The proposal has seven components.

Component 1: Increase maximum penalties under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the Act) from $10 million to $50 million.  Alternatively, for anti‐competitive conduct penalties, judges may adopt the European Union’s methodology, which is based on 30 per cent of the annual sales of the product or service relating to the infringement, multiplied by the number of years for which the infringement took place.

Component 2: Increase the litigation budget of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) by $24.5 million per year.

Component 3: Triple the number of penalty units for infringement notice penalties that the ACCC can issue under the Act.

Component 4: Change the definition of a small business eligible for protection under the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Act 2015 to a business entity with a turnover of up to $10 million.

Component 5: Unfair contract terms will become illegal and incur civil penalties of up to a maximum of $50 million.  

Component 6: Provide $0.5 million in 2019‐20 and then $1 million per year thereafter to create a Competition and Growth Taskforce.

Component 7: Provide $1 million per year over the 2019‐20 Budget forward estimates period, to facilitate the review of mergers that have occurred in concentrated markets, or have previously raised regulator concerns or enforceable undertakings to evaluate the competition and consumer outcomes of the merger, and the broader public interest.

The proposal would have effect from 1 July 2019.