It’s party time for Labor campaigner and lobbyist Evan Moorhead
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s ex-government strategy chief has become Queensland’s hottest lobbyist while running the ALP election campaign.
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s former government strategy chief, Evan Moorhead, has become Queensland’s hottest lobbyist while being paid by Labor to help run its campaign ahead of the October 31 state election.
The emergence of Mr Moorhead’s dual role as a campaigner-lobbyist has triggered fresh integrity questions for the Palaszczuk government.
An investigation by The Australian shows Mr Moorhead and his lobbying firm Anacta Strategies — which was set up after he had resigned from Ms Palaszczuk’s office last year — represents companies he had dealt with as a top staffer for the Premier, including major law firm Maurice Blackburn and train manufacturer Downer.
Under the Integrity Act, lobbyists in Queensland are banned from carrying out lobbying activities “relating to (their) official dealings as a government representative’’ for two years after they leave their taxpayer-funded jobs.
In just over a year, Anacta has secured 32 clients, including companies with some of the most politically sensitive projects in Queensland and others with government contracts or vying for state work.
Last month, the firm — owned by Mr Moorhead and fellow political consultant David Nelson — had a rush of new clients as the election neared, signing up two companies a week.
Mandatory financial disclosures to the Electoral Commission of Queensland show that Anacta is now on a monthly retainer with Labor, already netting them more than $80,000, to provide campaign advice.
Mr Moorhead, ALP state secretary between 2014 and when he joined the Premier’s office in January 2018, oversaw Ms Palaszczuk’s successful re-election in 2017, with Mr Nelson also working on the campaign.
Mr Moorhead denied that his clients sought out Anacta Strategies because he and Mr Nelson could give them special access to the government they helped get elected.
“I don’t think the two overlap at all and I don’t think you can assert that it works like that,” he said.
“We’re very professional in what we do and follow the rules for all of our engagements.”
He said Anacta publicly disclosed all lobbying contacts and followed the rules religiously, and the rules did not provide for a “special degree of access”.
Mr Moorhead said he had spent his whole adult life trying to get Labor governments elected.
Last year, Ms Palaszczuk officially opened the offices of Anacta Strategies when it was being given free office space by Labor-linked law firm Holding Redlich.
Emails reveal that Mr Moorhead was Labor-linked law firm Maurice Blackburn’s point of contact in the Premier’s office, with firm partner Rod Hodgson personally contacting him to fix problems for him, including securing more time for government consultation.
Documents show that Mr Hodgson went straight to Mr Moorhead in May and July 2018 when he was concerned that the government would crack down on lawyers’ fees for workers’ compensation matters, after an independent review had recommended it.
Maurice Blackburn became one of the first firms to hire Anacta Strategies on August 4, 2019, after Mr Moorhead left the Premier’s office on May 17 last year.
Anacta was registered as a lobbying firm on June 13 last year.
Mr Moorhead confirmed that he had dealt with Maurice Blackburn while working for Ms Palaszczuk, and had since lobbied on the firm’s behalf.
But he said that it was not a breach of the Integrity Act or the lobbyists’ code of conduct because the lobbying was not about a specific matter with which he had previously had official dealings.
Contact logs show Mr Moorhead lobbied Ms Palaszczuk’s principal policy officer, Greg Fowler, on June 19 and 23 and July 30, on behalf of Maurice Blackburn client Rodriguez & Sons Pty Ltd, the lead plaintiff in the Wivenhoe Dam floods class action.
Mr Moorhead has attended a number of Labor fundraisers on behalf of Anacta Strategies, including Labor’s business partnerships cash-for-access pre-election event at the Brisbane Convention Centre on August 6 and 7.
Businesses and lobbyists paid to attend the event to “network” with state ministers and federal Labor MPs and senators.
Mr Moorhead said he did not meet any ministers at the event, and while he had not sought Integrity Commissioner advice about separating his party political and lobbying roles, he was confident that he was not doing anything wrong.
Mr Moorhead also attended Labor’s caucus retreat in January at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat with ministers and backbenchers to help them prepare for the election campaign.
The industry code of conduct states that “lobbyists shall keep strictly separate from their duties and activities as lobbyists any personal activity or involvement on behalf of a political party”.
Anacta Strategies has donated more than $26,000 to the ALP since July last year.
Mining company New Hope Group severed ties with Anacta last year after The Australian had revealed that it was lobbying for state approval of its proposed $900m expansion of the New Acland mine, west of Brisbane.
Mr Moorhead at the time said Mr Nelson had handled the state government lobbying for New Hope, although both partners in the firm had shared in the financial benefits.
On Monday, Mr Moorhead said Anacta did not “divide clients, we work on them all as teams”.
He said he had not lobbied any government ministers.
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