The Competitive Edge

Romany Webb, Deputy Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University takes us through the whiplash of the energy transition in the United States, from the Green New Deal to Drill Baby Drill, and how governments and courts have made and remade climate policy. Plus IAG and RAC test-drive the new public benefits merger test, Coles takes its Kalgoorlie expansion to the Tribunal, and artificial intelligence becomes super intelligence … All this and Mission Impossible with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. 

Links: 

• The New Yorker on all the President's movies 
• James Hennessy on Sydney at the End of the World 
• IAG on its public benefits application 
• Uber Eats in Kalgoorlie-Boulder 
• Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence 
• Superintelligence: The Movie 
• Romany Webb's presentation
• Our Climate Change and Sustainability team update on the High Court's decision in MACH Energy Australia v Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group  
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 
• Email us at [email protected]  

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Commissioner Luke Woodward takes us through the ACCC's evolving approach to enforcement – from undertakings and infringement notices to dawn raids and court action – and how the ACCC is grappling with, and using, AI. Plus the latest merger reform reforms recalibrate the new regime; the one remedy to rule them all; unfair contract terms and irony in ASIC v CashnGo; and calls for antitrust authorisations to avoid anthropomorphised AI agents absconding … All this and our 5th birthday with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. 

Links

• "The Equalizer" intro  
• Breaker Morant trailer 
• Edward Woodward's Scottish accent in The Wicker Man 
• G+T on the latest changes to the merger review framework 
• The Peter Warren/Wakeling Automotive and Kimberly-Clark/Kenvue deals on the acquisitions register 
• Kia: The Features Film 
• The ASIC v Venture 5 Group (t/as CashnGo) proceedings 
• Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Ian Jackman as Justice Wolverine   
• ABC on the OpenAI agent breakout in the AI's own words 
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 
• Email us at [email protected]  

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Energy partner Jamie Guthrie and Competition partner Geoff Petersen give us some good news on the energy transition, along with the challenges that lie ahead -- what the governments and energy networks are doing, the impact of data centres, how to finance it all, and a quasi-carbon tax. Plus merger reform reform gets closer, serial acquisitions in pets and vets, carmakers pull a fast one and the ACCC is furious, and FIFA finds out … All this and Marty McFly with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. 

Links: 

• Dr Emmett Lathrop Brown PhD on 1.21GW 
• The long-awaited Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Accountability for Tax Adviser Misconduct and Other Measures) Bill 2026 
• More French leave in the Phase 2 Adelaide Hills vet merger, and the Microstar/Konvoy beer keg merger is 86ed 
• The Furious 7 skydriving scene and the ACCC's case against Subaru 
• The Hood's many defeats on The Thunderbirds 
• The Nelson Review, aka the National Electricity Market wholesale market settings review
• RES Group's 1.21GW 
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 
• Email us at [email protected]  
• Shai-Hulud 

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That's a RAP: First Nations leaders Rachel Perkins, Fiona Jose and Shane Phillips join us at the Sydney launch of G+T's new Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan. What's a RAP, what's a Stretch RAP, what's our RAP, and what's the competition and consumer connection? Plus optimism and pessimism, model Ts and AI at the ACCC/AER Regulatory Conference, the Golden Globes lodge the Penske File, and the plan to wrap the Opera House. All this and more with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. 

Links:   

• Things that Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped or wanted to wrap 
• Jayde Richmond from the National Anti-Scam Centre at the Bannerman Competition Lecture 
• AER's final decision on the Basslink conversion 
• Marinus Link and Marinus Dijkhuizen  
• G+T on the new mandatory standards for large-scale data centres and the Office of AI 
• Bono at the 2003 Golden Globes (NSFW)  
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 
• Email us at [email protected]  

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Partner Elizabeth Avery gives us a world tour of new directions in competition law, theories of harm and merger review both here and overseas, and lessons from our role in the Paramount / Warner Bros merger. Plus news you can use on all the Phase 2s, declarations and exemptions in exceptional circumstances, scambling and other portmanteaux, and how to watch — and how definitely not to watch — The Odyssey …  All this and — — — with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. 

Links: 

• Twenty Twenty Six on the BBC and the ABC  
• How Perez Prado's Mambo No. 5 became that other one 
• Coles's applications to the Competition Tribunal and the Federal Court 
• L1 Dominette 01449's genome 
• The Government's "exceptional circumstances" bill and the ACCC's class exemption 
• The National Anti-Scam Centre's "scambling" taskforce and NSW's "betiquette" spot 
• The Washington Post on all the ways you can watch The Odyssey 
• Or you could read it! 
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 
• Email us at [email protected]  

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Partner Tanya Macdonald and Special Counsel Haidee Leung join us to talk about the first year of the new merger regime -- half-voluntary, half-mandatory -- how it started, how it's going, what's changed and the changes to come. Plus exceptional circumstances call for exceptional measures, the ACCC whacks Miyagi and probes Prime for unfair contract terms, and new rules target supermarket price-gouging … All this and the Anzac Act with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.

Links: 

• The Thursday Murder Club on Netflix 
• Is the Strait of Hormuz open? or Is the Strait of Hormuz closed? 
• G+T on the ACCC's new powers to act in exceptional circumstances 
• The ACCC's court action against Miyagi and Amazon for unfair contract terms 
• ACCC media release, guidelines and the industry code on supermarket excessive pricing 
• The ACCC's latest merger FAQs 
• G+T on the latest changes to the merger control regime 
• SBS on Anzac cookies and biscuits 
• "Wogball: Australia's Beautiful Game" on SBS 
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 
• Email us at [email protected]  

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Dr Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury joins us to talk about AI, the revitalised National Competition Policy, non-competes and unfair trading practices, and competition on the field and in the economy. Plus, marathons and ultramarathons, the ParaSkyWarBroDisco merger, the 'Australia Plus' UK social media ban, and the ACCC takes Grill'd to court for greenwashing … All this, and Ewar Woowar, with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.  

Links: 

• Richard Bachman at Lilja's Library 
• Randy Bachman on pronouncing Bachman-Turner Overdrive 
• Ultraman: Rising on Netflix and "Ultraman Teo" coming soon.  
• The UK Government announces its "Australia-plus" social media ban 
• Shakespeare's "Sonnet VI" 
• ACCC's case against Grill'd press release, concise statement and court file 
• AEC profile of the electoral division of Fenner 
• Dr Andrew Leigh's speech on competition policy for AI agents 
• Anna Goldworthy's "The God We Made: The Threat and Promise of Artificial Intelligence", Quarterly Essay 102  
• Edward Woodward obituary with unexpected Judi Dench 
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 
• Email us at [email protected]  

Support the show: https://www.gtlaw.com.au/

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Professor Julian Wright from the National University of Singapore joins us to talk about competition and regulation up and down the AI stack -- from the chips to the chatbots and everything in between. Is it winner-takes-all or winner-takes most? Will the digital platforms displace the new labs? And do we need more regulation or less? Plus a competition conference is compliantly considered, Ampol/EG Australia is the first Phase 2 merger approved by the ACCC, the new-look unfair trading practices bill reaches parliament, and AI essays and encyclicals abound … All this and cinematic polycephaly with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. 

Links:  

• Michael B Jordan on playing identical twins Smoke and Stack in Sinners 
• Three-eyed animals in Train Dreams and The Secret Agent 
• ACCC approves Ampol's acquisition of EG Australia in first finalised Phase 2 
• Track the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026 
• Damien Charlotin's AI Hallucination Cases Database 
• Justice Needham, "AI and the Courts in 2025" 
• Pope Leo XIV's Encyclical Letter, "Magnifica Humanitas" 
• Prof Julian Wright, "Artificial Intelligence and Competition Policy" at ScienceDirect 
• Anna Goldsworthy's Quarterly Essay, "The God We Made: The Threat and Promise of Artificial Intelligence" 
• The Competitive Edge's cryptic crosswords, conspicuously inspired by Justice Wigney 
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 
• Email us at [email protected]  

Support the show: https://www.gtlaw.com.au/

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Dr Lilla Csorgo, lay member of the High Court of New Zealand, joins us to talk about being Chief Economist in three different countries, approaches to ex ante regulation and merger control, being approximately correct vs precisely wrong, and whether fiction and economics have anything in common. Plus, the ACCC wins against Coles in its “was/now/had been” pricing case, the courts have thoughts on NSW Ports, competition and consumer initiatives in the federal budget, and competition and consumer concerns at the FIFA World Cup … All this and e-micromobility with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.    

Links:   

• Henry Ergas, "TSLRIC, TELRIC and Other Forms of Forward-Looking Cost Models in Telecommunications: A Curmudgeon's Guide" at SSRN 
• Softwar by Thierry Breton and Denis Beneich at The Internet Archive 
• Prose and plays by Dr Lilla Csorgo  
• ACCC v Coles [2026] FCA 598  
• Mayfield v NSW Ports [2026] HCA 21 Summary and Judgment 
• "Why Susie sells seashells by the seashore: Implicit egotism and major life decisions", Journey of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(4) 469-487 
• Why all fire trucks are called Dennis 
• Discover your Hogwarts House at Hatty Potter Wizarding World 
• Julien Guyon, "Risk of Collusion: Will Groups of 3 Ruin the FIFA World Cup?" 
• The Disgrace of Gijon on YouTube 
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 
• Email us at [email protected]  

Support the show: https://www.gtlaw.com.au/

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ACCC Commissioner Luke Woodward delivered this year's Bannerman Competition Lecture (jointly hosted by the Business Law Section of the LCA and the ACCC), tracking the development of trade practices and competition law in Australia, the enduring influence of its first Commissioner and Chair and the challenges that lie ahead. Plus Woolworths and was/now pricing, Apple and app store access, and Mastercard and merchant routing in the courts; the future of cash revisited; and another Phase 2 review, this time for IAG and the RAC … All this and Bananaman with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. 

Support the show: https://www.gtlaw.com.au/

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