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Workers at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) were this morning informed that they would be stood down after the group failed to secure $100 million of political capital overnight. It is not clear at this stage whether the workers will receive their full entitlements.
The trouble for the ACCC, formed seven years ago from the merger of the Trade Practices Commission and Prices Surveillance Authority, began after the group failed to respond vigorously to the competitive threat posed by cartels, monopolies and protectionism.
Two of the ACCC’s biggest competitors, Qantas and Telstra, have already moved to consolidate their position in the wake of the collapse. Telstra, long a market leader in the regulation of the telecoms industry, expects to take over most of the ACCC’s influence in the coming weeks. Qantas, which regulates the air travel and tourism industries, also looks to do well.
For the ACCC’s founding chairman Alan Fels, the failure of the group is heartbreaking. “We simply underestimated the competitive threat of others seeking to oversee markets and monitor prices,” he told theDailyGrind, “We started out with high hopes, but now I guess we’re back to square one.”
As of press time, square one, Old Kent Road, was also controlled by a monopoly.
