australian motorists are still under the pump" »

Do consumers want cheaper prices and greater product choices? Of course they do and that’s why it is essential that more Costco supermarkets open up around Australia.

Costco is a US company that operates retail warehouses where people can become members for a yearly fee which then entitles them to shop at a massive warehouse offering products at substantial discounts to competitors.

By way of background, Costco has about 563 warehouses worldwide with around 410 operated in the US, and the remainder operated in Canada, Mexico, the UK, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Australia. We currently only have one Costco in Melbourne’s Docklands which opened on 17 August 2009.

Continue reading "People get Costco, but does the Minister?" »

With a federal election fast approaching it’s time for voters to start evaluating Mr Rudd’s performance on supermarket issues.

For Mr Rudd there is no escaping that grocery prices remain literally a bread and butter issue for all Australians.

With struggling families certainly not pleased with ever rising grocery prices and with swinging voters unlikely to be impressed with the fact that Australia still faces some of the highest levels of food inflation in the developed world, Mr Rudd certainly has some convincing to do.

Continue reading "What are you really doing about grocery prices, PM?" »

If it wasn’t enough that Australians consistently face some of the fastest growing food prices in the developed world as a result of the dominance of Coles and Woolworths, the major banks have decided to join the price gouging club.

With the Commonwealth Bank showing strong profit growth and Westpac announcing a profit upgrade, it’s clear the four major banks are some of most profitable in the world. Profitable banks are a good thing I hear you say. Yes, but profiteering banks are not a good thing for the economy and consumers. When does profitable become profiteering?

Simple. It’s when competition has diminished to a point where the four major banks can raise interest rates at will. It’s competition that keeps everyone honest and where that competition is removed the remaining players can price gouge. It doesn’t take an economics degree to work that out.

Continue reading "Sit back and enjoy as the four banks gouge you" »

How long have you been with your bank? When was the last time you switched all your accounts to another bank?

If you’re like most Australians the answer will either be “never” or “years ago”.

And there’s your reason why bank service will never be quite up to scratch. It’s us. We’re bank suckers. We talk about how banks treat us, and the poor level of service, but that’s all we do. Talk.

Continue reading "Rebelling against banks can make them lift their game" »

Well, well, we’ve had another couple of rounds in the battle of the supermarket PR wars. First, we saw Woolworths and Coles continue their expensive media campaigns telling us about their “single pricing policy.” Then last week came the launch of the Woolworths “price check” website.

On each occasion we were told how “good” the particular announcement was for consumers only to find that the supermarket chains had failed to give consumers the full picture. Statements were made about “price cuts,” but consumers didn’t get the full list of products affected and the price changes.

Woolworths, for example, repeatedly told us that the price of 3,500 products had been reduced and now the prices of those products were lower than a year ago. We are still to get the full list of 3,500 items and price reductions. We are also yet to be told whether there have been any price rises on any of the other 26,500 or more products typically sold at a Woolworths or Coles supermarket.

Continue reading "The supermarkets’ ongoing ‘conspiracy against the poor’" »

As we enter an election year it’s opportune to reflect on the Federal Government’s track record on petrol issues. In doing so, it will become very obvious that the Federal Government, like the previous government, has been fumbling the ball very badly on petrol issues and motorists are paying the price.

Let’s start when the Labor party was in opposition.

Grand promises were made and expectations raised amongst the voters that Labor was different to the then Coalition Government. Kevin Rudd, Wayne Swan and Chris Bowen promised us a “tough petrol cop on the beat.” Great, you may have thought! The only thing is that we already supposedly had a “competition cop” on the beat. It’s called the ACCC.

Continue reading "Canberra can do more to cut petrol prices" »

Sadly for consumers, Governments of all persuasions are often tempted to offer gimmicks rather than direct action in dealing with consumer issues.

Direct action, of course, is hard work for Governments. To begin with, there is the inevitable noisy attack by powerful vested interest groups on any proposal for direct action.

Have a look at any recent proposal for direct action on consumer issues and you will find a very loud, but well organised, chorus of big end of town interests opposing the proposal. Indeed, when such proposals are put forward, the lobbyists are immediately despatched to Parliament House to “educate” the Government on the “dangers” of direct action.

Continue reading "Beware government gimmicks in this election year" »

As with all governments there is the irresistible urge to pass the buck as a way of trying to deflect voters from the government’s inaction on a particular issue.

Sadly when it comes to buck passing the Federal Government has been in top form during 2009.

We saw the buck passing on the GROCERYchoice debacle in June when the Federal Government pulled the plug on the consumer group Choice before Choice could launch a new revamped website to bring about much needed real transparency on grocery prices.

Continue reading "Thanks for doing nothing for consumers in 09 Mr Rudd" »

With growing evidence that cosy clubs between large and powerful companies are bad for competition and consumers, the Federal Government needs to act quickly to deal with the ACCC’s concerns on the issue.

The latest push from the ACCC came last week when it decided to oppose the proposed Caltex acquisition of 302 Mobil service stations. As part of that decision the ACCC expressed grave concerns that the oil majors appeared to be engaging in “price coordination” activities.

In plain English that means that the ACCC is alleging that the oil majors are acting as a cosy club when it comes to petrol prices. In particular, the ACCC is pointing to the oil majors conveniently following each other on prices. According to the ACCC this is leading to sharp rises in prices at the beginning of the weekly price cycle and slow falls during the cycle.

Continue reading "Phone tapping powers ring changes on petrol prices" »

With struggling Aussie families paying consistently more for their food and groceries than other developed countries we need to take a long hard look at what’s causing the problem.

First, compare Australia to other OECD countries and there is one fact that jumps out. Australia has one of the most highly concentrated grocery sectors in the developed world.

Just two players – Coles and Woolworths – control 87% of supermarkets over 2000 square metres. They are increasing their share of fresh food, liquor, petrol and now hardware. Their tentacles spread to mobile phones, banking services and electronics. They own enough poker machines to put Las Vegas Casinos to shame.

Continue reading "We need action not excuses from the supermarket duopoly" »

It’s easy to lay the blame of rising food prices at the feet of the large retailers and it also makes for a sexy, albeit misguided, headline. The easy target is often the large target, but if you strip the emotion out of this debate and look at the facts, its clear there isn’t much of a story in it at all.

It is true food costs more than it did 10 years ago. Like other products and services including education, healthcare, the cost of living increases over time, but so do wages. Australian private sector earnings have risen by nearly 51 per cent since 2000.

Australia’s real growth in wages is the second highest of 10 developed nations. But you won’t see critics talk about this when they talk about food prices. It ruins the hot headline.

Continue reading "The real facts about food prices spoil a good yarn" »

In identifying the most revolutionary discovery or invention in human history we are confronted with a bewildering choice: from fire and the wheel, through to electricity, nuclear fission and the silicon chip. But one stands out. Simple in conception and design, but revolutionary in its impact – the printing press.

The Gutenberg bible, the first book printed with moveable type only 570 years ago, opened up the written word to all of humanity. It forced open the closed books of religion; it empowered discovery and research.

Just imagine a world without books and literacy. We would have no internet. Our knowledge would be limited to that which had been passed on by friends or acquaintances, or by those in power – be they religious or secular. For this was the world before the printing press.

Continue reading "More expensive books are a tragedy for us all" »

It’s official. We are getting ripped off on food and grocery prices.

A review of OECD statistics over the past 10 years clearly demonstrates that Australia consistently has some of the highest levels of food inflation in the developed world.

This is a wake-up call for Federal Minster for Competition Policy and Consumers Affair, Craig Emerson. The evidence of the power of the supermarket duopoly is now overwhelming and the Minister must move quickly to inject new competition into the Australian grocery sector.

Continue reading "Mr Emerson, tear down this supermarket duopoly" »

A couple of week ago our competition regulator – the ACCC – expressed some serious competition concerns with Woolworths’ proposed takeover of Danks - the wholesaler to over 1500 independent hardware retailers.

Although the ACCC views are “preliminary,” the competition concerns it expressed should be sufficient to stop the Woolworths takeover of Danks under Australia’s anti-merger laws.

Clearly, the ACCC needs to stop watching and move quickly to protect competition in hardware sector. Indeed, the ACCC can, and should stop, the Woolworths takeover of Danks.

Continue reading "Hardware stores that are anything but Danks" »

One of the Rudd government’s appealing election commitments two years ago was to act on supermarket prices.

Once in power they asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to examine competition in the supermarket sector and promised to establish a web site to provide price information to consumers so they could better choose where to shop.

As then Consumer Affairs Minister Chris Bowen said in the first few months of office: “One of the things we’re trying to do, is give consumers much more information, and when you’ve got more information you’re back in charge. When you’re driving around trying to work out where the cheapest supermarket is, then really, you’re not in charge.”

Continue reading "Shoppers getting little value from the government" »

With the 4 major banks pushing up interest rates at will and the Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, looking increasingly impotent when trying to bring them into line, it’s clear that competition in the banking sector is being killed off quickly and dramatically to the detriment of struggling Australian families.

So, what’s killing off competition in the banking sector?

Well, the answer is the same as to what’s killing off competition in groceries, liquor and petrol; just to name a few.

Continue reading "Why do the big four banks rule? Go to the supermarket" »

So how do companies like Coles and Woolworths protect themselves from competition?

Well it’s simple really. All they need to do is keep out new competitors through a variety of practices designed to lock out any potential new rivals.

For starters, Coles and Woolworths have been entering into leases with shopping centre landlords preventing the landlords from allowing other supermarkets into the shopping centre.

Continue reading "Coles and Woolies are still getting away with it" »

Telstra likes to talk the talk on customer service but it struggles to walk the walk.

Despite what former Telstra PR boss Phil Burgess liked to tell anyone who would listen, Telstra doesn’t appear to top the list of Australia’s most-loved companies.

Scratch the surface and there is a simmering layer of anger at the country’s biggest telco provider over a range of problems, as evidenced by the sharp increase in complaints about customer service to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) – up 142% in 2008.

Continue reading "Hang up on Telstra, but let them know why" »

Have you ever wondered why Coles Express petrol stations in adjoining suburbs have different prices for unleaded petrol?

Ever wondered why Woolworths petrol stations have different prices for unleaded across a metropolitan area?

In Sydney, for example, motorists can, on some days of the week, buy unleaded petrol on the lower North Shore cheaper than can motorists in some western suburbs.

Continue reading "Petrol wars: siphoning off Paul to pay Peter" »

For those of us concerned about competition and consumer law issues there comes a time when the case for action is so overwhelming that we need to the ACCC to stop “watching” and to act decisively in the consumer interest.

In the petrol industry that time has come.

On this occasion it’s the urgent need for the ACCC to block Caltex’s proposed acquisition of Mobil service stations.

Continue reading "Copping a servo: stop Caltex buying Mobil’s stations" »

Should we be excited about Woolworths’ plans to expand its share of the hardware and home improvement market?

Well that depends on whether you are concerned about the level of dominance that Woolworths already has in the retail sector.

With Woolworths already dominant in the grocery, petrol and liquor market it was only a matter of time before it tried to leverage its considerable market power into other retail sectors.

Continue reading "Woolies is about to hammer the home hardware market" »

Of all the silly moments in his career, Sylvester Stallone’s turn in Demolition Man as a good-cop-turned-bad who is incarcerated, cryogenically frozen and then thawed out to fight his nemesis, serial killer Wesley Snipes, must rank as the high point of Sly’s cinematic stupidity.

There is however one accidentally prescient moment in the movie - in the futuristic dystopia of Los Angeles, a war within capitalism has left Taco Bell as the last corporation standing.

Substitute the word Woolworths for Taco Bell and you could film Demolition Man II in Australia. On current projections, by 2015 Woolies will have bought the NRL and AFL, the excellent Lebanese food chain Brothers Kebabs and the popular rock bands Powderfinger and The Veronicas.

Continue reading "Our dirty secret: we actually love massive supermarkets" »

Were you so inclined, you’d have to work pretty hard to boycott Woolworths and Wesfarmers. For a start, it would be tough to eat. Woolworths and Coles (owned by Wesfarmers for the past two years) pocket 70c of every dollar spent in supermarkets in this country.

It would also be difficult to get drunk. Buying booze means handing over an average of 45c of every dollar to the big two, which own Dan Murphy’s, BWS, Liquorland and Vintage Cellars.

Picking up petrol on the way home delivers another 44c of every hard-earned to a service station owed by Coles or Wesfarmers. Think you’re safe in a department store?

Continue reading "They rule food, grog and petrol, now it’s hardware" »

With a growing feeling that the worst of the global financial crisis may be behind us, it’s a good time to have a look at the competition landscape in our banking sector.

Sadly for consumers it not a pretty sight as in just under 2 years we have seen the 4 major banks dramatically and significantly increase their dominance in the sector to the detriment of consumers.

The Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, in particular, have shot in front of the NAB and ANZ to leave them and the smaller regional banks well and truly behind in the race to dominate Australia’s banking sector. Is the increased dominance of the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac something to be pleased about?

Continue reading "The GFC killed competition to the big four banks" »

WHY, all of a sudden, do we have to protect our kids from the reality that there are winners and losers in the world?

In junior soccer and Auskick, the modified AFL game for kids, they’re no longer keeping score. Individual performances are not recorded in the junior clubs’ match reports because, well, somebody always feels left out. 

There is no premiership ladder and if one side is being beaten too savagely, the game stops and players swap jerseys to even out the contest.

Continue reading "When you’re a kid, sometimes losing is winning" »

As a long time advocate of effective competition and consumer laws, one is in no doubt that the enactment of effective laws is only half the task in promoting a more competitive marketplace for the benefit of consumers.

The other half of an effective competition and consumer law framework is an independent and fearless watchdog which moves quickly to stamp out anti-competitive conduct regardless of the political winds.

While of course the watchdog must act without bias, whether actual or perceived, the watchdog must also be above politics.

Continue reading "Rating the independence of our competition watchdog" »

Ever wondered how a Government kills off an embarrassing policy failure? Well, we saw a textbook example one late Friday afternoon a couple of weeks ago.

With news bulletins around the world full of stories about Michael’s Jackson’s death, Federal Competition and Consumer Affairs Minister Dr Craig Emerson put out a media release announcing the demise of GroceryChoice, the Government’s flawed website for “watching” grocery prices.

So there you have it. Pick a late Friday afternoon, preferably when there’s some big news story taking up everyone’s attention and quietly send out a media release putting the best possible spin on your Government’s policy disaster. Every Government tries it on and it’s amazing how they think that no one will notice.

Continue reading "How the feds fitted up Choice over grocery shambles" »

With competition failing or under serious threat in key sectors of the economy, the Federal Government is struggling to find the answers or to make the tough policy decisions needed to restore real competition for the benefit of Australian consumers.

Why the struggle? It should be easy to stand up for consumers. After all, consumers are the biggest group in Society. In fact, so big that it covers everyone living in Australia. We are all consumers!

So why not do the right thing on behalf of consumers?

Quite simply, because the big end of town is so effective in stopping Governments and Ministers from doing so.

Continue reading "Watching the government watching prices" »

While everyone knows about the current financial crisis, few people know of Australia’s other crisis.

That other crisis involves the growing over-concentration of key markets in the economy and how our competition laws are impotent to deal with the growing crisis.

That crisis is already having a major negative impact on consumers and the economy through such things as higher food prices and higher bank fees.

Sadly, if this is not properly handled the negative impact will continue long after the current financial crisis is a distant memory.

So, what lies at the heart of this other crisis? To understand that, it’s important to go back to basics.

Continue reading "The real crisis isn’t the GFC, it’s lack of competition" »