As a parliamentary inquiry examines the access lobbyists have to Parliament and whether rules are adequate, it’s clear the majority of submissions think they’re not.
The think tank Centre for Public Integrity has called for the lobbying code, which guides dealings with government representatives, to be made law to ensure compliance and increase transparency. It should also include penalties for breaches and make it possible to refuse registration to lobbyists thought unsuitable or found guilty of breaches.
The centre noted that its research shows that organisations that lobby also donate to the major political parties, with some $43.5 million (US$28.6 million) disclosed by the industry since 1998/99. The amounts have substantially increased over the past 25 years by 555 percent in real terms.
Most lobbyists donated relatively equal amounts to the two main parties, which suggested donations were “oriented towards securing access to the political process itself,” the centre’s submission said.
Register Should Include Details of Meetings
The centre therefore urges that the definition of lobbying be broadened to include any attempt to influence the decision-making of parliamentarians.It would also like to see a requirement for the diaries of ministers, shadow ministers, and their chiefs of staff to be disclosed, and for the information on the Register to be expanded to include the dates and details of meetings between lobbyists and representatives.
All those reforms are also advocated for by the Canberra-based think tank Australia Institute. It also wants to see the reinstatement of unaccompanied passes, to ensure more democratic access to Parliament House.
“The current sponsored pass system favours lobbyists and those with established political connections,” the Institute said.
“Lobbyists and people with established connections benefit from a level of access to Parliament House that is denied to many others. All representative bodies such as civil society groups, community organisations and charities should have equity of access to parliament to meet with parliamentarians and their staff,” said Bill Browne, director of the Democracy and Accountability Program at Australia Institute.
The Australia Institute also wants stronger sanctions available to deal with anyone who breaks the new lobbying law, saying “current lobbying rules lack sanctions for misconduct, making them toothless.” While the Centre for Public Integrity wants fines to be introduced “at a minimum.”
Attorney General’s Department Sees No Need for Change
However, the Attorney-General’s Department disagrees that change is necessary, arguing that the Lobbyist Code in its present form “cast light on the third-party lobbyists and their clients who seek to influence federal government decision-making, and, as such, achieves its purpose of bringing transparency to lobbying within the federal sphere.”The Australian Professional Government Relations Association backs this view, believing that “the current system is rigorous and functions well to allow those who need access to Parliament House for work purposes, to do so.”
1,800 Passes for Parliament, Majority to Lobbyists
In her submission, professor of constitutional law Anne Twomey noted that almost 1,800 passes had been issued for Parliament House, with the majority going to registered lobbyists. This gave them an advantage over other organisations or members of the public who wanted to influence politicians.“In short, it opens the door to undue influence and potentially corrupt behaviour,” she said. “Facilitating such opportunities is both unwise and inappropriate.”
The public policy think tank Grattan Institute echoes the call for reforms to the register and the publication of diaries.
“Greater public scrutiny might encourage policymakers to seek out a wider range of views. And it can alert under-represented groups to speak up when a particular policy issue is ‘live,’” it noted.
“Policymakers should actively seek out a range of voices—including those of disadvantaged groups and more diffuse interests. Boosting countervailing voices in policy debates would give politicians and public officials better information with which to adjudicate the public interest.”
It also researched the connection between money and politics, in 2018, and published a report which concluded that “well-resourced groups, particularly big businesses and unions, use money, resources, and relationships to influence policy to serve their interests.”
Lobbyists are Big Political Donors
From the industry itself, Hawker Britton, a government relations firm, agreed in its submission that “definitions related to lobbying should be centred on the activities themselves not only the business model of those involved.”The firm suggests adopting the proposal put forward by Senator Jacqui Lambie in 2019 for rules to change so that “everyone with a sponsored orange pass is considered a lobbyist, everyone who is a lobbyist is required to sign up to the register and everybody on it is required to abide by the Lobbying Code of Conduct.
“If you’re a lobbyist and you break the rules, you lose your special access to parliament. If you still need to get in to see someone, sign the visitors’ book, like everybody else has to,” Senator Lambie added.
Associate Professor and Deputy Director at the Australian Centre for Justice Innovation at Monash University, Yee-Fui Ng, suggests Parliament go a step further and integrate all the relevant information in one place: political donations made by lobbyists; the register of lobbyists; ministerial diaries; details of investigations into misconduct or corruption; list of holders of parliamentary access passes; gifts given by lobbyists to government officials; and details of each lobbying contact.
In total, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration received 120 submissions on the topic.
