Not enough competition in Australia: Labor

Ramping up market competition in Australia could help address inequality across the nation, according to a federal Labor MP.

Andrew Leigh is to press the case in a lecture at the Australian National University in Canberra on Wednesday, in which he'll lament that Australia "has a competition problem".

"There is not enough of it - our industries are concentrated, our markets show signs of weak competition," the frontbencher will say.

Mr Leigh says there's a growing body of evidence that thinking differently about competition could help promote equality.

"Inequality is not simply a function of taxation and government programs, important as they are," he said.

"Focusing more on the competitive process, the structure of markets and the incentives those structures create for firms will play an important role in reducing inequality."