Graeme Samuel

Should the ACCC’s chairman or its commissioners be able to leave their government position on Friday and start work a week later with a consulting firm advising clients on competition law matters?

It’s a good question and not as hypothetical as you may think.

Why? Well, in the dying days of Graeme Samuel’s tenure as ACCC Chairman he announced that shortly after leaving the ACCC he would be joining a “boutique corporate advisory firm.” There Samuel would no doubt be called on to boost the firm’s corporate deal making profile.

Continue reading "Washed-up suits should go on gardening leave" »

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" »

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" »