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

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

A year ago, I stood in this place and introduced my Lobbying (Improving Government Honesty and Trust) Bill.

In the last year, little has changed for the good in the halls and chambers of this place. Trust in government continues to fall. The public believes us less and less. The major parties seem to work together only when colluding against their rivals. Democracy is under threat globally in what we acknowledge is a post-truth world. We can combat cynicism and disbelief only by committing to openness—to a radical form of transparency. In the words of Woodrow Wilson, our government should be all outside—no inside.

In a democracy, the right of bodies to make representations to government—to have access to,and an impact onpolicymaking—is fundamental to the proper conduct of public life and the development of sound policy. However, lobbying activities lead to corruption if they prompt decision-making which is not merit based, honest and transparent.

The existing federal Lobbying Code of Conduct aims to ensure that contact between lobbyists and government representatives is conducted in accordance with public expectations of transparency, integrity, and honesty. The code is toothless. It has failed. It's too limited, it does not engender transparency, and it's unenforced. Nothing has changed that in the past 12 months.

Commercial lobbying is a multibillion-dollar industry in Australia. The public register applies only to third-party lobbyists—paid professionals engaged by clients to influence public officials on their behalf. It does not include in-house lobbyists—those employed within an entity purely to undertake that role. So, it applies to only 20 per cent of the lobbyists roaming our corridors, knocking on our doors, seeking to influence our decisions. The other 80 per cent? Who knows. The register, as it stands, doesn't include company executives, NGOs, not-for-profits, charities, think tanks, research centres, religious organisations, trade unions and other bodies. On 17 November 2024, the register included 727 third-party lobbyists; about 40 per cent were former politicians, ministerial advisers or senior public servants. So, given that that's 20 per cent of the lobbyists in this place, we know that there are well over 3,500 lobbyists regularly walking the halls of the Australian parliament.

We need to regulate lobbying for three main reasons. The first is to prevent corrupt behaviour by lobbyists and public officials—cash for access, cash for comment, cash for approvals. The second is to ensure fairness in decision-making by stopping secret influence by vested interests. The third is to ensure that all government decisions are honest, transparent and merit based.

Enforcement of lobbying codes in this country has been dismal. The current code meets only one of the 10 principles for transparency and integrity in lobbying set down by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Suggestions that the code be better enforced have been actively rebuffed by successive governments of both stripes. We need an independent regulator administering a strong legislative scheme—not a complacent and conflicted government waving an administrative framework with the cohesion and effectiveness of a wet tissue.

Australia remains behind the United Kingdom, Canada, and the US—they've already legislated strong integrity frameworks, the power of which includes their scope; post-employment restrictions; penalties; independence of the administrative entity; and transparency of monitoring and public reporting.

All of those are addressed in this bill. It includes provision for a new, publicly accessible online lobbyist register, which will include all lobbyists. It requires lobbyists to lodge online quarterly returns reporting who they've met with, for how long, where, and why. Ministers will publish their diaries online too, so we can cross-compare and verify reporting. The bill mandates a longer post-employment prohibition; ministers and senior staff would be banned from working as lobbyists for three years after they leave parliament. It would legislate a register of senior government appointments—so we know who is working where and when, both during and after their time in this place. At this point we have no open record of senior government appointments in Parliament House. The bill would regulate enforceability. It would include fines and bans for lobbyists who breach the bill. Rather than a self-regulated code bedevilled by intrinsic and systemic conflict of interest, the code would be independently enforced by the independent integrity commission. It would be a code in which Australians could trust.

We must hold public officials to a high standard of integrity. When they leave public office, officials shouldn't be able to use insider knowledge for personal gain or for the commercial benefit of their new employer—and they shouldn't be making decisions prior to leaving office which might advance their employer-to-be. And yet we have seen, time and time again, the revolving door—the golden escalator—between this House and industry, with ministers and public servants accepting lucrative private sector jobs with unseemly haste immediately upon leaving parliament.

Sunlight is the best medicine, and it is time to shine a light in the halls of this place—to illuminate the workings of the 'light on the hill'. We need to know who has the ears of our politicians, and we need to stop Canberra's revolving door. Australians deserve to be able to trust their government.

In this 47th Parliament, the Albanese government has not brought a single private member's bill to this House for debate. I hope that this will be the first. This bill is an important contribution to the restoration of integrity and transparency to this place. I commend it to the House.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The motion is seconded. I'm proud to second this bill from the member for Kooyong today, to bring transparency to lobbying practices in federal politics. Lobbying is all about influence, access and advocacy. On the face of it, that shouldn't be a bad thing in politics. It's an expected part of the work of MPs, governments and stakeholders to seek to advocate for special policy responses for investment in programs or infrastructure. But where it becomes a problem is when people seek to exert undue influence, to use special access to get those results, particularly in ways which subvert decisions in favour of particular interests, in contradiction of the public interest.

We already have some measures in place to keep track of lobbying efforts, as the member for Kooyong says, but these are piecemeal and provide no actual transparency when it really matters. As the member said, the existing lobbyist register lists 727 registered lobbyists, but they're but 20 per cent of the actual number of people who walk these halls. It doesn't include those who are internal lobbyists, government relations officials and others. More than 2,000 people hold orange lobbyist passes, giving them access to this building. That's many, many more than the 727 on the register. And that's just one example of the massive gap between what we know and what is actually happening.

The Lobbying (Improving Government Honesty and Trust) Bill 2024 would help fill in the gaps in what we know. It would mean we have much better visibility over lobbying activities that are occurring right now. We would know who gets unfettered access to this building—the people's building—and who is giving them that access. We would know who ministers are meeting with and when they're meeting. We would know who is influencing those decisions before those decisions are made.

It would also stop the revolving door between lobbying and government, preventing former ministers and their staff from becoming lobbyists for three years after leaving the parliament, to stop that special insider knowledge that is then used for measures other than the public good. This is a vital part of the integrity framework we need to strengthen our democracy. Too often, we're left questioning whether the decisions made by those in power are made for the right reasons. Is it a decision made or not made because of who's had the minister's ear, or is it being made truly in the public interest? I want to have faith that decisions are being made properly, but too often I and the general public are left with nothing but doubt—and doubt fosters mistrust.

We need to strengthen our democracy. The member for Kooyong has given us a solution; let's debate this bill and clean up politics in Australia.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.