Mr Rod Sims, the chair of the ACCC has come out swinging and blasted Australia’s track record of privatising government assets. At a speech at the Melbourne Economic Forum he said that the ACCC is almost at the point of opposing future privatisations of government businesses (see report in Sydney Morning Herald here). He is quoted as saying, “I think a sharp uppercut is necessary and that’s why I’m saying: stop the privatisation”.
While he was directly referring to recent privatisations of Australian ports and the sweat-heart terms governments are providing to juice up the price by restricting competition, his comments are also important for Australia’s telecommunications market.