Govt responds to competition law review

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO HARPER REVIEW INTO COMPETITION

* The Turnbull government supports 44 of the 56 recommendations, remaining open to the other 12

* Previous competition reforms of the 1990s and 2000s lifted economic growth by 2.5 per cent

* Among the reforms, greater efficiencies are in the delivery of human services including the national disability insurance scheme

* The government will be encouraging state and territories to lift remaining restrictions on retail trading hours

* Further discussions to be held on the controversial "effects test" which aims to get rid of the "take advantage" element from the law and instead introduce a test of whether a business is substantially lessening competition

* The government supports the establishment of the Australian Council for Competition Policy to oversee the progress of reform.