Now lawBusiness & Trade Introduced in the Senate, 13 May 2026

Rival firms can now team up fast in a crisis

Competition law normally stops rival businesses from teaming up. This law lets the government say a crisis is happening. Then the competition watchdog can quickly let businesses work together. The law also raises the fines for breaking the fuel industry's rules.

Official name: Competition and Consumer Amendment (Responding to Exceptional Circumstances) Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Businesses during a crisis: They can get fast, free permission from the watchdog to work with rivals if it helps deal with the crisis.
• Fuel suppliers, wholesalers and service stations: Wholesalers sell fuel in bulk to other businesses. Much bigger fines can now be set for breaking the Oil Code of Conduct.
• Shoppers: The government says working together can keep needed goods flowing. The watchdog must weigh harm to the public before it says yes.
• Parliament: It can vote to cancel the minister's crisis notices. After a Greens change, it can also cancel the watchdog's blanket permissions.

Competition law bans rivals cooperating

The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 bans many ways businesses can stop fair competition. One example is rival businesses agreeing how to share out supplies or customers. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission makes people follow these rules. It is the competition and consumer watchdog.

The watchdog can already give permission for something that would break the rules, if it helps the public. This is called authorisation. It could also do this faster during a national emergency. That kind of emergency is declared under the National Emergency Declaration Act 2020.

The government says some crises are not quite a national emergency. But they still hurt businesses and shoppers. It points to the effects of the war in the Middle East. It says the normal way of getting permission takes too long when businesses need to act fast.

The law has 2 parts. Part 1 creates the crisis powers. Part 2 raises the fines that can be set under the Oil Code of Conduct. That code is the set of rules for the fuel industry.

Minister declares a crisis

The minister can put out a crisis notice. The law calls it an exceptional circumstances declaration. The minister must be sure the crisis is doing serious harm to Australia's economy or shoppers, or would do so. The notice must also be good for the public.

The law does not say what counts as a crisis. The government says this keeps it open, because crises are hard to predict.

A notice can last up to 6 months. The minister can stretch it by up to 3 months at a time. There is no limit on how many times.

Each notice is put online as a formal government rule. Either house of Parliament can vote to cancel it.

Fast permission for some firms

While a crisis notice or a national emergency is in place, a business can ask for fast permission. There is no fee. The usual steps of asking the public for views are dropped.

The watchdog can only say yes if it is sure the plan would help deal with the crisis or recover from it. It must weigh the good for the public against any harm to the public.

The watchdog can add conditions. For example, it might need to okay a plan before it goes ahead. If a business breaks a condition, it loses the protection.

Say several fuel sellers want to share trucks and storage so remote towns do not run dry. During a crisis they could ask the watchdog for quick permission to work together.

Permission lasts no longer than the crisis notice. The watchdog can take it back. It might do this if the plan no longer helps, or the business gave false information. These permissions cannot be used for companies joining together.

Blanket permission for some conduct

The watchdog can also give blanket permission. The law calls this a class exemption. It switches off some competition rules for a whole kind of behaviour, so each business does not have to ask. The same test applies. The behaviour must help with the crisis.

The watchdog can limit blanket permission to some kinds of businesses or cases. It can add conditions. It can also take it away from one business, with written reasons. But it can only do that from that point on.

The government's first bill said Parliament could not cancel blanket permissions. The Senate passed a Greens change that fixed this. So Parliament can now cancel them.

Backdating, secrecy and review limits

Crisis notices and permissions can start before the law did. But they cannot start before 1 April 2026. So things businesses already did can be covered, as long as a crisis notice was in place at the time.

The watchdog must keep a public list of its decisions. During a crisis it can wait to put them up until 7 days after the notice ends. The government says telling the public early may not always be good for the public.

People cannot ask the Australian Competition Tribunal to look at whether these decisions were right. That body reviews some competition decisions. People can still ask a court to check if a decision broke the law.

The old emergency test for permissions is removed, because the new way replaces it. Small changes are made to the National Emergency Declaration Act to match.

Bigger fines for fuel sellers

The Oil Code of Conduct is a set of rules made in 2017 that fuel businesses must follow. It covers firms that supply, carry and sell fuels like unleaded petrol and diesel. Until now, it had no fines at all.

This law lets the code set much bigger fines. They match the codes for franchises and for food and groceries. A franchise is a business that runs under a bigger brand's name, like many fast food shops. For a company, the top fine is the largest of three amounts. One is $10 million. One is 3 times what it gained. The last is 10% of its yearly sales, if what it gained cannot be worked out. For one person, the top fine is $500,000.

A lower level of fine is also possible. It is up to 3,200 penalty units for a company or 640 for one person. A penalty unit is a set dollar amount used to work out fines. The watchdog can also give on-the-spot fines of 600 penalty units to a company or 12 to a person.

These fines only work once the code itself is changed to include them. They only apply to breaches from the day after the law was signed. The government says small fines could be treated as just a cost of doing business.

Law since May 2026

The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is in charge of the bill. The Treasurer is the minister in charge of the economy. It went to the Senate, Parliament's second house, on 13 May 2026. It passed there on 14 May with one change from the Greens.

The Liberal and National parties wanted a group of senators to look into the bill. The Senate said no. The House of Representatives passed it on 25 May 2026.

The Governor-General, the King's representative, signed it into law on 26 May 2026. Both parts started the next day.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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