The key change made by the Bill will see the current largely voluntary administrative registration system upgraded to a mandated oversight system embedded in law.

As law, it can provide clear and enforceable responsibilities and requirements for both those undertaking political lobbying, and those who are the recipients of those lobbying activities.

The Bill defines two categories of lobbyists as ‘political lobbyists’ who will have obligations under the proposed reforms:

• ‘third-party lobbyist’:-  a paid professional consultant or firm that seeks to influence government decisions on behalf of a client (see clause 4 of the Bill); and
• ‘in-house lobbyist’:– employees who lobby on behalf of the organisation that employs them as a significant part of the person’s duties as an employee (see clause 5 of the Bill) 

The Bill defines the following as public officials who will have obligations under the proposed reforms (see clause 4 of the Bill):

• Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, and any Secretary to Cabinet
• All Members of Parliament (House of Assembly and Legislative Council
• Staff employed in the offices of Members of Parliament, Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and Secretaries to Cabinet
• Heads of Government Departments.

Yes.  The Integrity Commission is to create and maintain:

• a Register of Lobbyists which will be public (see clause 7 of the Bill);
• a Contact Disclosure Log which will compile the disclosures of Public officials (those who have been lobbied) as required (see clause 20 of the Bill), within 10 working days after the end of the month in which the lobbying activity occured.

The Bill provides the following transparency measures:

The Integrity Commission is to create and maintain a public contact disclosure log of lobbying activities undertaken by political lobbyists (see clause 20 of the Bill).;

Public officials (those who have been lobbied) are required to disclose to the Integrity Commission all political lobbying activity registered political lobbyists have engaged in with them, detailing:

• names and roles of any public officials present;
• details of the registered lobbyist
• the name of the client for whom the political lobbyist is undertaking that lobbying activity (if the political lobbyist is a third-party lobbyist);
• the date of the lobbying activity;
• the nature of the lobbying activity which identifies the matter on which the lobbyist is seeking to influence the decision-making process.

Public Officials are to disclose these details to the Integrity Comisson within 10 working days after the end of the month in which the lobbying activity occured.

Yes.  The Bill seeks to prohibit giving or receiving success fees in relation to lobbying activities (see clause 16 of the Bill).

The Bill also prohibits public officials from giving gifts to or accepting gifts from political lobbyists (see clause 21 of the Bill)

Yes. The Bill stipulates a cooling-off period of at least two years for anone previously a Minister, Secretary to Cabinet, Parliamentary Secretary, or a Secretary of a Government Department, from acting as a political lobbyist on matters on which they had official dealings while in that role (see clause 17 of the Bill)

Yes. there are a range of penalties provided for in the Bill, along with other compliance and enforcement mechanisms, such as potential de-registration of lobbyists from the Lobbyists Register (see clause 9 of the Bill)

No.  The Bill focuses on translating into legislation the Integrity Commission’s 2025  Recommended Model for Lobbying Oversight in Tasmania, which did not include the local government tier.

The Tasmanian Integrity Commission began its review of the state’s lobbying oversight system in 2022.

This process provided multiple rounds of community and stakeholder consultation and input – these resources can be accessed at integrity.tas.gov.au or here

The final Recommended Model for Lobbying Oversight was intended to be implemented in 2025, but was stalled due to last minute concerns raised by some political stakeholders.

The former Chief Commissioner subsequently stated in June 2025 that parliament should legislate a lobbying oversight model.  You can view those comments here.

Once the public consultation stage concludes on 30 August, Meg intends to:

• Review all submissions received (submissions will be published on this Bill webpage), consider matters raised and finalise a version of the Bill for tabling; then
• Table in the Legislative Council during the 2026 Spring sitting weeks a final version of the Political Lobbying (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026; and hopefully
• Debate the Political Lobbying (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026 before the end of the 2026 Parliamentary session.

Stay tuned!