By Sean Maguire ( October 15, 2026, 04:41 GMT | Insight) -- Australia’s competition watchdog has defended the broad reach of the new mandatory merger regime ahead of Treasury’s review of notification thresholds, saying it is revealing consolidation in essential services and private equity acquisitions. Gina Cass-Gottlieb, chair of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, told MLex the regime is bringing multinational deals to the regulator earlier, and she does not expect recent changes to automatic-voiding rules to reverse that improvement. She said the watchdog is monitoring AI acquisitions, potential self-preferencing by major technology companies and the use of algorithms to coordinate business conduct.Australia’s competition watchdog has backed the broad reach of the country’s new mandatory merger regime ahead of a review of notification thresholds, saying increased visibility of acquisitions is helping identify where ownership is being concentrated across key industries....
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