At Synergies Economic Consulting we live and breathe our name – we create synergies through bringing together experienced economists to work collaboratively with our clients to inform better decisions. Our mission is to add clarity and confidence to decision making through offering new insights and perspectives.
Synergies has a genuine commitment to providing rigorous expert advice to a growing and diverse client base in business and government. Through intensive client engagement, we seek to fully understand the needs of our clients. We deliver services that focus clearly on their individual circumstances and needs, while drawing on the extensive industry, regulatory and public sector expertise of the Synergies team.
About Us
The Australian energy sector is undergoing rapid transformation to achieve ambitious emission reductions without compromising our economic competitiveness and our quality of life. Not only is traditional generation technology being phased out in favour of intermittent renewables; vast numbers of small-scale systems must now be accommodated within the network, competing ...
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Tourism plays a significant part in Australia’s economy, contributing 3.2% to GDP and 4.9% to employment in 2016–17. Tourism’s contribution to national GDP has been growing steadily over the past few years, outpacing the performance of the wider economy. In 2016-17, the tourism sector directly contributed $55 billion to GDP ...
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Synergies understands the decisions and challenges that face the owners, users and developers of telecommunications infrastructure and the complex and dynamic environment in which they operate. In recent years Synergies has provided strategic advice on the regulatory risks and optimal regulatory structure for the deployment of broadband infrastructure.
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The mining industry is a key growth sector in the economy, raising commercial and economic issues that require specialist advice. Synergies assists mining and resource companies with access to essential infrastructure, negotiate agreements and to estimate the economic and social benefits of projects for the purpose of demonstrating ‘social license’.
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Synergies has extensive experience providing commercial, regulatory and policy advice to public and private clients in the agricultural sector.
Our work in agriculture covers a diverse range of areas, including:
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Governments face some of the most perplexing issues of the day. The development of public policies relating to health, aged care, education and the environment often involve difficult trade offs to be made. Economics is a valuable discipline for evaluating these trade offs in a transparent and objective manner. It ...
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The cost of health care is rising significantly along with the pressure to manage it. There is also mounting pressure to meet the growing needs and expectations of the community. Synergies assist clients, both public and private, regulated and unregulated, overcome the unique challenges they face to deliver affordable health ...
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With the emergence of climate change, the Australian water sector faces considerable challenges in maintaining a reliable supply of water for urban and rural users. A more variable climate will call for robust planning, efficient water markets, and prudent investment in infrastructure and water saving technologies.
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Thank you both very much for your dedication and professionalism on this project. I’m incredibly grateful for the documents that you’ve put together and I’m certain they will go a long way in demonstrating the value for keeping WAMSI around for a long time into the future.
The Board were pleased with the case study summary. The case studies and summary report will definitely prove useful in refining our policy position on coastal shipping in advance of government consultation on reforms.
Synergies deliverables to date have been a valuable input to Urban Utilities’ business case for expanded resource recovery.
Synergies gave us the advice we needed, in the format we wanted, on time and on budget. The report they produced was well written, with exceptional analysis, requiring little revision or debate. Synergies took the time to ensure they fully understood our purpose for the project – resulting in work we were able to immediately put to use.
Synergies performed a peer review across a range of elements including demand, service need and economics for the Nullinga Dam PBC. Their contribution was particularly significant to enhancing the PBC. In relation to demand specifically, Synergies identified several matters to be assessed further in the development of the DBC, including substantiation of demand.
I wanted to thank you for all your help on the rail access reforms. It has been so valuable to have your considered advice throughout our work on these reforms and I have really appreciated your flexibility in responding to our numerous requests, often at short notice.
Euan Morton was appointed as the Independent Expert for the first review of the Access Policy for the Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal. He was required to review the proposed changes to the Policy, issue a Discussion Paper and consider submissions from stakeholders when issuing his Final Report for consideration by Queensland Treasury. He brought considerable technical expertise, and a balanced and pragmatic approach, to the task and effectively managed stakeholders through the process. His report was accepted by Queensland Treasury and the review process was completed smoothly and efficiently. He was good to work with and assisted in minimising the cost of the engagement and the review process as a whole.
Thank you Euan. You did an amazing job. We really appreciate your effort on short notice to produce your reports and the professionalism which you demonstrated today in your evidence.
We appreciated how engaged with the project Synergies were and the effort put into preparing a well-researched and well written report. The project had a very constrained timetable, but the project team corresponded efficiently and we were pleased how quickly Synergies were able to turn the work around.
Thank you again for your outstanding effort on the impact tool. We really appreciate the extra effort and tolerance of our last minute changes to ensure we put our best foot forward in the CRC application process.
The story that has emerged from your process has been really useful for us to frame our thinking and will be very useful as we consider the interview an associated presentation.
Synergies assisted ElectraNet with our need to consider non-network solutions as part of the South Australian Energy Transformation RIT-T process. Synergies was insightful, responsive and great to work with.
I might also take this opportunity to thank you and the Synergies team for your engagement on the Cost Benefit Analysis, it’s been great working with you on such a complex technical project. I particularly appreciated your quick response to questions and thorough explanation of issues as it really helped in coordinating input and resolving issues with agencies.
Euan and the Synergies team have a thorough understanding of benchmarking techniques and their application to Australian electricity network businesses. They used innovative techniques to bring insight into the complexities of translating raw productivity measures into meaningful and commercially achievable revenue targets.
I am very pleased with the process, professionalism and outcomes of Synergies Economic Consulting’s report on Economic and financial viability assessment for non-potable supply options, NE Corridor. The team from Synergies were highly skilled in undertaking the project and provided timely delivery of work. We are especially pleased with the way that the final outcome of the study is written and how the results are discussed, articulated and put in the context. The difficulty with this project was the multiple stakeholders who were providing inputs during the study. The team was very innovative and skilled in working with multiple stakeholder groups. Thanks so much Synergies for doing a great job!
Euan Morton has performed numerous Independent Expert determinations under the National Electricity Rules for AEMO (and its predecessor, NEMMCO) over an extended period. He takes a principled and balanced approach to his determinations. He is easy to work with and is effective at managing stakeholders (particularly Affected Participants) such that they respect the integrity of the process and the outcome irrespective of regardless of whether their position was endorsed in the determination.
Thank you for making this work stream enjoyable and easy for us to manage. The feedback from all stakeholders is that they’ve been very impressed by your advice and expertise as seen in meetings and the deliverables – a view we strongly share! Hopefully we will have the opportunity to work with you again in the near future.
The Synergies Team has a deep and extensive knowledge of the agriculture sector and regional economies across the state, extremely strong data analytics capabilities, and a gift for easy engagement with a broad set of stakeholders.
The Synergies team was organised, responsive to our feedback and professional every step of the way. When we provided the report to our stakeholders, they were pleased with the calibre of the report and communicated to us that it was a thorough analysis of the problem.
The behaviours and decisions made by consumers, businesses, regulators and policy makers are at the heart of the way society operates. It goes without saying that an understanding of human behaviour is a prerequisite for addressing complex public policy and business problems.
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Synergies has a great wealth of experience in assisting businesses, research organisations, NGOs and local councils with preparing business cases for projects and programs. Increasingly, government funding is competitive and often calls for robust economic analysis to demonstrate positive returns to investment and contribution to jobs.
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Synergies’ provides specialist commercial services to assist clients with pricing and investment decisions. Our assistance on transactional and commercial support extends to conducting due diligence regulatory reviews, assisting with procurement processes, tender documentation, business case development and commercial negotiations.
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Synergies’ understanding of the dynamics of markets and market definition combined with our modelling capability enables us to analyse market power and related issues for competition assessments, including modelling counterfactual situations.
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As competition for natural resources grows, protection of environmental assets and values will become increasingly important in tandem with sustainable development. Environmental economics is primarily concerned with evaluating, designing and implementing policies to address market failures, which lead to under supply of environmental goods and services.
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Synergies’ ability to authoritatively enable non-technical audiences to understand complex technical issues has resulted in our senior staff regularly appearing as expert witnesses. We have provided expert advice on a range of issues including price and non-price disputes, competition, third party access, and valuation.
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Synergies’ has an in-depth understanding of urban and regional labour markets, including their theoretical underpinnings and real-world dynamics. We provide advice in relation to a diverse range of labour and employment matters, and engage in rigorous analysis that is tailored to the specific firms, employees, or labor markets of study. ...
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Synergies understands the process and drivers of government policy making through our direct and sustained involvement in the preparation and assessment of policy and our evaluation and analysis of policy benefits and impacts. We have provided advice in relation to a diverse range of public policy areas including employment and ...
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Synergies is highly regarded for its specialist expertise in public policy analysis, program evaluation and impact assessment. We prepare reports that meet the exacting standards of treasuries and regulatory gatekeepers. Our objective in all the work we do is to provide an objective assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of ...
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Synergies is expert in economic regulation and advises a diverse range of services to regulated utilities including electricity, water, port, rail and gas infrastructure service providers, reflecting our deep understanding of economic regulatory frameworks.
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Proposals to introduce new legislation or regulatory arrangements can increase the regulatory burden on businesses or consumers. Synergies is experienced at assessing the nature and size of impact that may be caused by the proposed regulations, and comparing these costs to the potential benefits – for example, the correction of ...
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Synergies has considerable experience assisting businesses subject to economic regulation across the transport, energy, and water sectors. In this regard, Synergies team members´ direct experience in regulated businesses and regulatory bodies enables different perspectives to inform the development of balanced advice to prepare clients for and engage with regulators.
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Featured case study
The Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) was established in 2006 by the WA State Government as an independent research organisation tasked with improving the coordination of marine research in WA, promoting collaboration between stakeholders and guiding research priorities. Synergies ...
Explore casestudyFeatured insight
29 December 2023 - Euan Morton was invited by 7News Perth to comment on DP World’s new container crane arrival into Fremantle Port. Watch the coverage by clicking on link below.
Explore insight
Our priority is to consistently deliver advice of a high standard for our clients in order to create value for their operations while establishing long term business relationships built on trust and integrity.
Our Expertise
Synergies Economic Consulting operates a Quality Management System which complies with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 as per the scope outlined in their certificate.
