The Productivity Commission inquiry into the Economic Structure and Performance of the Australian Retail Industry is under way. This will look into:
- current structure, performance and efficiency of the retail sector
- drivers of structural change in the retail industry
- broader issues contributing to the increase in online purchasing by Australian consumers
- sustainability and appropriateness of current indirect tax arrangements and the extent to which technology could reduce the administrative costs of tax collection
- other regulatory or policy issues which impact on the structural change in the sector.
Newsagents or any interested party can lodge submissions until May 20, 2011. Given the broad terms of reference I would expect the interests of newsagents to be well represented in submissions.