Top Labor lobbyists Cameron Milner, Evan Moorhead behind historic campaign

The running of Annastacia Palaszczuk’s campaign was outsourced to top lobbyists.

Queensland lobbyist Cameron Milner. Picture: Tara Croser

Queensland Labor outsourced the running of Annastacia Palaszczuk’s re-election campaign to two of the state’s top lobbyists — Cameron Milner and Evan Moorhead — even as the corruption watchdog warned of the blurring of lines between government and the lobbying industry.

Queensland state secretary Julie-Ann Campbell brought in Mr Milner and Mr Moorhead — two of her predecessors in that role — to run strategy for the successful campaign, fuelling concerns in government ranks about a potential conflict of interest.

Mr Milner was based in the Premier’s 40th-floor offices in the government’s inner-city Brisbane executive building, 1 William Street, with Mr Moorhead moving between there and ALP headquarters in Peel Street, South Brisbane. Both gave directions to government staff throughout the campaign.

Senior government sources are outraged, with one telling The Australian, “we wondered whether we were fighting for a Labor win or their clients’ interests”.

“They just appeared (at 1 William Street) one day and were in charge,” the source said.

“There was nothing in writing about it, no memo.

Former Queensland Labor politician Evan Moorhead. Picture: Annette Dew

“People were talking about it, but it was like everyone just stuck their fingers in their ears. A lot of people were very pissed off about it, very unhappy about two lobbyists being at the top of the tree in the campaign.”

Mr Milner’s Next Level Strategic Services and Mr Moorhead’s Anacta Strategies are among the state’s most in-­demand lobbying firms — with 26 and 28 clients respectively — with some of the companies they are paid to represent winning big ­immediately before and during the campaign.

On September 29, a week ­before Ms Palaszczuk visited the Governor to kick off the official election campaign, the Premier, Treasurer Cameron Dick and then-mines minister Anthony Lynham announced Pembroke Resources’ $1bn metallurgical coalmine, Olive Downs, near Mackay, had been given final government approvals.

Pembroke is one of Next Level’s clients, and contact logs ­reveal the firm lobbied Dr Lynham’s chief of staff as recently as August 31 on behalf of Pembroke, after having nine meetings with Mr Dick’s top adviser for the miner in August alone.

A week before the Olive Downs announcement, Ms Palaszczuk and Mr Dick announced a “multi-million-dollar economic recovery boost” to go to Glencore — one of Mr Moorhead’s Anacta Strategies’ clients — to help the company keep its Mount Isa copper smelter and Townsville ­refinery operating.

The pair then travelled to Glencore’s Mount Isa site immediately after the campaign kicked off, trumpeting the government’s commitment.

At the same campaign event, Ms Palaszczuk insisted she was comfortable with Mr Moorhead, a lobbyist, running her campaign: “My understanding is Mr Moorhead is following all the rules … he has to abide by the rules just like everyone else has to abide by the rules.” An Anacta lobbyist met with Mr Dick’s chief of staff on August 18, on behalf of Glencore, about a commercial-in-confidence matter.

Anacta’s client Downer Group — the only train builder in Queensland — was also rewarded with a $600m train-building contract, in the formerly marginal Labor electorate of Maryborough, where MP Bruce Saunders experienced a massive swing towards him at Saturday’s election. Ms Palaszczuk announced the spend on the second Tuesday of the campaign at Downer’s Maryborough workshop, saying 20 trains would be built there.

Anacta Strategies most recently lobbied one of the Premier’s principal advisers on behalf of Downer on September 22, one of 13 occasions this year Anacta has lobbied senior government officials for the manufacturer.

A senior Labor MP said Ms Campbell had “subcontracted” her role to Mr Moorhead and Mr Milner, lauding the latter as “the best external political strategist” the party had ever seen.

“ (Ms Campbell) was more the chairman of the board than CEO of the campaign,” the MP said. “She was under pressure after the (Brisbane City) council and federal election (losses), but she’s solid after this win.”

Ms Campbell declined to comment. Neither Mr Milner nor Mr Moorhead returned calls.

A spokesman for Ms Palaszczuk said “all rules to do with lobbyists are followed”, and said it was not true Mr Moorhead and Mr Milner were based in the Premier’s offices in 1 William Street. Mr Moorhead previously told The Australian he kept his campaigning and lobbying separate. “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.

Another senior Labor source disputed the suggestion Ms Campbell had outsourced strategy, saying Ms Campbell had asked the pair to help, as they had at previous elections.

The source said there were ­“absolutely not” issues with the pair being lobbyists, and they were able to keep the roles separate.

During the campaign, Crime and Corruption Commission boss Alan MacSporran wrote to all candidates warning of the blurring lines between government and the private sector, “with overlapping networks of associations involving consultants, influencers, lobbyists and executives”.