Only the technicalities of competition law have prevented the ACCC from naming the state as a party to a landmark case that instead targets the new owner of Port Botany, which is home to Australia second biggest but most modern fleet of container terminals.
Over little more than a year through 2013-14, the former Baird state government sealed the two-step privatisation of ports Botany, Kembla and Newcastle and in the process raised an extraordinary $6.75 billion
THE decision by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to intervene in the dispute over the Port of Newcastle container “fee” is to be welcomed both from the Hunter’s point of view, and as an antidote to the secretive politics that have dominated this issue until now.
As readers of the Newcastle Herald will know, we have long argued the case for a Newcastle container terminal, and were instrumental in publicly revealing the existence, in July 2016, of the “port commitment deeds” that are at the centre of the ACCC’s decision to take the operator of Botany and Kembla to the Federal Court.
In short, the ACCC will argue that the deeds are “anti-competitive” and “illegal”
NSW ports privatisation in firing line after ACCC takes legal action
NSW ports privatisation in firing line after ACCC takes legal action
Watchdog targets 'anti-competitive' ports deal involving NSW government Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launches legal action against NSW Ports, which was privatised in 2013
The government is investing in oyster farms and Wagyu beef start-ups. Having privatised things which made a lot of money, like electricity assets and the Land Titles office, our leaders in NSW are now investing taxpayers’ money, alongside a posse of ex-Macquarie bankers, in a WA beef project and a South Coast oyster caper. Michael West reports. Mike West: Surf n turf State sells electricity ports roads buys wagyu and oysters
A 50-year-old cyclist has been killed after he was hit by a truck on a busy Sydney road.
