Hello there. Australia is on the cusp of the most significant revamp of its merger laws in decades, something that's largely been driven by concerns over global digital platforms.

It's all because, under the country's existing voluntary merger regime,

Australia's antitrust regulator says it has often been overlooked by global dealmakers.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission,

significant global transactions, many involving digital companies,

are either not notified in Australia at all, or the regulator finds out about them too late,

and by then it's a done deal. So the case for scrapping the voluntary regime is a compelling one,

but there's so much more than that on the table in Australian merger law at the moment,

particularly given that the ACC recently gave the green light to an anti-competitive merger

on the grounds that its environmental benefits outweighed the market detriments.

I'm James Panicki, a senior editor with M-lexlex's Asia Desk. I'm coming to you from the

Lexus Nexus offices in Melbourne, Australia. Thank you for downloading another Mlex special edition

podcast. Now, we have been covering every twist and turn of the proposed merger revamp, and we have

a few exclusive interviews with key players for you on today's podcast.

M-X reporter Ryan Krop works from our offices in Parliament House in the Australian capital,

Canberra, and he's been covering these developments very closely, and he joins us now.

So, Ryan, let's set the scene for listeners that might not be familiar with the Australian

regulatory landscape. Firstly, let's familiar with the Australian regulatory landscape.

Firstly, let's talk about the existing merger regime.

So say I'm the manager of a company that's about to undertake an acquisition.

Where do I go from there?

Where do I start?

...