After years of inaction from both major parties, ACT Independent Senator David Pocock is setting up a voluntary register to publish information about lobbyists with privileged access-all-areas passes to Parliament House.
Senator Pocock has written to all parliamentarians inviting them to voluntarily disclose who they sponsor a lobbying pass for as he has been doing on his own website since being elected.
Senator Pocock is proposing to maintain the voluntary register on a central, publicly accessible website so Australians can have clear oversight over who is accessing politicians and who is providing that access.
“Lobbying does have a legitimate role to play in our political system. But to protect the strength of our democracy, lobbying needs to be transparent and well regulated,” Senator Pocock said.
“People with sponsored passes enjoy enormous privilege and access to our most senior decision makers. It is not unreasonable for the Australians those parliamentarians have been elected to represent to know who enjoys that access, and who gave it to them, and I hope my parliamentary colleagues will participate.
“This register is just the first step in a much bigger set of lobbying reforms Australian needs.
“Last year’s senate inquiry into lobbying highlighted just how broken our current system is and also demonstrated that many lobbyists also support a stronger one.”
Last term Senator Pocock, introduced a private senator’s bill, drafted by the Member for Kooyong Dr Monique Ryan that would:
-
expand the definition of "lobbyist" to include in-house lobbyists, industry associations, and consultants with access to decision-makers;
-
legislate the Lobbying Code of Conduct;
-
introduce real penalties for breaches of the Code of Conduct;
-
bring more transparency, including through the publication of quarterly online reports showing who lobbyists are meeting with, for how long, and why. This extends to the publication of ministerial diaries, so the public can compare, cross-check and verify lobbying disclosures.
- ensure independent oversight by the National Anti-Corruption Commissioner, and ban ministers and senior staff from lobbying for three years after leaving office.
“Our weak lobbying laws mean vested interests are having an outsized impact, swamping the voices of community advocates. The impacts of this are felt in the lack of action on things like banning gambling advertising and collecting appropriate revenue from fossil fuels. This register is a small first step in starting to drive change.”
The register will be published in October at www.passregister.com.au