ICAC wants to know if Labor will reform lobbying. Its letters went unanswered for months

Letters from the corruption watchdog to the Minns government about the need to overhaul the lobbying industry have twice gone unanswered for months as Labor mulls whether to accept recommendations embraced by the previous government.

A letter sent in May by the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s chief commissioner John Hatzistergos did not receive a response until last week, a day after the Herald sent questions to the premier’s office.

The Minns government has yet to accept the overhaul of lobbying regulation recommended by the ICAC.Credit: Monique Westermann

Labor’s hesitation stands in contrast to the position the party took in opposition a decade ago, when it called for a ban on lobbyist meetings.

More than 170 lobby firms are active in NSW including Iemma Patterson Premier Advisory, the firm belonging to former Labor premier Morris Iemma, which has added 37 clients to its books since Labor swept to power last March.

In that time, Iemma has discussed Labor’s political fortunes with Premier Chris Minns and development around the Western Sydney airport with Planning Minister Paul Scully, in what he says were personal meetings.

Iemma, whose clients include large residential property developers and a company that owns land next to the airport, says he has kept his roles as party elder and lobbyist strictly separate at all times.

Former NSW premier Morris Iemma has added dozens of clients to his lobby firm’s books since Labor’s victory last year. Credit: Brook Mitchell

In 2021, the ICAC defended lobbying as a legitimate activity but found it lacked a dedicated, independent regulator, remained too much in the shadows and disclosures of meeting discussions by ministers were short and vague.

“New legislation, or significant reform of the [Lobbying of Government Officials] Act, is required to safeguard the public interest against the inherent lobbying risks of corruption and undue influence,” the commission wrote in its Operation Eclipse report.

The then-Coalition government accepted most of the commission’s 29 recommendations in full or in principle but failed to legislate before losing power.

Nearly 18 months after taking office, Labor has yet to signal its intentions to the ICAC.

NSW ICAC chief commissioner John Hatzistergos.Credit: Michele Mossop

“The chief commissioner has written two letters to, and met with, the current NSW government about the recommendations,” an ICAC spokesperson said.

A letter sent in October went unanswered for five months.

A follow-up letter sent in May received a response from Special Minister of State John Graham last Wednesday, following questions from the Herald on Tuesday afternoon.

“This is important work that is ongoing and the NSW government intends to get it right,” Graham said.

‘[The public should know] who ministers are meeting with, what the subject matter is and if there’s any cause for concern.’

Associate Professor Yee-Fui Ng from Monash University

“In January, the NSW government announced funding to the ICAC, along with four other integrity agencies, was being put at arm’s length of government.

“This month, reforms were introduced to parliament that will strengthen that independence and expand parliament’s role in independently overseeing ICAC funding.”

Monash associate professor Yee-Fui Ng says the lobbying industry in NSW is governed by “woefully inadequate” rules.

Monash University associate professor Yee-Fui Ng, a lead author of a discussion paper that informed the ICAC’s lobbying report, said it was a shame no action had been taken.

“Our current rules are woefully inadequate,” Ng said. “We do deserve better in terms of the public knowing who ministers are meeting with, what the subject matter is and if there’s any cause for concern.”

NSW Labor wasn’t always so relaxed when it came to the influence of lobbyists.

A decade ago, in opposition, it promised to ban them from meeting with ministers, their staff and departments.

In 2019, before Minns became party leader, NSW Labor called for a ban on lobbyists making political donations, similar to the prohibition on property developers, which it said had helped to “remove the perception of undue influence”.

But Labor then accepted more than $100,000 in donations from lobbyists in the lead-up to last year’s election and more than $60,000 between last July and March.

The government has failed to implement a 2023 Labor platform commitment to “require ministers every month to publish a diary of every meeting they have had with lobbyists, MPs or private companies relating to commercial transactions or decisions”.

Premiers past and present

Iemma, who quit as premier in 2008, remains a member of NSW Labor but holds no other position.

After serving on several boards, he co-founded Iemma Patterson Premier Advisory as a “bipartisan” lobby firm with former Liberal MP Chris Patterson in 2019 and lobbied ministers of the previous government.

Since Labor’s victory, dozens of new clients have sought out the firm, which boasts “an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of government and the bureaucracy that drives the decision-making processes in the state”.

Iemma has been described as a political mentor to Minns, who worked for him in the 2000s when Iemma was health minister and then premier.

The former leader played a key role in Minns’ local re-election campaign last year (he says he “helped” but did not run the campaign) and Minns has since employed two of Iemma’s sons, one in the premier’s office, the other in his Kogarah electorate office. One later left the role.

Last year, Iemma was appointed chairman of Venues NSW after a shortlisting process that involved the Premier’s Department. He was forced to resign soon after due to ill health.

Asked whether he believed his relationship with Minns created a perceived risk of undue influence, Iemma gave a firm “no”.

“The administration of the government and the premier’s office is very meticulous in adhering to the rules and I am too,” he said. “I’m conscious that his political enemies and I daresay mine would seek to make something of nothing.”

Ministerial diaries published online show Minns and Iemma saw each other in February and March in what were described as “catch-up” meetings.

After the opposition asked why no lobbying client was listed, as required by the diary rules, the government said the meetings were “strictly personal or party political” and their disclosure was voluntary.

Morris Iemma first employed Chris Minns when he was health minister in the Carr government, then again when he was premier. Credit: Jon Reid

Iemma said he had always abided by the lobbyist code of conduct, which requires them to keep lobbying and party political activity separate, and he had conducted himself “with the utmost professionalism and integrity”.

He said the discussion over coffee had included “a general discussion about the state of play, obviously the new government settling in, how it was travelling, overview of state politics, federal, mainly local, local issues, commitments that had been made”.

They also discussed preserving time for family and how Minns could keep “his profile and momentum going locally”.

“The government runs the government, the ministers are in charge, the premier is the premier,” Iemma said. “He takes his own counsel. He makes his own decisions.”

The curfew-free Western Sydney Airport is due to open in late 2026.Credit: Janie Barrett

Iemma has met with Minns once on behalf of a client, Ingham Property Group, which owns land next to Western Sydney Airport, to discuss “road matters” in February.

Minns, who has met with a wide range of people and organisations as premier, including the Sydney Morning Herald, declined to elaborate on the “road matters” meeting with Iemma.

“Since being elected, the premier has met and had contact with former premiers and prime ministers, Labor and Liberal, discussing both leadership and politics,” a spokesperson for Minns said.

“This is entirely appropriate. All the meetings have been disclosed as required. If there are any allegations of wrongdoing, put them forward, but quite frankly there is nothing wrong with meeting with former leaders.”

Planning Minister Paul Scully says his discussions with Morris Iemma were about “high-level planning policy”, not individual projects. Credit: Rhett Wyman

‘High-level’ planning discussions

A number of former Labor leaders, including ex-premier Bob Carr and former prime minister Paul Keating, have also had contact with Planning Minister Paul Scully, but Iemma is the only registered third-party lobbyist.

In his lobbyist capacity, Iemma arranged for Scully to visit Spring Farm on Sydney’s south-west fringe in April to inspect a walling system used by the home builder AV Jennings.

Scully’s ministerial diaries show he met the former leader twice, to discuss “housing affordability and planning matters” last May and “planning matters” in April.

Iemma said he did not appear on behalf of a client at either meeting.

He said they discussed how affordable housing was “entirely doable”, as well as the importance of strategic planning functions held by the Greater Sydney Commission, a body he had previously served on after an appointment by the Baird government.

The pair also discussed the co-ordination of infrastructure for the Western Sydney Aerotropolis development, he said.

Iemma’s clients include property developers delivering housing developments and Ingham Property Group, which owns land within the aerotropolis’s core precinct.

Asked whether any of his clients had an interest in the topics he discussed with the minister, Iemma said “no”.

“The Ingham meeting had been addressed at the premier’s meeting [in February]. That’s on the record,” he said. “We didn’t discuss any specific client or specific issue to a client.”

A spokesperson for Scully said “the meetings related to strategic planning matters, not individual projects” and that they had been properly disclosed.

“The minister often discusses high-level planning policy with industry, councils, community organisations, and former leaders and ministers from both sides of politics,” the spokesperson said.

According to public records, Ingham Property Group secured three meetings through Iemma between October and March: first with the department, then the premier, and finally Roads Minister John Graham, who is also the special minister of state corresponding with the ICAC.

NSW Special Minister of State John Graham.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Iemma and his clients have accounted for 12 of the 15 meetings the Department of Planning has held with third-party lobbyists this year.

Iemma said the department had rigorous ethics rules around contact with lobbyists.

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