EDITORIAL: New rules a step in the right direction on lobbyists

The timing of Monday’s announcement on tighter rules for lobbyists in Queensland is a bit rich, considering a hotly anticipated probe on the government’s integrity credentials is set to be released on Tuesday, writes the Editor.

The timing of Monday’s announcement on tighter rules for lobbyists in Queensland is a bit rich, considering a hotly anticipated probe on the government’s integrity credentials is set to be released on Tuesday.

However The Courier-Mail welcomes the new code of conduct announced by the Palaszczuk government. It will make it tougher for party-aligned lobbyists to gain unfettered access to key decision-makers, and help erase suggestions of preferential treatment.

The Premier has said the changes will be implemented regardless of and in addition to recommendations of the Coaldrake review, and we welcome this commitment.

Professor Coaldrake has already identified widespread failings in the way the current lobbyist structure is set up.

This code of conduct – if adhered to – means that these days are behind us, and that is a good thing.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Monday. Picture: NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Under the plan to be formulated by the government, and to take effect within a month, the definition of lobbying will be expanded in Queensland to include advisers, consultants and communication specialists who work at lobbying firms.

Lobbyists will now be allowed to make contact with the government only through a minister’s chief of staff.

And both lobbyists and ministers will need to publicly reveal what was discussed at meetings. This is an important component of the new protocols. Ministers have been able to hide behind this clause, keeping the public in the dark.

Any request for a meeting with a government official will now need to be made in writing, not via phone. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk earlier this year conceded there was a “blurring” of lines in the lobbying industry as she repeatedly said that if Professor Coaldrake recommended tightening lobbying regulations, she would.

In his interim report released in April, Professor Coaldrake was concerned about “the dual roles of some lobbyists”, who work for political parties and act for clients.

Again, this is important in the context of the “blurring of the lines’’ that Ms Palaszczuk has acknowledged.

It is not appropriate for somebody to work for a political party and then once the election is over to don another cap and work for a private enterprise to deliver outcomes with the very party they helped get elected.

The perception is, rightly, that this practice stinks.

Professor Coaldrake has also flagged an issue with public servants taking it “upon themselves to anticipate what the minister wishes to be told or to assume that the minister would want to be ‘protected’ from exposure to an inconvenient matter”.

Whatever Professor Coaldrake recommends in relation to this disturbing practice must also be taken on board.

The Palaszczuk government has got a long way to go on cleaning up its integrity and transparency credentials. It has proved to be, on the whole, secretive and duplicitous when it comes to being open and accountable.

But adopting Professor Coaldrake’s report, and these latest concessions, will go a long way towards addressing those issues.