The Competitive Edge

The ACCC is calling for reform to the consumer guarantee regime to make non-compliance a contravention — similar to unfair contract terms. Currently the guarantees are the top issue for complaints to the ACCC, and they can lead to millions in penalties even though they don't have the force of law. Special Counsel Amelia McKellar takes us through these paradoxes and what the ACCC wants to do about them. Plus the Budget fallout for competition laws and agencies, variations on Louis Dreyfus and cotton, the ACCC's reports on airline competition and data firms, and the evolution of search engines and how to opt out of it … All this and more time travel with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.   

• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 
• Email us at [email protected]  

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G+T alumna Romany Webb joins us from the Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law at Columbia University to talk about regulatory approaches to carbon dioxide reduction and removal on the critical path to net zero and beyond. Plus rethinking no-poach and non-compete agreements and competition law, more greenwashing action from ASIC and the ACCC, sky-high penalties for Qantas while Bonza is grounded, things get complicated at the Supermarket Prices Inquiry, and the history of Monopoly from Lizzie Magie to Barbie™. All this and more with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. 

• The British Library on Lizzie Magie and the history of monopoly 

• Suki's pink Honda S2000 at the Petersen Automotive Museum 

• Treasury Consultation on Worker Non-Compete Clauses and Other Restraints and Assistant Minister Leigh's speech 

• G+T on the ACCC's action on Glad bags and ocean plastics 

• The Senate Greenwashing Inquiry hearings and ASIC Chair Joe Longo's speech on greenwashing and greenhushing 

• G+T on the Qantas settlement with the ACCC 

• The Senate Supermarket Prices Inquiry Final Report and MLex on its implications for merger reform 

• AFR on the PE firm behind Bonza 

• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 

• Email us at [email protected]  

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In this bonus episode, we rejoin the ESG, Sport and Human Rights Forum, where host Moya Dodd spoke with Women's World Cup winner Mary Harvey, now the CEO of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, and Rachel Davis, co-founder of the Shift Project and former independent chair of FIFA's Human Rights Advisory Board,  about culture, sustainability, leadership and change through a human rights approach in the world of sport.  

• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 

• Email us at [email protected]

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The biggest shakeup of merger regulation in Australia in 50 years is coming into view. Partners Elizabeth Avery and Louise Klamka take us through the major changes and the devilish details that still need to be settled, with additional commentary from partner Simon Muys and winning visualisations from Treasury. Is this faster, stronger and simpler, or just harder? More transparent or less accountable? Plus grocery inquiries and divestiture powers, Soviet industrial policy, irrebuttable presumptions and the ACCC looks for a meeting of the minds with the High Court on the nature of threats and understandings. All this and Rebel Wilson with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein of The Competitive Edge podcast. 

• 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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Anne Catherine Faye, Economist and Counsel to the Chair of the American Bar Association's Antitrust Section, takes us through the complicated landscape of antitrust, economics and sustainability in the US and beyond. Plus the Department of Justice goes bobbing for Apple, the Epic case gets underway in Australia, the Full Federal Court overturns the ACCC's win against the CFM(M)EU, and the Productivity Commission gets back in the game with the new National Competition Policy. All this and the Franklin's Tale with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein and senior correspondent Anna Belgiorno-Nettis. 

• US v Apple press release, press conference and complaint
• MLex reporting on the Epic v everyone hearing
• ACCC v CFM(M)EU Round 1, Round 2 and the ACCC's application for special leave to appeal to Round 3
• The Marx Brothers on the secondary boycott provisions
• C&C (music f) Act (ory) megamix
• Productivity Commission's assessment of proposed National Competition Policy reforms
• 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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Change is the only constant, but even change is changing as partner Andrew Low joins us to talk about digital regulation, digital ecosystems and digital payments, and the fight over access to a tiny part of your phone. Plus more constant than change in the ACCC's 2024–25 compliance and enforcement priorities, Epic's battle royale against Google and Apple lands on our island, gatekeepers land their European beachheads on DMA-day, ex-ante regulation proves to be easier said than done, and surf'n'turf at the Qteq cartel hearing. All this and our politicians' favourite films with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. 

• Our update on the ACCC's 2024-25 compliance and enforcement priorities 
• Our update on the ACCC's focus on consumer guarantees 
• Our annual Competition + Consumer Law Insights publication for 2023-24   
• Dr Andrew Leigh in the Australian Book Review 
• The Barbie edition of Monopoly 
• Results of the RBA's 2022 Consumer Payments Survey 
• MLex's coverage of the ACCC v Qteq and Epic v Apple and Google hearings  
• RIP Kingsleys Brisbane 
• 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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G+T partner Ilona Millar and Business and Human Rights Lawyers Association Co-Chair Rae Lindsay on global ESG trends, corporate sustainability in Europe, and the unfolding impacts on Australian companies in the first part of a double-header on the emerging field of business and human rights.  

Plus the Tribunal overturns the ref's call on the ANZ/Suncorp merger authorisation, but it's not all bad news for the ACCC; ex-post reviews of mergers; near-record criminal fines for a cartel; and even more Wonka and antitrust in pop culture.  

All this and more next week with co-hosts  Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.  

• G+T on the Tribunal's authorisation of the ANZ/Suncorp merger 

• The ACCC's second ex-post review of past merger decisions 

• Mumbrella on Take 5's all-time classic headlines 

• ACCC on the criminal penalties in the waste cartel 

• Autorité de la Chalomet on the French chocolate cartel 

• Wikipedia on the incredible AI-assisted Willy's Chocolate Experience (archived) 

• Spencer Weber Waller's "A Pop Culture Guide to Antitrust" and sequel 

• Ben Stein on the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act and the Laffer Curve 

• ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb's AFR op-ed on digital platform regulation 

• Shop Talk: G+T's latest consumer law update   

• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 

• Email us at [email protected]  

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Partners Elizabeth Avery and Simon Muys take us through the latest on the merger reform debate, how the ACCC's position has evolved and how its package deal might be unbundled.  

Plus time is a flat circle with supermarket inquiries and the cozzie livs, disrupting the Chocolate Cartel with Willy Dubs, expensive typos from Mariner I to the latest real estate scams, and dance hall revivals from West Ham to "No Whyalla Wipeout".  

All this and more AI fingers with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein of The Competitive Edge Podcast. 

• The great dance hall merger of 1926 via Trove 

• Macquarie Dictionary's word of the year for 2023 

• Cost of living and supermarket price inquiries from Prof Allan Fels, the Senate Select Committee, and Dr Craig Emerson 

• Skyhooks, "Horror Movie" for no particular reason 

• Justus Haucap & Christina Heldman, "On the sociology of cartels", European Journal of Law and Economics (2023) 56:289-323 

• The most expensive hyphen in history and a fairly expensive "s" 

• Elizabeth and Simon on merger reform in the AFR 

• Submissions to Treasury on merger reform from the ACCC (1 2 3) and the Law Council of Australia (1 2) 

• The Tech team on deepfakes and Peter Waters on AI in the law 

• Nadia Buttendorf's FINGERring vs Sam Kerr in the AFR.  

• 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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Special Counsel Amelia McKellar guides us through the multiverse of multijurisdictional ("MJ") mergers, and how to navigate the conjunction of thresholds, deadlines, agencies and advisers and arrive at the singularity of success. Plus submissions at 20 paces in the merger reform debate, Apple tells the regulators they've been holding it wrong, lessons in Wonkanomics, and a busy year ahead for the ACCC … All this and more with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. 

• • Submissions from the ACCC and the Law Council on the merger reform proposals
  • Apple's changes in response to the European Digital Markets Act
  • The Maine milk-truck drivers and the Oxford comma
  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Cartel
  • Illumina lets go of Grail
  • The ACCC's new Supermarkets Inquiry 2024-25

• The inaugural 2nd Anniversary End of Year Holiday Season Speak Now Podcast Survey 

• Try the new competition law-themed cryptic crossword at crossword.info/edge 

• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team 

• Email us at [email protected]  

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OECD Competition Committee Chair Professor Frédéric Jenny joins us to talk about the long arc of the competition law universe, from the Chicago School through COVID to climate change, digital platforms and artificial intelligence. Plus motorways and Rebel Wilson, the inaugural GCR Live conference in Sydney, greenwashing ocean-bound plastics, both kinds of RPM, the Government response to Reppo No. 5 and the ACCC's call for ex ante regulation, and Epic's saga against Google. All this and a new competition law cryptic crossword with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein 

• The inaugural 2nd Anniversary End of Year Holiday Season Speak Now Podcast Survey 

• Try the new competition law-themed cryptic crossword at crossword.info/edge 

• OECD Roundtable on Competition and Professional Sports ft. Moya Dodd 

• GCR reporting on the merger proposals, cartel enforcement and keynote address 

• All the options on the Android search engine choice pages 

• ACCC on ocean plastic* yoghurt tubs and ACC on avocado injuries  

• Techtronic RPM vs Technotronic RPM 

• Government response to DPSI5 recommendations 

• Donald Knuth's Potrzebie System of Weights and Measures 

• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition + Regulation team 

• Email us at [email protected]  

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.