Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Pocock, for your question. I don't propose to comment on any individual cases that you have raised, partly because I'm not aware of the specific cases, but obviously I do want to respect individuals' privacy as well. But I'm certainly happy to talk to you in more general terms about the position of our government on lobbyists. As you probably recall, the Lobbying Code of Conduct was actually established by the last Labor government, to ensure that government representatives who are approached by lobbyists know whose interests they represent. The Albanese government certainly expects lobbyists and government representatives to comply with the code.

Any person who lobbies the Australian government on behalf of a third-party client must be registered on the register of lobbyists and must comply with the transparency and integrity framework that is set out in the code. The code also prohibits government representatives, including ministers and their staff, from being party to lobbying by a lobbyist acting on behalf of a third-party client who is not on the register.

As I said, the Albanese government certainly expects lobbyists and government officials to comply with the Lobbying Code of Conduct. The responsibility for enforcing the code sits with the Attorney-General's Department, and they do that in an active way, including investigating alleged or potential breaches. If there are particular cases that you are aware of that you believe should be investigated, obviously it is open to you to refer them to the Attorney-General's Department. But I am advised that the Attorney-General's Department has concluded 12 investigations since May 2022. In three of those cases the department determined that there had been a breach of the code, and in all three of those occasions the nature of the breach was inadvertent and isolated and had been proactively remedied and therefore did not warrant further enforcement action. But the department is continuing to investigate one other matter.