A left-wing lobbying firm that operated in New Zealand during Helen Clark's time in power is re-establishing itself in order to get the ear of the Labour Government. Laura Walters looks at how the firm will influence political decision-making.

Hawker Britton managing director Simon Banks is seen as one of Australia's most powerful lobbyists. Now his firm is "coming home" to try to influence the new Labour-led government.

The Australian firm, which has been around for more than 20 years, had a bricks and mortar operation in New Zealand during the Clark government.

SUPPLIED Jenna Raeburn, the founding director of Barton Deakin's New Zealand division, said things had been busy since the firm launched in New Zealand in April last year.

It had to pull out of New Zealand during the Key era, and instead scaled up the presence of its right-wing sister company under National.

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Now Hawker Britton, which is an expert when it comes to lobbying Labour governments, will use its power to influence the legislative process and government contracts on behalf of its clients.

ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF Raeburn's partner is National MP Chris Bishop. Raeburn says Kiwi lobbyists self-regulate to avoid conflicts of interest.

Meanwhile, its sister company Barton Deakin, which set up in New Zealand in April last year, would continue to work the right — particularly through the select committee process — allowing them to cover all bases and continue to try to affect which laws are passed.

Banks said Hawker Britton was in the process of hiring one full-time staff member to lobby the Labour Government on behalf of its clients with interests in left-wing policies.

During its time out of New Zealand, the firm had maintained relationships with New Zealand Labour MPs from the other side of the ditch.



The two firms, like other lobbying firms, represented clients across a number of industries, and helped in different areas of the political process.

PLAYING THE FIELD

Hawker Britton focussed on the left, while Barton Deakin focussed on the right. But some clients, who wanted to work both sides of the political spectrum, would employ the services of the two firms.

Former National ministerial adviser Jenna Raeburn who was now a director for Barton Deakin, said her firm would turn its focus to the opposition but that didn't mean scaling back.

Laws have to go through the select committee process before they can be passed, and with the current make-up of Parliament, National would have a significant influence over which legislation made it through.

This was something Bill English raised on Thursday, when he said to expect "tension" and "pressure" from National in Parliament, and through the select committee process.

"And that is going to make a difference to how everything runs - it's not our job to make this place run for an incoming government that is a minority."

Lobbying firms often wrote select committee submissions on behalf of their clients, and some even drafted bills to give to MPs to put forward.

Raeburn said the firms also helped clients with bids for government contracts, helped them to grow and build companies' reputations with the government and opposition MPs, and get the ear of ministers and MPs with special interest areas.

SMALL INDUSTRY

It would be the first time two partisan lobbying firms had operated in this way in New Zealand, Raeburn said, adding that they had pioneered the approach in Australia. "It's worth working both sides. It just depends what the issue is."

Barton Deakin had been operating in Australia for about a decade.

New Zealand was a reasonably small market, without a tradition of lobbying. In other countries, like the US, hiring a lobbyist was a natural part of setting up a business. But in New Zealand, where there was greater access to politicians, lobbyists were often seen as less of a necessity.

Raeburn said most business owners could secure a sit-down with an MP, but specialist firms could advise clients on how to get the most out of that 30-minute meeting. Or go to the meeting on behalf of clients based overseas.

The biggest companies, like Fonterra, Air NZ, Vodafone, Chorus, Uber and fuel exploration company Andarko (to name a few) had their own in-house lobbyists.

TRANSPARENCY

Unlike other countries, New Zealand does not have guidelines or laws regarding lobbying.

Raeburn said it was useful to have a background in politics, as it provided insight into how the process worked and how decision-makers thought. It also helped to have a bulging contact book.

This meant former MPs often switched sides but in New Zealand there was no "cooling off period" that stopped MPs becoming lobbyists straight away.

Raeburn said there was some self-regulation — for instance she did not take any contracts relating to the Christchurch rebuild as she came straight from Gerry Brownlee's office.

If there was an obvious conflict of interest, it would become apparent pretty quickly, and a lobbyist's professional reputation could be damaged.

Banks said Hawker Britton had supported transparency legislation in Australia and would have no trouble if similar rules were introduced in New Zealand.

"We're very used to operating across different regimes," he said, adding that transparency, as long as government remained functional, was important.