LNP paid campaign lobbyist $800,000 while criticising Queensland Labor

The Queensland LNP paid a research and lobby firm more than $800,000 in 18 months for campaign services, despite David Crisafulli’s criticism of Labor’s use of lobbyists.

Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli. Picture: David Clark

The Queensland Liberal National Party paid research and lobby firm Crosby Textor more than $800,000 in 18 months for campaign services, despite leader David Crisafulli’s criticism of Labor’s use of lobbyists to run political campaigns.

Financial records show the LNP paid Liberal-aligned campaigners Crosby Textor – also registered lobbyists in Queensland and Canberra under the name CT Research Strategies Results – $607,566.44 between July 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020.

The state election was held on October 31 of that year.

The payments continued last year and Crosby Textor was paid $217,250 by the state LNP in 2021 for campaign and research work, in several instalments.

As well as Crosby Textor, former Nationals premier Rob Borbidge, a registered lobbyist in Queensland, had intimate access to the LNP’s federal campaign, based in Brisbane, and is embedded on the campaign committee as an observer to run its internal review.

Former Queensland Premier Rob Borbidge, a registered lobbyist, had intimate access to the LNP’s federal campaign. Picture: Richard Gosling

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was recently forced to blacklist lobbyists Evan Moorhead, David Nelson and Cameron Milner – who helped run her 2020 election campaign – after a public service integrity review by Peter Coaldrake.

Professor Coaldrake recommended the government ban campaigner-lobbyists, warning “if an individual plays a substantive role in an election campaign of a prospective government, they should be banned from engaging in lobbying for the next term of office”.

The Opposition Leader has already promised that he would accept all Professor Coaldrake’s recommendations.

Mr Crisafulli said Ms Palas­zczuk needed to go further, and ban Mr Moorhead and Mr Nelson’s lobby firm, Anacta, from working with her government.

“The absurdity of saying a ban would only apply to an individual, even if that individual is the owner of the firm, and is now operating in a different jurisdiction, shows a cavalier attitude to how they treat the public,” he said. “This whole deal stinks.”

Asked whether the LNP should have lobbyists working on its 2024 state election campaign, his first as leader, Mr Crisafulli said: “We absolutely should not.”

The LNP paid Crosby Textor $64,350 in the first half of 2021, and $152,900 in the second half.

The party’s latest financial records, which would disclose fin­ancial activity until June 30, have not yet been published.

Crosby Textor has no declared clients and no declared meetings with government officials. It lists just one lobbyist, Avanti Oberoi.

The firm appears much more active in Canberra, with nine lobbyists and eight clients. Several companies have dropped Crosby Textor as lobbyists federally in the wake of Mr Albanese’s victory, including BHP Group Operations, Caesarstone Australia, dailymail.com, Free TV Australia and G8 Education Limited.

LNP president Lawrence Springborg appointed Mr Borbidge to conduct a review of the LNP’s contribution to the federal campaign.

He told LNP members at the time that Mr Borbidge would be given “full access to the inner workings of the campaign committee in real time” to give him a “clear and intimate understanding of the day-to-day operations”.

Mr Borbidge is a registered lobbyist in Queensland, working for GovStrat, which has 11 active clients in the state, including mining giant Rio Tinto and developers Springfield Land Corporation.

He told The Australian he was an observer, not a member, of the federal campaign committee and had no voting rights but in the wake of the Coaldrake report, he would not be involved in running the 2024 state campaign although he would attend campaign events as a former premier.

Mr Crisafulli would not say Crosby Textor and Mr Borbidge should be stopped from working on the LNP’s next campaign, despite being lobbyists, but “I wouldn’t be comfortable with someone doing strategy for a campaign who is a lobbyist”.

“There’s a fundamental difference between someone who is engaged to give polling advice (and) someone who is in a taxpayer-funded building with clients they are pushing the barrow (of) and is a major donor to the party.”