Structural reform

The structural reform commitment, under clause 4 of the Competition Principles Agreement, involved the Australian Government and all state and territory governments taking certain actions before introducing competition to public monopoly markets and before privatising a public monopoly. Under clause 7 of the Competition Principles Agreement, states and territories were also to apply this reform at local government level.

Before introducing competition to a public monopoly market, governments were to remove from the monopoly any responsibilities for industry regulation. Before introducing competition and before privatising, governments were to conduct a structural review of the business, including the merits of separating any natural monopoly elements from any potentially competitive elements and separating potentially competitive elements.

Governments undertook a number of reviews under clause 4 and published annual National Competition Policy reports addressing implementation progress.

The National Competition Council’s annual progress assessments considered structural reform matters.

Key structural reform documents on this site

This site provides the following key documents relevant to the structural reform commitment:

• The Hilmer Report
• The Competition Principles Agreement (see clause 4)
• Governments’ annual National Competition Policy reports
• Governments’ clause 4 structural review reports
• National Competition Council progress assessment reports (annual, supplementary and deferred assessments)