Labor lobbyist Evan Moorhead had conflicting rail roles

Evan Moorhead’s firm was lobbying for Downer when Queensland Rail inked a $300m deal with the train manufacturer.

Labor campaigner Evan Moorhead’s firm was lobbying for train manufacturer Downer and provid­ing “professional services” for Queensland Rail when the government authority and Downer signed a $300m, 10-year deal.

Mr Moorhead’s lobbying and campaign consultancy company Anacta Strategies has been flooded with clients since it set up shop in Brisbane in June last year, just weeks after he quit as Premier Annastacia­ Palaszczuk’s chief government strategist.

An investigation by The Aust­ralian has revealed one of Anacta’s earliest clients was Downer, which has a bustling historical factory in Maryborough, a Labor-held marginal seat north of Brisbane.

Mr Moorhead took on Downer as a client from August 30 last year, and has since lobbied the government on its behalf, despite dealing with Downer in his last two years in the Premier’s office.

He did not respond to questions from The Australian on Wednesday but previously said Anacta had “religiously” followed the law and code of conduct governing lobbying in the state.

Last September 17, Anacta was awarded an eight-month, $61,000, “professional services” contract by Queensland Rail, overlapping with its role as Downer’s lobbyist.

Last December, Ms Palaszczuk announced that Queensland Rail had signed a major agreement with Downer, committing the governme­nt to spend $300m over a decade on major rail upgrades and maintenance at Downer’s Maryborough workshop.

Disclosures show Mr Moorhead or another lobbyist from his firm met senior Palaszczuk government ministerial officials 11 times in four months on behalf of Downer, with the purpose of all but one of the meetings described as “commercial in confidence”.

Seven meetings were with Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey’s senior policy­ ­adviser. Mr Bailey is the minister responsible for Queensland Rail.

Queensland’s lobbyists’ code of conduct states lobbyists “shall not represent conflicting or competing interests without the informed consent of those whose interests are involved” and that lobbyists should advise government and opposition representatives that they have informed their clients of any “actual, potential or apparent conflicts of interest”.

Queensland Rail chief executive Nick Easy said the authority enlisted Anacta Strategies from September last year to May for “stakeholder management and advisory services during workplace agreement negotiations”.

“The services Anacta Strategies provided at the time were completely unrelated and independent to any negotiations taking place by Queensland Rail with Downer Group,” Mr Easy said.

He added: “Anacta Strategies has not been involved in these negotia­tions or approached Queensland Rail in any capacity.”

He did not say whether Anacta had declared a potential conflict of interest.

The Australian has revealed Anacta has become one of the state’s most in-demand lobbying firms, while at the same time being paid by the state ALP branch to help run the campaign to get the Premier re-elected on October 31.

In the weeks after Mr Moorhead left Ms Palaszczuk’s office in May last year, the government’s Cross River Rail Delivery Authority, which is responsible for the state’s largest taxpayer-funded infrastructure­ project, hired him not as a lobbyist, but to liaise with the unions.

Downer is expected to be contracted­ to build the trains for the Cross River Rail project, as the only train manufacturer in Queensland.