This blog was originally published at Online Opinion 4th January, 2007, and is re-published here with the kind permission of its author Chris Berg and the Institute of Public Affairs.

On 26 September David Quilty presented these ideas at the GAP Congress on Regulatory Affairs: "Opportunities for Business",  held in Parliament House of Victoria.

It is a pleasure to be here today and my congratulations to the GAP and to Peter Fritz for his leadership in putting this Congress together and for all the hard work in developing the ideas and the proposals that are being discussed.

The fact there are so many public policy leaders participating at the Congress is testament to the interest in and support from all levels of government for the GAP and for Peter's "second track" approach to taking forward what are often contentious, complex and hard to resolve issues.

The matter I wish to focus on today could certainly be defined in this way. Competition regulation in telecommunications in Australia is characterised by high levels of disputation; the spending of vast amounts of money usually for little discernible benefit for anyone involved; and a total lack of communications between those who play the game and the wider community.

Last year, Peter came to Phil Burgess and me and said he thought this issue was too important not to resolve and that, while he did not pretend to understand the complexities of it, there must be a solution if the right people are involved and they bring with them open minds and a spirit of goodwill.