ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel is 2009 Newsmaker

Accepting the award, Mr Samuel deflected any personal recognition, instead "thanking" those who had kept the competition watchdog in the news throughout the year.

Watch the full speech

“This is an interesting award and is not one that belongs to the ACCC or Graeme Samuel – it belongs to the people who have really made the news," Mr Samuel said.

"It belongs to Qantas and British Airways and the other airlines that have participated in international freight surcharge cartel – so thank you to them for the award."

Mr Samuel singled out Australia's two dominant stevedores, DP World and the Asciano-owned Patrick, and said the ACCC made no apology for the way it enforced ports competition policy.

"We think it’s for your good – although Mark [Asciano chief executive Mark Rowsthorn] and some others might not agree, but that doesn’t matter – we think it’s for the good of suppliers, customers, users of services and in particular as consumers in the Australian economy.

"Our interest is in trying to secure a flexible economy that serves all 22m Australians."

Mr Samuel was recognised for the ACCC's involvement across a broad spectrum of transport including assessing competition issues affecting the stevedores, coal chains in New South Wales and Queensland, grain port markets, international air cargo or empty container operations.

“Thank you to Chris Corrigan and others that were the subject of other proceedings that we took in relation to the activities on the ports," Mr Samuel said.

"Thank you to Mark Rowsthorn of Asciano and to DP World for running, what I can’t call a cosy duopoly, but why not, a cosy duopoly down on the ports.

“Thank you to all of you in this room who help us make the news."

Mr Samuel drew laughter from the audience when he said:

"If I haven’t mentioned you and you’d like to be mentioned in the coming year, please come and tell me about the cartel that you have been participating in.

"If you’re first in the door, you get immunity from prosecution.”

Mr Samuel also took the opportunity to credit substantial economic reforms for putting Australia in a strong position relative to other countries.

“Australia has escaped almost completely unscathed the effects of those chill winds of the global financial crisis which have so devastated the economies throughout the developed world,” he said.

“There’s a good reason for it – we have an economy which has gone through some substantial economic reforms over the past 20 or 30 years.

"They are reforms in which those of us who have been involved, particularly in competition policy, are proud to have achieved what we have achieved.

"It’s well-recognised that we have probably one of the most effective competition policies in the developed world.

"We’ve been able to withstand Asian crises, Japanese crises, US recessions and in particular the devastating effects of the global financial crisis."