Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The Sherman act is not an energy-specific act. This government seems to think that a principle established in the competition law of another country which is not industry specific and is reserved for the most grievous breaches of anti-trust law and has been implemented only in relation to Standard Oil and AT&T—the most grievous breaches of anti-trust in the United States. Divestiture policy has not been part of the Australian competition policy landscape. It simply has not. But, if it wanted to have a debate about making it part of the Australian competition policy landscape, then we could have that debate. We could discuss the pros and cons. We could have a proper review. We could look at the way it should be done. It's telling that the government has only done this for energy companies—

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