Over at the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislative Committee Senator Steph Hodgins-May asked the Attorney-General’s Department about the lobbying code of conduct, which they are responsible for administering.
Hodgins-May asked how many complaints or possible breaches of the code have been recorded in the last five years.
Reported breaches – around 50. Of those, 14 confirmed breaches – all administrative in nature.
The “most serious” sanction is to deregister a lobbyist for three months, which hasn’t happened in the last five years – and would amount to little more than a slap on the wrist even if it did.
Last year, Senator David Pocock prompted an inquiry into lobbying in Parliament House. The Australia Institute recommended expanding the scope of the lobbyist register and an independent review into possible stronger sanctions for non-compliance.
Hodgins-May also asked Senator Don Farrell if he thinks it’s problematic that ministerial prohibitions on lobbying don’t apply to shadow ministers (she gives the example of Simon Birmingham, who has taken a job at ANZ). Farrell promises to give it more thought, but isn’t at first blush concerned as Birmingham would have been out of government for three years at that point.
No comments yet
Be the first to comment on this post.