Impact of Competition Policy Reforms on Rural and Regional Australia

The Commission's primary task has been to investigate and report on the effects of NCP on people, businesses and communities, especially in country Australia. The Commission has looked at the effects to date and likely long-run effects on country Australia and the nation as a whole. It has sought to disentangle the effects of NCP from other sources of change. In doing so, it has considered the following questions:

· what does NCP entail and what are its effects?

· how significant is NCP relative to other factors?

· is country Australia affected more or less than metropolitan areas by NCP reforms?

· are there particular problems caused by NCP which need to be addressed?

· is there a need to supplement existing policies which help country communitiesto cope with any such problems?

To address these questions, it is necessary to examine the economic and social circumstances of country Australia and to consider what is driving them.