Talking Point – We Deserve Better Checks and Balances

Talking Point | Mercury Newspaper | 14 July 2022

With reviews of political lobbying underway, we now have rare chance to improve transparency, writes Meg Webb.

TASMANIA has been dogged for decades by the perception that close relationships and backroom deals give certain vested interests inappropriate influence over government policy and legislation.

Sadly, it is commonly regarded as “business as usual” in our state, with minimalist systems of checks and balances doing little to counter this.

Yet, in other states and internationally, we see many examples of ‘business as usual’ being accountable, transparent systems to better ensure integrity and strong democracy.

In Canada and Ireland, lobbyists are not only required to register, but also to regularly publicly report on who and when they are lobbying, on what subject matter and the purpose and substance of the lobbying and any outcomes sought from the contact.

Contrast that with Tasmania’s opaque system of lobbyist registration, which is narrowly limited to third-party lobbyists with no requirement for public disclosure of their activities.

In Queensland and South Australia, lobbying activity must be reported not just in relation to ministers, their staff and parliamentary secretaries, but extends to all members of parliament, their staff and all persons employed, contracted or engaged in the public service.

Queensland goes even further and includes local councillors in its lobbying regulatory system.
Reflecting a best practice approach, and in response to a recommendation from the Coaldrake Review, Queensland has announced it intends to ban the practice of “dual hatting”.

This would mean lobbyists who had worked for political parties in state election campaigns could not then switch back to their lobbying role and lobby the resulting government on behalf of clients.

Now, wouldn’t that be a turn up for the books in Tasmania.

This month sees the welcome transfer of administrative responsibility for the Tasmanian Lobbyist Register and Code of Conduct from the Department of Premier and Cabinet to the Integrity Commission.

In conjunction with this transfer of responsibility, and for the first time since it was introduced in 2009, the Tasmanian Lobbyist Register and Lobbying Code of Conduct is being reviewed.

We have a rare opportunity to change our “business as usual” in this state, and to boost Tasmania to the front of the pack of rigorous and transparent checks and balances.

Effective regulation of lobbying activities works to prevent corrupt behaviour by lobbyists and public officials, ensure fairness in public policy development and decision-making, and reduce the risk of regulatory capture of government.

We regulate to ensure government decisions are based on merit, rather than skewed towards narrow vested interests. This will increase public confidence in the integrity of political institutions.

Research tells us the amount of commercial lobbying activity is going up in Australia and is now a multibillion dollar a year industry. That money is being spent for a reason, and clearly it gets results.

Now is our moment to ensure our regulatory system for lobbying catches up.

Tasmania’s current system has been assessed as one of the weakest and most ineffectual in the nation. When lined up alongside our nationally-worst political donations laws, the limited powers of our Integrity Commission, and our moribund Right to Information regime, a grim pattern is evident.

It’s time to change that pattern. Reform and improvement are within our grasp on each of these fronts.

Tasmanians deserve rigorous checks and balances to the highest standard provided in other jurisdictions. This should be a clarion call to transform our state into a beacon of democratic transparency and accountability.

Meg Webb, is the state Independent member for Nelson.