This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

One of Australia’s biggest lobbyist firms has said it “strongly supports” the introduction of an independent commissioner to investigate and oversee the sector.

The New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption is currently probing the weaknesses in the regime governing NSW lobbyists, and its chief commissioner, Peter Hall, has warned reforms are now “overdue”.

Barton Deakin, in a submission to Icac, voiced support for reforms designed to bolster transparency and integrity.

The firms’s chief executive, Matthew Hingerty, a former chief of staff to Joe Hockey and Barry O’Farrell, said his firm was supportive of establishing an independent commissioner for lobbying. Such a body would be able to formally and independently investigate complaints and advise parliamentary staff and bureaucrats about their dealings with lobbyists.

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“I and we strongly support the proposal for an independent officer (‘commissioner for lobbying’) that can provide advice to parliamentary staff and departmental officers who wish to discuss specific lobbying activity and, if they feel the need, formally register an issue for investigation,” Hingerty said.

“I would also support an advisory panel to inform the commissioner. This may consist of former parliamentarians, former bureaucrats, former lobbyists, former journalists, academics and representatives from ‘civil society’.”

Experts, thinktanks, and transparency campaigners have been calling for an independent lobbying commissioner for some time, in an effort to create some level of enforcement of lobbying rules. Last year, Guardian Australia revealed not a single lobbyist had been punished for breaching rules in the past five years, either federally, or in Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland or South Australia.

Despite the near-universal support for an independent commissioner, most jurisdictions in Australia, including the federal government, have resisted any change.

Federally, that has left the responsibility for investigating lobbyists to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. It was instructed by government to deliver a “low level” of compliance, and devotes barely any resources to the issue. The department has little power to punish lobbyists, and has no semblance of independence from government.

In NSW, lobbying is overseen by the state’s electoral commission, which engages in a higher level of compliance activity and has a greater level of independence.

Commissioners for lobbying exist in overseas jurisdictions such as Canada.

Barton Deakin was also supportive of a range of added transparency measures. It said it would not be opposed to having all MPs and senior public servants release their diaries. Such measures help drive transparency by revealing who is gaining access to the most powerful members of government. Currently, NSW only publishes the diaries of ministers.

The firm also supports creating a secondary lobbyist register to better extend transparency measures across the industry. In most states, only third-party professional lobbyists are required to open themselves up to public scrutiny. In-house lobbyists – those who work directly for a corporation or industry group – can carry out their activities without public scrutiny at a federal level and in NSW.

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Hingerty said public confidence in lobbying would be greater with wider visibility of the various types of people attempting to influence government.

“This can be achieved by requiring specialist ‘in-house lobbyists’ employed by a business, industry association or charitable/community groups, who are former elected officials or senior public servants and advisors, to be on a secondary register,” he said.

Victoria has already built a list of in-house lobbyists operating in the state, and Hingerty said that could provide an example for NSW to follow.

He also voiced support for a debate on the need for a publicly-funded advocate to conduct lobbying activities for those who cannot afford the service of a professional firm. The intent of such an advocate would be to reduce inequity of access to politicians. Hingerty urged Icac not to fall into a binary, simplistic thinking about the work of lobbyists. He said they do much more than just contact government in the hope to influence policy or get a favourable decision on behalf of a client.

“While this is certainly an element of our work, it is only one part,” he said. “A good lobbyist will understand a government’s policies and assist by filling knowledge gaps on either side and ensuring each side can communicate clearly about its perspectives and decisions in relation to an issue at hand.”

“When a client approaches a lobbyist with an issue, that lobbyist should have the confidence to tell them ‘no’ or ‘it won’t work’ or ‘you’ll have to wait’.”