ACCC Chair Professor Allan Fels will address special issues for rural and regional Australia, particularly in the ongoing debate on rising petrol prices.

Other topics due to be covered in the presentation include the ACCC's role in applying the 1974 Trade Practices Act to competition policy in Australia. This includes the Commission's scrutiny of mergers, cartels, misleading and deceptive company conduct and protecting the Australian consumer.

Professor Fels has previously headed national organisations overseeing trade practices and price surveillance. He is the former head of the Monash Graduate School of Management in Melbourne, and is currently Co-Chairman of the OECD Joint Group on Trade and Competition.

The public lecture, named after regional and national business leader Sir Henry Nowik, has been presented in past years by former Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Trade Minister Tim Fischer, former industry leader Sir Roderick Carnegie and Fairfax media group chairman Stan Wallis, AO.

The 2000 Henry Nowik Lecture will be held tonight in the Charles Sturt University's Nowik Auditorium, Albury-Wodonga Campus, Guinea St, Albury, commencing at 7pm.