NO.060

ACCC APPOINTMENT CONSULTATION

I have written to the States and Territories to seek their support for the

nomination of Mr Graeme Samuel AO as Deputy Chairman and Mr Ed Willett as member

of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Mr Graeme Samuel AO is currently the President of the National Competition

Council (NCC) and, if approved, will hold a dual appointment with the ACCC until

the end of the current NCC assessment round in mid 2003.

Mr Willett will immediately resign his position as Executive Director of the

NCC upon appointment to the ACCC, subject to the agreement of the States and

Territories.

Background

Mr Graeme Samuel was appointed to the National Competition Council in 1995

and has been the NCC’s President since 1997. He was formerly a partner of Melbourne

law firm Phillips Fox & Masel and an executive director of Macquarie Bank

and is a former President of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1998.

Mr Ed Willett has been Executive Director of the NCC since 1995. Mr Willett

previously served as Assistant Commissioner of the Industry Commission and has

worked within the Department of Industry Science and Technology, the Department

of Defence and the New Zealand Ministry of External Relations and Trade.

MELBOURNE

10 October, 2002