Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Responding to Exceptional Circumstances) Bill 2026 empowers the ACCC to enable businesses to work together in exceptional circumstances—in a crisis, in other words—where businesses working together helps respond to the exceptional circumstances and serves the public interest.

The bill enables the minister to make an exceptional circumstances declaration with a disallowable instrument, as Senator Canavan just said. That instrument will also be sunset within six months under the provisions of this legislation. Once the minister has made such a declaration, the ACCC can grant fast-tracked class exemptions and authorisations to enable business conduct that would assist in responding to the exceptional circumstances that are detailed in the minister's declaration but might ordinarily breach competition laws. While the ACCC can grant class exemptions and authorisations under existing law, the ACCC has stated that the usual process is too stringent and lengthy to adequately respond to a crisis. That's the government's argument for introducing this legislation and seeking the passage of this legislation through the Senate this week.

The government has introduced this legislation in the context of a supply crisis caused by the United States and Israel engaging in an unprovoked, illegal war on Iran. Let's be very clear about what is driving the context for this legislation. We have a deranged, unstable president of the United States—a fascist, a war criminal and a fantasist—who, in an unprovoked fashion, along with his fellow war criminal, Mr Netanyahu from Israel—launched an attack on Iran. This is a war crime, and it has led, entirely predictably, to retaliation that has created a chokepoint in the Strait of Hormuz that is now having ramifications in economies around the world, including here in Australia.

When Trump and Netanyahu started their unprovoked, illegal war on Iran, the first government in the world to come out and say they thought it was a great idea was the Australian Labor government. Our prime minister, that lackey, that lickspittle to the United States, who came out and said he thought the war was a great—