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National Competition Council Annual Report 2018–19

Corporate Governance

The Council’s governance framework establishes accountability and decision making processes to effectively and efficiently manage its resources and allocate those resources to its statutory priorities. The Council has embraced the management, accountability, financial and employment arrangements applicable to government agencies.

The Council is responsible for its activities, consistent with the requirements of the CCA, with decisions being made at Council meetings.

The Council is accountable for its decisions through the courts, the Australian Competition Tribunal, the Parliament and the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

National Competition Council structure

The Council comprises the President and up to four other councillors appointed by the Governor-General, with appointments supported by a majority of state and territory governments. Part IIA of the CCA specifies the processes for appointing councillors, conducting Council meetings and disclosing interests by councillors.

Council membership

During 2018-19, the Council comprised three councillors, including a President (see Box 3‑1).

Box 3-1 Councillors’ profiles

Julie-Anne Schafer – President Ms Julie-Anne Schafer is the President of the National Competition Council. Ms Schafer was initially appointed for a period of three years from 18 December 2015. In December 2018, Ms Schafer was re-appointed as President for a further three year term. Ms Schafer has 25 years of experience as a partner in the legal services sector. She has served on advisory committees for the law faculties of several universities in Queensland. She was also the Deputy Chancellor of the Queensland University of Technology. She has over 15 years of directorship experience in diverse and highly regulated sectors, including energy, road and rail transport. Ms Schafer has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Chris Jose Mr Chris Jose was appointed to the Council for a period of three years from 18 December 2017. Mr Jose brings more than 30 years of experience in competition law in government and in private legal practice. After a number of years as a barrister specialising in competition and market regulation, for 15 years from 2002 Mr Jose was a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills in competition and market regulation advising his corporate and government clients on a broad range of matters in competition and consumer law and infrastructure regulation. He has advised many clients in regulated sectors including in electricity distribution, gas pipelines, airports, ports and rail transport. In May 2018 he was appointed as a full time member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Mr Jose holds a Diploma of Law (University of Sydney) and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Melbourne.
Martin Wallace Mr Martin Wallace was initially appointed to the Council for a period of three years from 18 December 2015. In December 2018, Mr Wallace was re-appointed to the Council for a period of two years to December 2020. Mr Wallace was previously the Secretary of the Tasmania Department of Treasury and Finance. He has extensive experience in public administration, regulatory policy and business and financial management as well as senior executive experience in the energy and telecommunications sectors. He is an experienced board member, including past roles with Aurora Energy Pty Ltd, the Tasmanian Public Finance Corporation, Tastel Limited and the Governing Council of the Tasmanian Health Service. Mr Wallace has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) degree.

Julie-Anne Schafer – President

Ms Julie-Anne Schafer is the President of the National Competition Council. Ms Schafer was initially appointed for a period of three years from 18 December 2015. In December 2018, Ms Schafer was re-appointed as President for a further three year term.

Ms Schafer has 25 years of experience as a partner in the legal services sector. She has served on advisory committees for the law faculties of several universities in Queensland. She was also the Deputy Chancellor of the Queensland University of Technology. She has over 15 years of directorship experience in diverse and highly regulated sectors, including energy, road and rail transport.

Ms Schafer has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Chris Jose

Mr Chris Jose was appointed to the Council for a period of three years from 18 December 2017.

Mr Jose brings more than 30 years of experience in competition law in government and in private legal practice. After a number of years as a barrister specialising in competition and market regulation, for 15 years from 2002 Mr Jose was a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills in competition and market regulation advising his corporate and government clients on a broad range of matters in competition and consumer law and infrastructure regulation. He has advised many clients in regulated sectors including in electricity distribution, gas pipelines, airports, ports and rail transport. In May 2018 he was appointed as a full time member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Mr Jose holds a Diploma of Law (University of Sydney) and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Melbourne.

Martin Wallace

Mr Martin Wallace was initially appointed to the Council for a period of three years from 18 December 2015. In December 2018, Mr Wallace was re-appointed to the Council for a period of two years to December 2020.

Mr Wallace was previously the Secretary of the Tasmania Department of Treasury and Finance. He has extensive experience in public administration, regulatory policy and business and financial management as well as senior executive experience in the energy and telecommunications sectors. He is an experienced board member, including past roles with Aurora Energy Pty Ltd, the Tasmanian Public Finance Corporation, Tastel Limited and the Governing Council of the Tasmanian Health Service.

Mr Wallace has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) degree.

Councillors are drawn from across Australia and different industry and community sectors to provide a range of skills and experience. They endorse the operating policies of the Council, and consider, review and approve all of the Council’s recommendations and major publications before release. The councillors also oversee the Council’s operations and provide financial oversight.

National Competition Council meetings

Table 3-3 provides the dates, form of and attendance at each Council meeting in 2018-19.

Table 3-3 National Competition Council meetings, 2018-19

Meeting date	Form of meeting	Attendance
24 August 2018*	In person meeting	All councillors
23 October 2018	Telephone conference	All councillors
14 November 2018*	Telephone conference	All councillors
26 November 2018	Telephone conference	All councillors
6 December 2018	Telephone conference	All councillors
17 December 2018	Telephone conference	All councillors
5 March 2019*	In person meeting	All councillors
6 May 2019	Telephone conference	All councillors
25 June 2019	Telephone conference	All councillors

* Indicates prescheduled meetings, other meetings are held as required to consider specific decisions.

As a general principle, the Council takes decisions during in person meetings and/or a teleconference, these being environments in which Councillors can discuss matters and make decisions collectively.

The CCA also permits the Council to adopt decisions by circulation of papers. The Council does this where such a course enables timely decision making and where unanimous agreement is anticipated, or where a matter has been the subject of previous consideration in a meeting. During 2018-19, no decisions were made by circular resolution.

As well as chairing meetings of the Council, the Council President is also the Head of Agency for the purposes of ensuring the Council’s compliance with the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) and other Australian Public Service requirements. During 2018-19 the President conducted regular telephone discussions with the Council’s Executive Director on the Council’s work.

Secretariat support for the Council

On 1 July 2014 the Council replaced its staff secretariat with an arrangement under which the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) provides the Council with secretariat (corporate and professional) services. Therefore, the Council no longer employs staff directly. Staff and other support for the Council’s operations are provided by the ACCC under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

As the Council did not have any staff during the 2018-19 financial year, it has no staffing statistics to report in relation to gender, APS classification, employment status (ongoing/non ongoing, full-time/part-time), location or Indigenous status of employees for the period.

Council remuneration

During the reporting period ended 30 June 2019 the Council had three executives who meet the definition of key management personnel (KMP).¹ Employee benefits (including superannuation contributions) paid to these KMP in 2018-19 totalled $81 259. The names and remuneration for the period are outlined in Table 3‑4 below.

Remuneration arrangements for the Council are set by the Remuneration Tribunal. Since 1 November 2014 the basis on which the Council is remunerated has been a combination of an annual fee and a daily fee which applies when the Council is called on to consider applications outside scheduled meetings.

Table 3-4 Key management personnel remuneration 2018-19

		Short-term benefits			Post-employment benefits	Other long-term benefits	Total remuneration ($)
Name	Position Title	Base Salary ($)	Bonuses ($)	Other benefits & allowances ($)	Superannuation contributions ($)	Long service leave ($)	Total remuneration ($)
Julie-Anne Schafer	President	35 206	-	-	5 421	-	40 627
Chris Jose	Councillor	17 608	-	-	2 711	-	20 319
Martin Wallace	Councillor	17 608	-	-	2 705	-	20 313
Total		70 422	-	-	10 837	-	81 259

The Council does not operate performance pay arrangements.

Footnotes

All three executives were designates as KMP for the entire reporting period. ↩

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