The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced its decision not to grant interim authorisation to the Port of Brisbane and the cruise ship operator Carnival for their proposed licence agreement relating to a proposed new cruise ship terminal.
Yesterday, 1st of November, the government of Queensland announced that it is set to welcome its first dedicated mega-cruise ship terminal, which will be constructed at Luggage Point, on the north side of the Brisbane River.
Namely, Roy Cummins, CEO of Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd’s (PBPL) said that the terminal will be an integral part of Brisbane’s tourism infrastructure network, once it is approved by Australia’s competition and national consumer law champion (ACCC).
Today, the ACCC Commissioner Roger Featherston said that that the Port of Brisbane and Carnival do not require interim authorisation to commence construction of the port.
He explained that this decision was based on there being no conduct to which the interim authorisation would apply. He also added that this decision does not involve any assessment of the merits of the application for final authorisation.
“The arrangements for which authorisation is sought cannot commence until 2020, by which time the ACCC will have made a final decision on whether to grant authorisation to the agreement. As there is no proposal to engage in the conduct for which interim authorisation is sought, it is not appropriate to grant interim authorisation,” Mr. Featherstone noted.
Port of Brisbane and Carnival requested urgent interim authorisation in order to safeguard the project before the beginning of construction this month.
ACCC emphasized that this decision about an interim authorisation does not provide any indication of whether or not a final authorisation will be granted and that it will make a determination on the authorisation in the first half of 2018, with a draft determination expected in January.
