Gina Cass-Gottlieb Gets a Second Term to Bed Down the Biggest Shake-Up of Merger Law in Half a Century

Gina Cass-Gottlieb spent a quarter of a century advising companies on how to get deals past the competition regulator. For the past four and a half years she has been the regulator. Now the federal government wants her to stay for another five.

On 23 September 2026, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced that the government is nominating Cass-Gottlieb for reappointment as chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for a five-year term from 20 March 2027, when her current term ends. Under the national competition arrangements, the government is seeking the agreement of the states and territories before recommending the appointment to the Governor-General.

From adviser to regulator

Before joining the ACCC, Cass-Gottlieb spent 25 years as a senior partner in the competition and regulation practice of law firm Gilbert + Tobin, where she was one of the country’s best-known merger lawyers. She also served as a non-executive member of the Reserve Bank’s Payments System Board and, from September 2021 to March 2022, as a member of the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority.

She took up the role of ACCC chair in March 2022, succeeding Rod Sims, bringing a deal-maker’s understanding of how companies think about competition risk to the other side of the table.

The record the government is pointing to

In announcing the reappointment, the Treasurer’s statement credited her with leading “the implementation of the most substantial merger laws in more than 50 years, and reforms to protect Australians from unfair trading practices.” It said that under her leadership, the ACCC “has won landmark law cases against supermarkets, airlines and digital platforms, and established the National Anti-Scam Centre.”

The merger reforms are the centrepiece. Since 1 January 2026, acquisitions that meet set thresholds must be notified to the ACCC and cannot proceed without its approval. In the first half of the year, the ACCC received 145 notifications and 286 waiver applications, and its 2025–26 annual report shows that most were cleared quickly. On 1 July 2026, the ACCC made its first refusal under the regime, blocking Coles from taking a lease on a new supermarket site in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, a decision Coles has asked the Australian Competition Tribunal to review.

Consumer enforcement remains active. In June 2026, the ACCC sued Amazon’s Australian business, alleging that unfair terms in its Prime subscription contracts allowed it to introduce advertising to Prime Video in 2024 and charge subscribers extra to avoid it. The allegations are yet to be tested in court. “All businesses are required to balance rights and obligations in their standard form contracts with consumers to ensure they are fair,” Cass-Gottlieb said when the case was filed. The ACCC is also the general regulator under the new Scams Prevention Framework, whose main obligations start on 31 March 2027.

Style and approach

Cass-Gottlieb’s public style is measured and precise, as might be expected of a former competition lawyer. But under her leadership the ACCC has not shied away from large cases against some of the biggest companies operating in Australia. The Kalgoorlie decision, which turned on the likely loss of an independent supermarket in a regional town, shows a regulator willing to look closely at local competition, not just national market shares.

The government’s statement framed the reappointment as continuity: it “will provide certainty for the ACCC’s ongoing leadership and strategic direction, as it implements reforms to product safety and digital platforms.”

What a second term means for business

For deal-makers, a second Cass-Gottlieb term means stability in how the merger regime is run during its formative years. Amendments that took effect on 16 September 2026 have already smoothed one of the regime’s rougher edges: a notifiable deal completed without notification is no longer automatically void, though the ACCC can ask the Federal Court to declare it void. The next five years will settle how the ACCC uses Phase 2 reviews, how the Tribunal treats its decisions, and whether waivers remain the fast lane for routine deals.

For consumer-facing businesses, the priorities are already published. The ACCC has named unfair contract terms, particularly harmful cancellation terms, as a compliance and enforcement priority for 2026–27. Subscription businesses, telcos and platforms should assume the scrutiny will continue.