Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Lobbying activities are communications with government representatives aimed at influencing government decision making. Lobbying is a legitimate form of advocacy, but it is often available only to the wealthy and the powerful.

In this country lobbying has become a multibillion-dollar industry.

Governments have a responsibility to seek out broad-ranging perspectives—to guard against real and perceived undue influence from those who can afford to pay for access.

A robust statutory framework is needed to safeguard against those perceptions—a publicly accessible register of lobbying activity revealing who meets with government representatives on what policy areas and providing transparency into the government's decision-making processes on matters of national interest.

Australia's existing federal lobbying code of conduct aims to ensure that contact between registered commercial lobbyists and government representatives is conducted in accordance with public expectations of transparency, integrity and honesty. However, that code of conduct is weak, it is ignored and it is unenforced.

And it applies to only 20 per cent of the many lobbyists currently plying their trade in Canberra.

The register of lobbyists applies only to third-party lobbyists—paid professionals engaged by corporate clients to influence public officials on their behalf. It does not include in-house lobbyists—those employed by a corporation, a business or a peak body to undertake lobbying activity.

Enforcement of this lobbying code has been dismal. Repeated audits have identified failure to apply formal sanctions by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and subsequently by the Attorney-General's Department despite evidence of dozens of breaches of the code of conduct.

Our current code meets only one of the 10 OECD principles for transparency and integrity in lobbying. The United Kingdom, Canada and the US have legislated strong integrity frameworks which include independent administration, transparency of monitoring, public reporting, post-employment restrictions and penalties.

Our states and territories have stronger legislated codes of conduct for lobbying activity than does the federal government. This parliament is well out of step with accepted standards of integrity, but this bill will put that right.

The shortcomings of our system have been acknowledged by the parties when in opposition, but they have been ignored by them when they are in government. Successive governments have been complacent about the adverse effect of rampant lobbying activity. They're conflicted because they accept the personal and political gains served up by the lobbying sector. In November 2023 the voluntary register included 703 third-party lobbyists. Forty per cent of those were former politicians, ministerial advisers or senior public servants. They were profiting from their knowledge and the networks gained from their time spent here in service to the public and funded by taxpayers.

What we want—what we need—is to hold public officials to a higher standard of integrity. When they leave public office, government representatives shouldn't be able to use their insider knowledge for personal gain for the commercial benefit of their new employer, and they shouldn't be making decisions prior to leaving office which might advance their future employer-to-be. Time and time again we have seen ministers accepting lucrative private sector jobs immediately upon leaving parliament and we've seen the revolving door of industry executives and senior public servants exchanging jobs.

A lobbying code of conduct which allows our defence minister to discuss defence business with a global contracting firm in cabinet then take a job with that firm nine days after leaving politics is a lobbying code which is corrosive of public trust. A code which allows our Foreign minister to award more than $500 million in contracts to a contractor and then to accept a job with that contractor less than 12 months after leaving politics is corrosive of public trust. A code which permits a health minister to award over $135 million in pandemic contracts to a company and then to take a position with that company six months later is corrosive of trust. A code which allows the Prime Minister discretion over its enforcement, a prime minister who, by the way, is the patron of a registered lobbying agency, is corrosive of public trust.

The bill that I'm presenting today, the Lobbying (Improving Government Honesty and Trust) Bill 2025 (No. 2), establishes a new, publicly-accessible online lobbyist register, which will include in-house as well as third-party lobbyists. Persons engaging in lobbying activity will be required to lodge quarterly returns online, reporting who they've met with, for how long, where and why. Ministers will also be required to publish their diaries for transparency and to strengthen compliance.

The bill enforces post-employment prohibitions so that ministers and senior staff are banned from working as lobbyists in their field of public service for three years after they leave federal parliament.

It legislates a register of senior government appointments for transparency and for compliance. It introduces real penalties for breaches. It will be enforced by the independent integrity commission.

At the heart of this bill is the principle that government decisions are made in the public interest and in our shared national interest—and that they are seen to be. So many of our decision-making processes are taken in the public eye—with consultations, expert advice, public submissions and published reports based on best evidence. But too often government decisions are inexplicable. Too often they benefit vested interests against the public interest. We need to know who has the ears of our politicians, and we need to close the revolving door.

Australians must be able to trust their government. They want this bill debated by their representatives and they want this law passed by this government.

This bill is an important contribution to the restoration of integrity and transparency. I commend it to the House and cede the rest of my time to the seconder.

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