NO.075

Australian Competition Tribunal Appointment

The Governor-General in Council has appointed Dr Jill Walker, a Sydney economist, to the Australian Competition Tribunal for a five year term.

Dr Walker holds a Doctorate in Philosophy (Land Economics) from Cambridge University and has lectured in Industry Economics at the University of Technology, Sydney. After working as an economic adviser to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, she became a consultant economist in 2000.

I am confident that Dr Walkers strong academic background as well as her considerable practical experience in both the public and private sectors in relation to competition, trade practices and economic matters will contribute to the depth of expertise of the Tribunal.

The Tribunal was created in 1966 as the Trade Practices Tribunal. It was renamed the Australian Competition Tribunal in 1995 as part of the national competition policy reforms. Since 1975, its core function has been to review authorisation and exclusive dealing notification decisions made by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (and its predecessor) under the Trade Practices Act 1974. More recently, the Tribunal has taken on responsibility for reviewing access decisions made under Part IIIA and functions under Part XIB (Telecommunications Industry: Anti-Competitive Conduct and Record Keeping Rules) of the Act.

The Tribunal consists of presidential members who must be federal judges and other members who must be qualified by virtue of their knowledge of, or experience in, industry, commerce, economics, law or public administration. Members serve on a part-time basis, as required.

In addition to Dr Walker, the Tribunal comprises:

CANBERRA

27 September 2001