Former corporate and competition watchdog chiefs say their ability to win major court cases was “materially weakened” by having to pay barristers a fraction of their commercial rates, and pointed to warnings as early as 2019 that this was a problem in the courtroom.

Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission bosses Rod Sims and Allan Fels, and former Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairmen James Shipton and Greg Medcraft all spoke out against the 13-year freeze on federal government pay rates on Monday.