Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Xenophon, for the question. The Gillard government has asked the Productivity Commission to investigate airport pricing, investment and services as part of a major public inquiry into the economic regulation of major Australian airports. Having established an inquiry, it is important that I do not pre-empt the outcome of that inquiry by going to a specific response on at least some of the issues that Senator Xenophon has raised.

As far as the ACCC submission goes, there is no doubt it will form a significant part of the Productivity Commission's deliberations. I have no doubt about that—the ACCC is a highly authoritative and knowledgeable organisation in the area of competition. It is important to note that, whatever the outcome of the PC's reviews, there are already measures in place to deal with market power issues in airports and other sectors of the economy. For example, section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 prohibits the misuse of market power. In 2006 the Productivity Commission conducted a review of the regulatory arrangements for pricing airport services, and that review examined the price monitoring regime that had replaced the price capping—