Australian government appoints three economists to competition tribunal

The government of Australia has named a trio of economists as part-time members of the Australian Competition Tribunal for a five-year term.

David Byrne, Katharine Kemp and Flavio Menezes have joined the independent statutory body, which hears applications from companies seeking to conduct mergers and acquisitions.

Byrne is a professor of economics at the University of Melbourne, and his research has focused on industrial organization and behavioral economics. He was awarded the Young Economist Award by the Economic Society of Australia in 2023.

Kemp is an associate professor at the faculty of law and justice at the University of New South Wales Sydney, where she leads the university’s public interest law and technology initiative. Her research focuses on competition, data privacy and consumer protection, and she has also practised as a commercial lawyer and a barrister.

Menezes is a professor of economics at the University of Queensland and chair of the Queensland Competition Authority. He was previously president of the Economics Society of Australia, a member of the advisory board of the Australian government’s deregulation taskforce. He has also been head of the economics school at UQ and director of the Australian Centre of Regulatory Economics at Australian National University.

The competition tribunal hears a variety of applications, including reviews of decisions by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commision and the Treasurer. It has a president, deputy presidents, and other members appointed by the Governor-General.

The four latest appointments come after the Australian government in March 2023 appointed seven new part-time members to the oversight body, including a part-time president.