Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will revoke lobbyists’ swipe-card access to Parliament and help them develop a voluntary code of conduct that makes the industry more transparent.
The decision follows reporting from RNZ’s Guyon Espiner that detailed close relationships between lobbyists and politicians.
“It’s very important we have a sensible and transparent system that does not give the impression that lobbyists enjoy an unfair advantage over other New Zealanders,” he said.
The prime minister said he had commissioned analysis of policy options for regulating lobbying activities, which enjoyed much more relaxed rules in NZ than other nations.
Advice from this report isn't expected until sometime next year, but Hipkins didn’t rule out passing new laws to formally regulate the industry after that stage.
As interim measures, the prime minister has asked the Speaker of the House to take away swipe-card access to Parliament for lobbyists.
Currently, about 80 business and union representatives can access secure parliament buildings without going through security and reception, much like staff and accredited media.
“My view is they [lobbyists] should go through the front door like every other New Zealander,” Hipkins said.
The government has also asked the Ministry of Justice to help third-party lobbyists to develop a voluntary code of conduct which could enhance transparency.
One example would be including names of the clients they represent on their websites.
The Cabinet Manual – which sets out how Ministers should act – will also get updated this month to make it clear they should not be influenced by the possibility of securing a future job after leaving office.
Nash review
Hipkins also released terms of reference for the review into Stuart Nash’s ministerial communications with donors.
It will be carried out by the Secretary of the Cabinet and will take about two months to complete. The review will look at whether there were other breaches of the cabinet manual or conflicts of interest in his communications with donors.
Nash announced on Monday he will not contest the Napier seat during the October election having served as its MP for nine years. The party will need to select a new candidate for the seat.
34 Comments
National and ACT are currently raking in a huge amount of large donations. I can easily imagine those donors want this current government gone, but I can equally imagine them expecting VIP treatment from the parties they support once they populate the Cabinet Room.
I don't expect any better from the two parties just looking at their leadership.
National's deputy leader has spent half her pre-MP career lobbying as a lobbyist and the other half advising senior politicians in the Nat party. Seymour spent his entire pre-political career of 5 years working for a couple of right-wing lobby groups ("think tanks") in Canada. Brooke van Velden worked with lobbying firm Exceltium for a few years after uni and joined ACT right after.
I don't understand the furore. How many Green MPs are supporters if not members or ex-members of Greenpeace? Are New Conservative candidates members of Family First? Labour MPs associated with E Tu or other unions? Most lobbyists probably believe in the things they are lobbying for. It is part and parcel of a free and democratic society that people interested in issues attempt to influence those with actual power.
"Most lobbyists probably believe in the things they are lobbying for."
It would be interesting to see who they are all lobbying for, it would be much easier to discern then. At the moment ones political bent forms their opinion of who they are all working for. Big business vs donation funded advocacy.
I don't think Chris Bishop really believed the world would be better off if more people smoked tobacco though.
Guyons investigation was timely and very good. This is something that eats the heart of our government and democracy over time as it incrementally becomes outright corruption. See the US "democracy" for a great example, the same thing is happening here unfortunately, in Australia its also particularly absurd.
Chris Faafoi leaves from being a Labour cabinet minister one day ... returns the next day as a lobbyist ! .. no stand down period ... the guy who scuppered Labour's bottle & can return policy , who lobbied so hard on behalf of a big brewer , is now in Chris Hipkins office as an advisor to the PM ... Labour are as deep in this murky pool as everyone else ...
Good move by Chippy. Responding quickly to something that offends many if not most New Zealanders sense of fair play. A very lax system that favours those with wealth and power. Need to be minuted conversations with these people in formal settings I think to keep it all above board.
Doesnt only favour those with wealth and power. Plenty of advocates of all sorts also have chummy access and lobby MP's - think Greenpeace, Unions, Iwi, filmstars, sports people, charity organisers etc. Many are looking to advance their cause which may not necessarily be a personal benefit. still no reason for it not to a public process though or for them to have priority access
many have already been in the beehive either as Mps or employees of parties. you also have some current Mps ie National's Christopher Bishop, a Beehive staffer and former tobacco lobbyist,
it is more widespread than most people are aware off and some of the odd decisions that get made off can be traced back to lobbyists
About a week ago Hipkins stood up and with a straight face told us all that lobbyists have exactly the same access to politicians as ordinary citizens. Which was BS and everyone new it. Now he’s telling everyone he’s attempting to revoke lobbyists automatic swipe cards to parliament. The Prime Minister’s chief of staff Andrew Kirton led a lobbying firm that fought against reforms now binned by Chris Hipkins. So even if you Ignore the Nash saga, this is just plain weird / comical.
However I would be far more interested in why the PMs office blocked the release of the OIA request on Nash in the first place, information obviously so bad that when it “got out” Nash had to be fired straight away. Where are the investigative journalists in NZ, where is the auditor general? Where’s the police? This stinks and it looks like they were subverting the coarse of justice.
Wait until the royal commission comes out on the COVID response, hopefully after the election so no undue influence can be laid on beforehand. I have a sneaking suspicion that there has been many many acts of subversion behind closed doors in the last 6 years the public need to know about.
Let's face it, lobbyists and lobbying are just ways to undermine democracy. It is the way democracies have legitamised the buying of favours and frankly, corruption. This is wildly overdue. Every lobbyist meeting in parliament and the subject discussed and any evidence presented should be a matter of discoverable public record. Anything less smacks of corruption.
Unfortunately, the only way to possibly stop lobbyists is to public fund political parties. However, this is probably cheaper for all tax payers in the long term and then we would not be subjected to all this bullshit from vested interests. No donations from the wealthy or business interests. Just a thought. Very socalistic but effective in control but only if the law is written well. The devil it is.
Before making comment, let's just understand that our democracy and our political system is based on lobbying:
- A demonstration to the steps of parliament is lobbying
- A petition to have a law changed is lobbying.
- A voter meeting with an MP to discuss a local issue is lobbying
- Dairy owners meeting with local MP's to ask for a law change is lobbying.
- Unions, business associations, sports bodies, etc. etc. etc.. meeting with any MP on an issue is lobbying.
The issue is not lobbying.
The issue is the unfettered access to decision makers which skews the law in the favour of specific interest groups at the expense of the general public. That won't be resolved by removing swipe card access.
Ultimately, it's about better transparency.
No you're being disingenuous. A public demonstration is overt, out in the open and is a public demonstration of opinion that is open to scrutiny, the same with community meetings etc. The lobbying in question is the one on one meetings with specific business or group interests that is neither overt, open to public scrutiny and invariably is likely to go against the public interest, irrespective of whether a MP can be convinced of the merits of the lobbyists position. The lobbying in question is anything but transparent, and is often under a shroud of confidentiality.
So please stop trying to squash the discussion.
The Claytons lobbying reform
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2023/04/the_claytons_lobbying_reform.html
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