Australia: Rod Sims outlines tough agenda for new term

Chairman of the competition regulator Rod Sims wants to increase the penalties for consumer laws by almost tenfold to $10 million, after Treasurer Scott Morrison nominated Mr Sims for a further three-year reappointment.

Mr Sims also took aim at Coles managing director John Durkan’s criticism of the government’s plan to introduce stronger misuse of market power laws as “pretty appalling”, as he cited overseeing the Harper competition reforms and the so-called effects test as one of his top priorities.

“The concerns raised by John Durkan [at an AmCham lunch on Wednesday] are just not concerns at all and the level of debate by the business community has been pretty appalling,” Mr Sims’ told The Australian Financial Review.

The reappointment of Mr Sims – which has to be approved by a majority of States and Territories – is likely to rankle big business groups such as the Business Council of Australia and Wesfarmers which have been lobbying long and hard against stronger misuse of market power laws.

Full Content: Financial Review

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