I'm writing to ask you to fix Australia's lobbying rules.
The Lobbying Code of Conduct only covers third-party lobbyists. That leaves around four in five of the people lobbying our federal government - the government relations staff employed directly by gambling companies, fossil fuel companies, banks and industry associations - outside the rules entirely. They're on no register, bound by no code, and face no penalty if they breach one.
I'm glad the government is acting to bring transparency to sponsored passes to Parliament House. That's a real step, and it shows this is fixable. But three things still need to happen:
A code that covers everyone. Every lobbyist on the register, a legislated code with penalties that actually deter, and an independent, properly resourced regulator - not a section of your own department with fewer than four staff.
The revolving door closed. Enforceable and longer cooling-off periods before ministers and senior staff can lobby the portfolios they used to run.
Ministerial diaries published monthly, as Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT already do.
None of this is radical. Most of it already happens somewhere in Australia. What's missing is the decision to do it federally.
I'd appreciate a response setting out what you intend to do.
Reform our broken lobbying system
We are sick of vested interests being put ahead of community interests. The government has failed to stand up for Australians and against powerful industries. From our failure to get a fair return on gas exports to inadequate gambling advertising reform, and so many other issues, vested interests have been put ahead of what's good for Australians and our future.
A part of the problem is the privileged access these industries get to our most powerful decision-makers. To change that, we need urgent reform of our broken lobbying system. Federal rules governing lobbying are the worst in the country, and some of the worst in the world. We have an opportunity to fix that and take back control of our democracy.
Write to the Attorney-General
The Attorney-General is responsible for the Lobbying Code of Conduct and the Register of Lobbyists. Send them a message asking for the rest of the job to be finished - and copy in your own MP and senators so they know it matters where you live.
0 emails sentGoal: 5,000
A broken system
A multi-billion dollar industry, regulated by almost nobody.
80%
of lobbyists aren't subject to the Lobbying Code of Conduct, because the definition only captures third-party lobbyists.
A/Prof Yee-Fui Ng, Monash University.
2.5–4 staff
is the average size of the team inside the Attorney-General's Department that administers the entire Lobbying Code of Conduct and Register.
Attorney-General's Department, answer to a written question on notice.
3 months
is the harshest penalty available for a serious breach - a suspension from talking to government, not from working. For an unregistered lobbyist there is no penalty at all.
Lobbying Code of Conduct.
8+
federal ministers, senior ministerial advisers and at least one state premier have taken up roles promoting gambling after leaving office.
Transparency International Australia.
The code and the regulator
A code that covers every lobbyist and a regulator with teeth.
The Lobbying Code of Conduct is not a law. It is an administrative instrument that applies to one slice of the industry, administered by a small team inside the Attorney-General's Department. It asks lobbyists to register and to behave honestly. It gives nobody the power to make them.
The definition is too narrow
Only third-party lobbyists are captured. The people employed directly by companies to lobby on their own behalf, and the industry associations that do it for them, sit outside the code altogether. They don't appear on the register, and nothing they do has to be disclosed.
The code has no legal force
Because it sits outside legislation, breaching it isn't unlawful. The strongest available response to a serious breach is temporary removal from the register, which means nothing at all to an in-house lobbyist who was never on it.
Nobody is enforcing it
The job sits with a departmental team rather than an independent regulator. A department can maintain a register. It takes a regulator to investigate a complaint, compel an answer, and impose a penalty that actually changes behaviour.
Fixing this means widening the definition to everyone who lobbies, putting the code into legislation with penalties that deter, and handing enforcement to a regulator that is independent and properly resourced. Canada and the United Kingdom already regulate lobbying more tightly than we do.
Transparency around who ministers meet
Four Australian governments publish this. Ours doesn't.
Ministerial diaries show who a minister met, and when. Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT all publish them. The Commonwealth - which collects most of the country's tax revenue and makes the decisions with the widest reach - publishes nothing at all.
States and territories
4
Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT publish ministerial diaries. Queensland publishes monthly.
Already working, already routine, no adverse consequences reported.
The Commonwealth
0
No federal minister publishes a diary. There is no way to check who is getting a meeting, how often, or who never gets one at all.
Nothing stands in the way of fixing this. It simply hasn't been done.
Source: Grattan Institute.
The revolving door
From regulating an industry to working for it.
The cooling-off period stopping a minister or a senior adviser from walking out of a portfolio and into the industry they were responsible for do not work. Transparency International Australia has found that since 2001, almost every federal resources minister has gone to work in the fossil fuel sector shortly after leaving parliament.
Martin Ferguson Former Minister for Resources and Energy
Began work with British Gas within months of leaving the portfolio, and was chairing the advisory board of the oil and gas industry's peak body by October 2013.
Ian Macfarlane Former Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science
Became chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council within months of resigning from parliament.
A former ministerial chief of staff
Went on to lead the NSW Minerals Council. Staff move through the same door as their minister.
Stephen Conroy Former Minister for Communications
Took over the peak body for the online wagering industry months after leaving the Senate. A successor in that role had been chief of staff to a minister on the other side of politics.
Where things stand
They've started. Now finish the job.
The government has moved on transparency for sponsored passes to Parliament House - proof that this is fixable, and that pressure works. But that was one recommendation. The changes that would actually shift who gets heard in Canberra are still sitting there, unactioned.
Done
Sponsored passes
The government is acting to bring transparency to sponsored passes to Parliament House.
Still outstanding
The three changes that matter most
A code that covers every lobbyist
Expand the definition to include in-house lobbyists and industry associations, legislate the code, and attach penalties that actually deter - enforced by an independent, properly resourced regulator rather than a handful of departmental staff.
The revolving door closed
Enforceable cooling-off periods before ministers and senior staff can lobby the portfolios they used to run.
Ministerial diaries published monthly
So the public can see who is getting a meeting - and who isn't - the way four other Australian jurisdictions already allow.
None of this is radical. Most of it already happens somewhere in Australia, and in Canada and the UK. What's missing is the decision to do it federally.
Ask for the rest of it.
The Attorney-General owns these rules. Send them a message, copy in your own MP and senators, and share this with people who'd want to know.
Four in five of the people lobbying our federal government aren't covered by the lobbying code. It's time to finish the job - write to the Attorney-General.