Competition policy

Queensland Treasury is the government’s main adviser on competition policy. Our role involves:

• advising the government on competition and economic regulatory frameworks for monopoly infrastructure, including water, transport and energy businesses
• coordinating and providing policy advice on national competition matters, including the state’s requirements as a continued signatory to National Competition Policy agreements.

Queensland Competition Authority

The Queensland Competition Authority is responsible for the technical economic regulation of declared monopoly business activities under the Queensland Competition Authority Act 1997 (QCA Act). We liaise with the Queensland Competition Authority in line with its role of supporting the minister responsible for the authority under the QCA Act.

Competitive Neutrality

The Queensland Competition Authority is also responsible for conducting competitive neutrality complaint investigations relating to relevant state and local government businesses and providing advice to the government agencies on these.  The authority’s website provides guidance on how to make a competitive neutrality complaint.

National Competition Policy

On 24 November 2024, Queensland signed the new National Competition Policy (NCP) Intergovernmental Agreement (PDF, 9.5 MB). This agreement replaces the former NCP Agreement from 1994. The new agreement aims to revitalise competition policy across Australia and support Australian governments to implement new competition policy reforms over the next decade. The agreement also includes a revised set of competition principles for implementation by the end of 2026. The implementation process is being led by Queensland Treasury.