A specialist Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) team that was built to keep Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon in check is weeks away from a funding cliff and could be disbanded by Christmas.
The ACCC’s “digital platforms” team once had more than 30 economists, lawyers and technical experts studying tech power and developing interventions such as the world-first News Media Bargaining Code. According to two people with knowledge of the situation not permitted to speak publicly, it’s down to roughly 10 people. Many of its former team members have already been redeployed across the public service or hired by the tech giants themselves.
The ACCC confirmed the unit’s current funding runs out at the conclude of December.
The timing is awkward: it lands just as Treasurer Jim Chalmers is preparing his mid-year budreceive update, and as multiple public bodies warn of “funding cliffs” across government.
Former ACCC chair Rod Sims, who created the unit, declared the slow stripping of resources is a “complete tragedy”, arguing the countest is losing a scarce pool of expertise at exactly the wrong time.
“We don’t know what the government is doing with the News Media Bargaining Code. And with AI coming, there are all sorts of issues around self-preferencing,” declared Mr Sims. “The rest of the world is shifting on, and Australia is being left behind.”
The Albanese government states it is still working on a new digital competition regime. Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh declared the ACCC remains a strong enforcement agency, citing recent cases against Microsoft and Google, and declared the government last year provided a two-year funding extension for oversight of digital platforms.
The ACCC states it has formally submitted a proposal for renewed funding.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ACCC Former Chairman Rod Sims
The digital platforms team was created after the ACCC’s 2019 inquiry recommconcludeed a standing specialist branch to monitor and regulate the most powerful platforms. That inquiry ran for five years and delivered a major report every six months; the final report was released in March. In November 2022, the branch recommconcludeed a dedicated competition regime for dominant digital platforms, a framework that is comparable to Europe’s Digital Markets Act. It has not yet been legislated.
Mr Sims argues the delay already has real consequences. In Europe, he notes, Apple has been forced to allow more app stores and open its NFC chip to banks. Australian consumers, he declared, don’t receive those benefits if government doesn’t stand up a regime, or keep the expertise to enforce it.
If the funding is allowed to lapse at the conclude of the year, Australia will effectively dismantle the only team it has that deeply understands how Big Tech works.
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