Public hearing shows strong support for IPART draft price regulation

Thursday 23 July 2026

On 21 July, Sympli attended an IPART Public Hearing on their review of regulated ELNO Service Fees, alongside a range of industry participants. IPART has now published the transcript of the hearing, which shows an industry united behind the draft report and increased price regulation in a monopoly market.

The transcript is worth reading in full. What stands out is how consistent the message was from the people who use these services every day: the direction of IPART’s draft is right, and it should be delivered without dilution.

On timing, that view was close to unanimous. Australia’s largest retail conveyancer told the Tribunal the reduction should be implemented immediately, because “every month it delays is a month consumers keep overpaying.” Sympli agrees. IPART’s draft recommends a one-off reduction, and that is the right approach; staggering it over the regulatory period simply delays the benefit to practitioners and Australian home buyers and sellers.

The clearest theme of the day, though, was ancillary services, an area that IPART was seeking further consultation on. Sympli told the Tribunal that services tied to the incumbent’s monopoly position should be regulated, and warned that the current model has the potential to incentivise shifting new features into services that may be ancillary and grow revenue outside of the regulated core. That concern was echoed across the room. The Australian Banking Association advocated for price regulation of APIs. The largest retail conveyancer argued the regulated perimeter “must cover APIs and ancillary services, not just lodgment and settlement fees; otherwise, the regulated monopoly can recover lost revenue by repricing the integrations.”

Most importantly, IPART itself signalled it is listening. On APIs, the Tribunal noted they “can be increasingly classed as necessary rather than optional and by their nature are not subject to competition,” and confirmed it is “actively considering whether these services should in fact be regulated as part of the ELNO service fee.” We strongly support that, and our submission will make the case that all services that connect into the ELN should sit inside the regulated perimeter. A price cut on core transactions achieves little if the same revenue can be recovered through the connections around it.

Finally, Sympli continues to see price regulation as the right tool for a market that currently lacks competition, not a permanent fixture of it. We welcome IPART’s draft recommendation to remove fee regulation from Sympli, and at the hearing we asked the Tribunal to go one step further: to include explicit language allowing for the earlier removal or review of pricing regulation if interoperability is enabled and effective competition emerges during the regulatory period. Regulation today, real competition tomorrow. The two reinforce each other.

Submissions on IPART’s draft report close on 14 August 2026. Sympli will lodge a detailed submission and will continue to engage constructively with IPART and ARNECC.

Media Inquiries: Jerome Boutelet, via email: jerome.boutelet@infotrack.com.au