Queensland election: Secret texts reveal Labor’s lobby links

Former Labor minister Kate Jones went outside the ‘proper channels’ to organise a meeting with Queensland Development Minister Grace Grace on behalf of a client of the lobbying firm for which she was a ‘specialist consultant’.

Grace Grace, left, Jackie Trad and Kate Jones at a Labour Day march in Brisbane in 2017. Picture: Annette Dew

Former Labor minister Kate Jones went outside the “proper channels” to organise a meeting with factional ally and Queensland State Development Minister Grace Grace on behalf of a client of the lobbying firm for which she was a “specialist consultant”.

After a months-long Right to Information battle, and an appeal to the state’s Information Commissioner, The Weekend Australian has finally received access to a text exchange between former cabinet colleagues Ms Jones and Ms Grace, previously kept secret because it was about a “controversial” business proposal.

It can now be revealed that Ms Jones texted Ms Grace on February 23 on behalf of electric vehicle charging company eLumina, a client of lobbying firm Akin Agency.

“We will go through the proper channels but a new Tech Council member eLumina are looking to set up a lithium battery manufacturing facility at Yatala. They are keen to meet with you. Congrats on the strategy launch yesterday,” Ms Jones texted at 8.20am, referring to the government’s $570m battery industry strategy.

Ms Grace replied immediately: “Thanks and no problems, it’s a great strategy and we are very keen on implementing.”

Ms Jones has insisted she has never been a lobbyist, and has previously defended advocating for companies linked to Akin because of her role as director of the Tech Council.

This latest development highlights a loophole in Queensland’s integrity regime.

If a registered lobbyist had sent Ms Grace the text Ms Jones did in February, it would have been publicly declared on the state’s lobbying register. But because Ms Jones is effectively an in-house lobbyist for the Tech Council and its members, the exchange was able to be kept secret.

Ms Grace and eLumina ­objected to the release of the texts after The Weekend Australian ­appealed to the Information Commissioner, even after the watchdog decided there was no legal reason they should not be published. Both eventually withdrew.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles says it would be too difficult to expand the definition of a ­lobbyist to ensure extra transparency, but Opposition leader David Crisafulli has indicated he is open to the reform.

Ms Jones quit Akin in March after The Weekend Australian ­revealed she had organised a meeting with Ms Grace for a ­company that later became an Akin client.

In February when Ms Jones contacted Ms Grace about ­eLumina, it was a lobbying client of Akin’s federally. In March, Akin added the company to its Queensland register, and it quickly ­became the agency’s most lobbied-for client.

Records show Akin lobbyist ­Alexander Dickson – a former ministerial staffer of Ms Jones – lobbied representatives of Ms Grace’s ­department on eight occasions for eLumina, and met with the minister’s senior policy adviser and a senior bureaucrat on April 17. The company did not meet with the minister herself.

It is understood Akin also helped eLumina ask Queensland Treasury for a grant, but no funding has been given.

Mr Dickson is now chief ­communications officer for ­eLumina, which dropped Akin as its lobbyist in August, the same month the EV company opened its Yatala facility.

Mr Miles said Ms Jones had not received special treatment from his government and he would have met wealthy businessmen Bevan Slattery and Godfrey Mantle without Ms Jones’s intervention.

Director of eLumina Chris Yang defended his company’s ­failed attempt at blocking access to the text exchange, saying it “is our right to do”.

Mr Yang refused to explain why he tried to block the access.

Ms Grace said she had never met with eLumina, but a member of her staff and a departmental ­officer met with the company in April.

“The meeting was organised by a registered lobbyist from the Akin Agency and, as required, the ­proper process was followed. This was reported on the lobbyist contact register,” Ms Grace said.

“My department hasn’t provided any financial support to ­eLumina and I didn’t attend the opening of its facility.

“My office has complied with the requirements of the RTI Act, including the independent ­external review process, and now that eLumina has withdrawn its objection to the release of the documents I’m happy to support this.”

Ms Jones said: “As I have previously advised The Australian, since I stepped down from Queensland parliament four years ago, I have complied with all my post-ministerial responsibilities and with the Queensland ­Integrity Act”.