Media Release – Tougher Laws Needed to Regulate ‘Hired Guns’

Independent Member for Nelson Meg Webb said today the Integrity Commission review into Tasmania’s lobbying regulation system has exposed it to be one of the weakest and most ineffectual in the nation.

“Currently there are 66, third-party ‘hired gun’ lobbyists on the Lobbyist Register, but under our passive and opaque system the activities of registered lobbyists are invisible and unaccountable,” Ms Webb said.

“Unlike other jurisdictions, Tasmania does not require the public disclosure of which MP was lobbied, by whom, when and on which legislation or policy

“Our minimalist system also allows in-house lobbyists and others actively lobbying to influence legislation and policy outcomes to go unregistered and unseen.

“A further limitation is the current Code of Conduct which only covers Ministers, parliamentary secretaries and some senior government staff, when we know Opposition party members and independents are also lobbied.”

Ms Webb said necessary reforms include the introduction of lobbying legislation with teeth to ensure compliance and an expanded regulatory system to include all lobbyists and all MPs.

“If lobbyists consider it worthwhile and in their clients’ interests to lobby non-government members and staff, then it is equally in the public interest for those contacts to be disclosed fully and in a timely manner.

“‘Dual-hatting’ should also be banned – as the Queensland government has just announced it intends to do – to prevent lobbyists who worked on election campaigns then switching back to their lobbying role and lobbying the resulting government on behalf of clients.

”Tasmania has been dogged for decades with the perception that close relationships and backroom deals provide vested interests with inappropriate influence over policy and legislation.”

Ms Webb said the current “integrity-lite” regime does little to provide public confidence in our systems of democratic governance.

“It is time to change that. Tasmanians deserve rigorous and transparent checks and balances to the highest standard provided in other jurisdictions,” Ms Webb said.

The Integrity Commission’s current review into Reforming Oversight of Lobbying in Tasmania has extended the public consultation period until 15 July.

Recommendations made by Ms Webb in her submission include:

• All Members of Parliament should be covered by the state’s lobbying regulation system.
• Consideration should be given to including local government councillors under the state’s lobbying regulation system.
• The definition of “lobbyist” and the lobbying regulatory system be expanded to include in-house and other lobbyists additional to third-party lobbyists.
• Lobbyists should be required to provide, as a minimum, the following information on an online register:
  • Which public officers were lobbied and when.
  • The method and frequency of contact with identified public officers
  • The purpose and substance of the contact, including the subject matter which was the focus of discussion (e.g. policy/regulations/programs/legislation)
  • The desired and intended outcomes from the contact
• Lobbyist activity reports should be disclosed quarterly, to address ongoing public frustration over the lack of timely release of pertinent information, particularly within a parliamentary and/or election context.
• All public officers involved in lobbying activities (including government, non-government MPs, political staffers’, and public sector staff diaries) should be disclosed publicly.
• Specific legislation should be introduced to empower the Integrity Commission to provide lobbying oversight and compliance measures. This legislation should be reviewed every five years.
• “Cooling off” periods between post-employment and lobbying activity need to be expanded to include MPs, political staff and public sector staff, and should be for a period of two years.
• The payment of lobbying “success fees” should be banned. Currently Tasmania is the only Australian state which does not explicitly do so.

Media Contact: A.Mark Thomas, M&M Communications, 0422 006 732