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Today's Topics:
1. New government digital competition regimen (Stephen Loosley)
2. Proposed National Strategic Fleet (Stephen Loosley)
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2024 13:57:06 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] New government digital competition regimen
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
?Knock it on the head?: Major tech crackdown
Story by Blair Jackson? 1 hour ago
https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/news/knock-it-on-the-head-major-tech-crackdown/ar-AA1v5n2q
Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones will announce a new digital
competition regimen, which is now open for consultation, during a speech on
Monday night.
The impetus for change has been platforms preferencing their own apps unfairly,
forcing consumers to buy one of their products to use another product, and
platforms preventing consumers from switching to better alternatives.
?We want to knock these practices on the head,? Mr Jones will say.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will oversee compliance with
the new framework, with penalties up to $50m or 30 per cent of a company?s
turnover.
?The dominant platforms can charge higher costs, reduce choice, and use sneaky
tactics to lock consumers into using certain products,? Mr Jones is expected to
say to an audience at the McKell Institute on Monday.
?Innovation outside of the established players becomes almost impossible.
?With a dominant app store provider, developers are forced to make their apps
available on that app store. This reduces the bargaining power of both
developers and consumers.?
Under the new regulations, platforms that are of significance to Australian
consumers and the economy and pose the greatest risk of competition harms will
be designated by Mr Jones based on ACCC investigations.
>From there, the tech companies will be required to follow broad and specific
>obligations.
Broad obligations include restricting conduct that favours a platform?s own
products or services over those of a competitor and a platform making the use
of a product or service conditional on the use of another product or service,
known as tying.
Other broad rules will include removing barriers to switching to a competitor,
ensuring fair treatment of business users, and requiring greater transparency
about policies, processes or data for users and businesses.
Under the specific new rules, companies cannot prioritise their own apps in
search results, even when competitors offer higher-rated or more relevant
options.
Developers or businesses will not have to use the app store?s payment systems.
?Where in the past we have relied upon rules being enforced after the fact, the
dynamic and complex digital economy requires a new approach,? Mr Jones will say.
?Waiting for investigations can take years to resolve and remedy.?
Indicative of the lag in remonstration and remedy, the framework proposal is
based on an ACCC report that was released in November 2022. The government
committed in-principle to the ACCC recommendations last year.
The tech giants are not ?necessarily competing on having a better product ?
just on being bigger?, Mr Jones will say in his speech.
?And this means consumers can miss out on higher quality and lower cost goods
and services,? he will say.
?Under our new framework, we will introduce upfront rules and obligations on
big digital platforms.?
The new proposed digital competition regimen is open for public consultation
until February 14.
The proposals are separate from the banning of under-16s from social media in
Australia that passed into law last week and will not take effect before
December 2025.
--
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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2024 15:12:34 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] Proposed National Strategic Fleet
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
'Reinvigorating' Australia's maritime industry as the case is made for a
National Strategic Fleet
By Kelly Fuller ABC Illawarra Thursday 28 November
[Photo caption: Zach Kinzett hopes for a stronger Australian-led maritime
industry that offers rewarding careers and supports economic sovereignty. ABC
Illawarra: Sarah Moss]
In short: Australia's maritime industry has just nine Australian-crewed ships.
A proposed National Strategic Fleet aims to reverse the decline and secure
supply chains, but critics warn of high costs and trade impacts.
What's next? The tender process for the first three ships for the National
Strategic Fleet closes on November 29.
Zach Kinzett, a former seafarer on the MV Portland, vividly recalls the early
morning of January 3, 2016, when his lifelong dream of a seafaring career was
abruptly taken from him.
"Standing on the wharf in the middle of the night, just together and watching
everything we have known and worked for literally sail away," he said.
Workers were escorted off MV Portland by security guards after an industrial
dispute with Alcoa. (Supplied: Maritime Union of Australia)
The legacy of the MV Portland dispute
It marked the final chapter of an industrial dispute, as members of the
Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) fought to prevent the ship's owners from
selling the vessel and replacing its crew with foreign workers.
"There was a lot of anger, a lot of grief," he said.
"Removing the remaining crew from their bunks, marching us down the gangway,
isolating us and a foreign crew came in in mini-vans to walk up the gangway and
sail the vessel out of port."
The MV Portland dispute became a symbol of the maritime sector's struggles
after shipping laws changed in 2015, allowing foreign-flagged vessels to
operate on temporary licences.
Challenges and opportunities
A 2023 report by the Strategic Fleet Taskforce (SFT) found 26,400
foreign-flagged vessel arrivals in Australia in 2022 with 6,170 unique foreign
vessels.
As of December 2022, there were just 11 Australian-flagged and crewed vessels.
There are questions over Australia's ability to cope if there were an
international shipping crisis.
Maritime Industry Australia Limited chief executive Angela Gillham said the
number had since dropped to nine and "urgently" needed to be addressed.
"We are a large island nation at the end of a global supply chain," she said.
"In times of crisis, internationally flagged ships can be commandeered by their
flag state and if this happened we would be cut off from critical supply lines."
Angela Gilham says a strategic fleet would form the core of Australian
sovereign maritime capability. (ABC News: Tara Whitchurch)
Pandemic highlighted vulnerabilities
During the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain shocks exposed Australia's
vulnerability ? from empty supermarket shelves to delays in essential goods.
The pandemic also revealed slavery-like conditions on some foreign-owned
vessels, with thousands of seafarers stranded at sea for up to 20 months.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has committed to delivering a National
Strategic Fleet of 12 privately owned cargo ships that could be called on in
times of war or natural disaster, employing local crews.
Jamie Newlyn, assistant national secretary of the MUA, saw the fleet as
essential for a "reinvigoration" of the sector and addressing poor conditions
on some foreign vessels.
"The best option would be for Australian companies to utilise Australian ships
particularly with the federal government's strategic fleet announcement and
opportunities in the strategic fleet," he said.
Jamie Newlyn says the 12 vessels could help create 500 careers.
The SFT report includes recommendations to address workforce shortages and
establish training programs to attract young Australians to the maritime sector.
Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers federal secretary Martin
Byrne said it was critical for Australia to have a domestic coastal trading
capacity and not just for emergencies.
"If you don't have people doing it all the time, you'll see your workforce
shrink, you'll see the whole industry reduced below critical mass, and that's
where we're facing a bit of an existential crisis," he said.
Martin Byrne says changes must be made to ensure Australia retains shipping
capabilities.
"Without a strong and vibrant coastal shipping fleet there's no optimism, no
future, no certainty for young people."
"We want to see a regeneration of the Australian maritime workforce."
More work to do on tax reform
The SFT identified a significant cost gap of $5?8 million annually between
Australian-flagged vessels and cheaper foreign ships, which was driving the
decline in the local fleet.
It recommended addressing the issue with tax incentives and financial
assistance to shipowners.
The government has agreed in principle, pending further Treasury assessment,
and proposals like a levy on vessel arrivals were noted but have not been
resolved.
The federal government will announce the contracts for the pilot program next
year. (Supplied: Flinders Ports)
A spokeswoman for the Minister for Infrastructure, Catherine King, said:
"Options to support the supply of Australian seafarers are being considered in
the context of Industry Skills Australia's maritime workforce plan with advice
to be provided to government for its consideration."
Shipping Australia represents the global interests of the industry and opposes
the plan, describing it as costly and ineffective.
It argues the fleet will add next-to-no extra capability while being a costly
waste of resources.
The government is conducting a tender process for the first three vessels for
the SFT with submissions closing on November 29.
Zach Kinzett, now a pilot boat skipper in Port Kembla, believed the fleet could
offer long-term benefits.
"A strategic fleet would provide security and offer young people a rewarding
career. We need to restore pride in Australian seafaring."
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End of Link Digest, Vol 385, Issue 2
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