Bookings now open for Media and Communications – the role of the ACCC into the 2020s.

Wednesday 11th December – 5:30pm at the new offices of Norton Rose Fulbright, Level 5, 60 Martin Place, Sydney. $70 for CAMLA members and $95 for non members. Bookings via the seminars page.

At the turn of the decade, Rod Sims discusses how the ACCC has addressed the changing regulatory landscape in telecoms and media during his tenure, as well as what he considers to be the priorities and issues facing the ACCC over the coming years:

• Media and communications is one of the most rapidly changing sectors of the Australian economy.  Dramatic changes have occurred over the last decade and disruptive innovation is continuing at a rapid pace as we enter the 2020s.
• Rod Sims intends to address some of the challenges and opportunities that the media and communications sector has faced over the 2010s from a competition and regulatory perspective, including the nbn rollout, media convergence, the rise of the technology giants, telecoms and media mergers, and recent concerns with digital platforms.
• Looking forward, Rod Sims will then consider what the 2020s may bring for communications and media, including the changing role of regulators such as the ACCC and what he considers to be the role of the ACCC over the next decade.

ACCC CHAIRMAN: ROD SIMS

Rod Sims was appointed Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in August 2011 for an initial five year term, reappointed for a further three years in August 2016, and reappointed again in September 2018 for an unprecedented further three years till July 2022, making him the longest serving Chair of the ACCC.

Rod has extensive business and public sector experience. Immediately prior to his appointment to the ACCC, he was the chairman of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of New South Wales, commissioner on the National Competition Council, chairman of Singapore-based InfraCo Asia, director of Ingeus Limited, and member of the Research and Policy Council of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. Rod was also a director of Port Jackson’s Partners Limited where he advised the CEOs and boards of some of Australia’s top 50 companies on commercial corporate strategy over many years. Rod relinquished all of these roles on becoming Chair of the ACCC.

Rod is also a past chairman of the NSW Rail Infrastructure Corporation and the State Rail Authority and has been a director of a number of private sector companies. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rod worked as the deputy secretary in the Commonwealth Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet responsible for economic, infrastructure and social policy and the Cabinet Office. He also worked as deputy secretary in the Department of Transport and Communications. Between 1988–1990 Rod was the economic advisor to Australia’s Prime Minister.  Rod Sims holds a first class honours degree in Commerce from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Economics from the Australian National University.

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