Declarations under part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act: The case for abolishing the public interest criterion

In order to secure access to an infrastructure service by means of a declaration, the access seeker must prove that six criteria are satisfied. The last of these – that access (or increased access) to the service would not be contrary to the public interest – is the focus of this article. It is strongly contended here that the public interest criterion serves no purpose, and that, contrary to the Productivity Commission’s view, it should be abolished from the matrix of declaration criteria.