ACT Assembly Clerk Tom Duncan will draw up a register for lobbyists by September 18, a new regime that will cover anyone paid to lobby politicians, their staff or public servants.
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Lobbyists will have to register their contact details, say who they work for, disclose any previous public service job, and name everyone they lobbied for in the past year. They will have to abide by a code of conduct that was adopted by the ACT Assembly last week.
The ACT will have the most far-reaching rules for lobbyists of any jurisdiction in the country, with the Commonwealth and most states and territories applying the rules only to lobbyists who approach ministers and their staff. Some apply the regime to senior public servants, but the ACT register will apply to all public servants, from the most junior up, as well as to all politicians, including the Opposition.
People who have worked in the public service or for politicians will be banned from lobbying on any issue they dealt with for a year after leaving the job, and ex-politicians won't be able to lobby on any issue they dealt with for at least 18 months.
Chief Minister Katy Gallagher told the Assembly last week that the new register and code of conduct would "keep ACT politics clean", and "hopefully" promote the view that politics can be "an honourable profession".
"I strongly believe that lobbying should be as transparent and open to scrutiny as any other part of the decision-making process, she said, pointing to the strong perception that lobbyists could have too much influence and distort decisions.
Greens Member Shane Rattenbury said constant vigilance was still required. The register would only apply to third-party lobbyists, who were paid by a client to represent them but, in reality, there were very few paid lobbyists in Canberra. Politicians were more often approached directly by companies or groups, who would not be covered by the new regime.
"I am quite certain that I can count on one hand the number of times I have been lobbied by a paid third-party lobbyist," he said. "It is probably true to say that the ACT Assembly is not heavily trafficked by professional lobbyists because there are not that many in town. There are certainly plenty in town for federal parliament, but ... not too many coming to the ACT Assembly."
The Liberals originally wanted the register to apply only to lobbying of the government, not the Opposition, but changed their minds. Leader Jeremy Hanson said while the ACT had nothing like the 300 company lobbyists and 600 individual lobbyists on the Commonwealth register, the local parliament should be as open as possible.
"Given what has recently happened in NSW with ICAC [the Independent Commission Against Corruption) and in Victoria with the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, we simply must be open about our associations and dealings with lobbyists and other entitles," he said.
The code of conduct requires lobbyists to be up front about whom they are representing, be honest, and take all reasonable steps to ensure the truth and accuracy of what they're saying. They also must not exaggerate their access to politicians and public servants, and must not represent competing interests without permission.
Speaker Vicki Dunne will report in September on a start date for the register.
