On 7 September 2017, the Senate referred the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Abolition of Limited Merits Review) Bill 2017 to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 16 October 2017.
The Bill amends the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to prevent the Australian Competition Tribunal from reviewing decisions made under the national energy laws (other than decisions relating to the disclosure of confidential or protected information) and to ensure that decisions of the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) are not subject to merits review by any other State or Territory body.
Submissions
The Senate Committee called for submissions by 19 September 2017.
AER submission - Bill to remove Limited Merits Review - Submission to the Senate Committee
The submission reiterates and reinforces earlier submission made by the AER to the COAG Energy Council’s review of Limited Merits Review. In our view, limited merits review has failed to achieve its policy intent and we support its removal.
More information
More information and other submissions are available on the Senate Committee’s website.