‘Encourage ethical lobbying’: Unregistered lobbyists face big fines following Coaldrake review

Queenslanders should be able to easily access accurate and up-to-date information about who is lobbying the state government, new integrity legislation recommends.

Unregistered lobbyists will be slapped with hefty fines while Queensland’s Auditor-General will be permitted to conduct audits without approval, as the first law changes following the Coaldrake integrity review are revealed.

But a number of Professor Peter Coaldrake’s key recommendations following a review into the culture of Queensland’s public sector have yet to be touched on, as Annastacia Palaszczuk introduced the first tranche of “uncontroversial” legislation to the parliament on Friday.

Ms Palaszczuk said further legislative changes recommended by Professor Coaldrake in his review – delivered almost four months ago – including the release of cabinet documents after 30 days instead of 30 years would be introduced at a later date, but did not specify when.

Professor Peter Coaldrake.

The integrity legislation Bill’s explanatory notes state the legislated changes “are considered uncontroversial, are largely supported by the respective integrity body they impact, and do not have any, or only very minor, funding or policy implications for government”.

Professor Coaldrake’s key recommendations about changes to Crime and Corruption Commission will not be implemented under the new laws, with the implementation of those recommendations without a timeline.

Ms Palaszczuk said the main purpose of the first tranche of laws was to enhance the independence of the Auditor-General, the Audit Office and the Queensland Integrity Commissioner.

An offence for unregistered lobbying was also introduced with a penalty of 200 units – about $28,000.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

“Creating an offence for unregistered lobbying will encourage ‘ethical’ lobbying and will underline the fact that lobbying can and does have a significant impact on the business of government,” the Bill notes state.

“The public should be able to easily access information about who is lobbying government, and this information should be up to date and accurate.”

Ms Palaszczuk said there would be “more legislation as we go on”, and also revealed Linda Waugh had been appointed as Queensland’s Integrity Commissioner.

“The Integrity and Other Legislation Amendment Bill is the first legislation in our reform plan,” she said.

Ms Waugh is currently the Merit Protection Commissioner for the Australian Public Service.