APIA chief executive, Cheryl Cartwright, said Pearce has responded promptly to industry concerns and his changes would help encourage investment in infrastructure.

“In a victory for commonsense, Mr Pearce will introduced an amendment to legislation in the House of Representatives to include price-setting principles, which are important for providing certainty for infrastructure investors,” Cartwright said today.

“These pricing principles were omitted from the original legislation - a major concern for industry."

Cartwright said the omission of these principles from The Trade Practices Amendment – National Access Regime – Bill 2005 would have increased uncertainty in industries operating under access regimes.

“Certainty of regulatory processes is critical for infrastructure investment, given the fact that the initial investment is large and must be recouped over a long period,” she said.

“It is important that infrastructure investors know with certainty that regulators dealing with pricing issues are obliged to comply with defined pricing principles.”

The legislation will amend Part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act to help encourage efficient investment in new infrastructure and improve the certainty, transparency and accountability of regulatory processes.

The pricing principles are a key element of the Government’s response to the Productivity Commission (PC) Review of the National Access Regime and provide a model for price-setting principles in industry-specific regimes, including the gas access regime, said APIA.