Andrew Leigh Defends Open Markets as Global Forces Challenges Economic Reform

SYDNEY, 16 June 2026 — Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh, has delivered a robust defence of open markets and competition reform, arguing that Australia must strengthen competition laws if it wants to maintain public faith in capitalism and economic openness.

Speaking at the Ashurst Competition and Consumer Law Panel in Sydney, Dr Leigh warned that support for open markets is under increasing pressure around the world as both left-wing and right-wing populist movements challenge traditional economic orthodoxy.

While acknowledging that globalisation and economic reform have delivered significant prosperity to Australia, Dr Leigh said public confidence in markets has been weakened by concerns about inequality, housing affordability and perceptions that some firms have been able to shield themselves from genuine competition.

“Open markets have delivered enormous benefits to Australia,” Dr Leigh said. “But openness is sustained by confidence, and confidence depends on people believing that markets work for them.”

The speech comes at a time when economic nationalism and protectionist policies are gaining support internationally, particularly in response to cost-of-living pressures and growing public scepticism about globalisation.

Dr Leigh argued that Australia’s economic success was built on opening the economy to trade, investment and competition, particularly through reforms undertaken during the 1980s and 1990s.

However, he acknowledged that the benefits of those reforms have not always been evenly distributed.

“Young people are finding it harder to buy a home,” he noted, while some communities have experienced economic disruption without seeing the benefits of new opportunities emerge at the same pace.

Competition as the Answer

Rather than retreating from open markets, Dr Leigh argued that stronger competition policy is the solution.

He suggested that public confidence is undermined when consumers face hidden pricing, workers face restrictions on changing jobs, or dominant companies use their market position to prevent challengers from emerging.

Drawing on comments previously made by former ACCC Chair Rod Sims, Dr Leigh highlighted the tension between what is profitable for individual firms and what is beneficial for the broader economy.

While businesses naturally seek to reduce competitive pressures and strengthen their market position, competition policy exists to ensure markets remain open to new entrants and innovative competitors.

“Competition policy should reward productive entrepreneurship — better products, lower costs, improved service and genuine innovation,” he said.

New Consumer Protection Measures

The Minister used the speech to defend the Albanese Government’s competition and consumer reform agenda, including proposed unfair trading practice laws.

These reforms are designed to tackle practices such as “drip pricing”, where mandatory fees are only revealed late in the purchasing process, and subscription arrangements that make it significantly harder to cancel a service than it is to sign up.

According to Dr Leigh, businesses that compete fairly should not be disadvantaged by competitors that rely on confusion, complexity or consumer inertia to generate profits.

The reforms aim to encourage competition based on price, quality and service rather than opaque business practices.

Ending Non-Compete Clauses for Most Workers

Dr Leigh also highlighted labour market reforms that will ban non-compete clauses for most Australian workers from 1 January 2027.

The changes will apply to employees earning below the Fair Work Act’s high-income threshold, currently set at $183,100 per year, covering approximately 90 per cent of the workforce.

The Government argues the changes will improve worker mobility, support wage growth and encourage businesses to compete for talent through better pay and conditions rather than contractual restrictions.

“Ordinary workers should be able to pursue better opportunities,” Dr Leigh said.

Merger Reforms Underway

The speech also served as a defence of Australia’s new merger laws, which came into effect on 1 January 2026.

The reforms provide the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) with greater visibility over corporate acquisitions while creating a streamlined process for transactions deemed unlikely to harm competition.

Particular attention is being paid to acquisitions involving emerging competitors and start-ups, with concerns that dominant firms can sometimes purchase future rivals before they become meaningful challengers in the marketplace.

Dr Leigh argued that allowing excessive market concentration ultimately weakens public trust in capitalism itself.

“A competition regime that permits creeping consolidation, strategic foreclosure or the quiet purchase of future rivals will eventually weaken faith in markets,” he said.

The Broader Political Challenge

At its core, the speech was less about legal technicalities and more about defending the social licence of market capitalism.

Dr Leigh argued that support for open markets can only be maintained if Australians believe the economic system remains fair, competitive and open to new ideas.

Competition policy is increasingly being framed not simply as an economic issue, but as a political one — ensuring that consumers, workers and small businesses see tangible benefits from a market-based economy.

As debates over living costs, housing affordability and economic fairness continue to dominate public discussion, Dr Leigh’s message was clear: the answer is not to abandon open markets, but to ensure they genuinely work for the many rather than the few.

“The goal is an economy in which firms win by creating value, rather than by shielding themselves from competition,” he concluded.