Federal Court of Australia

Australian Competition Tribunal

Qualifications

LLB (Hons)
Bachelor of Civil Law (Hons)

Key competition cases

• ACCC v Colgate-Palmolive

• Prysmian

• Pfizer

• Cement Australia

External links

Federal Court of Australia

Qualifications

• LLB (Hons) University of Melbourne

• Bachelor of Civil Law (Honours) University of Oxford

• Admitted to practice (Victoria) 1976

• Appointed Queen’s Counsel for Victoria in 1991

Honours/Awards

• Awarded Centenary Medal in 2003

Relevant work history

• 2006 - current: Judge, Federal Court of Australia (Melbourne) (appointed 31 July 1996)

• July 2016 - current: President of the Austrlaian Competition Tribunal (five year appointment)

• 2009 - 2016: Deputy President of the Australian Competition Tribunal (appointment effective from 16 February 2009)

• 1991 - Appointed Queen's Counsel for the State of Victoria

• 1979 - called to the Bar

• Associate to Sir Ninian Stephen (then Justice of the High Court of Australia)

Relevant judgments

• ACCC v Colgate-Palmolive [2019]
  Appeal

• Prysmian Cavi E Sistemi S.R.L. v ACCC [2018] FCAFC 30 (13 March 2018)
  Appeal

• ACCC v Pfizer [2018] FCAFC 
  Appeal re: misuse of market power and exclusive dealing claims

• ACCC v Cement Australia Pty Ltd [2017] FCAFC 159
  Appeal against penalty in s 45 case

• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Telstra Corporation Limited [2010] FCA 790 (28 July 2010)
  Justice Middleton penalised Telstra $18.55 million for denying competitors access to infrastructure

• BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Ltd v NCC [2006] FCA 1764
  Access - Justice Middleton granted Fortescue's application for a declaration that certain bulk iron ore rail track transportation services constituted a service within the meaning of Part IIIA of the Act. An appeal to the full Federal Court was dismissed (see BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Ltd v NCC [2007] FCAFC 157). A further appeal to the High Court was also dismissed (see BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Ltd v NCC [2008] HCA 45 (24 September 2008)).
  
  

Tribunal

• Application by Tabcorp Holdings Limited [2017] ACompT 1

Relevant publications

• Justice John Middleton, ‘Assessing the future: the challenge of running competition cases’ [2019] FedJSchol 13

• Justice John Middleton, 'What will the Australian Competition Tribunal do now without Limited Merits Review?' (FCA) [2018] FedJSchol 7

  • Also published as 'What will the Australian Competition Tribunal Do Now without Limited Merits Review?' (2018) 26 CCLJ 103

• 'The Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Act 2008 (Cth) and s 46 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) – will anything really change?', Twentieth Annual Workshop of the Competition Law and Policy Institute of New Zealand, 8 August 2009

• 'Expert Economic Evidence', 5th Annual University of South Australia Trade Practices Workshop, 19-20 October 2007, [2007] Federal Judicial Scholarship 21

Other

Justice Middleton discusses Competition Primers for ASEAN Judges
(September 2020)