Statement regarding today's Federal Court appeal by the ACCC

All quotes attributable to Greg Piper, Independent Member for Lake Macquarie

• The ACCC first filed the case against NSW Ports in 2018 and the appeal was heard 12 months ago in Feb last year.
• Since then, a lot has changed, most notably my Bill which was passed by both Houses of the Parliament last November. That Bill solves the restrictive clauses around container trade which were placed on the Port of Newcastle when the State’s three ports were sold off.
• My Bill already achieves what the ACCC was seeking in its court challenge. I understand that the regulations contained in the Bill are now finalised and will be announced next week along with an independent assessor. The Port will then submit its formal application.
• The Bill is achieving what I wanted it to achieve for Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, the Hunter Region and indeed the entire State. It will deliver billions of dollars worth of private investment in our region and thousands of new jobs.
• I applaud the ACCC for sharing my views and bravely challenging the deals which everyone knows were unfair and delivered a monopoly on container trade to Sydney. It’s a shame it was defeated on a legal technicality, but we’ve moved on and I remain extremely pleased that my Bill is already delivering the positive outcomes which the ACCC was seeking.