A specialist Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) team that was built to keep Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon in check is weeks away from a funding cliff and could be disbanded by Christmas.

The ACCC’s “digital platforms” team once had more than 30 economists, lawyers and technical experts studying tech power and developing interventions such as the world-first News Media Bargaining Code. According to two people with knowledge of the situation not permitted to speak publicly, it’s down to roughly 10 people. Many of its former team members have already been redeployed across the public service or hired by the tech giants themselves.

The ACCC confirmed the unit’s current funding runs out at the end of December.

The timing is awkward: it lands just as Treasurer Jim Chalmers is preparing his mid-year budget update, and as multiple public bodies warn of “funding cliffs” across government.

Former ACCC chair Rod Sims, who created the unit, said the slow stripping of resources is a “complete tragedy”, arguing the country is losing a scarce pool of expertise at exactly the wrong time.

“We don’t know what the government is doing with the News Media Bargaining Code. And with AI coming, there are all sorts of issues around self-preferencing,” said Mr Sims. “The rest of the world is moving on, and Australia is being left behind.”

The Albanese government says it is still working on a new digital competition regime. Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh said the ACCC remains a strong enforcement agency, citing recent cases against Microsoft and Google, and said the government last year provided a two-year funding extension for oversight of digital platforms.

The ACCC says it has formally submitted a proposal for renewed funding.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ACCC Former Chairman Rod Sims 

The digital platforms team was created after the ACCC’s 2019 inquiry recommended a standing specialist branch to monitor and regulate the most powerful platforms. That inquiry ran for five years and delivered a major report every six months; the final report was released in March. In November 2022, the branch recommended a dedicated competition regime for dominant digital platforms, a framework that is comparable to Europe’s Digital Markets Act. It has not yet been legislated.

Mr Sims argues the delay already has real consequences. In Europe, he notes, Apple has been forced to allow more app stores and open its NFC chip to banks. Australian consumers, he said, don’t get those benefits if government doesn’t stand up a regime, or keep the expertise to enforce it.

If the funding is allowed to lapse at the end of the year, Australia will effectively dismantle the only team it has that deeply understands how Big Tech works.