The Murphy Trade Practices Bill: Admirable Objectives, Inadequate Means

Robert Baxt and Maureen Brunt

Australian Business Law Review

Robert Baxt and Maureen Brunt, ‘The Murphy Trade Practices Bill: Admirable Objectives, Inadequate Means‘ (1974) 2(1) Australian Business Law Review 3-76 (plus Addendum)

Introduction

[page 3] Almost a decade ago, one of the present authors [Brunt] characterized the Trade Practices Bill about to be passed as 'legislation in search of an objective'. Now we have come full circle. The 1973-74 Murphy proposals are quite clear as to the objective, but now we doubt whether the detailed drafting of the Bill and the enforcement techniques are adequate tot he task. The theme of this critique, in a sentence, is that the Murphy proposals combine an admirable objective with inadequately thought-out means.

[footnotes omitted]