Bill
Treasury Laws Amendment (Mergers and Acquisitions Reform) Bill 2024
passed, as at 2024-12-10. Treasury portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Treasury
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2024-10-10
- second reading — 2024-10-10
- second reading — 2024-11-05
- other — 2024-11-05
- second reading — 2024-11-20
- other — 2024-11-21
- second reading — 2024-11-21
- committee — 2024-11-21
- third reading — 2024-11-21
- introduced — 2024-11-25
- second reading — 2024-11-25
- second reading — 2024-11-28
- third reading — 2024-11-28
- passed — 2024-11-28
- royal assent — 2024-12-10
Divisions
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2024-10-10.
This bill would overhaul how Australia reviews mergers and acquisitions to make the process quicker and more transparent.
The competition watchdog would assess whether a deal is likely to harm competition or benefit the public, and some deals would have to be reported to it before they can go ahead.
The reforms would also create a public list of notified deals and allow a tribunal to review the watchdog's decisions.
- Replaces the current merger control system with a faster, simpler and more targeted one.
- Requires certain share or asset purchases to be notified to the competition watchdog before completion, backed by penalties.
- Streamlines the assessment process with fixed timelines.
- Establishes a public register of notified acquisitions.
- Allows the tribunal to review decisions made by the competition watchdog.
- Sets fees for some actions under the new system.
Businesses involved in mergers and acquisitions, and the competition watchdog.
Sources
em
billhome
frl act