The Trade Practices Legislation Amendment (No.1) Bill 2005 was passed with the exclusion of Schedule 1 in the Senate on 11 October 2005. Senator Joyce voted with the Government on the eleven other schedules.

“My concerns with Schedule 1 were framed around my commitment to the people of Queensland to redress the overcentralisation of the retail market and the capacity of Schedule 1 to exacerbate this overcentralisation,” Senator Joyce said.

“The main flaw with Schedule 1 is that it moves the authorisation powers from the ACCC which has a broad scope of engagement in assessing mergers.

“Under this current format 98% of mergers have been approved. This infers that for the remaining 2% not approved there are very good reasons as to why.

“The new process will see merger issues referred to the Australian Competition Tribunal. There is a significant difference between the ACCC and the Tribunal which should be understood.

“The approval process of the ACCC takes into account the “substantial lessening of competition” as a key consideration. The Australian Competition Tribunal takes into account the “public benefit” which does not include the “substantial lessening of competition”. Instead such items as increased exports, substitution of domestic products with foreign goods and international competitiveness are considered.

“What Schedule 1 would affect is the transfer, in custom and practice, of the intention to consider contentious mergers from the ACCC to the ACT.

“My concerns are not based on who approves mergers but rather the capacity to consider all facets of a possible merger. They should include referrals from third parties who would be implicitly affected by a merger.

“The basic freedom that must be maintained is the freedom for Australian citizens to enter and prevail in small business. This must be seen in the litmus test areas such as the retail market and must show clear examples of new entrant success which develops to substantial market growth.”

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