Qld integrity report: Labor lobbyists banned from working with govt

The State Government has banned three Labor-linked lobbyists from working with it as its integrity drive begins.

Three high-profile Labor-aligned lobbyists have been banned from working with the State Government.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today announced Evan Moorhead, David Nelson and Cameron Milner would not be able to engage in lobbying for the remainder of the Labor Government’s term.

“That means approaching the department, approaching ministers or staff,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“It’s for the rest of the term.”

Lobbying became a focus of Professor Peter Coaldrake’s integrity report after it was revealed Mr Moorhead, a director at Anacta Strategies, and Mr Milner, a director at Next Level Strategic Services, worked on Labor’s 2020 election campaign.

Mr Nelson, who is also a director at Anacta, also worked on that election campaign.

Prof Coaldrake suggested that: “If an individual plays a substantive role in the election campaign of a prospective government, they should be banned from engaging in lobbying for the next term of office.”

Ms Palaszczuk said Cabinet had unanimously endorsed the lobbyist decision.

Cameron Milner (left) and Evan Moorhead

“These will make Queensland the most transparent government in the nation,” she said.

But she said she owed it to her Cabinet to allow it to make the final decision to ban the three lobbyists.

“I wanted it to be a Cabinet decision,” she said.

Meanwhile, Department of Justice and Attorney-General director-general David Mackie has been chosen to lead the taskforce that will implement all of Prof Coaldrake’s recommendations.

He will travel to New Zealand in coming weeks to look at how the country releases its Cabinet documents within 30 days – a recommendation Prof Coaldrake made.

“This is a huge reform, so we want to get it right, we want to see what New Zealand’s doing and then we’ll implement it here in Queensland,” she said.

“This is transformational. Thirty years to thirty days, it doesn’t get bigger than that.”

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the Government was ready to get on with implementing the integrity report’s recommendations.

“We want to implement this report, we want to get on with the job of delivering services to Queenslanders and assuring them their Government has really strong integrity measures in place,” he said.

Anacta Strategies did not wish to comment. Mr Milner was contacted for comment.

Responsible Wagering Australia CEO Justin Madden called on the Government to set aside a decision to slug online bookmakers a 5 per cent levy on the existing betting tax.

It followed meetings between Anacta, acting on behalf of Tabcorp, which has been locked in a battle with online bookmaker rivals for years, and senior government officials.

“Queensland needs to go back to the drawing board and work with all operators on a model that supports competition and innovation, and that delivers for punters, racing clubs and industry participants,” Mr Madden said.